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Epigenomics and Synthetic Biology in Review

Despite how slow it feels doing it, every year science propels at a startling rate. Here are some paradigm shifts that really impacted my perceptions. Some are a selection that of my contributions EpiGenie and Epibeat, while the rest are written by others from places such as The Scientist and MIT Tech Review.

The labs of Alexander Meissner, J. Keith Joung, and John Rinn brought the…

Two New FASD Papers

The journal Epigenetics & Chromatin just put out two interesting new papers about the epigenetics of FASD. The first is by Veazey et al. and covers a mouse model and then a stem cell model. In the mouse model they found significant alterations to histone mods (H3K9me2, H3K9ac, and H3K27me3) at days 7 and 17 that are dose dependent and correlate to severity of phenotype. They then change gears to…

“Early Maternal Alcohol Consumption Alters Hippocampal DNA Methylation, Gene Expression and Volume in a Mouse Model” comes from the lab of Dr. Nina Kaminen-Ahola at the University of Helsinki in Finland. For those of you not caught in the niche of FASD epigenomics, while working with the lab of Dr. Emma Whitelaw, she brought forth the first and founding wave of evidence that FASD is an epigenetic…

It seems that the ethical buzz was coming from a paper by a unknown Chinese group. They took the unviable leftovers from In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and then genome edited these human ’embyros’.

Interestingly, the success was quite poor. There was:

A Low Editing Rate

Toxicity

Rampant Off-Target effects

This in stark contrast to the use of CRISPR/Cas9 in dozens of animals ranging the entire tree…

Well it seems it has been done, the paper showing of CRISPR/Cas9 in human embryonic stem cells is here and courtesy of Meissner group featuring Keith Joung and John Rinn.

“Targeted disruption of DNMT1, DNMT3A and DNMT3B in human embryonic stem cells”

Nature Genetics: http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ng.3258.html

Abstract: “DNA methylation is a key epigenetic modification…

With scientists a buzz, it seems that the dreams of sci-fi have become sic-fact. Apparently, papers are circulating where human embryos have been edited.

“There are also suspicions that scientists have already created human embryos with edited genomes. Several researchers who do not want to be named told Nature’s news team that papers describing such work are being considered for publication.”

So…

You Aren’t What Your Great Grandma Ate

Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance is one hot topic, and it has long been shrouded in skepticism, but a number of cases and mechanistic insights into transgenerational epigenetic inheritance have helped molecular biology move past the limits of genetic determinism. Now a team from the University of Cambridge show that fetal nourishment results in a transgenerational epigenetic effect,…

On one side, you have moneyed interests refusing to accept data that might force stronger regulations of their most profitable chemicals. On the other side, you have genetic determinists clinging to an old paradigm

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.co…

The 'Nigerian Scam' of science

Predatory Publishers

Hello there.  I’ve come across some startling evidence that I think every pregnant mother should know. But, before I go into it, we’ve got to introduce a few concepts. A little perspective goes a long way in the sciences. Lets start with the basics. Your…

Free webinar on how to apply epigenetics to your research. Learn how to create a microRNA target filter from any gene expression data. The basics of Epigenetics and Network Biology are also explained in a concise and succinct fashion.

Recent Citation

“The notion of one epigenetic mechanism, DNA hypomethylation, initiating brain inflammation in AD…