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Stressed Nucleosomes Linked to Depression

October 6, 2015

Have you ever felt stressed and even depressed? Well, a new study linking stress-induced depressive behaviors to changes in nucleosome positioning suggests that in order to relax yourself, you may first need to relax your chromatin. Susceptibility to major depressive disorder (MDD) depends on genetic variability but also on environmental factors such as a stressful […]

New Reporter System Captures DNA Methylation in Real Time

October 1, 2015

If a picture is worth a thousand words then surely a video must be worth more? So far, our knowledge about DNA methylation has been limited to a comic strip of static images at different stages. That may all be about to change with a new tool reported by the lab of Rudolf Jaenisch, which […]

Key Factors that Mend Broken Hearts

September 30, 2015

Jimmy Ruffin once asked, “What becomes of the broken hearted?” and the answer is normally found on a barstool or at the bottom of an ice cream tub. But for those suffering from the much more visceral consequences of a heart attack, the therapeutic avenues down which they can travel are more limited and less […]

Sorting the Old from the New – Cellular Barriers Keeps Stem Cells Young

September 29, 2015

Alongside smartphones, coffee shops, and bars, we all also need properly functioning stem cells to survive and prosper. Indeed, the stem cell theory of aging posits that the malfunctioning of stem cells in our later years, and not all that caffeine and alcohol, is the major cause of human aging. So how do we keep […]

Microfluidic ChIP Makes a Few Cells Go a Long Way

September 11, 2015

Chromatin immunoprecipitation (or ChIP) is a handy technique to study epigenetic profiles, but only if you have enough cells. The main problem with ChIP is that it can be a “greedy” technique that uses large numbers of cells while giving back the bare minimum of DNA as a result. This is problematic for the study of genome-wide […]

Microlasers Hold Big Promise for Next Generation Cellular Analysis

September 11, 2015

Recent work by Seok Hyun Yun and Matjaž Humar has shown us that laser shows aren’t just for Pink Floyd fans. These crafty researchers incorporated specific structures into individual cells, turning them into self-contained “microlasers”. In its simplest form, laser (or light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) technology uses an energy source to amplify photons bouncing between reflective […]

CRISPR Hack Enhances Stem Cell Differentiation

September 11, 2015

From horses in the farmyard to yeast in beer production, human beings have a long history of putting nature’s gifts to work. This can also be said of CRISPR technology, which utilizes a Cas9 DNA endonuclease and a guide RNA to target and destroy specific DNA sites. Nature had intended a role for CRISPR in bacterial […]

A Polymerase Evolved for Your Bisulfite Converted DNA

September 11, 2015

Bisulfite conversion can be used in so many different applications that it’s not so surprisingly referred to as the gold standard for DNA methylation analysis. But getting to the gold can create some problems for DNA. The process of converting methylated DNA (5mC) to Uracil and then finally a Thymine is harsh as it involves […]

Custom-Made Histone Modifications Add Some Bling to Chromatin

September 11, 2015

Sure, the new Apple products announced this week represented new breakthroughs and yes, you’ll be able to personalize these devices with countless modifications like cases, color and screens. The real action though, was unfolding (pun intended) in the world of chromatin analysis as a new method surfaced for introducing tags or native modifications into histones (or any other […]

CombiGEM Takes Combinatorial miRNA Analysis to the Next Level

September 7, 2015

Single gene-focused research can sometimes be like the Indian story of the blind men and the elephant. The blind men, having never seen an elephant before, decide to touch one and feel it for themselves, to determine its shape. However, since they all grab different parts of the elephant, each can only describe what they feel, […]