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Developments in ChIP technology

Biowales, one of the UK’s leading events for the life sciences sector, this year will focus on the life sciences supply chain providing practical commercial opportunities for growth through novel routes to market in the private sector and National Health Service (NHS).

From Chromatrap® - Porvair Sciences Ltd 24 Feb 2015

Study provides new insights into early events that shape cancer

A study led by researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital suggests a new way to trace cancer back to its cell type of origin. By leveraging the epigenome maps produced by the Roadmap Epigenomics Program - a resource of data collected from over 100 cell types - the research team found that the unique genetic landscape of a particular tumor could be used to predict that tumor's cell type of origin.

19 Feb 2015

New facts provide baseline for future studies of epigenome's role in human development, diseases

While genomics is the study of all of the genes in a cell or organism, epigenomics is the study of all the genomic add-ons and changes that influence gene expression but aren't encoded in the DNA sequence. A variety of new epigenomic information is now available in a collection of studies published Feb. 19 in Nature by the National Institutes of Health Roadmap Epigenomics Program.

19 Feb 2015

Cabazitaxel therapy may be more effective in treating prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer for men in the United States. Only one class of chemotherapy called taxanes is effective against the disease.

17 Feb 2015

Wistar researchers identify new therapeutic target for aggressive form of ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer is the deadliest of all cancers affecting the female reproductive system with very few effective treatments available. Prognosis is even worse among patients with certain subtypes of the disease. Now, researchers at The Wistar Institute have identified a new therapeutic target in a particularly aggressive form of ovarian cancer, paving the way for what could be the first effective targeted therapy of its kind for the disease.

16 Feb 2015

Study provides common model of cellular ageing

Researchers at the BBSRC-supported Babraham Institute have mapped the physical structure of the nuclear landscape in unprecedented detail to understand changes in genomic interactions occurring in cell senescence and ageing. Their findings have allowed them to reconcile the contradictory observations of two current models of ageing: cellular senescence of connective tissue cells called fibroblasts and cellular models of an accelerated ageing syndrome.

2 Feb 2015

Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation names 15 new Damon Runyon Fellows

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on supporting innovative early career researchers, named 15 new Damon Runyon Fellows at its fall Fellowship Award Committee review. The recipients of this prestigious, four-year award are outstanding postdoctoral scientists conducting basic and translational cancer research in the laboratories of leading senior investigators across the country.

31 Jan 2015

Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome can be compared to normal aging, say scientists

In a new research study, scientists from Vision Genomics, LLC, Insilico Medicine, Inc., and Howard University showed that Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS or Progeria) is comparable to normal aging with respect to cellular signaling pathways, and that HGPS truly recapitulates the normal aging process.

28 Jan 2015

Chromatrap announce solid state ChIP kits

Chromatrap®, a business unit of Porvair Sciences, has an announced solid state ChIP kits which rapidly improve chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) through a unique patented technology that streamlines the process, ensuring chromatin preparation to qPCR analysis can be performed in under five hours.

From Chromatrap® - Porvair Sciences Ltd 19 Jan 2015

New opportunity for developing simple test to measure E2F4 activity in ER+ breast cancer patients

By looking at the expression levels of downstream genes of the regulators in breast cancer, investigators at Dartmouth Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center, led by Chao Cheng, PhD, have identified a gene signature in E2F4 that is predictive of estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer.

8 Jan 2015

Research findings may lead to new treatment strategies for Ewing sarcoma

The genetic abnormality that drives the bone cancer Ewing sarcoma operates through two distinct processes - both activating genes that stimulate tumor growth and suppressing those that should keep cancer from developing. These findings by Massachusetts General Hospital investigators, published in the November issue of Cancer Cell, may lead to new therapies targeting these aberrant mechanisms.

18 Dec 2014

Researchers uncover mechanism that helps white fat cells to become browner

White adipose tissue stores excess calories as fat that can be released for use in other organs during fasting. Mammals also have small amounts of brown adipose tissue, which primarily acts as an effective fat burner for the production of heat. Now researchers from the University of Southern Denmark have uncovered the mechanism by which white fat cells from humans gets reprogrammed to become browner.

14 Dec 2014

Tufts University study explores relationship between transcription, expansions of DNA repeats

Researchers in human genetics have known that long nucleotide repeats in DNA lead to instability of the genome and ultimately to human hereditary diseases such Freidreich's ataxia and Huntington's disease.

26 Nov 2014

Choosing the best way to verify the quality and quantity of Chromatin Immunoprecipitation DNA

Porvair Sciences has published a new guide to help laboratories choose the best way to verify the quality and quantity of their Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) DNA.

From Chromatrap® - Porvair Sciences Ltd 25 Nov 2014

Study identifies H3.3 protein as key regulator in cellular senescence

Changes to the structure of the protein histone H3.3 may play a key role in silencing genes that regulate cancer cell growth, according to a study led by researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published online this month in the journal Nature Communications.

23 Nov 2014

Researchers examine genomic landscapes of humans and mice

Looking across evolutionary time and the genomic landscapes of humans and mice, an international group of researchers has found powerful clues to why certain processes and systems in the mouse - such as the immune system, metabolism and stress response - are so different from those in people. Building on years of mouse and gene regulation studies, they have developed a resource that can help scientists better understand how similarities and differences between mice and humans are written in their genomes.

23 Nov 2014

Scientists may have discovered new way to repair damaged tissue

By transforming human scar cells into blood vessel cells, scientists at Houston Methodist may have discovered a new way to repair damaged tissue. The method, described in an upcoming issue of Circulation (early online), appeared to improve blood flow, oxygenation, and nutrition to areas in need.

9 Nov 2014

Two major studies newly implicate dozens of genes in autism

Two major genetic studies of autism, led in part by UC San Francisco scientists and involving more than 50 laboratories worldwide, have newly implicated dozens of genes in the disorder. The research shows that rare mutations in these genes affect communication networks in the brain and compromise fundamental biological mechanisms that govern whether, when, and how genes are activated overall.

31 Oct 2014

Landmark study provides new insight into function of enzyme related to BRCA1 protein

A landmark study to be published in the October 30, 2014 print edition of the journal Nature provides new insight into the function of an enzyme related to the BRCA1 breast-cancer protein. The study by a team at Penn State University is the first to produce a detailed working image of an enzyme in the Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 (PRC1) -- a group that regulates cell development and is associated with many types of cancer.

30 Oct 2014

Genetic differences contribute to risk for autism

Small differences in as many as a thousand genes contribute to risk for autism, according to a study led by Mount Sinai researchers and the Autism Sequencing Consortium, and published today in the journal Nature.

29 Oct 2014