Methylation variable positions (MVPs) are common epigenetic markers. Like single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), they promise to significantly advance our ability to understand and diagnose human disease. The Human Epigenome Consortium (HEC) is a public/private collaboration that aims to identify and catalogue MVPs in the human genome.

MVPs will be generated in batches. After 120 days the data from each completed batch will be released at http://www.sanger.ac.uk/epigenome/ and http://www.epigenome.org/. No license expressed or implied is granted for commercial use of the released data. Non-commercial entities may use the data solely for non-commercial research purposes. For the avoidance of doubt, the data is subject to the Wellcome Trust Intellectual Property Policy and patent applications might have been filed.