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J. Craig Venter Institute and UC San Diego Develop Phage Treatment as Potential Cure for Alcoholic Liver Disease
(La Jolla, California)—November 13, 2019—Scientists from the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), a not-for-profit genomic research organization, UC San Diego, and a variety of international and national academic centers published a paper today in the journal Nature describing how alcoholic hepatitis may be cured through the use of bacteriophages (phages), to target specific strains of Enterococcus faecalis, the bacterium responsible for this condition. Certain E. faecalis strains secrete a...
San Diego Unified STEAM Leadership Series and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies Present: “The Places Your Imagination Takes You”—The 5th Annual Women in Biotech at the Salk
SAN DIEGO—On Wednesday, November 13th, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies will host the 5th Annual Women in Biotech with the San Diego Unified STEAM Leadership Series. Dr. Karen J. Nelson, president of the J. Craig Venter Institute will keynote, followed by an all-women panel from Illumina, the non-profit Match Your Need, and Salk Institute—300 young women from eight San Diego High schools will be welcomed by District Superintendent Cindy Marten, as part of the 18th event in the...
The JCVI Genomic Frontier Fund
As we complete our 26th year as a private genomic research institution, we are still just as excited as we were in the very beginning to be making new discoveries, potentially ones that will change our society for the better. The knowledge gained from our study of DNA, or as Dr. Venter likes to call it, “the software of life”, has exponentially accelerated the progress of science and medicine. However, we are still just scratching the surface of understanding life and many more...
Accelerating the Pace of Discovery with Your Support
Advancing Genomic Research The J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) has a long history of pioneering genomic research and successful grant funding for this research. However, the biggest scientific breakthroughs developed at JCVI — including sequencing the first genome of a free-living organism, sequencing the first microbiome, and constructing the first synthetic cell — were funded with philanthropic support. We have a variety of ways you can become a partner in advancing genomics for a...
JCVI/AADR Fall Focused Symposium
The JCVI/AADR Fall Focused Symposium: Integrating Omic Datasets Towards Translation will be held on November 14-15, 2019 at the J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, Calf. Topics in this symposium include an introduction to multiomic approaches, advance analysis of metagenomes and metatranscriptomes in caries disease, clinical relevance of multiomics in periodontal treatments, omics in clinical oral health disparities and more.
Combining Antibiotics, Researchers Deliver One-Two Punch against Ubiquitous Bacterium
By combining two well-established antibiotics for the first time, a scientific team led by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center has delivered a “double whammy” against the pervasive Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a potentially deadly form of bacteria that is a major source of hospital-based infections. In a recent Journal of Infectious Diseases study, investigators showed using two antibiotic drugs to...
New Sequencing Technologies Enable Better and Faster Understanding of the Human Microbiome
Humans have trillions of different species of microorganisms living inside and on the human body. These microbes colonize on the skin, gut, oral cavity, vagina, internal organs, and circulating fluids, and are called the human microbiome. The human microbiome plays profound roles in health and disease. Since the first human microbiome study reported by the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) in 2006, researchers have gained unprecedented knowledge on how the microbiome influences human health and...
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 was a tipping point that lead to numerous new areas of research. Currently, only 1% of all microbiomes are guiding applications in health, food systems and ecosystem resources, leaving enormous potential for...
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 collection. After devouring “The Hot Zone,” a fictionalized account of an almost outbreak of Ebola in the United States, microbiology and the study of infectious diseases became her...