The Mobile Laboratory Hits the Road

After a hiatus this summer, the Mobile Laboratory hit the road again today for a trip to Pottstown, Pennsylvania.  Driving through the rolling hills of northern Maryland into southeastern Pennsylvania, it passed small towns and beautiful foliage.  Tomorrow and Tuesday, we will be...

Sequencing of high yield influenza reassortants at JCVI

As part of the Influenza Genome Sequencing Project, JCVI will be sequencing a large number of high yield influenza reassortants created in the lab of Dr. Doris Bucher at New York Medical College. Dr. Bucher’s lab has prepared the type A H3N2 high yield reassortants  (hyrs) for the...

What Happened to Sorcerer II?!?!

The last time I wrote a Sorcerer II blog was in November when we set sail from Spain to cross the Atlantic Ocean. For all of you that have been worried that we have been at sea for 8 months, relax we made it!! Over the next few days I will update everyone on what has happened and the upcoming...

Podcast on Human Genomics

The 2011 Festival of Ideas themed, The Pursuit of Identity, Landscape, History, and Genetics, is held every other year in Melbourne, Australia to inspire scholars and citizens alike in topics ranging from literature and art to science and foreign policy.  JCVI Professor of Genomic...

Summit on Systems Biology, June 15-17, 2011

I attended the Summit on Systems Biology hosted by Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA June 15-17.  So, judging from the talks given, what is systems biology? Systems biology is non-linear and/or multi-step.  Heavy math does not make something systems biology if...

Insights gained from influenza genomic sequence data: viral diversity within human populations

The advent of large amounts of influenza genomic sequence data produced by the Influenza Genome Sequencing Project (IGSP) has led to new concepts regarding influenza viral diversity.  It was previously believed that a single influenza lineage entered a human population at the start of an...

NASA and JCVI host symposium on the evolution of Earth and Life

On May 12th and 13th, the J. Craig Venter Institute in San Diego will be hosting a NASA Astrobiology Institute-funded symposium titled “Paleobiology in the genomics era.” Paleobiology is the study of the origins and evolution of life and, by nature, is interdisciplinary. The goal is to...

JCVI Supports Human Mircrobiome Body Site Experts with Shotgun Data Analysis

Members of the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) Consortium (see http://commonfund.nih.gov/hmp and http://www.hmpdacc.org for more information on the project and partners) including human microbiome body site experts gathered for a virtual Jamboree January 19th. The fully online-based Jamboree...

The Microbiome of Esophageal Cancer

In anticipation of the International Human Microbiome Congress, our group has diligently worked to generate data to present for our HMP demo project studying the microbiome of patients who have developed esophageal cancer, gastrointestinal reflux disease, and barrett’s esophagus.  We...

From Sequencing to Sailing: Three Decades of Adventure with Craig Venter

In a plenary public appearance at the Molecular and Precision Med TRI-CON event in San Diego, a relaxed Venter reflected on his career highlights, controversies and future priorities for genomic medicine.

Synthesizing life on the planet

What’s the smallest number of genes that cells need to grow and reproduce? Is it possible to synthesize minimal genomes and insert them into cells? What do minimal genomes teach us about life? An interview with John Glass, Ph.D.

Top scientists join forces to study leading theory behind long COVID

Several JCVI scientists will be contributing to the newly launched Long Covid Research Initiative — a collaboration of researchers, clinicians, and patients working to rapidly study and treat long Covid.

Hunting for deep-ocean plastics

Through the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, National Deep Submergence Facility, JCVI's Erin Garza, Ph.D. joins a deep sea expedition to search for ocean plastics aboard the HOV Alvin.

A journey to the center of our cells

Biologists are discovering the true nature of cells—and learning to build their own.

Dr. Hend Alqaderi on paving the way for women in science in the GCC

Hend Alqaderi, a JCVI collaborator and mentee to Marcelo Freire receives the L’Oréal-Unesco Women in Science award

Leonardo Da Vinci: New family tree spans 21 generations, 690 years, finds 14 living male descendants

The surprising results of a decade-long investigation by Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato provide a strong basis for advancing a project researching Leonardo da Vinci's DNA.

Genome Research Papers on Meningococcal Recombination, Psoriasis Variants in China, More