Latest Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Stories
Post-translational modifications of histones play an important role in regulating chromatin dynamics and function. One such modification, methylation, is involved in the regulation of the epigenetic program of a cell, determining chromatin structure, and regulating transcription. Methylation of histones occurs on both lysine and arginine residues, and until recently, was thought to be an irreversible process. The recent discovery of histone demethylases revealed that histone methylation is...
2 Watson School professors find unread correspondence of Francis CrickThe story of the double helix's discovery has a few new twists. A new primary source -- a never-before-read stack of letters to and from Francis Crick, and other historical materials dating from the years 1950-76 -- has been uncovered by two professors at the Watson School of Biological Sciences at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL).The letters both confirm and extend current knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the...
Both methods are helpful for investigating the genetic basis of cancerA cell devotes a significant amount of effort to maintaining the stability of its genome, preventing the sorts of chromosomal rearrangements characteristic of many cancers. Assays that measure the rate of gross chromosomal rearrangements (GCRs) are needed in order to understand the individual genes and the different pathways that suppress genomic instability. In the September issue of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols, Richard...
A federal judge's decision 'sets back' vital work and handcuffs American scienceAgainst a backdrop of some of the world's most sophisticated biological research labs, Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) this morning issued a challenge to his colleagues in Congress: immediately upon their return from summer recess, he urged, they should pass legislation that would reverse a recent Federal court decision that has brought embryonic stem cell research in the U.S. to a screeching halt.Rep. Israel was...
CSHL-led team demonstrates that increased IL-6 secretion can lead to decreased sensitivity to TarcevaOne of the most tantalizing developments in anti-cancer therapy over recent years has been the advent of targeted treatments, which have proven highly effective in holding aggressive cancers at bay in certain patients, although typically only for a limited period of time.A team led by Raffaella Sordella, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), today published...
Understanding how blood stem cells are maintained within the niche offers new opportunities to exploit them therapeuticallyHematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) have two unique abilities that are prized by medical researchers: to self-renew and to develop into any kind of blood cell, which enables them to replenish the entire blood and immune system. Scientists have traced these qualities to a distinct locale or niche within the bone marrow that HSCs home in on, but the identity and function of the...
Zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) are artificial restriction enzymes made by fusing an engineered zinc finger DNA-binding domain to the DNA cleavage domain of a restriction enzyme. ZFNs can be used to generate targeted genomic deletions of large segments of DNA in a wide variety of cell types and organisms. In the August issue of the journal Cold Spring Harbor Protocols (http://cshprotocols.cshlp.org/TOCs/toc8_10.dtl), Jin-Soo Kim and colleagues...
Antisense oligonucleotides delivered into spinal cords of adult and neonatal mice provide a long term rescue from disease symptomsThe devastating, currently incurable motor-neuron disease spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) might soon be treated with tiny, chemically modified pieces of RNA called antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs).Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) and California-based Isis Pharmaceuticals have succeeded in reversing symptoms of Type III SMA, a relatively mild form...
Since the early days of the 20th century and Thomas Hunt Morgan's famous "Fly Room" at Columbia University, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has been at the forefront of biological research. The powerful arsenal of experimental methods developed for this model organism is now being used to tackle one of the great scientific challenges of a new century: understanding the nervous system. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's Neurobiology of Drosophila course...
p53 loss promotes acute myeloid leukemia by enabling aberrant self-renewal of myeloid precursorsNew research by scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has illuminated in fine detail one of the genetic paths that leads to a particularly aggressive form of leukemia.CSHL Professor Scott W. Lowe. Ph.D., an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, led a team of scientists who wanted to know more about how the absence of an important tumor-suppressing protein called p53...
