简介

J. Craig Venter研究所1今天，已成为一个大型的多学科的基因组为重点的组织。400名科学家，25万平方英尺的空间实验室，新JCVI的地点是在基因组研究居世界领先。

历史

两年多来博士奎格文特和他的研究小组已经在基因组研究的先锋。革命开始于1991年在国立卫生研究院博士文特尔和他的团队开发的表达序列标签（ESTs），一种新技术，迅速地发现基因。博士文特尔和他的同事便开始非盈利研究机构的一种新的基因组研究所（TIGR）的研究所。随着自由谋求任何令人兴奋的途径，在基因组学领域的一些新兴的，团队决定利用他们的新的计算和计算工具，以及新的DNA测序技术，序列的第一个免费活的有机体，在1995年流感嗜血杆菌。与此之前，基因组学的大门被打开。基因组研究所接着序列和分析超过50微生物基因组。博士文特尔和他的小组的一些进入哺乳动物的基因组测序和最重要的模式生物，包括果蝇，小鼠，大鼠一些。世界的注意力也许是最敏锐的测序和基因组分析的一个重点-人类-这是在2001年出版的博士文特尔和他的塞莱拉基因组。

在JCVI，我们并不满足于吃老本。在过去三年，团队一直在最激动人心的研究成果和一些生物科学。我们最近公布的第一个人类基因组二倍体和我们的全球海洋采样探险队发现了600多万新的基因和从海水中发现新的蛋白质生物成千上万个家庭的初步结果。各队也测序人类环境中，如阴道，口腔和人的肠道微生物菌群。我们正在对我们寻求稳步前进创造一个染色体和生物合成成功地转变成另一种细菌的种类。我们也测序，如蚊种，埃及伊蚊的重要传染病的病原体种类，我们正在努力理解，如流感和我们寻求冠状病毒基因组的几个演变，以帮助减轻全球传染病的祸害世界。这些只是众多研究领域，是解决我们的团队，我们力求使我们的科学与世界各地的影响数。

The J. Craig Venter Institute was formed in October 2006 through the merger of several affiliated and legacy organizations — The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and The Center for the Advancement of Genomics (TCAG), The J. Craig Venter Science Foundation, The Joint Technology Center, and the Institute for Biological Energy Alternatives (IBEA). Today all these organizations have become one large multidisciplinary genomic-focused organization. With more than 400 scientists and staff, more than 250,000 square feet of laboratory space, and locations in Rockville, Maryland and San Diego, California, the new JCVI is a world leader in genomic research.

History

For more than two decades Dr. J. Craig Venter and his research teams have been pioneers in genomic research. The revolution began in 1991 when at the National Institutes of Health Dr. Venter and his team developed expressed sequence tags (ESTs), a new technique to rapidly discover genes. Dr. Venter and his colleagues then started a new kind of not for profit research institute, The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR). With the freedom to pursue any number of exciting avenues in the burgeoning field of genomics, the team decided to use their new computing and computational tools, as well as new DNA sequencing technology, to sequence the first free living organism, in 1995. With this advance, the floodgates of genomics were opened. TIGR went on to sequence and analyze more than 50 microbial genomes. Dr. Venter and some from his team moved into mammalian genomics and sequenced some of the most important model organisms including the fruit fly, mouse and rat. The world’s attention was perhaps most keenly focused on the sequencing and analysis of one genome — the human — which was published in 2001 by Dr. Venter and his team at Celera Genomics.

At the JCVI, we’re not content to rest on our laurels. In the past three years teams have been engaged in some of the most fruitful and exciting research in the biological sciences. We’ve recently published the first diploid human genome and the initial results of our global ocean sampling expedition which uncovered more than six million new genes and thousands of new protein families from organisms found in sea water. Teams have also sequenced the microbial flora found in human environments such as the vagina, oral cavity and human gut. We’re making steady progress in our quest to create a synthetic chromosome and organism having successfully transformed one species of bacteria into another. We’ve also sequenced a variety of important infectious disease agents such as the mosquito species, , and we are working to understand the evolution of several viral genomes such as influenza and coronavirus in our quest to help alleviate the scourge of infectious disease around the world. These are just a few of the many research areas our team is tackling as we seek to make a worldwide impact with our science.

计划将测序仪送上火星

近年来的一些研究越来越让科学家们相信在火星上存在某种生命形式，其中最有力的证据就是火星上甲烷气体的发现。科学家们相信，这些甲烷是由火星地表下的微生物产生的。并且由于甲烷气体的持续产生，科学家相信这些产甲烷生物是活的。不过也有科学家对这一最新发现提出异议，他们认为，火星表面的甲烷气体也可能是由火山运动造成的。但矛盾的是，目前火星上没有任何已知的活火山。要解决这一争议，检测火星上DNA成为一个非常有效的方式。

J.Craig Venter Institute的创始人Venter表示，以他名字命名的研究所—J. Craig Venter研究所和他的公司Synthetic Genomics正在合作开发完成这样一个任务的仪器，并且正在美国的莫哈维沙漠进行测试运行。他希望这种仪器能够在火星上收集土壤样品并分离微生物，然后对它们的DNA进行测序并将数据传回地球。

同样有这个打算的还有Jonathan Rothberg。Jonathan Rothberg是著名的DNA测序公司Ion Torrent的创始人，目前正在积极对他公司生产的测序平台PGM进行改造，将重量从原来的30公斤减少到3公斤，从而使得能够装备到NASA（美国国家航空航天局）的火星探路者上去。除了要将测序仪“减肥”，Rothberg的团队也正在对该仪器进行其他的改造好让它能适应远距离太空旅行，比如要让它能够承受严重的辐射。Rothberg团队的这项工作是哈佛—麻省理工一个合作项目的一部分，这个项目由NASA资助，目的是寻找外星基因组。

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