Hit-and-Run Epigenetic Editing Helps Breast Cells Evade Cycle ArrestDecember 11, 2017While a hit-and-run typically leads to an arrest, in the world of epigenetic editing it turns out to be the key to evading cell cycle arrest (senescence) and promoting the transformation of a law-abiding cell into a cancerous criminal! The hypermethylation of promoters at the wrong time and wrong place is a trademark of cancer, […]
Gimme Shelterin! – TRF1 Gene Therapy Promotes Healthy AgingOctober 3, 2017One of the eternal anthems by The Rolling Stones proclaims “Gimme Shelter”, but given the band members apparent immunity to aging combined with a new article from the lab of Maria A. Blasco (CNIO, Madrid, Spain), should the song now proclaim, “Gimme shelterin”? The shelterin complex regulates telomerase activity and protects the telomeric regions at […]
Variation in CpG Methylation is Tied to Biological AgingOctober 19, 2016There aren’t many things in this world that we can be certain about, but aging marks an all too important exception. Towards the goal of understanding the marks of this unavoidable process, we’ve seen the epigenetic clock, which looks at CpG sites that are certainly differentially methylated as we age. However, a new perspective to […]
Meta-Analysis Reveals Grim Reaper is Keeping an Eye On Your Epigenetic ClockOctober 19, 2016They say ‘Seasons don’t fear the reaper’, and while the festivities of this season certainly favor the reaper, most of us dread the reaper’s favor. Our understanding of how to avoid that favor is now improving, thanks to some new insight from the epigenetic clock-watching lab of Steve Horvath at UCLA. The epigenetic clock consists […]
Proteomic Analysis of Aging MSCs Reveals New Targets to Enhance Musculoskeletal TherapiesSeptember 27, 2016Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are surely the “workhorses” of both the body and the regenerative medicine field. They display multiple advantageous characteristics, including the ability to differentiate into musculoskeletal tissues, that make MSCs the go-to cell type for tissue-engineering solutions for disease/age-related disorders. Furthermore, many tissues require the proper on-going function of tissue-resident MSCs to […]
