Joint Genome Institute

The U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), located in Walnut Creek, California, was created in 1997 to unite the expertise and resources in genome mapping, DNA sequencing, technology development, and information sciences pioneered at the DOE genome centers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Today the DOE JGI staff is composed of employees from Berkeley Lab, LLNL and the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. The DOE JGI also collaborates with other national labs such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).

Microorganisms such as those that thrive under extreme conditions such as high acidity, radiation and metal contamination are of particular interest to the DOE. Investigations by the DOE JGI and its partners are shedding light on the cellular machinery of microbes and how they can be harnessed to clean up contaminated soil or water, capture carbon from the atmosphere and produce potentially important sources of energy such as hydrogen and methane.

In 1999, the University of California, which manages the three national labs for the DOE, leased laboratory and office space in a light industrial park in Walnut Creek, California to consolidate genome research activities. Led by Eddy Rubin, M.D., Ph.D., the DOE JGI receives its funding from the Office of Biological and Environmental Research in DOE's Office of Science.

Originally established to work on the Human Genome Project—the DOE JGI generated the complete sequences of Chromosomes 5, 16 and 19—the DOE JGI has since shifted its focus to the non-human components of the biosphere, particularly those relevant to the DOE's science mission. Since 2004, the DOE JGI has been a user facility that advances genomics research in a broad range of disciplines where DNA sequence information is likely to drive scientific discoveries.

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