Latest Epigenetics Stories

Researchers at King's College London, in collaboration with the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, have identified a group of 'aging' genes that are switched on and off by natural mechanisms called epigenetic factors, influencing the rate of healthy aging and potential longevity. The study also suggests these epigenetic processes – that can be caused by external factors such as diet, lifestyle and environment – are likely to be initiated from an early age and continue through a person's...

Selexis’ co-founder and scientific advisory board member, Nicolas Mermod, PhD, Professor of Biotechnology at Faculty of Biology and Medicine of the University of Lausanne, will present, “Engineering CHO Cells and Vectors for Improved Transgene Integration and Antibody Production.” Geneva, Switzerland (PRWEB) April 19, 2012 Selexis SA announced today the Company’s co-founder will present data on the Company’s core technology at the 13th Annual Cell Culture Engineering conference...

Scientific insights that expand on the teachings of Mendel, Watson and Crick, and underpinnings of the Human Genome Project are moving drug companies along the path to development of new medicines based on deeper insights into how factors other than the genetic code influence health and disease. That's the topic of the cover story in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific...

Case Western Reserve geneticists publish groundbreaking study in Science A team of researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have identified a new mechanism by which colon cancer develops. By focusing on segments of DNA located between genes, or so-called "junk DNA," the team has discovered a set of master switches, i.e., gene enhancer elements, that turn "on and off" key genes whose altered expression is defining for colon cancers. They have coined the term Variant...

Caltech biologists scour mouse genome for genes and markers that lead to T cells What happens to a stem cell at the molecular level that causes it to become one type of cell rather than another? At what point is it committed to that cell fate, and how does it become committed? The answers to these questions have been largely unknown. But now, in studies that mark a major step forward in our understanding of stem cells' fates, a team of researchers from the California Institute of...

The study has been published in the prestigious journal Molecular Cell Researchers at the Hospital de Mar Research Institute (IMIM) have discovered that the protein LOXL2 has a function within the cell nucleus thus far unknown. They have also described a new chemical reaction of this protein on histone H3 that would be involved in gene silencing, one of which would be involved in the progression of breast, larynx, lung and skin tumours. Led by Dr Sandra Peiró and published in Molecular...

CARLSBAD, Calif., April 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- RiboMed Clinical Services Laboratory (RCSL), a CLIA-certified subsidiary of RiboMed Biotechnologies, today announced the release of a multi-marker methylation prognostic test for grading gliomas, the most common type of brain cancer. The test robustly analyzes 8 genes for differential methylation on FFPE (Formalin Fixed Paraffin Embedded) tumor samples to determine the G-CIMP (Glioma CpG Island Methylation Phenotype) score. The...

The missing link that spans the gap between the genes and environment could be a sugar – in this case, a special one that regulates histone 3, part of the DNA backbone, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Georgia in a report that appears online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. The sugar in question is called beta-N-acetylglucosamine or O-GlcNAc, said Dr. Richard Sifers, professor of pathology & immunology at BCM, and corresponding author of...

The target, PRC2, is a lysine methyltransferase-containing protein complex with components that can be readily targeted with small molecule inhibitors Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have identified a candidate drug target for treating acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a white blood cell cancer that proliferates out of control in the bone marrow. The team, led by Assistant Professor Chris Vakoc, M.D., Ph.D., shows that blocking a protein called PRC2 halts this uncontrolled...

New research in the FASEB Journal suggests that epigenetic changes in gene structure lead to higher incidents of obesity and diabetes for mothers with poor nutrition at the time of conception If you're expecting, this might make you feel a little better about reaching for that pint of ice cream: New research published online in the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) suggests that twins, and babies of mothers who diet around the time of conception and in early pregnancy, may have an...