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San Diego Unified STEAM Leadership Series and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies Present: “The Places Your Imagination Takes You”—The 5th Annual Women in Biotech at the Salk
SAN DIEGO—On Wednesday, November 13th, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies will host the 5th Annual Women in Biotech with the San Diego Unified STEAM Leadership Series. Dr. Karen J. Nelson, president of the J. Craig Venter Institute will keynote, followed by an all-women panel from Illumina, the non-profit Match Your Need, and Salk Institute—300 young women from eight San Diego High schools will be welcomed by District Superintendent Cindy Marten, as part of the 18th event in...
Genomic Workshop for Native American College students
A Genomic Science Workshop was held last week (May 24-26, 2016) at the J Craig Venter Institute Rockville campus for a group of ten Native American college students. The students participated in two full-day intensive training activities learning how to study the “microbiome” of natural water sources. Each student had the chance to perform hands-on lab work including DNA isolation from an environmental water source, PCR of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene, and gel electrophoresis....
AGBT, Marco Island 2010
I just got back from AGBT in Marco Island, Florida and I am still in awe. As noted in the name, this conference highlights advances in both genome biology and technology. The biology seemed to be very human genome centric. Many of the talks presented full genome sequences of cancer genomes or familial cohorts. Some of the numbers that people threw around were shocking. It was only a short time ago that Craig Venter came out with the first personal genome, and now sequencing centers like...
Biology in Art: Genetic Detectives ID Microbes Suspected of Slowly Ruining Humanity’s Treasures
A new study of the microbial settlers on old paintings, sculptures, and other forms of art charts a potential path for preserving, restoring, and confirming the geographic origin of some of humanity’s greatest treasures. Genetics scientists with the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), collaborating with the Leonardo da Vinci DNA Project and supported by the Richard Lounsbery Foundation, say identifying and managing communities of microbes on art may offer museums and...
Italy: Sites and Sailing
Saturday July 31st When I last wrote we had finished our 10 day sampling window in Italian waters. On Wednesday July 21st we arrived in Rome the same day Dr. Venter, Heather Kowalski, and Darwin the super boat dog had flown in from the states. We spent 3 days in Rome, most of the time was spent doing media events, restocking the boat with supplies and trying to see as much as Rome as possible in our spare time. On the night of July 23rd we set sail to make our way down the coast of...
Identifying Bacterial Antibiotic Resistance Markers in gut microbes
Ian Lamb, Manolito Torralba J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA The gut microbiome plays a critical role in our health and well-being, but it also facilitates sharing of antibiotic resistance genes. However, antibiotic resistance genes can be identified by distinct markers which we screen in this study. Plasmids pTRACA18, pTRACA20, and pTRACA22 were chosen since they have demonstrated to be present in many gut microbes. This in turn allows the bacteria to spread...
JCVI to Receive Grant from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to Define the Language of Human Cell Classification
Researchers at J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), led by Richard Scheuermann, PhD, director of JCVI’s La Jolla Campus, have been awarded a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative DAF, an advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation as part of the Human Cell Atlas project. JCVI will be building on our previous work in developing an expanded human cell ontology that scientists can use to classify cells and effectively communicate among one another. On average there are around 30...
Influences of trace metals on biological evolution
Scientists show how trace metal chemistry and global changes in oxygen have influenced the evolution of metalloproteins and the Eukaryotes A paper is being published in PNAS this week about how the varying abundance of trace metals in the environment has influenced biological evolution. The research team, led by Chris Dupont of the J. Craig Venter Institute and Gustavo Caetano-Anollés at the University of Illinois, correlated environmental changes in metal availability over the...