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New sequencing method to detect DNA modifications of relevance to cancer

General Research

Ludwig Oxford researchers have developed a method to improve mapping of chemical, or “epigenetic”, modifications to DNA that alter gene expression and play a big role in both healthy biology and cancer

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Ludwig Cancer Research scientists report in the current issue of Nature Biotechnology a new and improved method to detect chemical modifications to DNA. These modifications—or “epigenetic” marks—help control gene expression and their aberrant distribution across the genome contributes to cancer progression and resistance to therapy.

Led by Chunxiao Song and Benjamin Schuster-Boeckler, both assistant members of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Oxford, the study demonstrates that their method, dubbed TET-assisted pyridine borane sequencing, or TAPS, is a less damaging and more efficient replacement for bisulfite sequencing, the current gold standard for mapping epigenetic modifications to DNA.

Read more (Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research website)

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