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Leading neuroscientist and AI geneticist Anders Dale, Ph.D. named president of J. Craig Venter Institute and joins Board
Through two multimillion-dollar NIH grants, Dr. Dale will continue leading key centers for the largest long-term studies of brain development and child health in the United States
Researchers design tools to develop vaccines more efficiently for African swine fever virus (ASFV)
The reverse-genetics system developed for ASFV may be adapted for other viruses, including lumpy skin disease, Zika, chikungunya, and Ebola viruses
Statement on cuts to National Institutes of Health funding
Disruptions or reductions in funding may irreparably harm biomedical research efforts at J. Craig Venter Institute and in the broader research ecosystem
Revolutionizing plastic waste management through biological upcycling
Innovative research transforms plastic waste into valuable chemicals, paving the way for a circular economy and sustainable space travel
Researchers call for global discussion about possible risks from “mirror bacteria”
Advocacy in Action: Effective Techniques for Shaping Science Policy
J. Craig Venter Institute awarded 5-year, $5M grant to lead Center for Innovative Recycling and Circular Economy (CIRCLE)
CIRCLE is one of the six new NSF Global Centers focused on advancing bioeconomy research to solve global challenges
Scientists discover molecular predictors of toxic algal blooms that pose health risk, ecological and economic harm
Genes in the algae Pseudo-nitzschia genus have been identified that act as a warning beacon for a dangerous neurotoxin
Prebys Introduces 2024 Grant Funding to Enhance Career Opportunities for Youth Across San Diego County
Organizations Receiving Part of the $5.89 Million Foster a Thriving San Diego Workforce
Prebys funds 24 grantees as part of a commitment to ensuring San Diego County youth are thriving and actively engaged in their communities
Passing of former J. Craig Venter Institute Trustee Bill Walton
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McMurdo Sound
It took another day for the storm to blow itself out, but by Tuesday the wind and driving snow had abated, and we drove our Pisten Bully back out to our temporary shelter near Cape Evans. It took several hours of digging to clear the snow away from our vehicles, but once we started driving away...
Scientist Spotlight: Greg Wanger
Greg Wanger was 3.7 km below the Earth’s surface, trapped not only underground but also in a country distant from his native lands of Canada and Liechtenstein. He looked around him. It was very hot and smelled like rotten eggs. As many people do during their graduate careers, Greg pondered...
Digging out from the storm
The next day offered more snow and wind: we still needed handheld radios anytime we ventured between the warming hut and any of the vehicles. The wind was so strong that snow began drifting up through the dive hole in the warming hut, and the windows completely glazed over with snow. At one...
Out onto the ice
It took an enormous amount of effort, but on Thursday we ventured out onto the sea ice with our train of sleds and snow machines. The tucker is our strongest (and slowest) vehicle, and it is pulling both our yellow research sled and a pair of snowmobiles. The red Pisten-Bully is pulling a...
Around Mac-town
We are now fully packed and our mobile research sled is ready to go. We are waiting for some final repairs on the Pisten-Bully which will pull our supply sled. The mobile laboratory sled will be pulled by the Sno-Cat Tucker, which also has cab space for six (riding in the mobile lab would...
Ice diatoms!
Today has been a day of preparations, as tomorrow we hope to leave McMurdo Station and head out on the sea ice. Our mobile sled is almost ready for deployment: the carpenters who work for the US Antarctic Program are quite amazing, and our sled has filtration racks for separating different...
Sea-ice class
Today Abigail Noble and I took a Hagglund transporter out onto the Ross Sea to learn the basics of sea ice safety and ice dynamics. The sea ice on McMurdo Sound can be 2 meters thick, but this ice is constantly changing, and when you drive along its surface, you can't assume that it is...
Happy Camp
Our project on the Ross Sea will take us far from heated facilities of McMurdo Station, so all members of our team need to attend "Happy Camp", a two day course on snow camping and basic Antarctic survival. Happy Camp is held out on the McMurdo Ice Shelf, and it is an immersion program in...
McMurdo Station
Entering McMurdo is like entering a modern mining town: lots of exposed rock and unpaved streets, above ground utilities and bare-bones architecture. Utilitarian. From the airport we were taken to a briefing room, introduced to our science coordinators, and given our shcedules. Since I am...
Transport to the ice
Wednesday morning started with a 5AM taxi ride to the US Antarctic Program's processing center at the Christchurch airport, where we had to repack our bags and put on our emergency cold weather gear for the flight. Our plane was the C-17 Globemaster III, a large military transport plane more...
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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
Sailing the Seas in Search of Microbes
Projects aimed at collecting big data about the ocean’s tiniest life forms continue to expand our view of the seas.
What the Public Should Not Know
J. Craig Venter, PhD, argues scientists have “a moral obligation to communicate what they're doing to the public,” and that more studies deserve greater public criticism.
Scientists coax cells with the world’s smallest genomes to reproduce normally
The discovery could sharpen scientists’ understanding of which functions are crucial for normal cells and what the many mysterious genes in these organisms are doing
San Diego arts, health, science and youth groups to share $71M from Prebys Foundation
The J. Craig Venter Institute is the recipient of three awards totaling more than $1.5M to study SARS-CoV-2 and heart disease
Reflections on the 20th Anniversary of the First Publication of the Human Genome
A new wave of research is needed to make ample use of humanity’s “most wondrous map”
Scientists rush to determine if mutant strain of coronavirus will deepen pandemic
U.S. researchers have been slow to perform the genetic sequencing that will help clarify the situation
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Images
Following are images of our facilities, research areas, and staff for use in news media, education, and noncommercial applications, given attribution noted with each image. If you require something that is not provided or would like to use the image in a commercial application please reach out to the JCVI Marketing and Communications team at info@jcvi.org.
Human Genome

The Diploid Genome Sequence of J. Craig Venter
gff2ps achieved another genome landmark to visualize the annotation of the first published human diploid genome, included as Poster S1 of “The Diploid Genome Sequence of J. Craig Venter” (Levy et al., PLoS Biology, 5(10):e254, 2007). Courtesy J.F. Abril / Computational Genomics Lab, Universitat de Barcelona (compgen.bio.ub.edu/Genome_Posters).

Annotation of the Celera Human Genome Assembly
We have drawn the map of the Human Genome with gff2ps. 22 autosomic, X and Y chromosomes were displayed in a big poster appearing as Figure 1 of “The Sequence of the Human Genome” (Venter et al., Science, 291(5507):1304-1351, 2001). The single chromosome pictures can be accessed from here to visualize the web version of the “Annotation of the Celera Human Genome Assembly” poster. Courtesy J.F. Abril / Computational Genomics Lab, Universitat de Barcelona (compgen.bio.ub.edu/Genome_Posters).
Synthetic Cell

J. Craig Venter, Ph.D. and Hamilton O. Smith, M.D.
Credit: J. Craig Venter Institute

Hamilton O. Smith, M.D. and Clyde A. Hutchison III, Ph.D.
Credit: J. Craig Venter Institute

J. Craig Venter, Ph.D.
Credit: Brett Shipe / J. Craig Venter Institute

Clyde A. Hutchison III, Ph.D.
Credit: J. Craig Venter Institute

John Glass, Ph.D.
Credit: J. Craig Venter Institute

Dan Gibson, Ph.D.
Credit: J. Craig Venter Institute

Carole Lartigue, Ph.D.
Credit: J. Craig Venter Institute

JCVI Synthetic Biology Team
Credit: J. Craig Venter Institute

Aggregated M. mycoides JCVI-syn1.0
Negatively stained transmission electron micrographs of aggregated M. mycoides JCVI-syn1.0. Cells using 1% uranyl acetate on pure carbon substrate visualized using JEOL 1200EX transmission electron microscope at 80 keV. Electron micrographs were provided by Tom Deerinck and Mark Ellisman of the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research at the University of California at San Diego.

Dividing M. mycoides JCVI-syn1.0
Negatively stained transmission electron micrographs of dividing M. mycoides JCVI-syn1.0. Freshly fixed cells were stained using 1% uranyl acetate on pure carbon substrate visualized using JEOL 1200EX transmission electron microscope at 80 keV. Electron micrographs were provided by Tom Deerinck and Mark Ellisman of the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research at the University of California at San Diego.

Scanning Electron Micrographs of M. mycoides JCVI-syn1
Scanning electron micrographs of M. mycoides JCVI-syn1. Samples were post-fixed in osmium tetroxide, dehydrated and critical point dried with CO2 , then visualized using a Hitachi SU6600 scanning electron microscope at 2.0 keV. Electron micrographs were provided by Tom Deerinck and Mark Ellisman of the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research at the University of California at San Diego.

Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn1.0
Credit: J. Craig Venter Institute

The Assembly of a Synthetic M. mycoides Genome in Yeast
Credit: J. Craig Venter Institute

M. mycoides JCVI-syn 1.0 and WT M. mycoides
Credit: J. Craig Venter Institute

Creating Bacteria from Prokaryotic Genomes Engineered in Yeast
Credit: J. Craig Venter Institute
See more on the first self-replicating synthetic bacterial cell.
Minimal Cell

Minimal Cell — JCVI-syn3.0
Electron micrographs of clusters of JCVI-syn3.0 cells magnified about 15,000 times. This is the world’s first minimal bacterial cell. Its synthetic genome contains only 473 genes. Surprisingly, the functions of 149 of those genes are unknown. The images were made by Tom Deerinck and Mark Ellisman of the National Center for Imaging and Microscopy Research at the University of California at San Diego.

Minimal Cell — JCVI-syn3.0
Electron micrographs of clusters of JCVI-syn3.0 cells magnified about 15,000 times. This is the world’s first minimal bacterial cell. Its synthetic genome contains only 473 genes. Surprisingly, the functions of 149 of those genes are unknown. The images were made by Tom Deerinck and Mark Ellisman of the National Center for Imaging and Microscopy Research at the University of California at San Diego.

Minimal Cell — JCVI-syn3.0
Electron micrographs of clusters of JCVI-syn3.0 cells magnified about 15,000 times. This is the world’s first minimal bacterial cell. Its synthetic genome contains only 473 genes. Surprisingly, the functions of 149 of those genes are unknown. The images were made by Tom Deerinck and Mark Ellisman of the National Center for Imaging and Microscopy Research at the University of California at San Diego.
Leadership

J. Craig Venter, Ph.D.
Credit: Brett Shipe / J. Craig Venter Institute

Sanjay Vashee, Ph.D.
Credit: J. Craig Venter Institute

John Glass, Ph.D.
Credit: J. Craig Venter Institute
Scientists in the Lab

JCVI Scientists Working in Lab
Credit: J. Craig Venter Institute

JCVI Scientists Working in Lab
Credit: J. Craig Venter Institute

JCVI Scientists Working in Lab
Credit: J. Craig Venter Institute

JCVI Scientists Working in Lab
Credit: J. Craig Venter Institute

JCVI Scientists Working in Lab
Credit: J. Craig Venter Institute

JCVI Scientists Working in Lab
Credit: J. Craig Venter Institute
JCVI La Jolla Lab (Exterior)

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
North facade at dusk. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
South facade from soccer field. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
Northwest view. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
Northeast view of main entrance. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
East facing main entrance at dusk. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
East facing main entrance. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
Building main entrance. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
JCVI La Jolla north facade. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
JCVI La Jolla north facade detail. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
Rock garden in courtyard dusk. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
Rock garden in courtyard. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
Rock garden in courtyard. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
People at courtyard tables. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
2nd floor deck. © Tim Griffith.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
Looking west at dusk. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
First floor plaza looking south. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
East main entrance closeup. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
Stairs in courtyard. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
Detail of southwest corner. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
Sunset off 3rd floor deck. © Tim Griffith.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
From northwest at dusk. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.

J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla (building exterior)
Photovoltaics looking west towards ocean. Nick Merrick © Hedrich Blessing Photographers.