moshe szyf

How to turn specific genes on and off

katherine.gombay@mcgill.ca — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 20:55:30 +0000

Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer are just some of the disorders associated with specific genes not “turning on” and “turning off” as they should. By using new CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology, in a recent paper in Nature Communications, ɬ�﷬ researchers have described a new technique that scientists across the world can potentially use to explore novel ways of treating diseases associated with dysregulation in DNA methylation.

Chronic pain changes our immune systems

nima.adibpour@mail.mcgill.ca — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 16:04:50 +0000

By Cynthia Lee
Newsroom

Chronic pain may reprogram the way genes work in the immune system, according to a new study by ɬ�﷬ researchers published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Honey, I shrunk the ants: how environment controls size

katherine.gombay@mcgill.ca — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 21:18:15 +0000

Until now scientists have believed that the variations in traits such as our height, skin colour, tendency to gain weight or not, intelligence, tendency to develop certain diseases, etc., all of them traits that exist along a continuum, were a result of both genetic and environmental factors. But they didn’t know how exactly these things worked together. By studying ants, ɬ�﷬ researchers have identified a key mechanism by which environmental (or epigenetic) factors influence the expression of all of these traits, (along with many more).