Drop-by-Drop Cell Fate Control by Transcriptional CondensatesJuly 22, 2018Little-by-little, step-by-step, and drop-by-drop, we are beginning to appreciate the vital importance of intracellular liquid-like droplet formation to fundamental mechanisms such as epigenetic inheritance and heterochromatin domain formation. Liquid-like droplets aid these processes by biological “phase-separation” or the selective concentration of some molecules into a small intracellular area and the exclusion of others. Excitingly, two new […]
Flipping the EpiSwitch on Chromosome Conformation as a Diagnostic Tool for ALSJuly 17, 2018Looking to get switched on to new uses of epigenetics in the clinic? Check out EpiSwitch™, a platform for developing chromatin conformation diagnostics. One of the biggest challenges in genetic medicine is disease heterogeneity, both in terms of getting a diagnosis and determining the best treatment course. Often, genetic changes can only account for a […]
Sorry Guys, Higher Placental H3K27me3 Levels Protect Female Brains from Prenatal StressJuly 15, 2018While self-help books may suggest that women are from Mars and men are from Venus, exciting new findings demonstrate that the study of epigenetic modifications offers an astronomically better explanation for the differences between males and females. Inspired by research indicating that males suffer from greater vulnerability to prenatal stress and certain psychiatric conditions, the […]
A microRNA and Histone Methylation Cascade Links TGF-β Signaling to Senescence and AgingJuly 10, 2018While knowing the start- and end-points of a journey is all well and fine, without studying the route taken, we may miss some exciting opportunities; a drink in an enchanting country pub, a picturesque stroll by the shores of a beautiful lake, or as a recent study has demonstrated, a potential treatment for aging? Let’s […]
Junk Drawer No More: LINE-1 RNA Functions as a Chromatin Scaffold Critical to Early DevelopmentJune 26, 2018Do you have a junk drawer at your house? Perhaps it’s full of old take-out menus, dead batteries, rubber bands, and other purposeless things? Since their discovery, transposable elements, including the LINE-1 retrotransposon, have been relegated to the “junk drawer” of the human genome. At best LINE-1 has been called useless, and at worst it […]