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Cpf1 And C2c2 Are Multitasking CRISPR Swiss Army Knives

November 16, 2016

If there’s an official analogy for Cas9, it’s a pair of molecular scissors. Give Cas9 an RNA guide, and it will hunt down the complementary DNA and slice it in two with surgical precision. However, in this, the age of multitasking (HEY! Put down that other screen and pay attention!), being a one-trick pony doesn’t […]

The Delicate Balance Between H3K27me2 and H3K27me3 Decides Stem Cell Fate

November 15, 2016

The polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) methylates lysine 27 of histone H3 (H3K27me) via its catalytic subunit Ezh2. While H3K27me3 and H3K27me1 have been associated with gene repression and activation respectively, the exact role of H3K27me2 remains under-explored. However, recent works in temperature-sensitive drosophila and in PRC2 knock out embryonic stem cells (ESCs) suggest a role […]

Hi-C Captures Chromosome Contacts Critical to Cognition, CRISPR/Cas9 Confirms

November 15, 2016

In today’s world there’s not much you can be sure of, particularly when it comes to understanding the complexities of human cognition. Thankfully, the epigenome offers some much needed explanation, as demonstrated by the insight gained from DNA methylation maps of human neurodevelopment. However, genetic interactions created by 3-D chromosome structure have remained more of […]

Orthogonal, Inducible dCas9s Combinatorially Regulate Gene Expression

November 15, 2016

Turning gene expression up and down is a powerful use of CRISPR/Cas9. Labs around the world have been hard at work figuring out how to use CRISPR to control gene expression – including both transcriptional activation and repression, and then extending it to control translation and the epigenome. Cas9 can be light-activated, and with some […]

A CRISPR-Cas9 Pipeline for Efficiently Editing Blood Stem Cells

November 3, 2016

When it comes to gene therapy, blood diseases are prime candidates. Blood cells are constantly turning over, so you can quickly fix the blood supply if you replace the blood-producing stem cells in bone marrow; i.e., hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs). Transplanting marrow from a healthy donor is one approach, but a match can be difficult […]

Intergenerational Transmission of Extracellular dsRNA Filmed in C. elegans

November 1, 2016

Seeing is believing, whether it be a topic as hot as the upcoming presidential election or intergenerational epigenetic effects and transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. While exciting evidence on the role of sperm RNA in mammals has begun to accumulate thanks to the labs of Mansuy, Bale, and Rando, an elegant C. elegans study from the lab […]

ChIP-SICAP – Your New Favorite Assay Flavor?

November 1, 2016

Maple-bacon, chocolate, and hedgehog? The list of potato chip flavors keeps on getting longer and crazier. Also getting longer is the list of different ChIP assay varieties (that’s chromatin immunoprecipitation for the uninitiated), with the most interesting new “taste sensation” emanating from the lab of Jeroen Krijgsveld (DFKZ/EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany). While chips are good for […]

Variation in CpG Methylation is Tied to Biological Aging

October 19, 2016

There aren’t many things in this world that we can be certain about, but aging marks an all too important exception. Towards the goal of understanding the marks of this unavoidable process, we’ve seen the epigenetic clock, which looks at CpG sites that are certainly differentially methylated as we age. However, a new perspective to […]

Meta-Analysis Reveals Grim Reaper is Keeping an Eye On Your Epigenetic Clock

October 19, 2016

They say ‘Seasons don’t fear the reaper’, and while the festivities of this season certainly favor the reaper, most of us dread the reaper’s favor. Our understanding of how to avoid that favor is now improving, thanks to some new insight from the epigenetic clock-watching lab of Steve Horvath at UCLA. The epigenetic clock consists […]

Cancer Stem Cells Refuse to be Linked to Linker Histone H1.0

October 19, 2016

It is widely known that tumor lesions harbor diverse subpopulations of cell types each genetically and phenotypically unique. However, it is not always clear which cell types are actually promoting or sustaining the tumor. Typically, tumors consist of two class of cells—a subpopulation of cells that are fully differentiated and possess little to none tumor […]