Epigenetic Drift in Stem CellsNovember 28, 2012Living for a while in a new environment can have a big effect on how you dress, talk, and act. Just listen to Madonna’s British accent. Likewise, taking bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) out of the body and into the in vitro cell-culture environment can change them—but not necessarily for the better. In order […]
MNase-Seq Produces High Resolution Nucleosome Positioning MapsNovember 27, 2012Nucleosomes don’t have GPS, so how do they know where to go? Are they haphazardly strewn across the genome or is there some logic to it? Researchers now say they have some answers. They found that DNA sequence and DNA-binding proteins play roles in determining where nucleosomes end up, and that most nucleosomes are more […]
One Step ChIP with Abcam’s EpiSeeker ChIP KitNovember 20, 2012Antibody companies like Abcam run a ton of ChIP experiments, so they’re all too familiar with the amount of variability that can lurk in every step of the ChIP protocol. So what’s the safest way to reduce variability and get consistent results? Reduce the steps of course; and that’s exactly what the EpiSeeker ChIP Kit […]
Lentiviral Vectors Can Cause Epigenetic ModificationsNovember 20, 2012Stem cell programming has been buzzing the last few years and with recent work suggesting that epigenetic and ncRNA factors are manipulative enough to star in TV drama, we expect the excitement to continue. But according to a recent report, researchers may need to keep close tabs on how the very methods they use to […]
miR 126 Sponges: The Gift for the Stem Cell Researcher that has EverythingNovember 20, 2012The gift giving started bit early this year for the stem cell community as an international team of researchers shared key findings that could transform clinical applications of human blood stem cells. They wrapped up miR-126 binding sites in lentiviral vectors and put a serious smack down on miR-126 activity in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). […]
EpiGenie 5hmC Technology GuideOctober 31, 2012A couple of years ago, researchers keen to analyze 5-hmC had a couple of options, but those early approaches couldn’t quite satisfy all of their increasing demands. Fast-forward a bit and it’s a very different story. Today there’s a plethora of options, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. As a result, one of the […]
This Stem Cell Reprogramming is Made Possible with Generous Support from Histone H3.3October 30, 2012Some people dress up their pets in clothes so that they will look more like their human owners. Turns out, a similar thing happens in the nuclear transfer process to make stem cells. Jerome Jullien and colleagues in 2012 Nobel laureate John B. Gurdon’s lab (along with a number of other great researchers in France […]
GC Content and CpG Islands Keep Chromatin Open for TranscriptionOctober 30, 2012The word “island” conjures up images of a tropical paradise with a sandy beach and a sunny sky—a nice place to hang out. In a similar way, CpG islands turn out to be nice places for Pol II to hang out without worrying about pesky nucleosomes getting in the way, according to researchers in France […]
5-hmC Sequencing on a BudgetOctober 30, 2012Whether you’re the head of a lab, household, or leading a country, budgets are a reality. Like those old jeans you can’t seem to donate, they seem to get tighter every year. So when slick, new methods surface that tackle some tough challenges like single nucleotide resolution 5-hmC profiling, researchers’ excitement is quickly tempered by […]
Three Ways to Get Intimate with Epigenetic MarksOctober 24, 2012The days of dealing with regional estimates of epigenetic marks like histone modifications and DNA methylation are just about behind us. That’s right, the maps that lie ahead will be less Thomas Guide and more GPS. Drs. Gabriel Zentner and Steve Henikoff recently took some time off from being all-star cancer researchers and pulled together […]