Targeting Brd4 Fends Off Acute Myeloid LeukemiaAugust 3, 2011Chromatin mods should be good drug targets for cancer therapies, but sort of like Facebook’s privacy policy, cancer epigenetics is so complex that no one completely understands all the nuances. So instead of spending time on the usual epigenetic suspects, researchers at Cold Spring Harbor in New York kept an open mind and performed an […]
miR-103 Takes the Sting Out of Chronic PainAugust 3, 2011Simple aches pains send us scrambling for the ibuprofen, so we can only imagine how hard it is to deal with chronic pain. Following up on the role that microRNAs play in some neurological processes, researchers found that miR-103 regulates certain pain channels, and may one day be the a key to chronic pain relief. […]
Top Five Reasons To Automate Your Epigenetic WorkflowAugust 3, 2011The word “automation” conjures up images of the future complete with robot butlers and flying cars, but the reality is that automation is here now, and it can change your everyday life in a big way. In the lab, automated instruments have already impacted how we use common techniques like PCR and sequencing. Today new […]
Regulation of RNA Splicing and Histone Methylation a Two-Way StreetJuly 28, 2011The evidence that chromatin is involved in regulating splicing is piling up. But is that just a one-way street? No, says an international team of researchers who now report loads of data suggesting that splicing can return the favor and contribute to histone methylation. Looking at ChIP experiments in mouse and human genomes, the researchers […]
Cancers Ban Erythropoietin with DNA MethylationJuly 27, 2011Most folks know the hormone erythropoietin (aka EPO) because of its use as a “doping” substance by athletes to illegally gain an edge on their competition through enhanced red blood cell production. Even though we all make at least a little bit of the stuff naturally in lots of our tissues, it seems that athletic […]
