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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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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) […]

Baby Epigenomes Thank You For Not Smoking

October 10, 2011

It’s no secret that smoking is bad, now new evidence shows that smoking during pregnancy could be very dangerous for a fetus. In a recent report, Baylor College of Medicine researchers found that moms who light up are also altering their babies’ epigenomes and transcriptomes. In some previous work, the scientists had only looked at […]

EpiGenie Review: Epigenetic Cancer Therapies and Diagnostics

October 10, 2011

Nearly everyone has been affected by cancer in some way or another. That’s why we’re so stoked to see all of the amazing breakthroughs in cancer knowledge coming from epigenetic research these days. Will it lead to treatments or cures anytime soon? Who knows, but it sure seems like we’re on the right track. Just […]

X-linked miRNAs Give Fairer Sex Unfair Immune Advantage

September 28, 2011

We love it when Epigenetic research hits the mainstream media, if for no other reason than our family and friends will have some idea of what we’re talking about when they ask about our work. This new article from sceintists at Ghent University in Belgium definitely fits the bill. Their new research finds that X-linked […]

Comparing Methylomes Reveals Evolutionary Secrets

September 28, 2011

Your mother always told you never to compare yourself with others, but in the methylation game, comparisons can reveal lots of cool info. Researchers now report that by comparing the methylomes of eight species, they found out that the placement of the H3K36me3 mark in Drosophila actually predicts where DNA methylation happens in other invertebrates. […]

Oh, the Horror! Commercial RTs Create False-Positive ncRNA Detection

September 16, 2011

With Halloween coming soon, we usually expect some visits from goblins, ghosts, and other creepy creatures who aren’t really what they seem. Now, researchers warn that using commercial reverse transcriptase (RT) might give you another sort of ghastly scare—you might think you’re detecting antisense non-coding RNA (ncRNA) when it isn’t even there. With so much […]

Epigenetic Instability Passes DNA Methylation Variation on to Heirs

September 15, 2011

There are loads of things we’d hope to inherit from our parents, like intelligence, good looks or maybe even the family fortune, but we’re pretty sure altered DNA methylation wouldn’t make the list. No use worrying about that, though, since we can’t do much about it…and how often does that really happen anyway? A group […]

Podbat Let’s You Fly Through Epigenomic Analysis

September 14, 2011

How much would you pay to be able to analyze epigenomic data sets for multiple modifications, from various sources and different experiment types simultaneously? Before you answer, check out this new software tool, Podbat (Positioning database and analysis tool) that lets you do all of that and more…for free! When we first heard the name, […]