Turning the Spotlight on Extraordinary Epigenetics ContentNovember 13, 2020Our sponsors help keep the lights on, the Wi-Fi humming, and our epigenetic content flowing to your screens each week. And while we may be a tad biased, we want to turn the spotlight on the range of highly useful and always educational epigenetics content from these websites that you should check out! Dovetail Genomics […]
Special Multiomics Feature: Combinatorial DNA Methylation and Chromatin Assays Serve Up New InsightNovember 9, 2020Combinations of old favorites can be even tastier than the sum of their parts. Who doesn’t leave peanut butter and jam, chips and dip, and DNA methylation and chromatin assays? While they sound appetizing, those last two aren’t quite as easy to get together. Many assays have been developed in the past to combine ChIP […]
Long-Sperm Effects: THC and Nicotine Have A Lasting Impact on Bivalent Chromatin and Autism GenesNovember 4, 2020While some fathers planning a family may be left in a bivalent state when deciding about smoking cannabis or nicotine, new research has cleared the air. THC and nicotine both prime an autism spectrum disorder profile in sperm through altering DNA methylation within bivalent chromatin states. In their seminal paper, researchers from the lab of […]
Low-Pass WGBS of Newborn Dried Blood Spots: A Methylome-Wide Role for the RUNX1 Super-Enhancer in Down SyndromeOctober 23, 2020While collecting blood spots may seem like a hobby best left for a TV serial killer like Dexter Morgan, a novel low-pass whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) approach has shown that newborn dried blood spots are more than just a trophy. Their entire methylome can be assayed to answer enticing epigenomic enigmas. DNA methylation array studies have […]
X Marks the Spot for Neurodevelopment in the Autism Spectrum Disorder Cord Blood MethylomeOctober 19, 2020Every good pirate knows that X marks the spot on their treasure map, but what’s one to do when it’s surrounded by the dangers of uncharted territory? Thankfully, when it comes to the unexplored regions of the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) DNA methylome, whole genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) has illuminated the way to the X chromosome […]
Multi-omic Analyses Highlight an Epigenetic Treatment Strategy for Early-stage Alzheimer’sOctober 19, 2020Given the unfortunate failure of many treatment strategies for late-stage Alzheimer’s disease, researchers recently sought to gain some fresh new perspective from multiple angles by mounting a three-pronged transcriptomic, proteomic, and epigenomic attack to decipher the mechanisms controlling disease progression. Excitingly, the team behind this study now highlight the possibility of an early-stage epigenetic therapy […]
Racing Against the Epigenetic Clock: PRDM8 and Premature AgingOctober 5, 2020Scientists are always working against the clock, and recently, a team led by Wolfgang Wagner (RWTH Aachen University, Germany) used their ever-evaporating time to explore a potential link between telomere shortening and epigenetic clock acceleration in premature-aging associated bone marrow failure syndromes and describe a new disease biomarker! Patients with premature aging and difficult-to-diagnose bone […]
Activity Matters: Enhancing our Understanding of Brain MaturationSeptember 29, 2020While epigenetic studies have shown us that the past sculpts the future, the mechanisms have remained a cognitive conundrum, particularly when it comes the developing brain. Thankfully, a stimulating new study has come forth to show how early-life brain activity flips a switch that establishes cell-type specific enhancers for life. To prime our brains with this […]
The One With All The Brand New Methylation FactorsSeptember 22, 2020Could there BE anymore genes affecting DNA methylation? Actually, yes! We always hear about the main cast of the methylation show, the DNMTs and the TETs, but where are all the supporting actors that attract, repel or otherwise interact with these stars? A new show (study) from the studio (lab) of Bastiaan Heijmans (Leiden University […]
Choosing Sides: Tsix RNA Decapping Initiates the X Chromosome Inactivation CascadeSeptember 9, 2020When it comes to X inactivation there are a huge number of studies that eXist. Despite being one of the best-studied epigenetic phenomena, the molecular decision making process behind the initiation of X chromosome inactivation (XCI) had remained far from fully understood. The regulation of the long non-coding RNA Xist initiates XCI. Xist’s antisense partner […]