Can somatic cells be reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells using mechanical cues alone?

2018-06-04T17:04:27+08:30

Can somatic cells be reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells using mechanical cues alone?

It has been shown that mouse fibroblasts efficiently dedifferentiate and express markers of pluripotency after being geometrically confined over 10 days, without exogenous biochemical factors. After 6 days mesenchymal genes are repressed, and after 10 days ESC and iPSC specific genes […]

How do H-NS proteins bind bacterial DNA?

2018-03-01T21:24:41+08:30

How do H-NS proteins bind bacterial DNA?

The binding of H-NS to the bacterial DNA is initiated by electrostatic interactions between the positive residues on the H-NS linker and the negatively charged DNA. The initial contacts established by the linker then promotes engagement by the C-terminal DNA-binding domain of H-NS proteins.

These findings were published […]

Super-resolution imaging of nanoscale chromosome contacts

2018-02-05T15:17:57+08:30

How can super resolution imaging be used to assess nanoscale chromosome contacts?

This research provides the first direct visualization of functional gene clusters, at a nano-scale level. Functional gene clusters are genes that may be on the same or different chromosomes but are regulated by the same transcriptional factors that enable their intermingling with […]