Vitamin C in Media Critical for ES Cell 5hmCJuly 24, 2013Whether its pop culture (like the ongoing royal baby mania) or cell culture, there’s no denying the enormous impact that ‘media’ has on our life. In fact, new evidence shows that a little Vitamin C in cell culture media can influence mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells, like typical pre-teens, to undergo a blastocyst-like identity crisis. […]
The Dynamic EpigenomeJuly 24, 2013EpiGenie recently reviewed the text Epigenetics by Jorg Tost. Here is a more in depth summary of one the chapters provided courtesy of JA Gill who is molecular biologist at NOAA in the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, to give you a little sneak peek into what the whole book is all about: The Dynamic Epigenome: […]
Disrupting DMNT1’s Cancerous InteractionsJuly 9, 2013It seems like almost every gene examined today has it roots in cancer, and epigenetic mechanisms haven’t missed the invite to that party. But with all these players comes an overwhelming heterogeneity that has troubled researchers looking for a cure ever since cancer was described as an epigenetic disease. Some research groups have tried out […]
Turn by Turn Navigation of DNA Methylation Maps in the Human Brain Now AvailableJuly 9, 2013Whoever claims cartography is a lost art hasn’t visited the Salk Institute lately. The cliffside research palace in La Jolla is home to a number of ambitious researchers who’ve been busy the last few years mapping every nook and cranny of the epigenome. Most recently, a team of clever researchers led the charge on mapping “genome-wide composition, […]
The Darkside of Epigenetic PlasticityJune 26, 2013Sure, genes get mutated in cancers, but the epigenome gets messed-up too. In fact, two researchers argue in a recent review that a “dysregulated epigenome” that’s too plastic and flexible could itself lead to cancer. Andrew Feinberg and Winston Timp, both from the Center for Epigenetics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, wrote the […]