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Stem Cells Cycle their Way towards Differentiation

August 31, 2015

Genes that code for some developmental regulators in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) might be excused if they seem a little confused. The regulatory signals they receive from their enveloping histone environment are a combination of “Stop!” and “Go!” signals for their transcription. Although this seems counterintuitive, this combination of modifications, known as a bivalent domain, […]

UBER: Cross-Species, Drag-and-Drop Gene Circuits

August 26, 2015

There’s a bit of a dirty little secret in synthetic biology – gene circuits that work great in one species often require a lot of changes to work in anything else. This is one reason so many synbio papers contain the same two key words: E. and coli. Now, a new approach called UBER (Universal […]

RiboT: Synthetic Ribosome Opens Door to Independent Genetic Codes

August 25, 2015

Synthetic biologists have made a lot of progress in developing “orthogonal” genetic systems. DNA and RNA have been made with synthetic base pairs, and cells have been coaxed to produce proteins with synthetic amino acids. This expands the genetic code beyond the standard letters used by life on Earth, which could potentially open up new […]

ChIPmentation: The Next Fast and Low-Input ChIP-seq Sensation

August 25, 2015

ChIP-Seq is the bread and butter of histone and transcription factor research. It has seen countless modifications to allow it to perform under all the variables biology can throw at it, but with that specialization has come limitations to generalization. Now the methodological maestros in the lab of Christoph Bock, which brought us single-cell methylome sequencing, […]

Two Cocktails to Boost Reprogramming to Neurons

August 17, 2015

Trendy drinks come and go, but it looks like there are a couple of new cocktails that will have some staying power within the stem cell community. In last week’s issue of Cell Stem Cell, two independent groups report in back-to-back papers the development of small molecule chemical cocktails, which enable neurons to be directly derived […]

New Insights into Puzzling Placental DNA Methylation Domains

August 14, 2015

The human placental methylome was the first normal tissue where partially methylated domains (PMDs) were characterized, found to be developmentally dynamic, and distinct from highly methylated domains (HMDs, methylation >70%). PMDs are a large scale genomic feature with DNA methylation levels that are less than 70% but nowhere near 0% and tend to harbour neuron […]

Phage Therapy: Synthetic Biology Goes Viral

August 12, 2015

Viruses have long been maligned as worthless, pseudo-alive parasites, but treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections may be about to go viral. No, we don’t mean cats taking medicine on video (although…). No, this is phage therapy. Phages are viruses that infect bacteria, and research into using them to treat bacterial infections goes back decades, especially in […]

Epigenetics Drives Genetics Straight Into Evolution

August 9, 2015

In today’s fast-paced world, quickly adapting to your environment is a game-changer. But genetic determinism cannot fully explain the rapid adaption seen in many species, which has left evolution in a dark age. That is until the enlightening work of Michael Skinner’s laboratory at Washington State University. Their observations on transgenerational epigenetic inheritance have been […]

Hacking the Microbiome: Bacteria Advance Therapeutics and Diagnostics

August 5, 2015

Commensal bacteria have long had branding issues. First there was an awareness problem – “Wait, these things are inside us?” Then there was an image problem – “Germs! Bad! Kill!” They even had a Pluto moment, when it turned out a whole bunch of them weren’t even bacteria at all. Despite these difficulties, the word […]

Lights Out! Sleep Loss Affects DNA Methylation of Circadian Genes

August 4, 2015

‘La nuit blanche’. No, it is not a delicious pastry. It’s the French expression for staying up all night and not going to bed until the next evening, which in most cases will leave you pretty irritable. But losing one night’s sleep may affect more than just your mood; a new study by Swedish […]