Headlines Archives - EpiGenie | Epigenetics, Stem Cell, and Synthetic Biology News

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Ever get that feeling that you forgot something? Well maybe you did, but it doesn't have to be recent epigenetics research if you scope out our Headlines each week.

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Race, Gender and Non-Coding RNA: tRNAs Don’t Play it Politically Correct

July 17, 2015

Human genetics just got a whole lot more complicated with a report published last week by Isidore Rigoutsos’ team in Oncotarget. As if differences in expression profiles between cells, tissues and differentiation stages weren’t already enough, it seems that race and gender also affect genomic output. Specifically, the team focused on transfer RNAs (tRNAs). tRNAs […]

Resistance is Futile: Epigenetic Therapy Makes Cancer Cells Defenseless

July 9, 2015

A team of American scientists have shown that an epigenetic therapy might hold promise for combatting drug resistance in cancer. Cancer cells are masters of drug evasion and adept at using alternative pathways to give them an edge during treatment, complicating many therapeutic approaches. Overcoming drug resistance in cancer cells, would save millions of lives […]

Optogenetics Sets the Pace

July 8, 2015

When it comes to the fast pace of biotechnology, missing a beat is never good. Building on that principle, a talented team from Israel used optogenetics to resynchronize hearts with just that problem. Optogenetic systems are showing tremendous clinical potential, whether it be bringing eyesight to the blind or restoring excitable physiology, they offer a […]

CRISPR-Display: For the lncRNA Enthusiast that has Everything

July 6, 2015

From wall hung TVs to the latest wearable; displays have been a key technology differentiator for years. Now we’d like to introduce you to CRISPR-Display, one of the latest applications of CRISPR technology for the lncRNA lover that wants to elevate their functional game. Interest in lncRNAs continues to surge, but like other uncharted areas […]

DNA Methylation Steps Up to Protect Against the Impact of Environmental Stress

July 3, 2015

It rears its head around tax time and lunges at you when your experiments fail. It can be good for you, but usually stinks….STRESS. It goes without saying that stress in any form is best avoided. This is especially true if you happen to be an expecting mother who’s currently eating for two, as the […]

Book Review: Epigenetics – Current Research and Emerging Trends

July 2, 2015

Edited by Brian P. Chadwick and composed of 17 chapters from thought leaders in academia and industry, this is one text you don’t want to miss. It covers a wide breadth of topics ranging from DNA methylation to Chromatin to ncRNA, with insight from across the tree of life and related human disorders. The perspective […]

5fC is Stable in Mammalian Brains

June 24, 2015

DNA methylation has been undergoing dramatic change lately. 6mA shook things up by showing Cytosine can’t claim all the glory and now a talented team from the UK have shown 5-formylcytosine (5fC) is starting to follow in 5hmC’s independent footsteps. The team profiled 5hmC, 5fC, and 5caC using: in vivo isotope labeling of methionine to penetrate […]

Gene Editing Future Brightens with paCas9

June 22, 2015

We knew it was coming. No, not another Jurassic Park sequel. No, not another installment of Star Wars. More inevitable than the revival of the Terminator franchise: we now have photoactivatable CRISPR/Cas9. Yes, as surely as the sun rises, scientists have developed a way to use that light (or at least the blue part) to […]

Stem Cell Reprogramming – Leaner, Quicker, Cheaper, Better

June 20, 2015

“More for less” is a phrase that generally gets most people excited, and scientists trying to make induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are no exception. The reprogramming of somatic cells to generate iPSCs aims to bring patient-specific cell replacement therapies to the masses, but the process currently suffers from obstacles common to new technologies – […]

Nukes Aid Stem Cell Research in the Heart

June 20, 2015

Researchers from the laboratory of Jonas Frisén at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have recently put radioactive carbon from nuclear bomb tests to good use, testing whether the adult human heart has the ability to repair itself. So how does that work? Well, a sharp rise in atmospheric radioactive carbon in the 1950-60s due to […]