Epigenetics News and Research

Latest Epigenetics News and Research

Agena releases MassARRAY 24-Well System for mass spectrometry-based genetic testing

Agena Bioscience today released the MassARRAY 24-Well System for mass spectrometry-based genetic analysis, adding to its existing MassARRAY portfolio. The new 24-well format is tailored to smaller clinical testing laboratories requiring modest sample throughput, reduced initial hardware costs, and reduced time to result.

24 Feb 2015

Epigenetics and women’s health research: an interview with Professor Steve Conlan, Swansea University

Our research into gynaecological oncology focuses around understanding mechanisms of how genes are regulated or how they become dysregulated in a disease; and also the effects that has on the surface of the endometrium and also the function of the ovaries...

From Chromatrap® - Porvair Sciences Ltd 24 Feb 2015

Epigenome plays significant part in embryonic development

The early stages of embryonic development shape our cells and tissues for life. It is during this time that our newly formed cells are transformed into heart, skin, nerve or other cell types. Scientists are finding that this process is largely controlled not by the genome, but by the epigenome, chemical markers on DNA that tell cells when to turn genes on and off.

24 Feb 2015

MD Anderson awarded more than $22 million in research grants from CPRIT

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has received more than $22 million in research grants this week from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. Approximately half of the funds awarded for Individual Investigator Research Awards went to MD Anderson faculty as well as 40 percent of total IIRA awards that include those for children's and adolescent cancer and early detection and prevention.

21 Feb 2015

Epigenome-wide association study helps discover genes linked to allergies and asthma

Researchers from Canada, the UK, Sweden and the US have discovered more than 30 genes that strongly affect an antibody involved in allergies and asthma. Some of the genes could provide targets for drugs to treat those conditions, according to the international team's study, published online in Nature on Feb. 18.

20 Feb 2015

New study turns to epigenetics to look for new therapeutic targets to treat allergic diseases

Scientists have discovered over 30 new genes that predispose people to allergies and asthma, some of which could be targets for new drugs.

20 Feb 2015

Study findings could lead to new potential drug targets for allergic diseases

Scientists have discovered over 30 new genes that predispose people to allergies and asthma, some of which could be targets for new drugs.

19 Feb 2015

Researchers assemble comprehensive map of human epigenome

Virtually every cell in the body carries an identical genome. But how is it possible that each of the body's 200 different types of specialized cells - in the heart, brain, bone, skin and elsewhere - develops from the same DNA instruction book?

19 Feb 2015

Epigenome may hold promise for conquering diseases

The human genome project captured the public imagination when its first draft was published 14 years ago this week in the international science journal Nature, but the epigenome may hold the real promise for conquering disease.

19 Feb 2015

NYU Langone, Technion collaborate to advance cancer research

In a groundbreaking step forward to advance global collaboration in the fight against cancer, two of the world's preeminent academic and research institutions -- NYU Langone Medical Center and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology -- formally announced a $9 million gift from philanthropists Laura and Isaac Perlmutter that will fund two major, joint research endeavors with potentially far-reaching impact in advancing cancer research.

19 Feb 2015

First comprehensive maps and analyses of human epigenomes revealed

Two dozen scientific papers published online simultaneously on Feb. 18, 2015 present the first comprehensive maps and analyses of the epigenomes of a wide array of human cell and tissue types. Epigenomes are patterns of chemical annotations to the genome that determine whether, how, and when genes are activated.

18 Feb 2015

Sigma-Aldrich announces release of Next-Gen Sequencing Oligos

Sigma-Aldrich Corporation today announced that Sigma Life Science, its innovative biological products and services business, released Next-Gen Sequencing Oligos, custom next-generation sequencing adapters that improve target sequence assembly.

18 Feb 2015

TNF signaling molecule triggers Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis

Cells lining the intestinal tract form a critical barrier, protecting our bodies from the billions of bacteria living in the gut. Breaches in this barrier are driven largely by a single signaling molecule called tumor necrosis factor (TNF), elevated amounts of which are associated with inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

17 Feb 2015

Researchers identify two cell-signaling molecules that appear critical to stalling cancer's spread

In what is believed to be the largest epigenetic analysis to date of cell-signaling molecules in early-stage melanoma, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center and its Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center have identified two tiny bits of non-coding genetic material in primary tumors that appear critical to stalling the cancer's spread -- and essentially setting the biological fate of the disease.

15 Feb 2015

UNC researchers create new research tool to help crack the histone code

University of North Carolina scientists have created a new research tool, based on the fruit fly, to help crack the histone code. This research tool can be used to better understand the function of histone proteins, which play critical roles in the regulation of gene expression in animals and plants.

11 Feb 2015

SensiQ Technologies and Inventiva set up a European Center of Excellence in surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technologies

The SPR Center of Excellence is based in Dijon, France. Inventiva’s existing pharmaceutical discovery platform will now include SensiQ SPR technology, which strengthens Inventiva’s current service offering.

10 Feb 2015

New study sheds light on anorexia nervosa

A study led by Howard Steiger, PhD, head of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute Eating Disorders Program, in Montreal, in collaboration with Linda Booij, a researcher with Sainte-Justine Hospital and an assistant professor at Queen's University, is the first to observe effects suggesting that the longer one suffers from active anorexia nervosa (AN), the more likely they are to show disorder-relevant alterations in DNA methylation.

9 Feb 2015

Parents can pass silenced genes to offspring through a specific mechanism

For more than a century, scientists have understood the basics of inheritance: if good genes help parents survive and reproduce, the parents pass those genes along to their offspring. And yet, recent research has shown that reality is much more complex: genes can be switched off, or silenced, in response to the environment or other factors, and sometimes these changes can be passed from one generation to the next.

4 Feb 2015

New study examines the methylome of triple-negative breast cancer

The new study, published in Nature Communications, compares the breast cancer DNA 'methylome' with that of healthy individuals. The methylome provides a new picture of the genome and shows how it is epigenetically 'decorated' with methyl groups, a process known as DNA 'methylation'.

3 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