Media Center

18-Apr-2024
Press Release

Groundbreaking study reveals oral microbiome’s role in immune response and COVID-19 severity

Newly developed AI model shows that saliva is a better predictor of COVID-19 severity than existing blood tests

21-Mar-2024
Press Release

Scientists develop method to efficiently construct single-copy human artificial chromosomes (HACs)

This new tool will allow scientists to work in mammalian systems in ways only previously available in bacteria and yeast

HACs have wide potential research applications to synthetic biologists and may eventually aid in delivering DNA in clinical applications

19-Mar-2024
Collaborator Release

With combined funding of 3,000,000 euros the BBVA Foundation’s Fundamentos Program supports five innovative exploratory research projects on core questions in basic science

JCVI work supported through The Physical Basis of Cell Division in Minimal and Synthetic cells (MINCELL) Fundamentos Program

11-Mar-2024
Workshop Alert

12th Build-a-Cell Workshop hosted at J. Craig Venter Institute in La Jolla

The workshop will take place March 29, 2024 with registration closing March 19

22-Feb-2024
Collaborator Release

New LongCOVID research launched by PolyBio’s global consortium of scientists

Funding will deepen research on the persistence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in LongCOVID patients and launch new clinical trials

30-Jan-2024
Press Release

J. Craig Venter Institute contracted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to rapidly construct synthetic influenza genes

Genes will be used to help develop seasonal and pandemic vaccines, improving response time and vaccine efficacy

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

12-Sep-2023
Press Release

J. Craig Venter Institute scientists awarded five-year, $5.7M grant from NIH to develop phage treatment

Phage research accelerates with the rise of antibiotic resistance to address increasingly prevalent and difficult to treat bacterial infections

07-Sep-2023
Collaborator Release

Bringing cells to life … and to Minecraft: $30 million NSF grant to support whole-cell modeling at the Beckman Institute

Beckman researchers and collaborators received $30 million from the U.S. National Science Foundation to establish the NSF Science and Technology Center for Quantitative Cell Biology. The center will develop whole-cell models to transform our understanding of how cells function and share that knowledge with diverse communities through the popular computer game Minecraft.

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Complete Genome Sequence of Strain JB001, a Member of Saccharibacteria Clade G6

The complexity and diversity of the microbial world was not fully understood until sequencing technology allowed us to study microbes without growing them in the lab. An important family of bacteria, Saccharibacteria (formerly called TM7), is one of the many bacteria of interest which were...

Scientific Pioneers

JCVI recognizes trailblazers in scientific history, particularly those who made advancements all while surpassing gender, ethnic, and other societal barriers, creating opportunity for the next generation of scientists. These historical figures not only helped advance our understanding of human...

Women’s History Month: Tu Youyou

Tu Youyou is a Chinese pharmaceutical chemist whose unique training in the classification of medical plants and their active ingredients resulted in a discovery that has led to the survival and improved health of millions of people. In 1967, at the height of the Vietnam War, malaria spread by...

SARS-CoV-2 Mutation Tracking

The Bacterial Viral Bioinformatic Resource Center (BV-BRC) is proud to introduce a new resource with the goal of providing live tracking of SARS-CoV-2 mutations. This real-time resource will provide regular reports focused on “Variants and Lineages of Concern” (VoCs/LoCs), and will serve as an early warning system for variants that are increasing in frequency in specific geographical locations.

JCVI Scientists and Interns Dramatically Trim Proteome Analysis Costs with New Lab-on-a-Filter Process

Through a happy accident and a keen mind, JCVI intern Rodrigo Eguez realized scientists might be able to pack their own filters rather than rely on those produced commercially at a significant cost savings. While playing around in the laboratory, he inadvertently disassembled a filter device...

Unique Antibody Pattern Discovered in COVID-19 ICU Patients May Be Key to Predicting Severe Outcomes

While news of promising COVID-19 vaccine trials is heartening, the fight to control infection rates and develop effective treatments will be an ongoing challenge for science for years to come. Gene Tan, PhD and his collaborators are working on identifying...

Synthetic Cell-Powered Lotion to Manage Type 1 Diabetes

Early last year we first talked about how researchers Yo Suzuki, PhD, and John Glass, PhD at JCVI set out to eliminate the need for type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients to receive insulin injections to manage blood glucose levels through a novel approach: developing a bacterial replacement for beta...

COVID-19 Further Complicating Flu Season

While the world is rightly focused on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important to know that influenza is always a significant public health burden, and the combination of the pandemic and flu season could converge to become a perfect storm of infectious diseases. Influenza causes 3 to...

Sara Josephine Baker

At the beginning of the 20th century, many people remained skeptical of both germ theory and preventative medicine, but pioneering physician Dr. Sara Josephine Baker fought to revolutionize public health and is credited with saving tens of thousands of lives. After studying chemistry and...

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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.

21-Aug-2023
GEN

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.”

09-Aug-2023
Quanta Magazine

Even Synthetic Life Forms With a Tiny Genome Can Evolve

By watching “minimal” cells regain the fitness they lost, researchers are testing whether a genome can be too simple to evolve.

15-May-2023
Science

Privacy concerns sparked by human DNA accidentally collected in studies of other species

Two research teams warn that human genomic “bycatch” can reveal private information

10-May-2023
New York Times

Scientists Unveil a More Diverse Human Genome

The “pangenome,” which collated genetic sequences from 47 people of diverse ethnic backgrounds, could greatly expand the reach of personalized medicine.

10-May-2023
Nature

First human ‘pangenome’ aims to catalogue genetic diversity

Researchers release draft results from an ongoing effort to capture the entirety of human genetic variation.

15-Mar-2023
Scientific American

Scientists Create the Smallest-Ever Moving Cell

Just two genes get tiny synthetic cells moving, offering clues to life’s evolution.

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