EpiGenie Reviews: Genomic Imprinting – Methods and ProtocolsFebruary 24, 2013Genomic imprinting, or examining instances where paternal and maternal genomes aren’t represented equally, has kept many brilliant minds busy for decades. It has also established the foundations for emerging field of epigenetics. In the 2012 update of Genomic Imprinting: Methods and Protocols, edited by Nora Engel, experts in the field cover the most up to […]
High Def DNA Methylome Maps Point Out Male and Female Germ Cell DifferencesFebruary 20, 2013What sets males and females apart? Actually, let’s not head there, but how about at the methylome level? Quite a bit it appears. In a recent paper, researchers from Japan report that male and female primordial germ cells (PGCs) have different methylomes during development—at least in mice. While these germ cells divide and move to […]
EpiGenie Reviews: RNA Interference and Viruses – Current Innovations and Future TrendsFebruary 11, 2013RNA interference (RNAi) was first discovered in 1998 and has sparked new innovations and novel research tools for biological research ever since. RNAi has the scientific community buzzing because of it’s huge potential to tackle some of our most dreaded viral infectious diseases, like hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). But there […]
The Epigenetics of Organ TransplantationJanuary 31, 2013Dr. Daniel Salomon discusses the state of organ transplants, what obstacles exist, and how epigenetics might be central to improving long-term health in patients. The Challenges in Transplantation My background is in transplantation medicine, transplantation immunology. And my interests are to change the way we manage patients. There’s a huge series of challenges right […]
miRNAs that Bind Coding Sequences are Specialized for Inhibiting TranslationJanuary 28, 2013We all have our specialties—maybe yours is in histone modifications or maybe you can name every American Idol winner. In any case, miRNAs have some specialization too. Researchers now say that they’ve figured out what miRNAs that bind within the CDS, or coding sequence, of an mRNA do—they specialize in inhibiting translation. Most studies talk […]
MBD-SNP Analysis Shows that Prostate Cancer is PersonalJanuary 28, 2013These days, everyone wants to stand out. Just look at Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj—in fact, you can’t not look at them. It turns out that metastatic prostate cancer tumors also stand out from patient to patient, as long as you know where to look. A team of Johns Hopkins researchers used methyl-binding enrichment and […]
Top Epigenetics and Non-Coding RNA Conferences for MarchJanuary 23, 2013Although it’s warm and sunny at EpiGenie’s headquarters, we know that most of the northern hemisphere is counting the days to spring. Researchers hungry for great epigenetics and ncRNA conferences also have a lot to look forward to with an impressive line up of conference options kicking off in March. We’ve been paralyzed trying to […]
DNA Methylation Map Based on Data from 82 Human Cell Lines and TissuesJanuary 21, 2013Christmas has come and gone, but the ENCODE Project is the gift that keeps on giving. Using samples and data from ENCODE (in combo with their own data), researchers have come up with a single-base resolution map of DNA methylation across 82 human cell lines and tissues, including many cancers. With the ever increasing DNA methylation data […]
Visualize Histone Modifications in Single Cells? Yes You Can.January 18, 2013ChIP has been a dear friend to researchers studying histone modifications for years. But, just like most friends, it has its imperfections too, particularly when it comes to sensitivity. On its best day ChIP is about as sensitive as Mr. Trump and just like The Donald, it can be temperamental. So we were excited to […]
mRNA Alternative Polyadenylation Lifestyles Comes into FocusJanuary 17, 2013As the only epigenetics media group based out of southern California, we’ve learned to be very accepting of alternative lifestyles, which is why this method caught our eye. mRNA are a diverse bunch, with all kinds of alternative polyadenylation that can affect their cellular localization and stability. RNA Seq has enabled unprecedented glimpses into the transcriptome, but […]