Single-Molecule Imaging of 5hmC and 5mC Grabs the Bigger Picture with Less DNAApril 6, 2016We all know the old saying “Good things come in pairs”, and when you’re only examining one member of a dynamic duo, sometimes you can miss the key contribution of the trusty sidekick. Attesting to the above, a talented team from Stanford show off a clever new technique to simultaneously image 5mC and 5hmC on […]
Prenatal Exposure to Smoking is Associated with a Long-Term Mark on CpG MethylationApril 6, 2016Pregnancy is a sensitive period for a developing embryo/fetus where cues from the environment are incorporated into the epigenome where they can have long-term implications. While certain prenatal exposures, like alcohol and smoking, are well known to produce a number of negative health outcomes, they remain the largest cause of preventable birth defects and are […]
Zika Virus Infection of Neural Progenitors Linked to Brain AbnormalitiesApril 1, 2016The sight of newborn infants with radically reduced brain sizes (microcephaly) has seized attention worldwide and thrust the Zika virus into the limelight as the probable culprit. Zika spreads through mosquito bites and belongs to the Flaviviridae virus family, but how does Zika infection cause such devastating abnormalities in developing infants? A multidisciplinary team led […]
Human Haploid ESCs – Half the DNA but Double the Potential?April 1, 2016Eyes, feet, hands, and chromosomes – two of each seems to be the done thing. Indeed, two sets of each chromosome (diploidy) is a general feature in mammals, except when we produce eggs and sperm (meiosis) which contain only one set of chromosomes (haploidy). However, various studies have described the production of embryonic stem cells […]
Location, Location, Location! Better Fluorescent Labeling For Protein And RNA LocalizationApril 1, 2016Location is important. But while we have great GPS tools to locate ourselves in the macro-world, microscopic things can be a bit harder to find. You might think it would be tough to lose something in as tiny a space as the inside of a cell, but that’s what I thought about my keys in […]