New ways to analyze metagenomics data

Are you looking for new tools to analyze your metagenomics data? Are you using MG-RAST, IMG/M or MEGAN for your daily metagenomics work? JCVI is working on a user friendly alternative that you might be looking for - a new tool kit for metagenomics data visualization and analysis built using...

DNA microarrays vs RNAseq — The winner and new heavyweight champion is?... It’s a draw.

In the past year or so there have been several articles stating that the death of microarray technology is growing near. These proclamations are due to the more recently introduced methodology referred to as RNAseq. At first glance I wrote these claims off as being silly and premature. Over time...

Science Festivals

With spring around the corner (or at least we hope), there are several upcoming science festivals. These festivals are designed to provide students and families opportunities to find out what is happening in local science research institutes, universities and companies. These organizations are...

Waste-to-Electricity?

Many of us don’t spend a lot of time pondering wastewater treatment unless we absolutely have to.  However, we may need to start rethinking this dirty job.   In the United States wastewater treatment is a multi-billion dollar industry that is facing major challenges in the...

300 Papers

Congratulations to Ken Nealson for publishing his 300th paper! Ken has been a driving force in microbiology for 40 years having published several seminal papers in microbial ecology. In the 1980s he helped to pioneer the field of geobiology and discovered bacteria that thrive on metal. Dr....

2010 Internship Program Ready to Go

Are you thinking about summer already? We are!! The 2010 Summer Internship Program is open to accept applications. Last year, we received and reviewed over 300 applications from all over the US and the world for our summer program. Interns were selected to work in most of the research groups...

Scientist Spotlight: Karen Nelson

Karen’s interest in the natural world was sparked at a young age. Born in Jamaica, she enjoyed the outdoors and wonders of nature. Karen was drawn to animals and wanted to become a veterinarian, but after taking some human and animal nutrition courses in college she was hooked on microbiology....

Antarctic Epiblog: Leaving McMurdo

Ice formation outside McMurdo Station After we took our samples out at the ice edge, we returned to McMurdo Station for several intense days of demobilization. We had to return all of the large drills, power equipment and camping gear, and spent a considerable time preparing our own gear...

Station IV: The Ice Edge

Our last station in our Ross Sea transect was out at the ice edge, about two miles north of our previous station, Station III. We were interested to see how plankton in the open polynya were different from the phytoplankton we isolated from areas locked in sea-ice. Polynyas are ice-free areas of...

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

Hair claimed to belong to Leonardo da Vinci to undergo DNA testing

Critics, however, argue that this effort is flawed from the beginning

Students learn about genomics, a life in science, at J. Craig Venter Institute