Author: Isabella
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Biologists discover how to make long distance work
Long-range enhancer-promoter contacts work like power lines, connecting regions of the genome which are very far away from each other. Image from pixnio.com under CC PDM 1.0. Enhancers are non-coding elements which are littered throughout the mammalian genome. Enhancers form three-dimensional physical contacts with gene promoters, the sequence immediately upstream (before) the gene’s protein/RNA coding…
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Announcement: The Chromatin Digest is now on Instagram!
Hello! For those of you who are active on social media, The Chromatin Digest now has an Instagram account. If your email inbox gets far too cluttered (I know mine can!), it may be a good idea to follow me there to ensure you don’t miss any posts – @thechromatindigest. All the best, Isabella 🙂…
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Crime and methylation
Crime scene barrier. Image under Creative Commons license, sourced from hawkeyeforensic.com. From quitting smoking and drinking to avoiding specific foods, pregnant women are always advised to be in strict control of their physical health, as this directly impacts the health of the foetus. Foetal alcohol syndrome, for instance, results from excessive drinking during pregnancy. We…
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The transcription factors behind my midweek meal
Tomatoes at various ripening stages (this image is in the public domain). Not long ago, I took a short break from my MSc project to go back home and see my family for Easter. This meant using up all the food in my fridge before leaving, and I cooked up some pretty eclectic meals as…
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How it all started, and where we are now
On the evolution of epigenetics, both as a field and as a term (and my first post!) A diagram of a developing human embryo from a 1916 textbook (image is in the public domain). The meaning of words changes over time. “Awful”, for instance, used to mean “impressive”. Now it means quite the opposite. “Epigenetics”…
The Chromatin Digest 