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Bioinformatics Resource Center at TIGR to Focus on Biothreat Pathogens
TIGR has signed a five-year, $21.1 million contract with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to establish and maintain a new national Bioinformatics Resource Center for the study of pathogens that are considered biothreat agents or are associated with emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases.
Anthrax Toxin Genes Found in Another Microbial Species
For the first time, researchers have found anthrax toxin genes in a naturally occurring microbe other than Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes anthrax. The microbe that contains those anthrax genes is a strain of Bacillus cereus isolated from a patient with a medical condition similar to inhalation anthrax.
Decoding a Sulfate-Breathing Bug
Paving the way for better methods to protect pipelines and remediate metallic pollutants, TIGR scientists and collaborators have deciphered the genome of a sulfate-breathing bacterium, Desulfovibrio vulgaris, which can damage oil and natural gas pipelines and corrode oilfield equipment.
HP and TCAG Collaborate to Advance Medical and Environmental Genomic Discovery in Life Science
Scientists Decipher the Rat Genome
An international consortium of scientists that includes TIGR has completed a high-quality draft sequence of the rat genome. Comparing the rat to the human and mouse genomes, the Rat Genome Sequencing Project Consortium reported that nearly all human genes known to be associated with diseases have counterparts in the rat.
A New Spin on Spirochetes
Major Differences Found Between the Genomes of Oral Pathogen Treponema denticola and Related Spiral-Shaped Bacteria that Cause Syphilis and Lyme Disease
"Male-Targeting" Bacterium's Genome is Deciphered
Versatile Wolbachia has more mobile DNA than any other intracellular bacterium; Study may help in developing new treatments for diseases
IBEA Researchers Publish Results From Environmental Shotgun Sequencing of Sargasso Sea In Science; Discover 1,800 New Species And 1.2 Million New Genes, Including Nearly 800 New Photoreceptor Genes
IBEA Announces Sorcerer II Expedition, Global Expedition To Sample World's Oceans And Land To Characterize And Understand Microbial Populations Using Environmental DNA Sequencing
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation give IBEA $4.25 Million Grant for Genomic Sequencing of DNA Samples from Expedition Discovery Channel to Film Expedition for TV Documentary
Discovery Channel to Film Expedition for TV Documentary
TIGR Offers International Travel Fellowships
Scientists Discover Way to Streamline Analysis of Maize Genome
Combination of Two Techniques Can Help Identify "Gene Islands" in the Key Crop
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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...
Happy DNA Day!
This past March, we had a great time participating in the science programs in San Diego. We ended the month with the SD Science Festival with over 30,000 participants. It was such a busy day - I forgot to take pictures. The venue was Petco Park with hundreds of exhibits and hands-on experiences. We...
Recomb - Computational Proteomics
I recently attended the Recomb satellite conference on Computational Proteomics (downloads for talk and poster) in San Diego, CA. It was a kind of homecoming for me. I was a computational proteomics researcher at UCSD as a grad student with Vineet Bafna. Many of my classmates were still there, as...
A Positive Charge
I’m thinking of the day’s schedule school visit, the activity and the positive charge it will produce in me and the students. I get so excited during our school visits. It’s like the feeling I get on Saturday morning while watching my favorite cartoons. (Yes, I still watch...
We Had Fun with Genomics!
Wow! It’s been an exciting week!! Crystal Snowden and I flew to San Diego Friday, March 5th – jumped off the plane and the fun began! We went straight to the lab and set up for BEWiSE and prepped for Expanding Your Horizons (EYH). We are really fortunate to have such a great team in the San...
Scientist Spotlight: Orianna Bretschger
Most of us have never thought about how to make more water or cleaner water or develop unique sources of energy but that’s exactly what Orianna Bretschger does at JCVI. She is working at the intersection of engineering, physics, and biology to design small machines powered by bacteria that can...
Having Fun with Genomics
I am the generation after landing on the moon. As a child, I don’t recall having any science inspiration. I was fortunate to have parents that made it possible for me and my siblings to get a very good education. I went to a small parochial school outside of Washington, DC. It was a great school...
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...
Influenza H1N1pdm sequencing project overview
Since 2004, the JCVI Influenza Genome Sequencing Project, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has sequenced thousands of human, swine, and avian influenza isolates from collections around the world to provide researchers with a better understanding of the...
High Impact Science in Antarctica
Big changes in store for the Mertz Polynya: in February 2010 iceberg 9B9 collided with the Mertz Glacier, breaking the 70 km floating glacier off at the base. The Mertz Polynya was extensivley sampled by scientists at the JCVI in the summer of 2007/08, and this metagenomic survey will form an important baseline for evaluating on-going changes in the area.
The race to stop mirror organisms
If created, these versions of the building blocks of life could lead to environmental and ecological disaster
J. Craig Venter Describes a Human Genomics Revolution Still In Progress
Despite profound impact on bio-medical research, progress in understanding has been slow
Scientist renowned for study of adolescent brains named president of J. Craig Venter Institute
Anders Dale says he will move roughly $10 million in NIH funding from UCSD to JCVI.
Mirror Bacteria Research Poses Significant Risks, Dozens of Scientists Warn
Synthetic biologists make artificial cells, but one particular kind isn’t worth the risk.
Can CRISPR help stop African Swine Fever?
Gene editing could create a successful vaccine to protect against the viral disease that has killed close to 2 million pigs globally since 2021.
Getting Under the Skin
Amid an insulin crisis, one project aims to engineer microscopic insulin pumps out of a skin bacterium.
Planet Microbe
There are more organisms in the sea, a vital producer of oxygen on Earth, than planets and stars in the universe.
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.
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.”
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