PatMAn and the Magnificent Seven Methylation ClassifiersJune 16, 2008It seems pattern recognition and supervised learning techniques are being applied to epigenetics research a lot nowadays. These advanced computational techniques that have proven useful in everything from homeland security to financial modeling are lending a hand to some of the challenges in epigenetics research. Recently we’ve seen them applied to miRNA discovery and target […]
ChIP TipsJune 1, 2008There’s a reason chromosome immunoprecipitation (ChIP) continues to be used in labs all over the world. It works well. In fact, there aren’t too many ways to map minute-by-minute changes at a single promoter, or alternatively, follow a single transcription factor over the entire human genome. ChIP is very versatile and can yield significant insights […]
Pursuit of the Moving miRNA TargetApril 11, 2008Since 3’ UTRs were found to contain docking sites for miRNAs, labs with computational muscle around the world have been chipping away the target predication dilemma, but like any game, it’s hard to win when you don’t know the rules. It’s even harder when the rules are being rewritten weekly which is why we have […]
RIP it Good: The Rise of Ribonucleicprotein IPApril 5, 2008For years, transcriptional regulation took center stage in studies of gene expression, and the nuances of which transcription factor binds to which DNA sequence under which circumstances dominated the dialogue of molecular biologists. In recent years, a supporting actor has threatened to steal the show: enter, post-transcriptional regulation. The idea that messenger RNA utilization could […]
The Evolution of DNA Methylation AnalysisMarch 12, 2008Since the advent of bisulfite conversion over 15 years ago, dozens of labs have streamlined the procedure, new patents have been filed, and numerous research kits with “new and improved” versions of the protocol have been launched, yet the core principal of the method remains the same: change a C to a U. Over the […]