Sopping Up Regulatory Insights with miRNA SpongesNovember 17, 2009We’ve all seen those household cleaning commercials on the tele that show a super detergent that cuts through grease, whitens whites, and zaps pet odor effortlessly, so when we first got wind of miRNA sponges a few years back (Nature Methods, August 2007), we remember being interested but skeptical. But, if these vector-driven miRNA inhibitors […]
MBD-Sequencing: The Latest Methylation Analysis Cocktail DeliversNovember 17, 2009Add 1 part enriched methylated DNA to 2 parts sequencing lanes, and you have a cocktail that delivers key insights without a data hangover. Last week, a team of Ohio scientists added the latest research recipe that is destined to become a lab fav in Nucleic Acids Research. The crew took the benefits of methylation […]
Stressing Out Over MethylationNovember 11, 2009Traumatic events like getting picked last for Dodgeball in gym class can really mess with your head. And some previous research has shown that really devastating incidents, such as 9-11, can change us, even while still in the womb, as shown in this video clip we posted a while back from the PBS Ghost in […]
The Dark-side of Being a Regulatory Star: miRNA Labeling and ManipulationNovember 11, 2009It wasn’t that long ago when cellular miRNAs lived under the radar. They went to work on their targets each day and hung out with other members of the extended RISC family. Their small size and lack of poly-A tails may have kept them out of the spotlight for decades, but the last few years […]
Comparing Long ncRNAs lincRNAsNovember 11, 2009Despite all of the attention to the non-coding transcriptome lately, our knowledge about what most long intergenic non-coding RNA (lncRNA) transcripts do – if indeed they do anything at all, still has more holes than a Dunkin’ Donut shop. Luckily there are folks out there willing to step in to take on the dirty job […]