An international research consortium has taken a substantial short cut to the biologically important information embedded in the human genome with the completion of a draft sequence of the genome of the Japanese pufferfish Fugu rubripes. The Fugu draft sequence will be announced at the 13th International Genome Sequencing and Analysis Conference in San Diego,… [Read More]

The Joint Genome Institute’s Walnut Creek facility has been given a new name. The name change – to the Production Genomics Facility from the Production Sequencing Facility – reflects a shift in focus and its changing scientific environment, according to JGI Director Trevor Hawkins. Since the JGI was established in 1997, combining the gene-sequencing efforts… [Read More]

The three University of California laboratories that manage the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, announced on November 3rd the appointment of Dr. Trevor Hawkins as Director of the JGI. Dr. Hawkins replaces Dr. Elbert Branscomb who will assume a leadership… [Read More]

The Human Genome Project public consortium today announced that it has assembled a working draft of the sequence of the human genome–the genetic blueprint for a human being. This major milestone involved two tasks: placing large fragments of DNA in the proper order to cover all of the human chromosomes, and determining the DNA sequence… [Read More]

U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson announced today that researchers at the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, California, have decoded in draft form the genetic information on human chromosomes 5, 16 and 19. The chromosomes contain an estimated 10-15,000 genes, including those whose defects may lead to genetically linked diseases such… [Read More]