Orthogonal, Inducible dCas9s Combinatorially Regulate Gene ExpressionNovember 15, 2016Turning gene expression up and down is a powerful use of CRISPR/Cas9. Labs around the world have been hard at work figuring out how to use CRISPR to control gene expression – including both transcriptional activation and repression, and then extending it to control translation and the epigenome. Cas9 can be light-activated, and with some […]
A CRISPR-Cas9 Pipeline for Efficiently Editing Blood Stem CellsNovember 3, 2016When it comes to gene therapy, blood diseases are prime candidates. Blood cells are constantly turning over, so you can quickly fix the blood supply if you replace the blood-producing stem cells in bone marrow; i.e., hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs). Transplanting marrow from a healthy donor is one approach, but a match can be difficult […]
Intergenerational Transmission of Extracellular dsRNA Filmed in C. elegansNovember 1, 2016Seeing is believing, whether it be a topic as hot as the upcoming presidential election or intergenerational epigenetic effects and transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. While exciting evidence on the role of sperm RNA in mammals has begun to accumulate thanks to the labs of Mansuy, Bale, and Rando, an elegant C. elegans study from the lab […]
ChIP-SICAP – Your New Favorite Assay Flavor?November 1, 2016Maple-bacon, chocolate, and hedgehog? The list of potato chip flavors keeps on getting longer and crazier. Also getting longer is the list of different ChIP assay varieties (that’s chromatin immunoprecipitation for the uninitiated), with the most interesting new “taste sensation” emanating from the lab of Jeroen Krijgsveld (DFKZ/EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany). While chips are good for […]
Variation in CpG Methylation is Tied to Biological AgingOctober 19, 2016There aren’t many things in this world that we can be certain about, but aging marks an all too important exception. Towards the goal of understanding the marks of this unavoidable process, we’ve seen the epigenetic clock, which looks at CpG sites that are certainly differentially methylated as we age. However, a new perspective to […]
