Straits of Messina Transect

Friday July 16th Today we woke up early and left our anchorage at Vulcano Island and headed to the Straits of Messina 20 miles away. The plan was to collect a sample at the north entrance, anchor for 5 hours to process the sample. Once the sample was completed then head to the middle of the...

Advance Access JCVI Metagenomics Reports Application Note

A significant JCVI informatics development is JCVI Metagenomics Reports, an open source Web 2.0 application designed to help scientists analyze and compare annotated metagenomics data sets. Users can download the application to upload and analyze their own metagenomics datasets. METAREP...

Naples Harbor Sampling

Thursday July 15th After getting some sleep at anchorage in Ischia island we sailed for a few hours to the main harbor in Naples.  Over the years the Sorcerer II Expedition has collected samples in major ports around the world (Sydney, Halifax, Boston,  Panama, Cape Town, just to...

Italian Sampling Continues-Unique Animal in Italian Waters!

Wednesday July 14th Monday July 12th we woke up early and left the anchorage in Capraia Island. We arrived at Ischia island at 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday the 14th. In those 48 hours we collected 6 samples. Two samples were collected in the Northern Tyrrhenian Sea, two samples were collected over...

Mediterranean Sampling Season Starts

Sunday July 11th 2010 On Thursday July 8th Sorcerer II set sail from Valencia Spain to start the Mediterranean season. Permits vary from country to country, Italy gave us 10 days to collect our samples, so we had to time our departure from Spain to fit our 10 day sampling window in Italy. As...

The Sorcerer II Sampling Process

July 6th In the blog about the media event I posted a few days back I put a link to the JCVI media page. On this page you can learn about our research goals, funders and past expeditions (more links on the right side of the page). Before we set out for this sampling season I wanted to...

Valencia, The Home Of Sorcerer II And Crew Since September 2009

July 5th Valencia is located about 140 miles (365 kilometers) from Barcelona. Valencia has a rich history and a distinct culture from other Spanish cities. I have only spent a few months here, but I wanted to share some of the highlights with you all before we set sail and start our...

High-performance comparative metagenomics

Are your carrying out large scale metagenomics analyses to identify differences among multiple sample sites? Are you looking for suitable analysis  tools? If you have not yet found the right analysis tool, you may be interested in  the latest beta version of JCVI...

Media Day Circus On Sorcerer II

June 23nd On Monday June 21st we announced the official start of the Mediterranean leg of the Sorcerer II Global Ocean Sampling Expedition. Dr. Venter took time from his busy schedule to fly into Valencia and attend the event as well as representatives from The Life Technology Foundation....

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