The primary objectives of ARIES were:

  1. Large-scale genome-wide DNA methylation analysis of 1000 mother-child pairs at serial time points across the life-course. Peripheral blood leukocyte DNA will be analysed using the Illumina 450k high density human methylation array.
  2. Methylome sequencing of a subset of mother-child pairs analysed in objective 1 to provide high-level annotation of DNA methylation. Both 5-methylcytosine and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine will be analysed using MeDIP-sequencing.
  3. Genome-wide DNA methylation analysis of four human tissues in conjunction with matched peripheral blood samples to enable comparison of methylation levels between tissues.
  4. A web-based portal to enable browsing of DNA methylation data using a genome browser interface and interactive graphical and tabular data exploration utilities.
  5. Analysis of genome-wide methylation data with genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism data.
  6. An interface to enable researchers to request access to linked phenotypic and exposure data in conjunction with the publicly available methylation data.