Epigenetics News and Research

Latest Epigenetics News and Research

Turn-ons and turn-offs for neurons

Our brain consists of billions of nerve cells enabling to learn, remember and reason.

20 Jun 2007

True nature of heterochromatin revealed

Not so long ago, the difficult-to-sequence, highly repetitive, gene-poor DNA found in regions of chromosomes known as heterochromatin was called "junk." Like dark matter in the universe, the true nature of heterochromatin was unknown.

19 Jun 2007

The unexpected connection of two gene regulation mechanisms points to new ways for the fight against leukemia

When the activity of individual genes it is longer required, there are two main mechanisms responsible for the “switching off”, mainly DNA methylation and the Polycomb protein complex. Sometimes, these mechanisms lose their efficiency and some of the genes that should be "switched off" remain active.

16 Jun 2007

Embryonic stem cells can be created without eggs

Embryonic stem cells are unique because they can develop into virtually any kind of tissue type, an attribute called pluripotency.

8 Jun 2007

Reprogrammed fibroblasts resemble embryonic stem cells

Stem cell biology takes another exciting leap forward as scientists report that normal tissue cells can be reprogrammed to exhibit many of the properties that are characteristic of embryonic stem cells, including the ability to give rise to multiple cell types and contribute to the germline.

8 Jun 2007

New protocols to understand embryos, clones, stem cells

Cloning, X-chromosome inactivation, stem cells, and embryogenesis are hot areas of research at the moment, and protocols featured in this month's release of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols will aid these studies.

3 Jun 2007

Discovery of inherited gene mutation for leukemia

Researchers have discovered the first inherited gene mutation that increases a person's risk for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), one of the most common forms of the disease.

1 Jun 2007

New understanding of ubiquitylation

It turns out there's more than one way to skin a gene. New research from Rockefeller University suggests that two closely related DNA unpackaging mechanisms may not work the way scientists thought.

10 May 2007

New understanding of how histone and DNA methylation communicate

In the May 15th issue of G&D, Dr. Michael Carey (UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center) and colleagues lend new insight into the mechanism of epigenetic silencing of euchromatic genes.

30 Apr 2007

Influence of the cellular microenvironment on breast cancer

This month The American Journal of Pathology highlights the influence of the cellular microenvironment on breast cancer by promoting three articles from the current issue.

27 Apr 2007

Age when a woman's periods start may affect her children's growth rate

Researchers from the Medical Research Council and University of Cambridge, led by Dr Ken Ong, studied the association between mother's age at first menstruation, mother's adult body size and obesity risk, and children's growth and obesity risk in 6,009 children from the UK Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) in Bristol.

25 Apr 2007

M. D. Anderson wins $8.3-million to research environmental causes of major diseases

An $8.3-million federal grant to The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Science Park - Research Division addresses the complex interplay between such varied factors as genetics, diet, and environmental exposure to toxins that cause cancer, asthma, diabetes, cardiovascular and other diseases.

21 Apr 2007

More effective therapies for individual cancers - personalized medicine

Genetic and epigenetic variations ensure that no two people are exactly alike, and the same holds true for any two cancers.

18 Apr 2007

Epigenetic factors that increase breast cancer risk

Women can encounter environmental factors that increase their risk of breast cancer at various periods of their physical development, beginning before birth and extending until menopause.

16 Apr 2007

Environmental contamination could affect the evolution of wildlife through changes in mating behavior

Female rats avoid males whose great-grandfathers were exposed to a common fruit crop fungicide, preferring instead males whose ancestors were uncontaminated, researchers from The University of Texas at Austin have discovered.

2 Apr 2007

Cancer is a stem cell issue

There is an urgent reason to study stem cells: stem cells are at the heart of some, if not all, cancers. Mounting evidence implicates a clutch of rogue stem cells brandishing 'epigenetic' marks as the main culprits in cancer. Wiping out tumours for good, some biologists believe, depends on uprooting these wayward stem cells.

19 Feb 2007

Epigenetics to shape stem cell future

Everyone hopes that one day stem cell-based regenerative medicine will help repair diseased tissue. Before then, it may be necessary to decipher the epigenetic signals that give stem cells their unique ability to self-renew and transform them into different cell types.

19 Feb 2007

Scientists discover enzym that activates epigenetically silenced genes

For several years now, cancer researchers have been studying a mechanism that contributes to the development of malignant tumors: The cell attaches small molecules containing a carbon atom, called methyl groups, to specific building blocks of DNA, thereby individually switching off the genes thus labeled.

11 Feb 2007

New embryonic cell discovery

Cambridge scientists have discovered the stage at which some of the cells of a fertilised mammalian egg are fated to develop into stem cells and why this occurs.

10 Jan 2007

Leukemia gene changes genetic packaging

A signaling system involved in many forms of leukemia and lymphoma is more powerful than scientists have thought, exerting control over our genes by affecting whole swaths of chromosomes in global fashion.

6 Aug 2006