EpiGenie Book Reviews: Epigenetics in PsychiatrySeptember 3, 2014Weighing in at just above 600 pages, Epigenetics in Psychiatry sets out to cover emerging research interests in the world of neuroepigenomics and it’s translation to the clinic. A collection of reviews, rather than a more standard textbook, it is written by researchers in the field with a focus on the background of their research […]
Chromatin Never Forgets to Stay in the LoopSeptember 3, 2014While DNA has long been thought of as the molecular sheriff of inheritance, the epigenome continues to unravel it’s mystery in a western film style, with chromatin as the lasso wielding cowboy that never lets past transgressions slide. It seems that the pericentric heterochromatin (PCH) gang has gone and looted chromatin of it’s transcriptional treasures by some organized crime. […]
Tumors Go Minimalist with DNA Methylation BlocksAugust 26, 2014It seems that cancer is joining the minimalist trend, and has recently been caught sporting a universal and distinct DNA methylation signature. A talented team from John Hopkins lead by epi-gurus Andrew Feinberg and Rafael Irizarry show that large hypomethylated blocks are a defining feature in a number of different human solid tumors. These hypomethylated blocks also […]
3D Epigenome Folding ModelsAugust 21, 2014Much like 3D pictures enhance the illusion of depth of picture perception, polymer physics can enhance the depth of organization of epigenomic landscape in topologically associated 3D loop domains. Eukaryotic chromatin is organized into topologically associated epigenomic domains. A team of French researchers led by Daniel Jost recently unveiled a new approach for modeling epigenomic […]
Alzheimer Disease Gets Brain Region Specific EWASAugust 17, 2014Epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) appear to be the natural evolution of GWAS that has given neuroscience a epigenomic renaissance. Jonathan Mill and team from the University of Exeter Medical School and King’s College London have shown that sometimes it’s best to cover all angles and in their latest report(s) offer up some new epigenetic targets for studying the neuroscience of Alzheimer […]