Here are summaries of a selection of the papers published by GCB faculty in November 2020:
AGING
Restricting calories can improve the healthspan and lifespan of organisms ranging from yeast to mammals. Matt Hirschey was part of a team that used yeast to investigate how the mechanisms involved in caloric restriction could uncover future interventions for aging associated diseases. Read more
Using the Dunedin Longitudinal study, Terrie Moffitt, Avshalom Caspi and team investigated relationship characteristics and biological aging across almost 20 years. They found that being involved in romantic relationships was associated with slower biological aging. Conversely, they also found that experiencing violence from a partner was more strongly associated with biological aging that perpetrating violence. Read more
DISEASE
Matthew Hirschey was part of a team that investigated the response to the pesticide rotenone in roundworms. Rotenone has been widely used to study the effects of mitochondrial dysfunction on dopaminergic neurons in the context of Parkinson’s disease. Read more
GENE REGULATION
Dysregulated gene expression is a common feature of cancer and may underlie some aspects of tumor progression, including tumor relapse. Ashley Chi was part of a team that showed that recurrent mammary tumors exhibit global changes in gene expression and histone modifications and acquire dependence on the G9a histone methyltransferase. Read more
The adult liver is able to regenerate even after losing two-thirds of its mass all while sustaining its essential metabolic functions. Xiling Shen was part of a team that modeled liver regeneration in mice. They integrated single-cell RNA and ATAC-Seq to map state transitions in about 13,000 hepatocytes at single-cell resolution as the livers regenerated. Read more
NEW METHODS
Colorectal cancer is the third most common cance in the world, and therapeutic options for advanced colorectal cance are limited. David Hsu, Xiling Shen and team developed a precision medicine pipeline that integrates high-throughput chemical screens with matched patient-derived cell lines and patient-derived xenografts to identify new treatments for colorectal cancer. Read more
Lingchong You and Teng Wang developed a plasmid-centric framework that analyzes gene flow in complex communities in a computationally feasible way. Read more
REVIEWS
Charlie Gersbach and Karen Bulaklak wrote a comment piece to celebrate Nature Communication’s 10th anniversary. Their comment summarizes recent advances in gene therapy and their expectations for gene therapy in the near future. Read more