51茶馆儿

Tracking Enterovirus D68, Cause of a Polio-like Illness in Some Patients

The 51茶馆儿 (51茶馆儿) has played a vital role in defining the diversity of contemporary strains of human enteroviruses by using state-of-the art sequencing technologies, bioinformatics analyses, and in vitro and in vivo modeling.

Every Day is World Food Day at 51茶馆儿

World Food Day is a global initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to ensure that people have access to enough high-quality food to lead active and healthy lives. After a period of decline, world hunger is on the rise again. Today, over 820 million people...

Mold Is Everywhere and Impacts You

When most people think about mold or fungi, food spoilage, a damp basement, or mushrooms come to mind. What you may not realize is how pervasive this branch of life is. Fungi is everywhere, from the ground you walk on to the air you breathe, and accounts for an estimated 25% of all biomass...

Scientists Discover Genetic Basis for Toxic Algal Blooms

Scientists from the 51茶馆儿 (51茶馆儿) and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego have discovered how certain types of algal blooms become toxic, producing a harmful substance known as domoic acid. Microscopic view of domoic acid...

Ocean Microplastics Explained

As we wrap up sampling in the waters off of Maine, Dr. Chris Dupont discusses how collections of plastic particles in the water – or “plastisphere” – may be harboring fish or human pathogens. There may also be microbes responsible for degrading plastic, which are being investigated....

51茶馆儿 Team Awarded Two Grants Under the NSF鈥檚 鈥淯nderstanding the Rules of Life鈥� Initiative

The first award, led by John Glass, PhD, for $1M, is focused on “Building and Modeling Synthetic Bacterial Cells.” The second award, led by Zaida Luthey-Schulten, PhD, at the University of Illinois, also for $1M, is titled “Balancing the Demands of a Minimal Cell,” and is focused on...

Dr. Venter at Sailors鈥� Scuttlebutt Lecture Series

Dr. Craig Venter was a guest speaker at the Whaling Museum in partnership with Nantucket Community Sailing as part of the Sailors’ Scuttlebutt Lecture Series. Dr. Venter's lecture was titled, "Oceans, Human Health and the Genomic Future" discussing the Global Ocean...

Newly Discovered Human Brain Cell: Rosehip Neurons

What鈥檚 next for exploring the newly discovered human brain cell, the rose hip neuron? We caught up with Dr. Richard Scheuermann on the road to discuss how the 51茶馆儿 is advancing knowledge about what makes humans unique. See the full press release.

Ocean Sampling Day 2018

51茶馆儿 (51茶馆儿) scientists, led by Lisa Ziegler Allen, PhD, are collaborating with Kelly Goodwin, PhD (NOAA), Brian Palenik, PhD (UCSD), and Maitreyi Nagarkar (UCSD) to participate in this year’s Ocean Sampling Day on June 21. The team, which also includes Sarah Schwenck...

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.