It can be turned off, if silencing Epigenetic marks accumulate around it.

And they try to do this by silencing and discrediting me and my project.

When rat pups are born, their glucacorticoid receptor gene is surrounded by a number of these silencing Epigenetic marks.

The Government seems intent upon silencing an organization which has done so much to raise awareness of the human rights situation in Sudan.

But if too many silencing Epigenetic marks start to accumulate around these genes, the genes get turned off, and they can no longer perform their job of protecting the cell.

If a rat mother ignores her pups (Laughter) that glucacoid receptor gene will maintain those silencing Epigenetic marks, they won't go away, and they'll stay in those pups' brains throughout their lives.

Yet, if a rat mother extensively licks and grooms on her pups, basically takes good care of them, during the first week of their life, those Epigenetic silencing marks can be removed from the gene.

So, if a pregnant agouti mother is fed a diet which is supplemented with these silencing Epigenetic marks, those marks will be chemically transmitted to the DNA of her embryo, where they'll accumulate around that agouti gene and effectively turn it off.

So scientists have developed drugs which have undergone FDA approval, and they're in a clinical setting, which can target these silencing marks effectively removing them from the tumor suppressor genes and allowing these genes to go back to their job of protecting the cell.