LobChIP: A Single Day ChIP-Seq Library Preparation HackJanuary 9, 2016With the speed and power of today’s high-throughput sequencers it seems that chromatin immunoprecipitation is the ‘limiting reagent’ in your ChIP-Seq reaction. Usually ChIP-Seq immunoprecipitation and library preparation takes 4 or 5 days, but now a talented team from Uppsala University in Sweden bring forth the library-on-beads ChIP (lobChIP) protocol, which wraps that up into […]
A Synthetic Transcriptional Repressor That’s Anything but PlainJanuary 9, 2016Synthetic gene circuits, just like electronic circuits, are built from parts that take an input, process it, and pass on an output. The toolbox of parts for gene circuits has long been limited to those found somewhere in nature, particularly when it comes to sensing an input. Typically, these systems repurpose a natural transcription factor that […]
tRNA Fragments Beat DNA Methylation in the Game of Paternal Intergenerational Epigenetic InheritanceJanuary 9, 2016The fact that parental diet affects the metabolism of offspring goes to show that inheritance can be shaped by environmental factors. While early studies focused on mom’s contribution, we’re now starting to see the importance of paternal contribution for shaping an offspring’s epigenome. For the past 15 years, the lab of Oliver Rando at the […]
Gene Drives: Wormholes of BiologyJanuary 8, 2016Gene drives have been hitting the news quite a bit lately, generating a lot of hype, hope, and some hand-wringing. They are a relatively new concept, so it’s well worth a quick road trip into gene drive history, domestication, safety, and practical challenges. Gene Drives? In essence, gene drives are the wormholes of biology. They look […]
Human Pluripotent Stem Cells (hPSCs) Elevate Performance with Chimera FormationJanuary 8, 2016Ask Usain Bolt, Yelena Isinbayeva, or Lindsey Vonn and they will tell you that Gold is the only thing that matters. To them, it came in the guise of an Olympic medal (or two), but human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have been in the hunt for a slightly different type of gold to prove their […]
