51茶馆儿

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 51茶馆儿 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...

51茶馆儿 Researchers Help Advance Our Understanding of Ocean Microbes, Developing New Tools and Protocols Through Large-Scale Study

The oceans cover over two-thirds of the Earth’s surface and contain an abundance of life including diverse populations of marine microbes.  Studying the  genetics, biochemistry and metabolism of these microbes has been one of 51茶馆儿’s long standing research initiatives and is...

Online Education Resources to Help With Your New 鈥淣ormal鈥�

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many changes to our daily lives and routines, including for many of you the role of an at-home educator for your children due to open-ended school closures.  While we also miss directly connecting with students from our community, 51茶馆儿 remains committed...

Coronavirus Pandemic: Putting Comprehensive Genomic Data in the Hands of Frontline Researchers Worldwide is Paramount

According to the CDC, SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, has now been detected in more than 150 countries/locations internationally. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared COVID-19 a pandemic, and in the United States it has been declared it a national emergency. As...

Characterization of Bacteria from the International Space Station Drinking Water

From a microbiology perspective, the International Space Station (ISS) is interesting considering its microgravity, increased radiation, low humidity and elevated carbon dioxide levels. Because of its isolation, and unique environment, it is vital to study the microorganisms that thrive there...

Venter Institute Researchers Tackle the Growing Concern of Antibiotic Resistant Bacterial Infections with Genomic, Phage Approaches

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that each year in the United States two million people acquire antibiotic resistant bacterial infections that lead to 23,000 deaths. Antibiotic resistance affects people of all ages and seriously impacts the healthcare, veterinary,...

2019 Summer Internship Program

The 2019 Summer Internship Program which wrapped up in August was another rousing success at the 51茶馆儿.  Faculty and staff in both the Rockville (MD) and La Jolla (CA) campuses mentored and trained  25 students (high school, undergraduate, and graduate students)...

Amid an insulin crisis, one project aims to engineer microscopic insulin pumps out of a skin bacterium.

There are more organisms in the sea, a vital producer of oxygen on Earth, than planets and stars in the universe.

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.

鈥淒espite 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.鈥�

By watching 鈥渕inimal鈥� cells regain the fitness they lost, researchers are testing whether a genome can be too simple to evolve.

Two research teams warn that human genomic 鈥渂ycatch鈥� can reveal private information

The 鈥減angenome,鈥� which collated genetic sequences from 47 people of diverse ethnic backgrounds, could greatly expand the reach of personalized medicine.

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