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Ever get that feeling that you forgot something? Well maybe you did, but it doesn't have to be recent epigenetics research if you scope out our Headlines each week.

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Socio-Economic Status Leaves A Methyl Mark on DNA

November 9, 2011

Candidates for public office never seem to learn that you can’t escape your past. It’s almost like they’ve never even heard of Google or YouTube or something! Speaking of not letting go of the past, we’ve seen a few papers recently suggesting that some epigenetic changes in early life can stick around for decades. Now, […]

Epigenetic Marker Maternal Blood Prenatal Trisomy 21

November 8, 2011

Screening for trisomy 21, or Down Syndrome, is a terrifying experience for soon-to-be parents that’s made even worse by the anxiety of the invasive procedures used in today’s testing methods. Soon, though, new diagnostics based on epigenetic markers should be able to indicate prenatal trisomy 21 from just a bit of mom’s blood. A new […]

EpiGenie Review: Chromatin’s Role in Cancer

November 7, 2011

There’s lots of attention, not to mention several therapeutics, focused on chromatin’s part in cancer. Take a look at some of the research featured in EpiGenie that makes chromatin such a hot topic with cancer researchers. The Role of Chromatin in Cancer Epigenetic Changes in a Hard-to-Treat Childhood Cancer A very difficult-to-treat childhood leukemia may […]

The Return of the Coding RNAs

November 7, 2011

When George Lucas penned the scripts to the Star Wars series, is it possible that he foresaw the parallels his plots would have with epigenetics? Probably not, but some new research has us thinking they share a lot in common. The non-coding RNA “dark side” of the genome has generated a lot of buzz over the last […]

EpiGenie Review: Environmental Links to Epigenetics and Cancer

October 27, 2011

If our daily environment can lead to cancer, and it can also alter our epigenetics, then it only makes sense that there is a connection between all three things. Here are the articles EpiGenie has written about showing the evidence linking environmental factors, and epigenetic mechanisms together with cancer. Environmental – Epigenetic Link to Cancer […]

Epigenetic Fountain of Youth Found in Worms?

October 26, 2011

We recently came across a hot new article that even the mainstream media has been all over. Stanford University researchers found that longevity can be passed down through generations without using DNA sequence to do it. The study found that C. elegans worms with certain histone modifications leading to increased longevity were able to pass that long […]

RNA Demethylation in Obesity

October 19, 2011

In news more surprising than the rise of the Occupy Wall Street movement, researchers have unearthed a novel mechanism in which RNA demethylation is mediated by, of all things, the obesity related protein FTO. FTO is a well-established target of obesity and diabetes researchers, but its function has so far been elusive. At least it […]

Shhh! RNAi Silences Yeast Heterochromatin As Cells Divide

October 18, 2011

It’s too bad that a little RNA interference (RNAi) won’t quiet down those noisy neighbors, but apparently it does the job quite well on yeast heterochromatin. Researchers from Cold Spring Harbor report that RNAi helps promote the silencing of heterochromatin during DNA replication (“S” phase), and they figured out how it all goes down in […]

Melt Away the Stress with miR-34

October 12, 2011

Every day there’s so much to stress about: Will your next big experiment be a success? Can you get your grant application in on time? How can Lady Gaga possibly outdo her last awards show outfit? Apparently, mice have stressful lives, too, and a recent study suggests that a particular miRNA, miR-34, might help them […]

Born to Lose: Histone Mods Tag Stem Cells for DNA Methylation of miRNA Loci in Cancer

October 12, 2011

It’s usually not hard to spot when things seem like they’re destined for failure. Like you ne’er do well cousin, or an American car from the 80’s. Other times, closer examination is required to find the seeds of a problem. That’s what it took for scientists to uncover how some harmless embryonic stem cells (ESCs) […]