Diatoms Have Found a Way to Pirate Bacterial Iron Sources

In large regions of the world’s oceans, photosynthesis struggles to operate because a key ingredient is missing. Many of the proteins involved in harvesting energy from sunlight require iron atoms to function, but iron is hard to find in seawater. Most of the ocean is far removed from...

The JCVI Genomic Frontier Fund

As we complete our 26th year as a private genomic research institution, we are still just as excited as we were in the very beginning to be making new discoveries, potentially ones that will change our society for the better.  The knowledge gained from our study of DNA, or as Dr. Venter...

New Sequencing Technologies Enable Better and Faster Understanding of the Human Microbiome

Humans have trillions of different species of microorganisms living inside and on the human body. These microbes colonize on the skin, gut, oral cavity, vagina, internal organs, and circulating fluids, and are called the human microbiome. The human microbiome plays profound roles in health...

Human Microbiome Research has Massive Potential for Health Applications

Thirteen years ago, a team led by J. Craig Venter Institute President, Karen Nelson, Ph.D., published the first major human microbiome study, radically changing the way we look at human health and the role the microbes that inhabit each of us play in disease.  This seminal publication...

Scientist Spotlight: Lauren Oldfield

Since high school, Lauren Oldfield, PhD found that science was her calling. It started with a love of reading encouraged by her mom and grandmother, both avid readers, and weekly trips to the public library. Books by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston were staples in her grandmother’s...

When Starved, Dangerous Oral Bacteria Hang On

J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) postdoctoral fellow, Jonathon Baker, PhD and a team of researchers from JCVI, University of Washington, the University of California, Los Angeles, and The Forsyth Institute recently published their findings from the first study to examine the ecological dynamics...

No More Needles! Using Microbiome and Synthetic Biology Advances to Better Treat Type 1 Diabetes

Learn about exciting advances made by JCVI researchers Yo Suzuki and John Glass who are on a quest to better understand and treat Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). Currently T1D is managed by injecting insulin to manage blood glucose levels. Drs. Suzuki and Glass want to change that by creating a...

How to Bake a (Fungal) Turkey

From the kitchen of Stephanie Mounaud, Scientific Project Manager at JCVI Ingredients Media base (see media recipe) Agar Aspergillus terreus (multiple strains) Aspergillus niger Aspergillus fumigatus Aspergillus oryzae...

Scientist Spotlight: Todd Michael

A love of science began for Todd Michael, PhD when his 7th grade teacher had him write a report on tree leaves. After collecting different leaves and looking up their tree type, he realized that although all of the trees were similar, they grew different types of leaves. He was certain there...

Hair claimed to belong to Leonardo da Vinci to undergo DNA testing

Critics, however, argue that this effort is flawed from the beginning

Students learn about genomics, a life in science, at J. Craig Venter Institute