Battling Against the Clock: Epigenetic Age Acceleration Impacts COVID-19 SeverityMay 2, 2022Timing is crucial for many aspects of life, and now, a rather timely study demonstrates that the acceleration of our epigenetic clocks after SARS-CoV-2 infection significantly impacts our risk of suffering severe COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 syndrome (“long COVID”). Previous research has described how older patients suffer from a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 (independent […]
Single-cell Based DNA Methylation Deconvolution Method Scores Another Goal for EpigeneticsApril 25, 2022You might think you know the leading players in the field of computational epigenetics; however, each new season brings forward a squad of exciting new players eager to prove their worth. Recently, one of these players EpiSCORE-d the goal of extending in silico cell-type deconvolution of human epigenomic data to many tissues. While reference-based cell-type […]
Has Cannabis Gone Up in Smoke? – Study Links Use to Accelerated Epigenetic AgingMarch 31, 2022Like there is no smoke without fire, another study has linked cannabis use to unwanted epigenetic alterations. We’ve seen that cannabis exposure alters DNA methylation in prenatal mouse brains (influencing subsequent behavior), the sperm of rats and humans (priming an autism spectrum disorder-like profile), and human adult brains (impacting brain function), and now epigenetic aging […]
“Is this the real-life? Is this just fantasy?” – CultureAGE Shows How In Vitro Studies Reflect In Vivo Epigenetic AgingFebruary 21, 2022Profiling epigenetic aging with in vitro cell models may allow for a deeper understanding of the difficult-to-decipher in vivo process, but only if one truly reflects the other; this leaves us wondering: “Is this the real-life? Is this just fantasy?” In their epigenetic rock opera, bohemians from the lab of Morgan Levine (Yale School of […]
Epigenetic “Baby-steps” Repress Germline Genome-defense During DevelopmentFebruary 4, 2022Much like a set of helping hands can guide, support, and protect a toddler taking their first steps, the guiding force of epigenetics during embryonic development ensures genome stability and supports healthy development by regulating the expression of key genes. Such genes include DNA methylation-sensitive “germline genome-defense” genes, which undergo DNA demethylation and become expressed […]