The International Regulome Consortium

The International Regulome Consortium (IRC) is a Canadian-initiated research program involving 38 research institutes in 12 countries. The Consortium is definitively mapping the genetic pathways and control systems that govern all cellular and biological functions.

Our bodies are complex communities of specialized cells, and each cell comes with a similarly complex set of rules governing its function. But how is this diversity generated in normal development, and how is the body able to replace and repair specific cell types lost through injury or disease? The rules that guide cell differentiation are encoded by the genome. The genes that can be expressed in a given cell type are limited by the cellular memory that has been created in previous generations – the cell’s epigenome. Together, the genome and the epigenome prescribe the instructions that guide the cell as it undergoes successive rounds of cellular specialization. Understanding what controls the interaction between the genome and the epigenome, and how the fate of each cell type is regulated requires mapping of this genetic control network. 

The Vision

The IRC’s goal is to define the “circuit board” that regulates genes. By understanding how gene expression is regulated, researchers and clinicians will be able to modify the behavior and function of cells. This knowledge will promote new treatments for cancer, Parkinson’s, diabetes and many other diseases.