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Days of Discovery: Plymouth, Sea Urchin Cell Division and More Plankton
After a few days of fairly rough weather and winds up to 50 knots we finally spotted land and made our way to Plymouth. With our social interactions having been restricted to a pod of pilot whales and a few tankers passing through the night, we were excited to see a welcoming committee, headed by Dr. Jack Gilbert and Dave Robins from Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), waiting on the dock in Sutton Harbour. We were also excited to meet up with our colleague from JCVI, Dr. Chris Dupont, who...
Scientist Spotlight: Hamilton O. Smith and Clyde A. Hutchison III
Editor’s note: Clyde Hutchison died on September 27, 2025. Less than a month later, Hamilton Smith died on October 25, 2025. This post memorializes their dear friendship and the quest to construct the first bacterium with a synthetic genome in 2010. Their friendship endured and their work continued, realizing the goal of building the first minimized genome, JCVI-syn3.0, now used as a model organism worldwide. They were both active in moving science forward until shortly before their...
Combining Antibiotics, Researchers Deliver One-Two Punch against Ubiquitous Bacterium
By combining two well-established antibiotics for the first time, a scientific team led by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center has delivered a “double whammy” against the pervasive Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a potentially deadly form of bacteria that is a major source of hospital-based infections. In a recent Journal of Infectious Diseases study, investigators showed using two antibiotic drugs to...
Variants in non-coding DNA contribute to inherited autism risk
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SAN DIEGO In recent years, researchers have firmly established that gene mutations appearing for the first time, called de novo mutations, contribute to approximately one-third of cases of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In a new study, an international team led by scientists at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have identified a culprit that may explain some of the remaining risk: rare inherited variants in regions of non-coding DNA. The...
Scientists identify a new kind of human brain cell
One of the most intriguing questions about the human brain is also one of the most difficult for neuroscientists to answer: What sets our brains apart from those of other animals? “We really don’t understand what makes the human brain special,” said Ed Lein, Ph.D., Investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science. “Studying the differences at the level of cells and circuits is a good place to start, and now we have new tools to do just that.” A...
2nd Minimal Cell Workshop
View complete playlist for the workshop on YouTube. Day 1 — September 22, 2022 Time PDT Video Title Presenter Organization PI 5:00 - 5:15 Welcome and introduction John Glass 5:15 - 5:30 Cell-free expression system derived from Syn3A cells Andrei Sakai Radboud University Wilhelm Huck...
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 was a tipping point that lead to numerous new areas of research. Currently, only 1% of all microbiomes are guiding applications in health, food systems and ecosystem resources, leaving enormous...
Chromosomal distribution of 320 genes from a brain cDNA library.
We have determined the chromosomal assignment of 320 brain expressed genes by studying the segregation of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products in human rodent somatic cell hybrids and by genetically mapping polymorphic cDNAs using the CEPH (Centre d'Etude du Polymophisme Humaine) reference pedigrees and database. These mapped genes can function as markers on the physical map of the human genome, as well as serve as candidate disease gene loci. Distribution of these genes to the human...
Culture
Culture J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) culture is founded on the principles of respect and collaboration. We are focused on creating a community where everyone can share, learn, grow, and develop together in a productive manner. This is achieved by gathering feedback from our staff, providing learning and outreach opportunities, building awareness, and sponsoring employee engagement activities. Since our...