Epigenetic and Mitochondrial Clocks Synchronously Accelerate with Bipolar DisorderJanuary 18, 2018A wise man once said that time is relative, and while physics was on his mind, it seems that biology should have been as well. For instance, patients with bipolar disorder suffer from accelerated aging. However, examinations of telomere length have given mixed results, and this inspired the lab of Joao Quevedo in the University […]
Single-Cell DNA Methylomes Reveal the Reprograming Secrets of Early Human EmbryosJanuary 16, 2018You’ve heard before that timing is everything, and this is doubly true in developmental biology. New research out of Fuchou Tang’s lab (Peking University, Beijing) singles in on the timing of methylation changes during embryonic development, and exposes the delicate epigenetic dance of global demethylation and targeted remethylation. Tang’s lab is no stranger to embryonic […]
TET Proteins: Defending Differentiation by denying de novo Methylation!December 13, 2017I don´t overeat! I’m not lazy! I’m not eating the agar plates when I´m working in the lab late, honest! Psychologists consider denial as one of our most primitive defense mechanisms and recent studies of epigenetic defense mechanisms in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) by the labs of Olivier Elemento (Weill Cornell Medical College) and Danwei […]
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, […]
One-Carbon, One Long Life: Methyl Donors Linked to LongevityNovember 22, 2017While manipulating DNA methylation has taken up most of our lifespans, the manipulation of methyl donors critical to this process may just be the key to making up for the lost time. During one-carbon metabolism, the essential amino acid methionine is metabolized into S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), a methyl donor responsible for DNA and histone methylation. Donation of […]
