Top Five Reasons To Automate Your Epigenetic WorkflowAugust 3, 2011The word “automation” conjures up images of the future complete with robot butlers and flying cars, but the reality is that automation is here now, and it can change your everyday life in a big way. In the lab, automated instruments have already impacted how we use common techniques like PCR and sequencing. Today new […]
Cancers Ban Erythropoietin with DNA MethylationJuly 27, 2011Most folks know the hormone erythropoietin (aka EPO) because of its use as a “doping” substance by athletes to illegally gain an edge on their competition through enhanced red blood cell production. Even though we all make at least a little bit of the stuff naturally in lots of our tissues, it seems that athletic […]
7th & 8th Bases Found On the Road to DemethylationJuly 25, 2011Just how many DNA bases can there possibly be? It was a pretty big deal when the 6th base, 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC) was found in 2009, and now the same University of North Carolina team has discovered two more cytosine analogs to bring the total to eight…for now. In the uproar over 5-hmC, researchers were sent […]
ENCODE and Roadmap Epigenomics Antibody Validation DatabaseJuly 19, 2011Many epigenetics techniques and projects rely on high-quality antibodies, but not all commercial antibodies perform well enough to get the job done. On top of that, there’s no uniform standard, or easy steps to fully validate a good antibody. With help of the Park lab at Harvard Medical School, there is now a place that […]
DNA Methylation Shifts in Early Immune DevelopmentJuly 19, 2011How can you know if something’s changed, if you didn’t see what it looked like to start with? That was the idea behind a new study that profiled DNA methylation in the immune development of youngsters. With more and more focus on environmental causes of immune diseases, and their epigenetic links, Australian researchers decided to […]
