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Major New Policy Study Will Explore Risks, Benefits of Synthetic Genomics
ROCKVILLE, MD - June 28, 2005 — Today three organizations, the J. Craig Venter Institute (Venter Institute), the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), announced a new project to examine the societal implications of synthetic genomics, a new field involving the development of viruses and cells using designed and engineered DNA. The 15-month study will explore the risks and benefits of this emerging technology, as...
JCVI Associate Professor Marcelo Freire elected to the 2022 class of AAAS Fellows
LA JOLLA, CA—January 31, 2023—The J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) announced today that Marcelo Freire, DDS, PhD, DMedSc, an associate professor in its Genomic Medicine Group, has been elected as a new member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Dr. Freire is being honored for pioneering contributions to research in decoding the molecular basis of chronic inflammation, in the class of 2022 AAAS Fellows. Election as a Fellow honors members whose efforts on...
The Sorcerer II Global Ocean Sampling expedition: expanding the universe of protein families.
Metagenomics projects based on shotgun sequencing of populations of micro-organisms yield insight into protein families. We used sequence similarity clustering to explore proteins with a comprehensive dataset consisting of sequences from available databases together with 6.12 million proteins predicted from an assembly of 7.7 million Global Ocean Sampling (GOS) sequences. The GOS dataset covers nearly all known prokaryotic protein families. A total of 3,995 medium- and large-sized clusters...
JCVI President, Karen Nelson Elected to National Academy of Sciences
(LA JOLLA, CA)—May 3, 2017—The J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) announced today that Karen E. Nelson, Institute President and Head of Microbiome Research, has been elected as a new member to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Nelson was one of the 84 new members and 21 foreign associates elected in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Those elected today bring the total number of active members to 2,290 and the total number of...
Hamilton O. Smith, M.D., Synthetic Biology Pioneer and Nobel Laureate, to Step Down from Daily Duties at J. Craig Venter Institute
(La Jolla, California)—December 22, 2020—Hamilton O. Smith, M.D., Nobel Laureate, distinguished professor and scientific director of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) Synthetic Biology Group, is retiring from daily duties at the Institute effective December 31, 2020. Dr. Smith will continue advancing JCVI’s mission through authorship and an advisory role as a professor emeritus. Reflecting on this moment, J. Craig Venter, Ph.D. said, “It has been an honor of a lifetime...
Climate change and iron availability may drastically alter algae blooms in the Southern Ocean, trapping vast nutrients
LA JOLLA, CA—July 26, 2021—The Southern Ocean (SO) harbors some of the most intense phytoplankton blooms on Earth. Climate change models predict that average SO surface temperatures will rise from their current average of zero to four degrees Celsius by one to two degrees by 2100 and six degrees by 2300. Additionally, while there is considerable uncertainty regarding the impact of projected climate change on anticipated changes in iron availability, it is believed that iron availability...
H3Africa Update
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the UK-based Wellcome Trust, in partnership with the African Society of Human Genetics, developed a program to foster genomic and epidemiological research in African scientific institutions. The laboratory and computational infrastructure available to most scientists on the African continent is currently insufficient to keep up with the rapid developments in DNA sequencing technologies and the need to use advanced computationally intensive...
Omicron and Beta variants evade antibodies elicited by vaccines and previous infections, but boosters help
ROCKVILLE, MD and LA JOLLA, CA—January 13, 2022—Scientists from the J. Craig Venter Institute, along with collaborators, have shown that people who were infected with the original D614 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), as well as those vaccinated with either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, have significantly reduced protection against the Beta and Omicron variants as compared to the original D614 virus and Delta variant. While a third...
Animal Forensics and Molecular Biology Techniques
A one-day high school workshop for New Hampton School’s Project Week Hosted by the J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, Maryland – March 11, 2015 Every March, the New Hampton School, an independent high school in New Hampshire, holds Project Week, an experiential learning program that allows students to choose from a wide array of unique activities, both on and off campus. This year, one project group traveled to Washington D.C. to complete a program on...
Statement on cuts to National Institutes of Health funding
La Jolla, California—February 20, 2025—For more than 30 years, the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) has been at the forefront of biotechnological innovation and discovery. Our research relies on consistent grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other federal agencies. This funding is crucial for the United States to keep its global scientific leadership position, and the consequences of disruptions or reductions would be catastrophic. Funding interruptions can...