EpiGenie Gets a Face LiftMarch 18, 2010Since we launched EpiGenie two years ago, we’ve been redesigning it and putting various bandages on it to share information a little better. Well, three web developers and a bunch of late nights later, we’re psyched to present our new look and feel. What’s New? We made a number of changes to design and our […]
Thank Histone Methylation for the MemoriesMarch 17, 2010Ever notice how certain things can trigger unpleasant memories (like that sushi that gave you food poisoning)? Researchers have long wondered how these “contextual fear memories” get burned into our brains. A new study led by Farah Lubin at the University of Alabama at Birmingham has shown that histone methylation plays an important role in […]
SCAN-ing For Chromatin GoldMarch 2, 2010If you run enough tedious ChIP experiments, it feels like you might as well be panning for gold back in the 1800s; doing a lot of work for a few nuggets of data. Luckily some technological wizards at Cornell University have your back and are working on a new system called SCAN (Single Chromatin Analysis […]
Epigenetic Marks Make the Long Distance Thing Look EasyFebruary 22, 2010Even with all the advanced communications at our fingertips today, long distance relationships rarely work out, but it appears epigenetic silencing is an exception. Epigenetic silencing can spread to neighboring genomic regions through long-range epigenetic silencing (LRES) in cancer cells. In LRES, large blocks of genomic regions (like on the order of megabases) get silenced. […]
Histone Mods Choose Alternative Splicing LifestyleFebruary 8, 2010We can’t say we were surprised to hear that histone mods lead an alternative lifestyle—not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s been theoretically shown that nucleosomes and their histone marks are involved in splicing by crunching data from previous experiments. Now, scientists at NCI, the University of Toronto, and the University of Texas Health […]
Methylation Puts Nucleosomes in the Hot SeatFebruary 1, 2010It’s no fun to get put in the “hot seat”. Whether it’s your advisor ragging on you for not having enough data; or your sweetie reminding you that you forgot your anniversary. Again. In either case, you sink lower and lower into your chair, and your muscles tighten while you take what you have coming. […]
Et Tu, Methyl Group? Epigenetic Betrayal of NSD1February 1, 2010Sometimes your best friend can become your worst enemy. Take the case of the methyl group and the histone methyltransferase enzyme NSD1: The methyl is NSD1’s little buddy through countless histone methyltransferase reactions, when suddenly the backstabbing little –CH3 teams up with a DNA methyltransferase to silence NSD1 expression. This tale of intrigue was told […]
Two ES Cell Types Find Some Common GroundJanuary 6, 2010Coming from different backgrounds doesn’t make it impossible to find common ground. Just look at nuclear transfer-derived ES (ntES) and in vitro fertilized embryo-derived ES (IVFES) cells. Sure, they’re from different sides of the ES cell tracks, but as researchers from Michigan State University found out, once they’ve differentiated it hardly seems to matter. NtES […]
RIP-Chip Tears Into miRNP Complex AnalysisJanuary 6, 2010Solving the mysteries of miRNA:mRNA interactions has been a tough case to crack. Correlation studies, and miRNA target prediction algorithms point us in the right direction, but their indirect nature is a little like going to trial with only circumstantial evidence. Researchers from University of Kentucky published a new paper demonstrating how RIP-Chip techniques can […]
Developing Technologies for Improved In Vivo Epigenetic Imaging/AnalysisDecember 15, 2009The NIH is opening up its wallet again for epigenetic technology development. $3.5M will be allocated in 2010 for developing in vivo epigenetic imaging and analysis technologies. According to the grant description, the NIH has recognized that “… the technologies available to determine the epigenetic state of tissues in vivo are extremely limited. The specific […]