Workshop Report 30

BREAKOUT GROUP SESSIONS

On Day 2 of the workshop, a smaller group of experts were divided into 3 groups of 11 participants each.
Session 1 (morning) consisted of three separate questions for brainstorming related to “Develop a Roadmap for the practical use of epigenetic studies to underpin regulatory applications”. Each brainstorm group discussed each of the three questions in rotation, spending 45 minutes on each question. At the end of Session 1, participants regrouped into plenary where the moderators and rapporteurs responsible for each of the three questions summarised the discussions.
Professor Gant gave the following guidance, summarised from Day 1 discussions, to provide context for the brainstorm:
Definitions – multigenerational / transgenerational / epigenetics?
What do we need to measure?
Relationship of markers to phenotypic endpoints?
Why do we need markers? Why not just measure phenotypic change as in current one-generation and two-generation studies?
What are the likely adverse outcomes from epigenetic events?
Where would it be realistic to consider application now?