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...

Fighting Back Against Flu

The 1918 influenza pandemic, which affected 500 million people globally and caused 50-100 million deaths, was the most severe pandemic in recorded history. Over the course of the last 100 years, advances in science and medicine have provided the tools to address influenza much more...

Scientist Spotlight: Marcelo Freire

Marcelo Freire, an associate professor in the Genomic Medicine and Infectious Disease Department at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), is currently working on decoding immune-microbiome genes and interactions. Growing up in Brazil and a curious person by nature, he often found himself...

Tracking Enterovirus D68, Cause of a Polio-like Illness in Some Patients

The J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) has played a vital role in defining the diversity of contemporary strains of human enteroviruses by using state-of-the art sequencing technologies, bioinformatics analyses, and in vitro and in vivo modeling.

Gene Drives: New and Improved

As the science advances, policy-makers and regulators need to develop responses that reflect the latest developments and the diversity of approaches and applications.

Pink shoes and a lab jacket: Finding your way as a female scientist

Women in science tell high school girls they, too, can change the world

PEOPLE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD: Jazz piano in La Jolla scientist Clyde Hutchison’s DNA

How AI can help us decode immunity

Artificial intelligence and machine learning will be the keys to unraveling how the human immune system prevents and controls disease

Construction of an Escherichia coli genome with fewer codons sets records

The biggest synthetic genome so far has been made, with a smaller set of amino-acid-encoding codons than usual — raising the prospect of encoding proteins that contain unnatural amino-acid residues.

Public Health is the Next Big Thing at UC San Diego

Researchers have swapped the genome of gut germ E. coli for an artificial one

By creating a new genome, scientists could create organisms tailored to produce desirable compounds

Genetically modified bacteria-killing viruses used on patient for first time