News and Announcements
Read the latest news from Simpson Querrey Center for Epigenetics. The links below take you to articles where you can learn more about our faculty’s latest achievements, awards, and honors.
07.24.2018Northwestern Medicine scientists are using a variety of innovative techniques to uncover the epigenetics of breast cancer, as seen in three recent studies.
07.18.2018Ali Shilatifard, PhD, has been appointed editor of Science Advances, an open-access journal published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which also publishes the journal Science.
06.14.2018A team of scientists has identified a key enhancer of Sox9 — a gene critical for male sex development — and demonstrated that deleting the enhancer results in male-to-female sex reversal in animal models.
05.21.2018Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered an epigenetic imbalance that can lead to cancer, and used these findings to inhibit tumors in models.
03.22.2018Northwestern Medicine scientists have uncovered how DNA methylation triggers stem cells to transform into more specialized neuronal cells.
12.20.2017Scientists are one step closer to a stem cell treatment for muscular dystrophy after Northwestern Medicine investigators demonstrated improvements in muscle tissue differentiation in stem cells.
11.27.2017Northwestern Medicine scientists have uncovered new findings about a protein called SET1B, which could offer a novel approach to treating triple-negative breast cancer.
11.20.2017A new $10 million gift from University trustees and supporters Louis A. Simpson ’58 and Kimberly K. Querrey will create a center to study the effects of environment on the activation and expression of genes.
11.09.2017Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered that a protein called BRWD2/PHIP binds to H3K4 methylation, a key molecular event that influences gene expression.
10.09.2017A newly discovered gene mutation may increase a patient’s risk of genetic heart disease, presenting a target for therapy or genetic screening down the road.
10.05.2017Two Northwestern Medicine scientists have received NIH Director’s Awards, which fund innovative research with high-impact potential.
10.02.2017Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered surprising findings about an enzyme central to gene expression and mutated in many cancers.
09.28.2017A Northwestern Medicine study found a novel chemical transformation in the formation of colibactin, a toxic agent produced by gut bacteria, including certain strains of E. Coli.
09.28.2017A new Northwestern Medicine study reveals surprising findings about an enzyme called Set1A and its function in embryonic stem cell self-renewal and differentiation.
09.07.2017The major features of Parkinson’s disease have been linked to a toxic cascade beginning with oxidized dopamine, providing a possible therapeutic pathway.
07.25.2017Northwestern scientists have found that nutritional, microbial and psychosocial exposures early in infant development predict DNA methylation later in life.
07.24.2017A synthetic material developed at Northwestern Medicine could direct a patient’s existing cells to transform into stem cells, creating a new treatment path for stem cell therapy.
05.12.2017The first drug using spherical nucleic acids to be systemically given to humans has been developed by Northwestern University scientists and approved by the Food and Drug Administration as an investigational new drug for an early-stage clinical trial in the deadly brain cancer glioblastoma multiforme.
05.09.2017A new Northwestern Medicine study, published in Genes and Development, has identified two DNA elements crucial to the activation of a set of genes that drive the early development of embryos.
04.17.2017Northwestern Medicine scientists have demonstrated an important role for the methylation of the amino terminus of a specific protein in maintaining centromere function and chromosome segregation, both important in cell division.
03.27.2017Northwestern Medicine scientists and collaborators have shown that a protein thought to form calcium ion channels instead regulates the activity of another member of the family to modulate immune responses.
02.17.2017A paper published in Molecular Cell provides new insight into a protein complex called COMPASS and its function during histone methylation, a key modification that regulates gene expression.
01.05.2017Northwestern Medicine scientists have identified a molecular therapy to prevent the growth of a rare pediatric leukemia.
12.02.2016Northwestern Medicine scientists have identified one of the molecular mechanisms behind the variability of holoprosencephaly, a congenital brain malformation.
10.25.2016Northwestern Medicine scientists have developed a new way to image chromatin within living cells, opening the door to large-scale screening techniques, including for cancer.
10.24.2016Northwestern Medicine scientists identified an enzyme as a potential new target for triple-negative breast cancer, a form of breast cancer that is associated with early tumor recurrence and significantly increased mortality rates.
09.14.2016Northwestern’s biomaterials labs are developing the next generation of materials in medicine, called supramolecular biomaterials – molecules designed in a way to mimic cell structures and functions of biological signaling.
07.21.2016When it comes to gene regulation, there are more similarities between fruit flies and humans than previously thought, according to new Northwestern Medicine research.
06.28.2016Ali Shilatifard, PhD, has been named the 15th recipient of the Martin E. and Gertrude G. Walder Award for Research Excellence, an honor given annually by the provost that recognizes excellence in research at Northwestern University.
06.07.2016Northwestern Medicine scientists explore research that has shown how the balanced activities of two protein families regulate gene expression during embryonic development and how mutations that tip this balance lead to cancer.