Podcasts Archives - DOE Joint Genome Institute

September 21, 2023

JGIota: A Tool to Find the Nomadic Genes that Help Microbes Adapt – geNomad

A quick snippet on Antonio Camargo and Simon Roux, a few of the JGI researchers behind software that finds plasmids and viruses within microbial genomes. As mobile genetic elements like viruses spread their DNA, they can affect how microbes cycle nutrients and adapt to climate change. [Read More]

September 7, 2023

Natural Prodcast Episode 21 – Elizabeth Parkinson

Natural Prodcast guest Betsy Parkinson from Purdue on bacterial signaling molecules and regulation of biosynthetic pathways, student mental health, and getting kids interested in microbiology. [Read More]

August 10, 2023

Natural Prodcast Episode 20 – Brian Bachmann

In Natural Prodcast, guest Brian Bachmann covers genome mining from cave environments, and using biosynthetic engineering and synthetic biology to modify and analog complex natural product molecules. Natural Prodcast co-hosts Dan Udwary and Jackie Winter chat with Brian Bachmann on genome mining from cave environments, and using biosynthetic engineering and synthetic biology to modify and analog complex natural product molecules [Read More]

June 29, 2023

Genome Insider S4 Episode 4: Methane Makers in Yosemite’s Lakes – Mike Beman and Elisabet Perez Coronel

Meet researchers who have hiked, rafted and met local wildlife (a marmot!) as they’ve sampled the microbial communities living in the mountaintop lakes of the Sierra Nevada mountains. These lakes are isolated, but varied. They’re a great way to see how climate change affects freshwater ecosystems, and how those ecosystems work. [Read More]

June 22, 2023

Genome Insider S4 Episode 3: A Shrubbier Version of Rubber – Andrew Nelson and Colleen McMahan

Right now, our natural rubber comes from just one tree species: Hevea brasiliensis. It’s great at producing latex that becomes rubber, but it’s vulnerable to disease and climate shifts. So researchers are looking into a desert shrub that’s native to North America: guayule. [Read More]

June 15, 2023

Genome Insider S4 Episode 2: The Busy World of Deep Sea Eruptions – Anna-Louise Reysenbach and Emily St. John

The ocean depths are vast and dark. But there are hotspots on the ocean floor — underwater volcanoes and hydrothermal vents — where lively microbial communities thrive, and even support entire ecosystems. Hear from researchers Anna-Louise Reysenbach, Emily St. John, Gilberto Flores, and Peter Girguis about sampling these communities, and understanding how they’ve adapted to this extreme environment. [Read More]

June 8, 2023

Genome Insider S4 Episode 1: Crops as Tough as World Cup Turf – James Schnable and Guangchao Sun

In our warming world, we’ll need corn, sorghum and other crops to grow well in worse conditions: with more heat, less water and less fertilizer. Grasses do better in these conditions, so plant biologists James Schnable, Guangchao Sun and Vladimir Torrres have looked into traits that could transfer from grasses into other crops. One grass they studied just happened to be the same species that covered World Cup pitches in 2022. [Read More]

March 30, 2023

JGIota: A biofuel breakthrough in anaerobic fungi with Michelle O’Malley and Tom Lankiewicz

Michelle O’Malley and Tom Lankiewicz of UC Santa Barbara discuss the importance of studying anaerobic fungi, as well as a recent discovery that turns scientific presumption on its head and opens up a new avenue to explore for efficient biofuel production. [Read More]

March 2, 2023

JGIota: Sequencing Shiitakes with David Hibbett

David Hibbett (Clark University) fills us in on the kind of decay that makes shiitake mushrooms special. This week, he 39 collaborators published a paper tracing how these mushrooms have evolved. [Read More]

February 9, 2023

Natural Prodcast Episode 19 – Bill Fenical

Natural Prodcast guest William Fenical of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography on the beginnings of marine natural products, his experiences in drug discovery, and exploring marine bacteria for novel chemistry. [Read More]