Environmental Sustainability

Now more than ever our environment is at risk because of increasing population and climate change. Ocean microplastics and nitrogen runoff from fertilizer are wreaking ecologic havoc. JCVI is using DNA sequencing and analysis along with synthetic biology techniques to harness microbes for uses such as plastic degradation and sustainable agriculture. We also continue to monitor, analyze and better understand the microbes inhabiting the global oceans to develop new improved biofuels and monitor the health of this important asset.  

02-Oct-2024
Press Release

J. Craig Venter Institute awarded 5-year, $5M grant to lead Center for Innovative Recycling and Circular Economy (CIRCLE)

CIRCLE is one of the six new NSF Global Centers focused on advancing bioeconomy research to solve global challenges

19-Sep-2024
Press Release

Scientists discover molecular predictors of toxic algal blooms that pose health risk, ecological and economic harm

Genes in the algae Pseudo-nitzschia genus have been identified that act as a warning beacon for a dangerous neurotoxin

21-May-2024
Collaborator Release

Phytoplankton Genetically Sequenced at Sea for the First Time

Viking’s Initiative with UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and J. Craig Venter Institute Aims to Provide Better Understanding of the “World’s Lungs”

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

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

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.

01-Aug-2022
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Hunting for deep-ocean plastics

Through the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, National Deep Submergence Facility, JCVI's Erin Garza, Ph.D. joins a deep sea expedition to search for ocean plastics aboard the HOV Alvin.

04-May-2022
Collaborator Release

Scientists announce comprehensive regional diagnostic of microbial ocean life using DNA testing

Large-scale ‘metabarcoding’ methods could revolutionize how society understands forces that drive seafood supply, planet’s ability to remove greenhouse gases

26-Jul-2021
Press Release

Climate change and iron availability may drastically alter algae blooms in the Southern Ocean, trapping vast nutrients

Shifts in diatom population may have profound effects on global nutrient distribution and carbon cycling

18-Mar-2021
Press Release

Scientists map how iron, a critical mineral for survival, is processed by algae, a cornerstone of the ocean food web

Nearly forty proteins identified in the intracellular process, helping to build a conceptual overview of how iron is allocated within diatom cells

27-Sep-2018
Press Release

Domoic Acid Decoded: Scientists Discover Genetic Basis for How Harmful Algal Blooms Become Toxic

Research into gene function in microalgae helps determine how toxins are made in oceanic harmful algal blooms

16-Jul-2018
Media Advisory

Research Schooner Tara in San Diego Calls for Innovative Citizen Science and Oceanography 2.0

For in-depth evaluation of ocean health, biodiversity, and evolution

21-Jun-2018
Blog

Ocean Sampling Day 2018

24-May-2018
Collaborator Release

Researchers identify bacteria and viruses ejected from the ocean

Certain types of bacteria and viruses are readily ejected into the atmosphere when waves break while others less likely to be transported into the air

02-May-2018
Blog

BioVision Alexandria 2018

14-Mar-2018
Press Release

Key Biological Mechanism is Disrupted by Ocean Acidification

Inability of phytoplankton to acquire iron imperils marine ecosystems