Media Center

01-May-2024

Tae Seok Moon, Ph.D. and Nan Zhu, Ph.D. join J. Craig Venter Institute faculty

JCVI continues to actively recruit faculty to expand core research areas, including human health and synthetic biology

18-Apr-2024
Press Release

Groundbreaking study reveals oral microbiome’s role in immune response and COVID-19 severity

Newly developed AI model shows that saliva is a better predictor of COVID-19 severity than existing blood tests

21-Mar-2024
Press Release

Scientists develop method to efficiently construct single-copy human artificial chromosomes (HACs)

This new tool will allow scientists to work in mammalian systems in ways only previously available in bacteria and yeast

HACs have wide potential research applications to synthetic biologists and may eventually aid in delivering DNA in clinical applications

19-Mar-2024
Collaborator Release

With combined funding of 3,000,000 euros the BBVA Foundation’s Fundamentos Program supports five innovative exploratory research projects on core questions in basic science

JCVI work supported through The Physical Basis of Cell Division in Minimal and Synthetic cells (MINCELL) Fundamentos Program

11-Mar-2024
Workshop Alert

12th Build-a-Cell Workshop hosted at J. Craig Venter Institute in La Jolla

The workshop will take place March 29, 2024 with registration closing March 19

22-Feb-2024
Collaborator Release

New LongCOVID research launched by PolyBio’s global consortium of scientists

Funding will deepen research on the persistence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in LongCOVID patients and launch new clinical trials

30-Jan-2024
Press Release

J. Craig Venter Institute contracted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to rapidly construct synthetic influenza genes

Genes will be used to help develop seasonal and pandemic vaccines, improving response time and vaccine efficacy

10-Nov-2023
Press Release

Coastal upwelling regions threatened by increased ocean acidification

Increased acidification shown to limit iron availability, a critical element for the survival of phytoplankton, the foundation of the oceanic food web

12-Sep-2023
Press Release

J. Craig Venter Institute scientists awarded five-year, $5.7M grant from NIH to develop phage treatment

Phage research accelerates with the rise of antibiotic resistance to address increasingly prevalent and difficult to treat bacterial infections

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J. Craig Venter Institute Inspires Kids on “Take Your Child to Work Day”

Last month when my kindergarten-aged daughter brought home a note from school to dress up as their future career choice, I was pleasantly surprised to hear from her that she aspired to be a scientist just like me. So, we dug through my clothes and found her an old lab coat and decorated the...

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...

J. Craig Venter Institute Teaches Students about Genomics at Annual High Tech Fair

In January, JCVI was one of more than 40 San Diego STEM-related organizations who participated in the Fleet Science Center’s annual High Tech Fair. This year more than 3,000 local middle and high-school students, their teachers, and families descended upon Balboa Park throughout the...

Dr. Scheuermann featured on the Illumina Genomics Podcast

In Episode 14 of the Illumina Genomics Podcast, Dr. Richard Scheuermann is the featured guest. Dr. Scheuermann discusses advancements in cell ontology, informatics, machine learning, and how his approach to biology has adapted over the years to incorporate the massive increases of data and...

New Method for Genome-wide Engineering of Viruses

Researchers at JCVI have been developing synthetic genomics assembly methods since 2000, addressing fundamental biological questions. Together, with researchers at Oregon Health and Science University, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Synthetic Genomics, Inc., and Vir Biotechnology,...

JCVI Launches New Internship Partnership with Smithsonian Science Education Center

Are you passionate about science education? If so, we have a unique hands-on opportunity for you to be a part of real teams of scientists and educators. Open to undergraduate and graduate students with no previous lab experience required.

Inspiring the Next Generation of Scientific Leadership

Through the NIDDK-funded Genomics Scholars Program, JCVI has provided aspiring scientists wet lab, technical, and career training. Community college students from Montgomery College (Maryland) and MiraCosta College (California) have participated, with the next cohort joining us this summer.

The 2017 JCVI Summer Internship Program

JCVI’s long-running internship program just concluded its summer 2017 session with a well-attended poster symposium held in both its Rockville and La Jolla locations. Eighteen of our interns presented their research in a session open to all JCVI faculty and staff. Montgomery College...

Scientist Spotlight: Brett Pickett, PhD

The son of a dentist, Brett Pickett grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah focused initially on a career in the family business (his siblings are hygienists and an oral surgeon). Brett believed from an early age that he would follow in his father’s footsteps. He enrolled in Brigham Young...

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17-Jan-2024
Grow by Ginkgo

Getting Under the Skin

Amid an insulin crisis, one project aims to engineer microscopic insulin pumps out of a skin bacterium.

24-Oct-2023
Noema

Planet Microbe

There are more organisms in the sea, a vital producer of oxygen on Earth, than planets and stars in the universe.

29-Aug-2023
Vanity Fair

The Next Climate Change Calamity?: We’re Ruining the Microbiome, According to Human-Genome-Pioneer Craig Venter

In a new book (coauthored with Venter), a Vanity Fair contributor presents the oceanic evidence that human activity is altering the fabric of life on a microscopic scale.

21-Aug-2023
GEN

Lessons from the Minimal Cell

“Despite reducing the sequence space of possible trajectories, we conclude that streamlining does not constrain fitness evolution and diversification of populations over time. Genome minimization may even create opportunities for evolutionary exploitation of essential genes, which are commonly observed to evolve more slowly.”

09-Aug-2023
Quanta Magazine

Even Synthetic Life Forms With a Tiny Genome Can Evolve

By watching “minimal” cells regain the fitness they lost, researchers are testing whether a genome can be too simple to evolve.

15-May-2023
Science

Privacy concerns sparked by human DNA accidentally collected in studies of other species

Two research teams warn that human genomic “bycatch” can reveal private information

10-May-2023
New York Times

Scientists Unveil a More Diverse Human Genome

The “pangenome,” which collated genetic sequences from 47 people of diverse ethnic backgrounds, could greatly expand the reach of personalized medicine.

10-May-2023
Nature

First human ‘pangenome’ aims to catalogue genetic diversity

Researchers release draft results from an ongoing effort to capture the entirety of human genetic variation.

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