Chromatin News and Research

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Discovery of new cancer gene

Researchers have identified a new cancer gene - one that is common to many cancers and affects the most basic regulation of our genes.

29 Mar 2009

Protein function and chromatin structure methods featured in Cold Spring Harbor Protocols

Two new methods for analyzing the roles played by proteins in cells are featured in the March issue of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols.

3 Mar 2009

Protein complex shown to play pivotal role in stem cell development

Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified a protein complex important in controlling whether embryonic stem cells retain their ability to become any cell in the body - a quality called pluripotency - or instead embark on a pathway of maturation and specialization.

2 Mar 2009

Discovery of new class of non-protein coding genes in mammals with key functions

A research team at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has uncovered a vast new class of previously unrecognized mammalian genes that do not encode proteins, but instead function as long RNA molecules.

2 Feb 2009

Large DNA stretches, not single genes, shut off as cells mature

Experiments at Johns Hopkins have found that the gradual maturing of embryonic cells into cells as varied as brain, liver and immune system cells is apparently due to the shut off of several genes at once rather than in individual smatterings as previous studies have implied.

19 Jan 2009

How to enhance non-thermal effects of ultrasound

In recent years HIFU has been widely used for the treatment of solid tumors, such as liver tumor, bone tumor, and breast cancer.

30 Dec 2008

Tracking the molecular pathway to mixed-lineage leukemia

Infants and adults with the blood cancer mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL) typically have a poor prognosis, and most infants die before their first birthdays.

15 Dec 2008

New understanding of mechanism that regulates DNA methylation

Researchers in a University of Oregon lab have shed more light on the mechanism that regulates DNA methylation, a fundamental biological process in which a methyl group is attached to DNA, the genetic material in cells of living organisms.

14 Dec 2008

Researchers map changing epigenetic modifications that enable transposons to run amok

Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. – Much like cancer cells, plant cells grown for a long time outside of their normal milieu, in culture dishes, have highly unstable genomes.

10 Dec 2008

Anti-seizure drug Epilim shows promise for Alzheimer's

A drug commonly used to treat epilepsy could help clear the plaques in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers at the University of Leeds. The plaques are known to lead to the progressive death of nerve cells in the brain linked to many forms of dementia.

8 Dec 2008

Chromatin packaging helps decipher how cancer develops

To decipher how cancer develops, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center investigators say researchers must take a closer look at the packaging.

5 Dec 2008

Researchers provide new evidence that aging can be slowed

New evidence may explain why it is that we lose not only our youthful looks, but also our youthful pattern of gene activity with age.

26 Nov 2008

Researchers identify a potentially universal mechanism of aging

Like our current financial crisis, the aging process might also be a product excessive deregulation.

26 Nov 2008

New understanding of processes that regulate genes

Scientists at Penn State have shed light on some of the processes that regulate genes -- such as the processes that ensure that proteins are produced at the correct time, place, and amount in an organism -- and they also have shed light on the evolution of the DNA regions that regulate genes.

25 Nov 2008

Scientists shed light on how DNA is unwound so that its code can be read

Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have figured out how a macromolecular machine is able to unwind the long and twisted tangles of DNA within a cell's nucleus so that genetic information can be "read" and used to direct the synthesis of proteins, which have many specific functions in the body.

24 Nov 2008

Research sheds light on possible role of DNA packaging in cancer development

MIT biologists have discovered that the organization of DNA's packing material plays a critical role in directing stem cells to become different types of adult cells.

7 Nov 2008

Scientists confirm a molecular clipping mechanism behind stem cell development

Stem cells don't just become a part of the liver or the brain in a flash; it takes a complex molecular choreography and requires that specific genes be switched on and off at specific times.

6 Nov 2008

Scientists discover how a well-known protein repairs broken DNA ends

During the life cycle of our cells, a minefield of environmental and biological assaults can lead to double-stranded DNA breaks, the most lethal and dangerous form of DNA damage. Now, in research published online this week in Nature, Rockefeller University scientists reveal that when these breaks occur, a protein called 53BP1 helps repair them by mobilizing their dangly DNA ends - findings that uncover a previously unknown aspect of how double-stranded breaks can get fixed.

26 Oct 2008

Landmark study unlocks stem cell, DNA secrets to speed therapies

In a groundbreaking study led by an eminent molecular biologist at Florida State University, researchers have discovered that as embryonic stem cells turn into different cell types, there are dramatic corresponding changes to the order in which DNA is replicated and reorganized.

12 Oct 2008

Molecular bridge serves as a tether for a cell's nucleus

A cell's nucleus - home of it its most precious contents - is a delicate envelope that, without support, is barely able to withstand the forces that keep it in place. Now, researchers have discovered a network of molecules in the nuclear membrane that provide the nucleus with rigidity and also facilitate a previously undiscovered form of communication between the cell's nucleus and its cytoplasm.

8 Aug 2008