Meta-Analysis Reveals Grim Reaper is Keeping an Eye On Your Epigenetic ClockOctober 19, 2016They say ‘Seasons don’t fear the reaper’, and while the festivities of this season certainly favor the reaper, most of us dread the reaper’s favor. Our understanding of how to avoid that favor is now improving, thanks to some new insight from the epigenetic clock-watching lab of Steve Horvath at UCLA. The epigenetic clock consists […]
Cancer Stem Cells Refuse to be Linked to Linker Histone H1.0October 19, 2016It is widely known that tumor lesions harbor diverse subpopulations of cell types each genetically and phenotypically unique. However, it is not always clear which cell types are actually promoting or sustaining the tumor. Typically, tumors consist of two class of cells—a subpopulation of cells that are fully differentiated and possess little to none tumor […]
Two “Suite” Tools for Tackling Big Data in Cancer Epigenomics AnalysesOctober 4, 2016With all the new datasets available, making sense of epigenomics data can be like finding a needle in a hayfield, let alone a stack. Studies of epigenetics in human complex disease have been greatly aided by larger and larger databases, but identifying meaningful biological relationships using these databases is challenging given their size. Cancer studies […]
Reporter of Genomic Methylation Delivers Imprinting and Epigenome Editing InsightsOctober 3, 2016Here at EpiGenie we like to think of ourselves as reporters of genomic methylation, but two new studies from the lab of Rudolf Jaenisch at MIT give us a run for our money and demonstrate the utility of their reporter of genomic methylation (RGM). Using RGM, the talented group brings forth a deeper understanding of […]
DNA Methylation Detects Ovarian Cancer’s Tissue of OriginSeptember 13, 2016While epigenetic variation underlies the origin of many cancers, underlying epigenetic similarities can reveal cancer’s tissue of origin. High-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC) is the most common and serious type of epithelial ovarian cancer. However, there are two competing hypotheses about which tissue HGSC arises from. Ovarian surface epithelia (OSE) has been implicated, but the […]
The Sunnyside of Precision DNA Demethylation by dCas9-TET1September 2, 2016On its quests to edit the epigenome like no biotechnology ever has, our deactivated Cas9 (dCas9) hero has come across many powerful effectors. When seeking out precision DNA demethylation, it has previously seen a multi TET1 approach. This makes use of both a dCas9 and TET1 catalytic domain fusion (dCas9-TET1) and also sgRNA 2.0 to […]
Tuning Chromatin Microenvironments with Epigenome EditingAugust 27, 2016Ensuring the sustainability of our environment is a noble goal, and when it comes to the chromatin microenvironments epigenome editing is no exception. While we’ve seen a range of epigenome editing applications, the long-term (mitotically stable) nature of these modifications has remained a challenge. In 2002, epigenome editing demonstrated that when it comes to the […]
Maternal Diet And rDNA Variants Combine To Determine Child Epi-FateAugust 14, 2016If you’ve been following nutrition studies hoping for diet advice, you may have noticed it’s complicated. First fat is bad, then it’s just saturated fat, then just trans fat, then actually it’s sugar. This may cause some to throw their hands up in frustration (grabbing a Twinkie from the top shelf while they’re up there), […]
Extra-Coding RNAs (ecRNAs) Sculpt Dynamic DNA Methylation of the BrainJuly 18, 2016We’ve got our mind on methylation and methylation in our mind, but we are often left wondering how DNA methylation got there in the first place. Well, that cognitive tongue twister has now been cracked by a class of RNA that likes to interact with DNA methyltransferases. Extra coding RNAs (ecRNAs) originate from the sense […]
Hey Methylation, Thanks for the MemoriesJuly 18, 2016Memories; we all have some we would rather forget, and some that we will hold onto forever. But how exactly is memory formed and what are the biochemical pathways that are in play? Recent studies have indicated that RNA and DNA adenosine methylation are important for the conversion of experiences, both good and bad, into […]
