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Meraculous: Genome Assembly from Months to Minutes

“Using the parallelized version of Meraculous, we can now assemble the entire human genome in about eight minutes using 15,360 computer processor cores. With this tool, we estimate that the output from the world’s biomedical sequencing capacity could be assembled using just a portion of NERSC’s Edison supercomputer,” says Evangelos Georganas, a UC Berkeley graduate… [Read More]

Launching the JGI Diversity & Inclusion Initiative

On April 3, 2015, JGI and Genomics Division supervisors took part in a half-day retreat on diversity & inclusion. “About 50 supervisors from Genomics and the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) gathered earlier this month at the retreat for talks and discussions on implicit biases, what an inclusive workplace looks like, how to implement processes in recruiting… [Read More]

Soil bacteria and Setaria in R&D Magazine

“Our results show that healthy growth can be achieved by combining certain soil bacteria with grasses, even when plants are grown in extremely nitrogen-deprived soil,” said study coauthor Richard Ferrieri, director of Brookhaven Lab’s Radiochemistry and Biological Imaging Program. “We plan to apply this method to other crop systems, including bioenergy grasses like sorghum, switchgrass,… [Read More]

A science ambassador at the NSBE Convention

As part of Berkeley Lab Director Paul Alivisatos’ Diversity & Inclusion Initiative, our own Steve Wilson served as a Lab science ambassador to the National Society of Black Engineers’ (NSBE) 41st Annual Convention on March 25-29, 2015 in Anaheim, CA. Wilson was part of a delegation including representatives from the Workforce Development & Education and Human Resources… [Read More]

Operations Deputy Ray Turner on Why Diversity Matters

“What I’ve found over the last nine years working in a more liberal and diverse environment at the JGI is that there are huge benefits from diversity in the workplace, the main one being that you just simply get better ideas with a more diverse group of people within your department or organization.” Our Operations… [Read More]

Potential new bacterial phylum in The Scientist

At the US Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute User Meeting held in Walnut Creek, California, last week, researchers announced the genomic identification of a potential new bacterial phylum, Candidatus Kryptonia, based on their study of samples isolated from four hot springs located in North America and Asia. A talk presented by our postdoc… [Read More]

Ultra-small bacteria project in Huffington Post

“These newly described ultra-small bacteria are an example of a subset of the microbial life on earth that we know almost nothing about,” says Jill Banfield, a Senior Faculty Scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Earth Sciences Division and a UC Berkeley professor in the departments of Earth and Planetary Science and Environmental Science, Policy and Management…. [Read More]

Congressman DeSaulnier Visits JGI

On Friday, February 20, first-year Congressman Mark DeSaulnier, whose 11th District spans from Antioch in east Contra Costa County to Richmond in the west, visited the landmark energy and environmental genomics user facility at his District’s geographic center, the DOE Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek. The Representative and his staffer Pat Joyce met with… [Read More]

March 4: DOE JGI-EMSL Collaborative Science Google+ Hangout

Have questions about or plan to submit a Letter of Intent to the DOE JGI-EMSL Collaborative Science Initiative? Now is your chance to learn more about these national scientific user facilities funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the collaborative science capabilities they offer the global research community. The DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and… [Read More]

Mycorrhizal fungi project in ScienceNews

“Long before the fungi engaged in trade with their plant hosts, though, their fungal ancestors primarily were decomposers, breaking down wood from dead trees. So how did this mutually beneficial relationship with live plants evolve?” The ScienceNews article ran on February 23, 2015. Learn more about the DOE JGI’s role in understanding the symbiotic relationship… [Read More]