20-Sep-2011
Press Release

J. Craig Venter Institute Breaks Ground on La Jolla, California's First True Sustainable Laboratory Facility

Facility will be LEED Platinum Certified and will be on the University of California, San Diego Campus

SAN DIEGO, CA — September 20, 2011 — The J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), a not-for-profit genomics research institute, today held an official groundbreaking ceremony for their new California facility. The JCVI building, designed by ZGF Architects, will be a state-of-the-art, "ultra-green" 45,000 square foot, highly adaptable, wet laboratory and computational laboratory building on the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) campus. The building, slated to be completed in 2013, will support 125 scientists and staff.

"We are thrilled to be embarking on this new building project here on the campus of UCSD. The building is a unique design that will meld the environmental philosophies of our genomics research with the sustainability goals that I believe must be part of all of our lives," said J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., founder and president, JCVI. "I am also excited to be back on the UCSD campus, my alma mater, to partake in the rich academic research and clinical environment here. We look forward to continued and strengthened collaborations with all here at UCSD and in the greater San Diego research and biotech community."

In addition to JCVI president and founder, J. Craig Venter, speakers at the event included: Marye Anne Fox, UCSD Chancellor; San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders; David Brenner, M.D., Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences and Dean of the School of Medicine; and Tony Haymet, Ph.D., Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Vice Chancellor for Marine Sciences, and Dean of the Graduate School of Marine Sciences at University of California.

Important features of the new JCVI building include:

  • One of the first, if not the first, true "net-zero energy" biological research laboratories in the world, generating 100% of its power on site (solar power).
  • Use of natural day lighting and views, natural ventilation/passive cooling, rainwater harvesting, native low-water landscaping, use of regional materials, green roofs, recycled content, sustainably harvested wood.
  • Rainfall runoff from the building rooftop will be stored in cisterns to provide water for irrigation, cooling towers, and washing photovoltaic panels.
  • Roof gardens featuring flowering trees, shrubs, grasses and succulents will be installed on the three terraces to help shade and cool the building.

Researchers in the facility will be engaged in some of the most exciting areas of genomic research including: human genomic sequencing and analysis, synthetic genomics, and environmental genomics. Specific programs currently underway (both by JCVI researchers alone and in collaboration with UCSD, SIO, Salk, and other area researchers/research organizations) are: environmental metagenomics research to find, catalogue and better understand the microbes in the oceans, soil, and the human body; research applying synthetic biology advances to microbes to help solve environmental and human health problems; improving techniques developed at JCVI to sequence the genomes of individual cells;  human genomics research building on the historic sequencing of Dr. Venter's complete diploid genome, stem cell genomics, as well as continued work on the African genome project.

The JCVI currently has two facilities--a temporary facility near the UCSD campus with 60 researchers and the east coast headquarters in Rockville, MD with approximately 240 scientists and staff.

McCarthy Building Companies is the general contractor.  Other companies involved in the design and construction of the JCVI building are:, Integral Group / IDeAs, KPFF Consulting Engineers, Jacobs Consultancy, Andropogon Associates with David Reed, Landscape Architects, David Nelson & Associates, SC Engineers, Inc., and Sustainable SoCal, Inc.

About the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI)

The JCVI is a not-for-profit research institute in Rockville, MD and San Diego, CA dedicated to the advancement of the science of genomics; the understanding of its implications for society; and communication of those results to the scientific community, the public, and policymakers. Founded by J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., the JCVI is home to approximately 300 scientists and staff with expertise in human and evolutionary biology, genetics, bioinformatics/informatics, information technology, high-throughput DNA sequencing, genomic and environmental policy research, and public education in science. The legacy organizations of the JCVI are: The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), The Center for the Advancement of Genomics (TCAG), the Institute for Biological Energy Alternatives (IBEA), the Joint Technology Center (JTC), and the J. Craig Venter Science Foundation. The JCVI is a 501 (c)(3) organization. For additional information, please visit http://www.weizhongli-lab.org.

Media Contact

Heather Kowalski, 301-943-8879, [email protected]