International Symposium on Epigenetic Inheritance 2026
This inaugural symposium, supported by the LSU Provost’s Fund, establishes a North American sister meeting to the biennial series founded in 2017 by Isabelle Mansuy at ETH Zurich. Held in alternating years, the Baton Rouge meeting is designed to complement the Zurich symposium and strengthen continuity across the international epigenetic inheritance community.
The Baton Rouge symposium builds directly on this foundation, with the objective of increasing the frequency and accessibility of scientific exchange in North America while maintaining strong transatlantic integration. Beyond presenting new data, the meeting aims to refine theoretical frameworks, consolidate core mechanistic concepts, and accelerate maturation of the field.
The program will integrate molecular, cellular, behavioral, and evolutionary perspectives on how environmental exposures and life experiences shape phenotypes across generations.
Key themes include:
- Germline mechanisms of epigenetic transmission
- RNA-mediated and chromatin-based inheritance pathways
- Parental diet, metabolism, and behavioral reprogramming in offspring
- Developmental plasticity and multi-generational stability
- Evolutionary consequences of non-genetic inheritance
- Epigenetic variation in human health and disease
This structure positions the LSU symposium as a sustained institutional platform for advancing rigor, conceptual clarity, and global collaboration in transgenerational biology.
LSU Vet Med is hosting the 2026 Epigenetic Inheritance Symposium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, from July 15-17.
Preliminary Program
Program in Development
Wednesday, July 15, 2026: Molecular/Cellular
| Time | Description |
|---|---|
| 7:45-8:45 | Registration |
| 8:45-9:00 | Introduction |
| 9:00-10:20 | Oral Session 1 |
| 10:20-11:00 | Coffee Break |
| 11:00 -12:05 | Oral Session 2 |
| 12:05-13:30 | Lunch Break |
| 13:30-14:50 | Oral Session 3 |
| 14:50-16:20 | Poster Session 1 (coffee break and posters) |
| 16:20-17:00 | Oral Session 4 |
| 18:00-21:00 | Social Event |
Thursday, July 16, 2026: Organismal/Behavioral
| Time | Description |
|---|---|
| 8:30-9:00 | Registration |
| 9:00-10:20 | Oral Session 1 |
| 10:20-11:00 | Coffee Break |
| 11:00-12:00 | Oral Session 2 |
| 12:00-13:30 | Lunch Break |
| 13:30-14:25 | Oral Session 3 |
| 14:25-15:50 | Poster Session 2 (coffee break and posters) |
| 15:50-17:10 | Oral Session 4 |
| 18:00-21:00 | Social Event |
Friday, July 17, 2026: Populational/Evolutional
| Time | Description |
|---|---|
| 9:00-10:00 | Oral Session 1 |
| 10:00-10:30 | Coffee Break |
| 10:30-11:40 | Oral Session 2 |
| 11:40-12:00 | Awards & Closing |
| 12:00-13:30 | Lunch |
| 13:30-15:00 | Workshop/Discussion - Part 1 |
| 15:00-15:30 | Workshop Coffee Break |
| 15:30-16:30 | Workshop/Discussion - Part 2 |
Speakers
| Speaker | Affiliation | Research Field | Photo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patrick Allard | Institute for Society & Genetics at UCLA - USA | Environmental toxicants |  |
| Russell Bonduriansky | UNSW - Sydney, Australia | Evolution of parental effects; adaptive plasticity |  |
| Qui Chen | University of Utah - USA | Sperm RNAs; diet-induced inheritance | |
| Sonia de Assis | Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University - USA | Diet-induced epigenetic risk; cancer | |
| Brian Dias | USC Keck School of Medicine and Children's Hospital - Los Angeles, USA | Effects of parental stress or trauma on offspring |  |
| Valérie Grandjean | Université Cote d'Azur/Inserm (C3M) - France | Inheritance of metabolic diseases |  |
| Eric Greer | Washington University in St. Louis, Washington University Medicine - USA | Nutrient sensing; epigenetics of aging |  |
| Sarah Kimmins | Université de Montréal (and CRCHUM) - Canada | Changes to the epigenome by environmental factors | |
| Isabelle Mansuy | University of Zurich and ETH - Zurich, Switzerland | Transgenerational inheritance; brain and behavior |  |
| Alexander Murashov | Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine - USA | Epigenetic mechanisms that control developmental changes in susceptibility to neurological and metabolic disorders, as well as disease prevention |  |
| Benjamin Oldroyd | The University of Sydney - Australia | Population epigenetics; insects |  |
| Anita Ost | Linköping University - Sweden | RNA-based epigenetic inheritance | |
| Chris Pierce | Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School - USA | Epigenetics of addiction |  |
| Upasna Sharma | University of California, Santa Cruz - USA | Sperm small RNAs; environmental programming |  |
| Mike Skinner | Washington State University - USA | Environmental toxins impact on germline epigenetics | |
| Yuta Takahashi | Kumamoto University - Japan | DNA-methylation-based epigenetic inheritance |  |
| Raffaele Teperino | Helmholtz Munich - Germany | Metabolism; diet-epigenome interactions |  |
| Fair Vassoler | Tufts University - USA | Epigenetics of addiction |  |
Registration
Organizing Committee
Sonia de Assis, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Oncology
Georgetown University Medical Center
Chris Axelrod, Ph.D.
Director
Integrated Physiology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory
Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Isabelle Mansuy, Ph.D.
Professor of Neuroepigenetics, ETH Zurich & University of Zurich
Alexander Murashov, MD, Ph.D. — Chair
Professor and Department Head
Comparative Biomedical Sciences
LSU School of Veterinary Medicine
Upasna Sharma, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology
University of California, Santa Cruz
Michael Skinner, Ph.D.
Founding Director
Center for Reproductive Biology
School of Biological Sciences
Washington State University
Pullman, Washington