John Innes Discovery Day

The first 'open day' for over 20 years at the John Innes Centre

Over 1700 visitors walked freely around the site following the designated route marked by the blue dotted lines on the map. Along the way they visited labs, looked at demonstrations and took part in hands on activities in a wide range of topics from the molecules of life to finding out about the famous John Innes Composts in the potting shed.

Along the trails there were activities and information boards and in the Conference Centre there were short talks and a children’s show. Children had their own activity sheet with rubbings to find, stamps to collect and fun questions to answer, people to find and prizes to win when they handed their completed sheet into the Conference Centre.

Below are images and video taken during the Discovery Day:

Video from the Discovery Day

• John Innes Yesterday
• John Innes Today
• John Innes Tomorrow
• Genetics? Are you taking the Pea? Dr Ken The Juggling Geneticist Children’s Show

List of displays & activities

1. Apple Breeding
2. John Innes Rose
3. Recreation Centre – refreshments and toilets
4. Conference Centre and Merton Auditorium
   • Genetics 100 Years On Exhibition
   • Guided Tours depart
   • Talks on John Innes Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
   • Genetics? Are you taking the Pea? Dr Ken The Juggling Geneticist Children’s Show
   • Green Factories.
   • Plant Invaders-The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
   • The SAW Trust (Science, Art and Writing)
5. Hands on demonstrations and activities
   • Legumes: Natures Fertiliser factories
   • The Molecules of Life
   • Natures Antibiotic Factories
6. Rhubarb breeding
7. Genome Centre
   • Extract DNA in The Genome Analysis Centre
   • Wheat – A plant that changed the world exhibition
   • Bioincubator companies on display
   • Magnificent variation - Brassica crops for everyone’s taste
   • A snapdragons tale
   • Refreshments
8. Insectary
9. John Innes Compost story
10. 1930s greenhouse
11. Which part of a plant do we eat?
12. Potting shed
13. How and why we genetically manipulate plants
14. Seed Store
15. Blackberry breeding
16. Teacher Scientist Network
17. Fighting the Blight
18. Microscopy demonstrations and quiz