My research interests are DNA methylation mechanisms that silence gene expression in adult and aging mouse stem cells. Changes in the methylation pattern of genomic DNA, resulting from a net methylation decrease and an increase in the extent of CpG island methylation may contribute to the deregulation of expression levels of up to 50% of all genes. Hence, this mechanism may contribute to the progressive loss of the regenerative potential of aging adult stem cells. My experimental approach includes gene expression profiling by micro array related technologies and aims at the identification of target genes that are silenced directly through age-dependent methylation. The generation of fully regenerative adult stem cells through genetic engineering methods is expected to contribute to therapeutic procedures for many age-related diseases including osteoporosis and cancer.