Intergenerational Epigenetic Inheritance with Dr. Elizabeth RadfordOctober 22, 2013Dr. Elizabeth Radford discusses some of the latest trends in intergenerational epigenetic inheritance. This interview was shot at the Keystone Symposia’s meeting on Nutrition, Epigenetics and Human Disease, 2013 held in Santa Fe, New Mexico Intergenerational Epigenetic Inheritance We’re collaborating with Mary-Elizabeth Patti who works at Harvard, and she has a mouse model where they undernourish […]
SNPs, Nutrition, and DNA Methylation with Dr. Steven ZeiselOctober 4, 2013Dr. Steven Zeisel discusses the intersection of genetics and epigenetics in nutrition. SNPs, Nutrition, and DNA Methylation Well, we think that there are a number of genetic variants, single nucleotide polymorphisms. I’ll call them SNPs. These SNPs are extremely common in one carbon metabolism, especially among Caucasians. And we are reporting that these SNPs […]
Priming Cancer Therapies with Epigenetics with Dr. Peter JonesSeptember 9, 2013Dr. Peter Jones of the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at USC discusses the positive impact epigenetic therapies are having in the clinic. Priming Cancer Therapies with Epigenetics with Dr. Peter Jones Well, I think the thing that excites me the most is the increasing successes of epigenetic therapies in the clinic. And so I […]
MECP2 Therapy Deployed to Reverse Rett Syndrome SymptomsAugust 21, 2013They say that cats have nine lives. If that’s true then the idea of ‘Gene Therapy’ must be part feline. Despite several hurdles over the years, gene therapy once again captured the spotlight; this time by demonstrating that replacing mutated MECP2 can reverse the symptoms of Rett Syndrome in mice. The new research led by […]
Genomic Editing and lncRNAs Team Up Against Down’s SyndromeAugust 20, 2013According to breakthrough research, families affected by Down’s Syndrome may one day have the opportunity to alleviate many of the syndrome’s harmful aspects. Regardless of the ethical concerns around this treatment, which we won’t debate here, we think just the approach and mechanism developed within this study are worthy of a shout out. A cunning […]
MeCP2, Rett Syndrome and Getting to Know the Brain with Dr. Adrian BirdAugust 6, 2013Dr. Adrian Bird discusses what MeCP2 has to do with Rett Syndrome, and researchers still have a long way to go towards understanding the human brain. MeCP2, Rett Syndrome and Getting to Know the Brain with Dr. Adrian Bird I think the protein we work on, MeCP2, which recognizes methylated DNA, we knew it recognized […]
CRISPRi: The User-Friendly Transcriptional RepressorJuly 25, 2013Usually when you think of the immune system it isn’t at the level of our bacterial friends. But “prokaryotes have evolved diverse RNA-mediated systems that use short CRISPR RNAs (crRNAs) and Cas (CRISPR-associated) proteins to detect and defend against invading DNA elements” This system, also known as the CRISPR/Cas system, is a prokaryotic immune system […]
Epigenetics: Getting to Know the Readers and the Writers with Dr. Jerry WorkmanMay 31, 2013Dr. Jerry Workman shares some of his thoughts on the next steps in digging into biochemistry of epigenetic mechanisms to understand what’s reading and what’s writing. Epigenetics: Getting to Know the Readers and the Writers I think the most exciting aspect about epigenetics at this time is the potential it provides for some fantastic […]
Non-Coding RNAs Step Out of LINE in CancerMay 29, 2013LINE-1 retrotransposons are a plentiful and cunning repetitive element of viral origin, which are typically kept silent via our hardworking epigenetic mechanism: DNA methylation. However, just like every good molecular pirate, cancer likes to use what it hijacks. Dr. Cristina Tufarelli’s group (University of Nottingham, UK) have previously shown that aberrant activation of LINE-1 promoters […]
Epigenetics in Stem Cells TimelineMay 7, 2013Epigenetics and stem cells go hand in pipette. These two research areas have seen explosive growth so we thought we’d highlight some of our favorite highlights.
