Joint Genome Institute

[11] Mouncey also serves as the President of the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB)[12] The Joint Genome Institute (JGI) 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).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.

Since 2004, the 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.

The projects involve many important multicellular organisms, microbes and communities of microbes called metagenomes (or microbiomes) related to the DOE mission areas of bioenergy, understanding global cycles such as the carbon cycle, and biogeochemistry and are chosen primarily based on scientific merit as determined by outside review.

[15] In partnership with other federal institutions and universities, the JGI has also published the genome sequences of sorghum, a candidate feedstock for biofuels and biomanufacturing.

[16] The JGI also supports programs dedicated to functional and evolutionary genomics related to the organisms and environments being sequenced and the development of computational and bioinformatic tools for data management and mining.