Brain Cells Choose Cilia Over Social Media to Make Exciting New Connections!September 19, 2022When was the last time you made an exciting new connection? At an international conference, the coffee shop, or social media? A welcoming new study now provides evidence that brain cells don’t go to these lengths or even have to take a standard synaptic approach; instead, they use a connection – an axo-ciliary synapse – […]
Keeping Aging in LINE by Stabilizing HeterochromatinSeptember 11, 2022Like many aspects of our lives, epigenetic processes can get out of control during aging. Now, exciting new findings have revealed that the secret to keeping our aging epigenomes “in line” is removing LINE-1 RNA from cells, which stabilizes heterochromatin and reverses signs of aging! Previous studies have shown how age-associated heterochromatin loss associates with […]
Multiomic Face-off Finds the Factors that Lead to Look-alikes!September 6, 2022Have you ever heard of someone bumping into their doppelgänger and wondered how the forces of biology conspired to make two unrelated people look alike? In a recent study, a few familiar faces took advantage of a photographer’s keen eye and a multiomic “face-off” to find those factors that lead two strangers to look alike! […]
Novel Multiomic Epigenetic Clock May Decipher How Epigenetic Aging Impacts Cell FunctionAugust 23, 2022Timely advances have demonstrated that significant changes to DNA methylation levels accompany the creaking knees, failing eyes, and changing tastes in music (!) associated with the human aging process. A well-timed study now builds upon these past studies to describe a multiomic-based approach with the potential to forge links between epigenetic aging and the gene […]
No Cells? No Problem! How Cell-Free DNA Methylation Profiles May Guide Cancer ManagementAugust 20, 2022When set the monumental task of studying how the epigenetic mechanisms underlying tumorigenesis, isolating a cell sample usually represents your first analytical port of call; however, research now suggests that liquid biopsies of a patient’s blood may provide a wealth of information from cell-free DNA. Furthermore, widening this approach to DNA methylation analysis may also […]
The Human Imprintome Maps out the Epigenetic Roots of DiseaseAugust 20, 2022A well-illustrated map may have helped the Spanish easily locate El Dorado or David Livingstone pinpoint the source of the Nile; now, rugged researchers have delicately “sliced” through the jungle of the human genome to create a map of imprint control regions (ICRs) – creating the “imprintome” – to hasten our exploration of the epigenetic […]
Multimodal Nanopore Profiling of Circulating Tumor DNAAugust 1, 2022The Oxford Nanopore (ONT) sequencing platform may have more modalities than a Swiss army knife. In a multimodal masterpiece of a new study, researchers now demonstrate how DNA methylation, copy number alterations, nucleosome footprinting, and fragmentation profiles derived from liquid biopsies of cancer patients can deconvolute cellular composition and identify cancer-specific methylation changes from circulating […]
Wake Up and Don’t Smell the Coffee! – How SARS-CoV-2-Induced DNA Methylation Impacts Your Sense of SmellJuly 18, 2022While many researchers have woken up, smelled the coffee, and realized the importance of epigenetic alterations in response to SARS-CoV-2 infections, many patients recovering from COVID-19 have been left unable to enjoy the olfactory joy of their first cup of java as each new day dawns. Now, well-caffeinated researchers led by Maria Lerm at Linköping […]
Anchor-based Bisulfite Sequencing Sets Sail to Explore the DNA Methylome!July 10, 2022The anchor is a crucial part of any seaworthy ship of exploration, and after setting sail from your local CpG island, you’ll be glad you stowed anchor-based bisulfite sequencing (or ABBS) to keep your DNA methylation voyages firmly anchored to new and exciting regions of the methylome. Anchor-based bisulfite sequencing, which comes to you from […]
Location, Location, Location! – How Site-specific mRNA ac4C Acetylation Impacts TranslationJune 29, 2022Where you spend your time away from work – a lake-side cottage far from the hustle and bustle or a party pad in the bohemian part of town – is a crucial decision. Now, new research on roaming RNAs demonstrates that when you call the epitranscriptome your home, the age-old rule “location, location, location” also […]