Epigenetics Drives Genetics Straight Into EvolutionAugust 9, 2015In today’s fast-paced world, quickly adapting to your environment is a game-changer. But genetic determinism cannot fully explain the rapid adaption seen in many species, which has left evolution in a dark age. That is until the enlightening work of Michael Skinner’s laboratory at Washington State University. Their observations on transgenerational epigenetic inheritance have been […]
Lights Out! Sleep Loss Affects DNA Methylation of Circadian GenesAugust 4, 2015 ‘La nuit blanche’. No, it is not a delicious pastry. It’s the French expression for staying up all night and not going to bed until the next evening, which in most cases will leave you pretty irritable. But losing one night’s sleep may affect more than just your mood; a new study by Swedish […]
DNA Methylation Helps T Cells with their Career PathAugust 3, 2015In one of the lower valleys of Waddington’s epigenetic landscape, T cells are confronted with a fatal decision: Become a CD4+ helper T cell and assist your brethren in fighting evil invaders or turn into a CD8+ cytotoxic T cell and do the dirty work. But as in all good fantasy novels, our heroes first […]
Exploiting Nucleotide Recycling to Kill CancerJuly 28, 2015Have you ever had a doubt about what exactly you can recycle? The cell is faced with the same problem when it encounters epigenetic nucleosides. It does not really know if they can be recycled as they are or discarded. New research by the team of Skirmantas Kriaucionis shows that although such nucleotides are normally […]
Webinar: Key Steps for Validating Antibodies and Optimizing the ChIP WorkflowJuly 27, 2015Abstract: Research in the field of epigenetics has grown at a rapid pace since the discovery of the first histone acetyltransferase enzymes 18 years ago. Since then, significant advances have been made in our understanding of the basic mechanisms of epigenetics (histone acetylation, histone methylation, chromatin remodeling and DNA methylation) and the impact of epigenetic […]
