EPIC Technique Infers Gene Expression from Cell-free DNA FragmentationMay 9, 2022It’s time to put down that well-thumbed copy of Homer’s Odyssey, as there is a new epic in town. Now, the “epigenetic expression inference from cell-free (cf)DNA-sequencing” (EPIC-seq) technique heroically enables gene expression analysis using a process known as “fragmentomics.” Circulating cfDNA comes as nucleosome-associated fragments that reflect the chromatin configuration in the cell of […]
Automated Chromatin Profiling Platforms Autopilot Patients to the ClinicNovember 22, 2021From human-free supermarket check-outs to autopiloted cars, the modern world is rapidly moving towards automation. In the most recent advance, a rabble of robotic researchers has applied related technological tricks to epigenetic assays to “autopilot” high-throughput chromatin profiling and provide a clinical tool that may support optimized treatment choices in leukemia patients. Specifically, a technology-driven […]
New Single-cell CRISPR Screens “ATAC” Chromatin AccessibilityJune 6, 2021Have you been struggling to agree on a plan of action for your recent epigenetic experiments? Have you been fighting over just what strategy to use to decipher how genetic alterations affect the epigenetic landscape? While we should all follow John and Yoko’s example and try to give peace a chance, you sometimes need to […]
Where’s the Cancer Driver? MethSig Cuts Through the Background Noise to Identify Oncogenic Promoter HypermethylationMay 26, 2021As any TikTokker, Zoom presenter, or amateur photographer worth their salt can tell you, sometimes a good background is all you need to make your content really pop. It turns out that the same principle applies when trying to figure out which promoter DNA hypermethylation events drive tumor growth. MethSig, a new algorithm developed by Heng Pan in Dan Landau’s group at Weill Cornell Medicine, improves […]
Nu.Q Capture‑MS: The New New of Liquid Biopsy Detects Histone Modifications on Circulating NucleosomesApril 20, 2021With the rapid pace of liquid biopsy assay development, it can be a challenge to keep up with the latest and greatest early cancer detection methods. Although most methods are focused on assaying the association of cell-free DNA methylation profiles with cancer, a new method homes in on circulating nucleosomes and their histone post-translational modifications (PTMs). In order […]
Removing R-loops Regulates Repression: Revealing the Role of LSD1April 19, 2021Epigenetic regulatory cascades can be complex affairs…to say the least. Thankfully, a recent chromatin effector coregulator-based study now keeps us firmly in the loop by revealing how a histone demethylase induces gene repression by triggering a regulatory cascade that removes RNA:DNA hybrid structures known as R-loops! A talented team led by Philipp Rathert (University of […]
Cancer-associated Histone Mutations Modulate Nucleosome Remodeling to Get That Histone Body Moving!March 26, 2021While any new study mentioning histones generally gets our epigenetic tails wagging, a stunning study into how cancer-associated histone mutations influence nucleosome remodeling has also got our “globular” bodies moving! Although most researchers focus on mutations in the histone tail, most high-frequency cancer-associated mutations actually affect the main “bodies” of the histone proteins (known as […]
No Biopsy? No Problem! – Detecting Pancreatic Cancer from Cell-Free DNA 5hmC ProfilingNovember 13, 2020Want to detect the development of pancreatic cancer and improve patient outcomes but don’t have any tissue biopsies? An exciting new epigenetics study that employed liquid biopsies to detect 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC) on circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) to allow the early detection of pancreatic cancer now says: “No Problem!” Researchers at Bluestar Genomics (San Diego, CA, USA), […]
Epitranscriptomic tRNA Study Finally Reveals the “Y” of Aggressive Colon TumorsAugust 25, 2020Away with you Holmes, begone Poirot, and bye-bye Nancy Drew, because a terrific team of epigenetic detectives has solved an epitranscriptomic cold case to reveal the “Y” of aggressive colon tumors by linking CpG island promoter DNA hypermethylation of a key epitranscriptomic modifier and a transfer RNA (tRNA) modification to tumorigenesis. Epitranscriptomics includes the modification […]
Cell free DNA MeDIP-seq is a Molecular Methylation Magnet for Machine Learning Cancer DetectionAugust 7, 2020Finding the cell free DNA (cfDNA) that most cell-types release into blood plasma is always a challenging task, but certain cancers release so little that it takes looking for a needle in a haystack to the next level. Methods for sorting the “hay” have often come up short, but two new studies successfully developed a […]
