Nestlé Research Center Announces Collaboration with EpiGen

The partnership brings together scientists from both the public and private sectors to improve human health through the application of epigenetic tools and technologies.

Nov 23 2011 --- Nestlé Research Center in Switzerland, announces the creation of a research collaboration with the EpiGen Consortium, an international alliance of the world’s leading epigenetics researchers (AgResearch Limited and Auckland UniServices Limited, New Zealand; University of Southampton and Medical Research Council, Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, United Kingdom; Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), and National University of Singapore, Singapore).

The partnership brings together scientists from both the public and private sectors to improve human health through the application of epigenetic tools and technologies.

Nestlé Research Centre and Nestlé Nutrition will collaborate with EpiGen to undertake a research programme to understand and substantiate optimal nutrition for mothers during pregnancy and for infants to promote metabolic health throughout life. The ultimate goal of the programme is to make recommendations, supported by robust science, for the best maternal and infant nutrition strategies.

These studies will rely on epigenetics, the biology of understanding how gene function is regulated by environmental factors, such as maternal nutrition, during the very early stages of development. EpiGen will contribute its expertise in this emerging scientific field, while Nestlé scientists will contribute outstanding knowledge of maternal and infant nutrition.