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 […]
The Aging Methylome and CancerMarch 15, 2010Between the body aches and wrinkles, most of us don’t need to be reminded that getting old is the most significant health risk. A new report in Genome Research explains how promoters of certain Polycomb group protein target genes (PCGTs) become increasingly hypermethylated as we age; leaving us more at risk for cancer. The link […]
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 […]
Transcription Factors Stand Up to the Methylation MachineFebruary 18, 2010Sometimes the best defense is a good offense. That appears to be the case for transcription factors (TFs) that resist de novo DNA methylation by binding to their sites in CpG islands. Although this idea has been around for awhile, a team of German and American researchers led by Michael Rehli recently provided the first […]
CpG Methyltransferases Caught in the Act-and in Real TimeFebruary 17, 2010Being “caught in the act” isn’t usually a good thing, but catching DNA methyltransferases in the act is a very good thing for epigeneticists. A team at the University of Southampton (U.K.) now reports that they have developed a reproducible, real-time fluorescent assay that will help scientists understand how these enzymes regulate themselves, interact with […]
Nature and Nurture Walking the Same Path?February 11, 2010Ever notice how it gets more interesting when there’s more than just black or white, love or hate, good or evil? The real action seems to take place in the gray areas. It seems true for methylated alleles as well. A recent paper looking into genomic imprinting found new evidence that both genomic and environmental […]
State of Methylome Analysis: Genome-Wide Methylation Techniques ReviewFebruary 11, 2010The State of the Union Address and the drama/commentaries that accompany it have come come and gone, but a fresh Nature Review produced by USC’s Peter Laird now provides the epigenetics community with a State of Methylome Analysis. For the epigenetics researcher, it is every bit as insightful but won’t take as much time to […]
Methylome Stays Fashionable Throughout DifferentiationFebruary 5, 2010Our fashion sense evolves as we do. Just as you may trade your flip-flops for a business suit as you climb the corporate ladder, DNA methylation changes its style in cells that become more committed. To size up these methylation changes during differentiation, researchers at the UCSD Department of Reproductive Medicine and GIS in Singapore […]
In Evolution, Change Is the Only (Epigenetic) ConstantFebruary 1, 2010Most of us are thrown for a loop when conditions suddenly change, but some are better able to cope than others (we still haven’t gotten used to the new Facebook format). A recent PNAS paper by Johns Hopkins’ epi-gurus Andrew Feinberg and Rafael Irizarry makes the case that some of this adaptability stems from stochastic […]
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. […]