Designer dCas9 Systems Compete for CRISPR’s Top ActivatorMay 28, 2016Deactivated Cas9 (dCas9) has quickly risen to the spotlight to show that transcriptional regulation is just as fashionable as the ever so popular genome editing. Now, a number of designer systems face-off in a competition to find out who is best at turning on a genome. dCas9 provides the perfect combination of scaffold and targeting […]
Self-Organizing Human Embryos Tell All from the Petri DishMay 26, 2016Humanity’s ongoing quest for knowledge has revealed unseen realms and unimaginable places, but there are still a few things that we know little about – the inner workings of a black hole, the composition of McDonald’s special sauce, and what goes on in the early post-implantation human embryo. There are good reasons for that latter […]
Game Of Genomes: Argonaute Threatens Reign Of CRISPRMay 20, 2016On the island of genome editing, CRISPR is king. Rapidly rising from obscurity, the CRISPR nuclease Cas9 handily dispatched its predecessors, the clumsy TALENs and zinc-finger nucleases. Since then, there has been some strife within the royal family, as better Cas9 proteins and its relatives fought for dominance. Despite this internal turmoil, the CRISPR dynasty […]
Promiscuous Bacteria Swap EpigeneticsMay 20, 2016Humans have good reasons to worry about our epigenetics. DNA decorations have big impacts on our gene expression and health, and we can inadvertently change them through such lifestyle choices as smoking, having parents, or getting old. We multicellular organisms can, at least, breathe easy that epigenetics aren’t contagious, but it turns out the same […]
Improving Regenerative Therapies with Naked Mole Rat iPSCsMay 20, 2016At first glance the naked mole rat (NMR), or Heterocephalus glaber to his Latin speaking friends, might not win you over with its looks, but it truly is an amazing animal. It’s obviously comfortable in its own skin, but it also thrives in harsh environments, lacks pain sensitivity in its skin, has low metabolic and […]
