GenBioOrg, an organization for students in Virginia Tech’s Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology Ph.D. program, is hosting an invited speaker series for the spring 2010 semester that will feature an opening talk by John Glass, professor in the J. Craig Venter Institute’s (JCVI) Synthetic Biology Group. With expertise in molecular biology, microbial pathogenesis, and microbial genomics, Glass directs the Mycoplasma Biology team at JCVI, where he has led the mycoplasma minimal genome and genome transplantation projects and been a key scientist in environmental genomics and viral metagenomics work.

Glass will discuss his work on the “minimal genome project,” which has involved the identification of the smallest set of genetic components necessary to sustain life.

Glass’ talk, which is free and open to the public, will be held on Jan. 21, at 4 p.m. in the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute’s conference center, which is located on Washington Street on Virginia Tech’s main campus in Blacksburg.

The following is the complete schedule for the GenBioOrg seminar series for the spring semester:

• February 2010: Ian Holmes, assistant professor in the departments of bioengineering and electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. Research interests include statistical bioinformatics and “Web 2.0″ genomics infrastructure development.
• March 2010: Adam Arkin, a professor in the department of bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley and director of the Virtual Institute of Microbial Stress and Survival at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Research interests include dynamical genomics and systems biology.
• April 2010: Frances H. Arnold, the Dick and Barbara Dickinson Professor of Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology, and member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. Research interests include evolution-based protein engineering and bioenergy.

With a visitor’s pass, parking is available in the lot near the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute lower entrance, as well as Wallace, Hillcrest, and Litton Reaves Lots, which can only be accessed from Duck Pond Road due to construction. A visitor’s pass may be obtained Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Visitor’s Information Center, located on Southgate Drive. Find more parking information online or call 540.231-3200.