Search Results for: pediatric glioma

Reciprocal CRISPR gene editing in pediatric glioma: defining mechanisms & testing drugs

February 1, 2021 / By / 1 Comment
reciprocal-CRISPR-mutant-H3.3

My lab’s new paper in Communications Biology focused on high-grade pediatric glioma that have mutant histone variant H3.3 and we did something fairly novel that we are calling reciprocal CRISPR. Kids with these tumors have a near zero survival rate within a few years of diagnosis so we as a field desperately need something new to give …

Reciprocal CRISPR gene editing in pediatric glioma: defining mechanisms & testing drugs Read More »

Weekly reads: DNA methylation, H3 K27M in glioma, memory wipe, teeth

August 19, 2023 / By / Leave a Comment
DNA methylation

I’ve been more interested in histones and their modifications versus DNA methylation when it comes to epigenetics and chromatin. In part this has just been because I have studied histones so much more. For example, we have been knocking out the two histone variant H3.3 genes, H3f3a and H3f3b, now for a decade. My lab also …

Weekly reads: DNA methylation, H3 K27M in glioma, memory wipe, teeth Read More »

Are glioma stem cells a path to better outcomes?

February 1, 2021 / By / 3 Comments
Glioblastoma

Glioblastoma and other related malignant glioma tumors including diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) are some of the most devastating of all human cancers, and glioma stem cells may contribute to the lethality. You can see an image of a glioma (the white area in the brain scan) from Wikipedia above. These brain tumors usually kill …

Are glioma stem cells a path to better outcomes? Read More »

Allis lab Science paper on histone H3.3 in pediatric brain cancer

February 1, 2021 / By
Allis-H3.3-paper-165x3001

It has been fascinating in the last year to see the unfolding story of mutations in histone variant H3.3 in pediatric glioblastoma and related tumors. It seems amazing that in just over a year, a whole new area of cancer research has rapidly progressed. As I discussed in a recent post, histone H3.3 is a …

Allis lab Science paper on histone H3.3 in pediatric brain cancer Read More »

Weekend reads: WaPo blows it on COVID, paper-mill detector, adult pluripotent stem cells

December 10, 2022 / By / 5 Comments
"Hofstenia miamia, three-banded panther worms. Credit: Mansi Srivastava and Kathleen Mazza-Curll"

Imagine writing or editing an article for the WaPo about risky, unproven medical interventions for COVID that desperate patients might consider. Then you link directly to the websites selling this stuff in your article. What the heck? WaPo links to risky long COVID “treatments” By linking, you not only are driving customers to these firms, …

Weekend reads: WaPo blows it on COVID, paper-mill detector, adult pluripotent stem cells Read More »

What do sperm have to do with brain tumors?

February 1, 2021 / By
H3.3

Sometimes in science there are unexpected threads tying seemingly very different things together. Unraveling the knots in these threads can lead to new insights into important developmental processes and mechanisms of disease. My lab studies epigenomic and transcription factors including a molecule called histone variant H3.3 (more here on H3.3). H3.3 binds to the actual …

What do sperm have to do with brain tumors? Read More »

Weekly reads: our new brain tumor paper, levitation, dear doctor, Japan, more

May 21, 2022 / By / Leave a Comment
brain tumor, H3.3 K27M, ASCL1

There’s nothing quite like getting a new paper out as a scientist running a research lab so this week we can celebrate our new pediatric brain tumor study. I’ll start the weekly reads with that paper. Of course, getting new grants is amazing too but there’s more of a feel of completion after a paper …

Weekly reads: our new brain tumor paper, levitation, dear doctor, Japan, more Read More »

Weekly The Niche reads: lab-grown embryos & thymus, more

June 7, 2022 / By / Leave a Comment
es cells embryos matrigel the niche sm

Today’s The Niche recommended weekly reads post includes both primary papers and also a few media pieces. I’m especially interested in the first piece on making more complex embryo-like structures from ES cells. This is a long way from just making embryoid bodies or EBs. At the end of the post I discuss an article …

Weekly The Niche reads: lab-grown embryos & thymus, more Read More »

Weekend cell biology reads: Mesoblast COVID-19 deal, pubs

June 7, 2022 / By / 5 Comments
bergert cell stem cell 2020 cell mechanics sm

The COVID-19 pandemic is tearing through the country right as we are starting into the holiday season, but the wheels of science including cell biology keep going and we keep reading all the great work. What news or papers caught your eye? Here are some of the things I have on my list of reading. …

Weekend cell biology reads: Mesoblast COVID-19 deal, pubs Read More »

Weekly reads on organoids, COVID, CRISPR, cold chromatin, more

February 1, 2021 / By / Leave a Comment
Cold-chromatin

As a researcher, is there ever enough time to get to everything that you want to read especially in newer areas like stem cells, organoids, and CRISPR, without even including non-scientific reads like Shakespeare or a new novel or something like that? Hopefully, putting together lists of recommended reads like today’s post is helpful. I …

Weekly reads on organoids, COVID, CRISPR, cold chromatin, more Read More »