CRISPR as an Anti-Viral for PlantsOctober 30, 2015Home cooks know well that putting vegetables in the crisper can keep them healthy; new work shows that putting CRISPR in the vegetables works as well. Every year, plant viruses destroy tens of billions of dollars worth of crops around the world. Even worse, localized crop failures can cause food shortages and destroy family farmers. […]
Small Molecule Targeting RNA Heralds Comeback for Antibiotic DiscoveryOctober 23, 2015Although many readers may have been excited about the release of the new Prince album last month, the biggest comeback story of this year was over at Nature. The antibiotic field has reported only covers or remixes since the 1980s, but now researchers from Merck pharmaceuticals have discovered a potential new antibiotic that works by […]
DNA Methylation Changes in Blood Predict Breast Cancer MetastasisOctober 22, 2015Mention the word ‘surveillance’, and the people around you are likely to feel uneasy. But methods to monitor and predict the development of cancer are essential to provide the correct treatment at the right time. Now researchers from the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Arizona show that assessing changes to DNA methylation directly in blood […]
Stem Cell Scientists Use Cell Reprogramming Techniques to Study AgingOctober 22, 2015“Work harder, eat less, and, I’m begging you, get a haircut!” A face-to-face meeting between a younger and an older version of yourself would surely be filled with sage advice on how to live life and grow old gracefully. Many scientists wish to recreate such a meeting between young and old neurons to study aging and […]
Stem Cell-Derived Kidney Organoids Take a Big Step ForwardOctober 22, 2015Much like finding water on Mars and the fight to be the next President of the USA, pluripotent stem cell-derived mini-organs (or organoids) are big news at the moment. A recent study, featured here at EpiGenie, used a brain organoid generated from patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to unravel the molecular causes behind autism. […]
