Dr. Viktoria Röntgen
Member of the research training group 'Bioethics'
E-Mail: katharina-viktoria.roentgen@izew.uni-tuebingen.de
vik_roentgen@web.de
PhD-Thesis
Epigenetic-Profiling-Assays: Ethical implications of a new technology
Epigenetics put traditional concepts of humane genetics into question, by challenging geneticists with new concepts of phenotype development. In few years, epigenetic research has prompted remarkable and exciting insights and breakthrough discoveries, yet many long-standing questions remain still unanswered and many new questions arose from these first results:
Which characteristics of the individual phenotype are actually determined by genes and which are influenced by epigenomic phenomena? Are environment and education main players in the constitution of epigenomic mechanisms? How do epigenetic characteristics change during lifetime of the individual? Are we epigenetically determined by social environments of our ancestors? Do transgenerational epigenetic effects have a major influence on our development and do we all have to face a new transgenerational responsibility? Although it is tempting to draw quick conclusions and to propound general rules from single hallmark experiments, caution is mandatory and many exceptions will cross our paths before we can be sure about the mechanisms of epigenetic inheritment.
Analysis and modification of epigenetic characteristics of men will open new fields of selection and self-design for the individual, which will be fundamentally different from the possibilities of classical genetics. These insights have arrived in the print media meanwhile and are already celebrated as “the victory over the genes°. Epigenetic microarray analysis, a biomolecular high-throughput technology, is emerging as an essential instrument for data collection and diagnostics in this field, because it allows for a quick and reasonably priced, but comprehensive analysis of patient's tissues. Predictive use of this technology will open the door to many ground-breaking options for diagnostics and maybe therapies, for example in oncology.
At present, there is no ethical debate about handling this epigenetic information from patients going on, the ongoing ethical reflection mainly sticks to genetic microarray analysis and predictive genetic testing, without taking epigenetics into consideration. The main goal of this project is to contribute to filling this gap and to call attention to the ethical implications of the possibilities and potential consequences of epigenetic microarray testing.
Biography
1997 Diploma: Mammalian Genetics at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in cooperation with the University of Bielefeld. 2000 Research associate: Institute for Medical Microbiology, Hannover Medical School (MHH). 2007 Diploma (postgrad.) Environmental Ethics at the Catholic Theological Faculty Augsburg
2007-10 Research associate: Institute of Orthopaedic Research and Biomechanics, University of Ulm.
Since 2010 Scholarship of the DFG at the International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities.
Publications
Papers 2011:
Midkine-deficiency increases the anabolic response of cortical bone to mechanical loading.
Liedert A, Mattausch L, Röntgen V, Blakytny R, Vogele D, Pahl M, Bindl R, Neunaber C, Schinke T, Harroch S, Amling M, Ignatius A Bone. 2011 Apr 1;48(4):945-51. Epub 2010 Dec 23.
Die Maus als Tiermodell in der Frakturheilungsforschung
A. Ignatius, V. Röntgen, R. Bindl, S. Recknagel, T. Wehner, L. Claes, F. Jakob, T. Schinke, M. Amling
Zeitschrift:Osteologie. ISSN:1019-1291. Ausgabe:Hefte von 2011 (Vol. 20): Heft 1 2011 (1-104). Seiten: 34-40.
Papers 2010:
Viktoria Röntgen, Robert Blakytny, Romano Matthys, Mario Landauer, Tim Wehner, Melanie Göckelmann, Philipp Jermendy, Michael Amling, Thorsten Schinke, Lutz Claes and Anita Ignatius
Journal of Orthopaedic Research; Volume 28, Issue 11: November 2010, Pages: 1456–1462
Osteoporotische krm2-transgene Mäuse zeigen eine verzögerte Frakturheilung unter stabiler und flexibler Fixation
Viktoria Röntgen, Thorsten Schinke, Michael Amling, Robert Blakytny, Franz Jakob, Lutz Claes, Anita Ignatius
OSTEOLOGIE. OSTEOLOGY. Interdisziplinäre Zeitschrift für Knochen und Gelenke. Interdisciplinary Journal of Bone and Joint Diseases; 19 (Suppl 1): S11. E 77543. ISSN 1019-1291.
Conferences 2009-2010:
Oral presentations:
Ein neues variables Fixationssystem für Frakturheilungsstudien an der Maus – Mechanische Charakterisierung und in vivo Erprobung
K. Viktoria Röntgen, Robert Blakytny, Mario Landauer, Romano Matthys, Anita Ignatius, Lutz Claes
Deutscher Kongress für Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie Deutsche Gesellschaft für Unfallchirurgie, Berlin DGU 21. – 24.10 2009
Osteoporotische krm2-transgene Mäuse zeigen eine verzögerte Frakturheilung unter stabiler und flexibler Fixation
Viktoria Röntgen, Thorsten Schinke, Michael Amling, Robert Blakytny, Franz Jakob, Lutz Claes, Anita Ignatius
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Osteologie (DGO) Osteologie Berlin 3.-6. März 2010
Fracture Healing in Mice Under Controlled Rigid and Flexible Conditions
Roentgen K.V., Blakytny R., Matthys R., Ignatius A., Claes L.
European Society of Biomechanics (ESB) Edinburgh 5.-8. Juli 2010
Osteoporotic Krm2 transgenic mice show impaired diaphyseal fracture healing
Röntgen, V; Schinke T; Amling, M; Blakytny, R; Jakob, F; Claes, L; Ignatius, A
European Symposium on Calcified Tissues (ECTS) Glasgow 26. – 30. Juni 2010
Fracture Healing in Mice Under Controlled Rigid and Flexible Conditions
Roentgen K.V., Blakytny R., Matthys R., Ignatius A., Claes L.
International Society for Fracture Repair (ISFR), 12th Biennial Conference London 25.-28. September 2010
Posters:
Ein neues biomechanisch charakterisiertes System ermöglicht Frakturheilungsstudien unter rotationsstabilen Bedingungen bei variabler Fixierung
Röntgen K, Blakytny R, Landauer M, Matthys R, Ignatius A, Claes L.
Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Biomechanik Münster 14.-16.05.2009
Osteoporotic krm2-transgenic mice show impaired diaphyseal fracture healing
Röntgen, V, Schinke T, Amling, M; Blakytny, R, Jermendy, P, Jakob, F; Claes, L, Ignatius, A
International Symposium 2009: Biomechanics and Biology of Bone Regeneration, Berlin 19.-20.11 2009
Osteoporotic krm2-transgenic mice show impaired diaphyseal fracture healing
Röntgen, KV; Schinke T; Amling, M; Blakytny, R;1Jermendy, P; Jakob, F; Claes, L; Ignatius, A
Annual Meeting of the Orthopaedic Reseach Society (ORS), New Orleans 06.-09.03 2010