The Re-Sampling of Blanes By Karolina Ininbergs

May 26th 2010 After docking in Barcelona and picking up Jeff, who just finished the lake sampling with Chris up in the Pyrenees, we headed north-east towards Blanes Bay. We were also joined by Bea Diez, her PhD student Roy McKenzie, Meri Antó and Vanessa Balague from ICM, Barcelona. It was...

BBMO — Blanes Bay Microbial Observatory

May 25th 2010 In 2008 I spent three months working at the Institute of Marine Sciences in Barcelona, hosted by Beatriz Diez in the Marine Microbiology group, headed by Carles Pedrós-Alió. One of the many microbial research projects at ICM is focused on environmental monitoring of...

Tourist Time in Barcelona!

May 20th 2010 After two weeks on the road, I am back on Sorcerer II as we prepare for the Mediterranean sampling season. We are docked in Port Olympic right in the heart of Barcelona. One aspect of this year's blogs is to share some of the experiences and places we get to visit. We are...

The Great Blizzard Sample of Lake Redon!

May15th 2010 We decided to do the 3 lakes in the Banyoles area first because the weather in the Pyrenees was so bad that we wouldn't have been able to get up the mountain to sample Lake Redon. Lake Redon is a pristine Alpine lake that is sampled weekly by Spanish researchers. On Tuesday May...

Lake Vilar, The Final Lake In Banyoles

May 10th 2010 On Monday May 10th we headed back to sample the last lake in the Banyoles area. Lake Vilar is another meromictic lake located about 1 kilometer (1/2 mile) from Lake Siso and has a maximum depth of 10 meters (32 feet). Sulfide is present during the entire year, although...

Sampling of Lake Banyoles, The Home of the Olympic Rowing in 1992

May 9th 2010 Sunday May 9th was a much better morning than the previous one. Emilio had taken us out to one of the best dinners I have ever eaten, plus the German teenagers were no longer patrolling the hallways all night long. So after a great seafood dinner and a good nights rest we drove...

Lake Sampling Starts with Lake Siso, Global Lake Sampling (GLS)

May 8th 2010 Early on Saturday May 8th Chris and I headed to the University of Girona, which is located about 69 kilometers (42 miles) from Blanes, to setup our sampling gear in a aboratory on campus. We were a bit exhausted from the long drive the day before and lack of sleep due to lots of...

Back on The Road, Mar Menor to Blanes, Spain

May 7th 2010 After a successful day of sampling in Mar Menor and a great local dinner of lobster paella, Chris and I loaded up the van and got back on the road early Friday morning. We had a 757 kilometer (470 miles) drive ahead of us to arrive in Blanes to meet with a team of collaborators...

The Green Lagoon — Sampling in Albufera de Valencia

During our sampling in Spain last year Chris and I met up with Francisco Rodriguez-Valera. Francisco had some great suggestions for sampling sites and one of them was Albufera de Valencia, a shallow hypertrophic fresh water lagoon, located just 30 minutes drive south of Valencia . When...

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