Category Archives: Immunology

Epigenetics of Life’s Endpoints – Q&A with Manel Estell er of IDIBELL

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Chris Womack

Why are tumors more common as we age? Why are we more susceptible to infection? And why does everything continue to function just a little bit worse for every day of our lives? This whole process inspired a great Kinks song. More topically, Manel Esteller thinks it might be possible to slow some of it down — maybe even reverse it. Among other roles, Dr. Esteller is editor of the journal Epigenetics and director of the Cancer Epigenetics and Biology Program at the Bellvitge Institute of Biomedical Research, known as IDIBELL. Only last week, I got to talk with Dr. Esteller about the epigenetics of aging and research he just published with colleagues comparing the genome-wide DNA methylation of newborns … Continue reading →

Posted in Applications, DNA Methylation, Genomewide Methylation Profiling, Immunology, Leukemia, Oncology, Regenerative Medicine | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Viral MicroRNA Mimicing Cellular MicroRNA? and a New Dual-Fluuorescent Reporter System

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Nicole Kelesoglu

A team out of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has reported both a new dual-fluorescent reporter system, and an insight on a suspected general phenomenon of functionally matched viral and cellular microRNA in viral-host interactions. You X, Zhang Z, Fan J, Cui Z, Zhang X-E (2012) Functionally Orthologous Viral and Cellular MicroRNAs Studied by a Novel Dual-Fluorescent Reporter System. PLoS ONE 7(4): e36157. Now for context, the gist of what’s known about microRNAs (miRNA) is that they can be thought of as epigenetic post-transcriptional volume control. Modulating…fine tuning…dialling gene expression up or down.   MicroRNAs are ~18-24 nucleotide molecules that are processed from long, highly evolutionarily conserved sequences in organisms and viruses. Such pre-miRNA sequences are located at protein gene introns, … Continue reading →

Posted in Biomarkers, Cellular Biology, Imaging, Immunology, Leukemia, Microbial Epigenetics, New Lab Methods, Non-coding RNA, Oncogenes, Virology, microRNA | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Parasitic Use of Our Epigenome

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Nicole Kelesoglu

One of the “perks” of pregnancy is hearing from your doctor that you should not be cleaning the kitty litter tray. Wait a second! What did you just say? Can you write that one down in an authoritative doctor’s note, please? Reason being – that if you have never been infected before, a primary infection from Toxoplasma cysts in cat feces can (rarely) be transmitted through the placenta to your baby. Apparently about a 1/3 of adults have antibodies against the parasite, Toxoplasma gondi. The infection is usually fairly insignificant. However, this infection becomes life threatening for those with poor immune systems. Think about those in the womb, post-chemotherapy or AIDS patients. Let’s face it, you cannot prevent “Fluffy” from … Continue reading →

Posted in Acetylation, Applications, Flow Cytometry, Histone Modifications, Histones, Immunology, Mass Spec, Microarray, Transcriptome, chIP | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Viral Etiquette Tips : The Epigenetic Effects of Life Long Guests

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Nicole Kelesoglu

Hello E3 scientists! Here are three etiquette tips for the modern virus. This week’s post is a bit of “tongue in cheek”, while pointing out some neat virology & epigenetics research!!!

Posted in Acetylation, Bioinformatics, Cellular Biology, Chromatin Structure, DNA Methylation, Genomewide Methylation Profiling, Immunology, Methylation, Oncogenes, Virology, chIP | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Regenerative Medicine: Using Adult Stem Cells to Regenerate Human Organs

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Nicole Kelesoglu

Recently, I visited the Chihuly glass art exhibit at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Seeing Dale Chihuly’s work for the first time, is like the first time you see the Grand Canyon. It’s breathtaking!  You have to see one of his towers in person, made up of hundreds of boldly colored glass spikes, to fully appreciate them. Interestingly, the tower I saw was reassembled for the new exhibit location, without instructions for identical structure. Each glass spike is NOT numbered for placement. Rather, the assemblers work to approximate the intended shape, gaging the spikes for size, color and direction, ultimately creating the intended overall pattern, albeit uniquely expressed. The process reminded me a bit of how stem cells can … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Models, Cell Culture Models, Cellular Biology, Immunology, Stem Cells | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Are your Allergies an Evolutionary Advantage?

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Nicole Kelesoglu

Many of my neighbors spent a long day outside on Mother’s day, in their running shoes…chasing a black bolt of lighting in and out of the woods, and down the road. But who could really blame that run away miniature schnauzer? It’s finally spring! Of course, there are some of us (up to 30%) who can’t enjoy spring time quite as much, due to our seasonal allergies.  The epigenetic inheritance of allergies makes sense conceptually.  Allergic disease overall, which includes atopic asthma, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, anaphylactic reactions and food allergies, is on the rise generationally. Allergies have some genetic basis, but triggers and timing vary, even between twins. Allergy suffers can blame their high levels of total serum IgE antibodies, for … Continue reading →

Posted in Cellular Biology, Developmental Biology, Evolutionary Epigenetics, Genetics, Immunology, In Utero, Pathology | Leave a comment