What we thought of as something fixed, DNA is actually very cleverly modified according to current environmental needs. Even before a baby is born, it already knows what world to prepare itself for. In this talk, Moshe sheds light on his groundbreaking findings.

Moshe Szyf is one of the pioneers in the field of epigenetics. Szyf’s lab proposed three decades ago that DNA methylation is a prime therapeutic target in cancer and other diseases, and has postulated and provided the first set of evidence that the “social environment” early in life can alter DNA methylation, launching the emerging field of “social epigenetics.” The Szyf lab is interested in understanding basic epigenetic mechanisms and their broad implications in human behavior, health and disease, as well as in developing epigenetics-based therapeutics and diagnostics.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx