Basic research underway at Vanderbilt University Medical Center is raising hopes that one day it will be possible to reverse memory loss in people with Alzheimer’s disease and stop a major driver of cancer in its tracks.

Internationally known epigeneticist C. David Allis, Ph.D., will deliver the first Flexner Discovery Lecture of the academic year at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7, in room 208 Light Hall.

The hormone erythropoietin (Epo) controls red blood cell production and synthetic forms of Epo treat multiple disorders. New Vanderbilt research details how Epo works.

Ordinary cells can be transformed into cancer cells through epigenetics — changes to DNA that turn genes on or off. Those gene changes can protect cells or make them vulnerable to disease processes including cancer.

New findings that reveal complex interactions in esophageal adenocarcinoma could lead to diagnostic, prognostic or therapeutic biomarkers.

“Epigenetic signatures” in DNA may present an opportunity for prevention of or early intervention in childhood obesity.

Beyond genetics — that’s the call Oliver McDonald, M.D., Ph.D., heard during the year between college and medical school he spent in a lab at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.