Aging, Environment, & Disease

Investigation into the mechanisms of pluripotency in stem cells and their potential applications is ongoing.  It is of utmost importance that these cells be propagated stably, both for the consistency of data within the scientific community and then also for potential clinical applications.  How do culture conditions impact methylation and …

Influenza is the virus that causes the flu, and can result in serious, sometimes fatal infections.  Influenza virus is easily transmitted within a population raising concerns of it causing an epidemic, or worse, a pandemic.  In recent years, the highly pathogenic H5N1 and H1N1 viruses have caused thousands of deaths …

Aging is a natural part of life, but many of the molecular details that contribute to the aging process remain unclear and cannot be explained by classical genetics.  There are several age-related DNA methylation biomarkers, suggesting that epigenetics is involved in aging, but until recently there has not been a …

Hypertension (also known as high blood pressure) is a disease that is often heritable and can be a direct consequence of dietary factors.  A high intake of dietary salt is one factor that can potentially affect the expression of genes involved in regulating blood pressure, and thus contributes to the …

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is a common and debilitating myopathy very frequently associated with decreased D4Z4 repetitive element copy number at chromosome 4q35. The exact molecular mechanism driving FSHD is unknown, however, epigenetic dysregulation is suspected to be a major contributing factor.

The role of epigenetics in cancer and developmental biology has become the focus of extensive research. 5-hydoxymethylcytosine (5-hmC) is an epigenetic modification that arises from the oxidation of 5-methylcytosine (5-mC) by the epigenetic regulatory proteins belonging to the TET (ten-eleven translocation) family of α-ketoglutarate-dependent deoxygenases.  The TET enzymes are responsible …