[28] Most meetings are hosted in conjunction with a scientific symposium, some of which are open to non-IHEC scientists and sometimes members of the public.
The ultimate objective of IHEC is to determine how the Epigenome has shaped human populations over generations and in response to the environment.
The initial focus is on cellular states including stemness, immortality, proliferation, differentiation, senescence, and stress.
The reference epigenome for each sample comprises high resolution maps of DNA methylation and key regulatory histone modifications, with corresponding information about the type and expression level of all transcribed genes (protein coding as well as non-coding / small RNAs).
In November 2016 IHEC members from Canada, the European Union's BLUEPRINT Consortium, the German Epigenome Program “DEEP”, Japan, Singapore, and the United States published a group of 41 coordinated papers in Cell Press and other journals.