Bioinformatics Brawn Links Histone Mods To mRNA SplicingAugust 25, 2009With terabytes of data streaming off sequencers nowadays, there’s heaps of data available that is begging to be mined. You don’t always have to run your own wet lab experiments either, if you know where to look. We know most bosses or PIs out there will probably resist cutting you loose to Starbuck’s to “crunch […]
Rinse and Spit: The Future of Cancer TestingAugust 25, 2009Gather round the spittoon, partners, there’s a new Ome in town. The miRome has joined the proteome and transcriptome as the “third diagnostic alphabet in saliva,” extols UCLA dental prof David Wong. For the past seven years or so the NIH (in particular the National Institute of Dental and CranioFacial Research) has been pushing saliva […]
miRNAs Help Boost Herpes Image in Prostate Cancer CommunityAugust 19, 2009The herpes virus (HSV-1) has never been well-liked in most circles. Hey, it’s hard to blame folks, what with all of the cold sores (or worse), for not wanting to get too close. But that may soon change as a team of scientists from The Prostate Centre at Vancouver General Hospital, is looking to upgrade […]
Prolonged Exposure to Life Alters Your DNA MethylationAugust 18, 2009“What a drag it is getting old…” We’ve always wondered how the Rolling Stones are still rockin. A little luck? Alien intervention? Genetics maybe, or is it something else? While most aging partiers are busy worrying about looking cool and fitting in with the Lindsey Lohans of the club scene, it turns out they should […]
Improvements in DNAm-Based Colorectal Cancer Screening Has Community BEAMingAugust 17, 2009We know how important it is to get colorectal cancer screenings, but they rank up next to taxes on the fun factor. In fact, we’d much rather have our doc run our blood or fecal sample through the new methyl-BEAMing (Beads, Emulsion, Amplification and Magnetics) technology developed by the DNA gurus of Vogelstein et al. […]
Famine, Conception, and MethylationAugust 13, 2009Over the years many celebrities and well doers worldwide have drawn our attention to those in need of aid and nourishment. Whether you attended Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh (not likely given the median age our audience), or remember singing along with Lionel Richie to the multi-platinum “We Are the World,” single (more likely) or maybe […]
RNA Pol II: The Hardest Working Polymerase in EpigeneticsAugust 13, 2009Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: new research shows RNA Pol II is a key player in an epigenetic mechanism. Lately, RNA Pol II seems to be in the headlines more than the Jonas Brothers, only with fewer screaming, teen fans. Recently we featured a paper suggesting that non-coding tiRNAs are formed through […]
Vidaza® and Entinostat Combo; A Potential Lung Cancer TherapyAugust 6, 2009Some things always seem better in combos: beer & pizza, SpongeBob & square pants… Soon, we may need to add Vidaza® & entinostat to that list. At the recent American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, researchers from Johns Hopkins Medical Institute and the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute reported that the combination of Vidaza® (5-azacitidine) […]
Mir-143 Slacks Off, Leaving DNMT3A To Run Wild In Colorectal CancerAugust 6, 2009We like to think of epigenetics in terms of distinct areas like chromatin, DNA methylation and non-coding RNA (heck, we’ve even divided up the EpiGenie website that way), but more and more evidence is blurring the lines and showing us how these overlap. A recent publication from researchers at The Chinese University of Hong Kong […]
True Biomarker: DNA Methylation Steps up in Non-Invasive Prenatal DxAugust 5, 2009With the raging success of Twilight and True Blood, the masses of entertainment junkies out there have joined a well-established movement in the scientific community to make the most out of blood. There are a ton of potentially useful biomarkers floating around in our veins and the non-invasive sampling process has made blood a crowd […]