DOE Joint Genome Institute secures long-term lease on production genomic...( Walnut Creek CA -- The US Department ...)

Walnut Creek, CA -- The US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) has secured a five-year extension on its lease with an option for an additional five years. The University of California Regents have signed off on a deal with landlord Hall Equities Group that will ensure DOE JGIs long-term presence in the community of Walnut Creek, situated halfway between its parent facilities, Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories. The new lease enables DOE JGI to expand the current facility on its Walnut Creek campus to include a vacant 18,000-square-foot building, which will be renovated and opened in the first quarter of 2008. This addition will serve to consolidate administrative and informatics staff and feature a new education outreach laboratory, bringing DOE JGIs total footprint to 80,000 square feet.

We are delighted to be able to extend our stay here in Walnut Creek, said DOE JGI Director Eddy Rubin. We have grown considerably over the last ten years as we have transitioned from determining the DNA code for the human genome to a national user facility for the DNA sequencing of many different important organisms. Our goal is to sustain our leadership in providing the information that will advance the nations interests in developing renewable sources of clean energy, tracking the fate of carbon in our atmosphere, and restoring our environment.

Walnut Creek is proud to be home to one of the worlds leading DNA sequencing centers in the DOE Joint Genome Institute, said Susan Rainey, Mayor of the City of Walnut Creek, Calif. In our very own backyard, we can lay claim to having a world-class scientific resource, one first involved in sequencing the human genome, then the first tree genome, and now characterizing other plants and microbes that will play a major role in improving our energy future. In addition, DOE JGI researchers are serving to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers through t
'"/>

Contact: David Gilbert
gilbert21@llnl.gov
925-296-5643
DOE/Joint Genome Institute
25-Jun-2007