The Woolhouse Lecture
Harold W Woolhouse was Director of the John Innes Centre between 1980 and 1989.
During his time as Director, the John Innes grew from just over 200 staff to over 800, incorporating the Sainsbury Laboratory, the Cambridge Laboratory and the Nitrogen Fixation Laboratory
During this time he also made several crucial appointments, Caroline Dean, Nick Harberd and George Coupland representing a strategic move to the use of the model organism Arabidopsis at the John Innes Centre.
Woolhouse Lecture speakers:
2024 – Prof. Jorge Casal, Universidad de Buenos Aires
2022 – Professor Malcom Bennett, University of Nottingham – ‘Uncovering the hidden half of plants: discovering novel ways roots sense and adapt to heterogeneous environments’
2019 – Professor Tetsuya Higashiyama – ‘Key signalling molecules in plant reproduction: re-discovery of a reproductive hormone”
2018 – Professor Sean Cutler – ‘Programming inducible traits with engineered ABA signalling modules’
2016 – Martin Yanofsky, University of California San Diego – ‘Arabidopsis: From Fruit to Roots’
2014 – Professor Gerd Juergens, ZMBP, University of Tuebingen – ‘Plant cytokinesis – a tale of membrane traffic and fusion’
2012 – Julian Schroeder – ‘Atmospheric CO2 sensing and drought-induced abscisic acid signalling in plants’
2010 – Mark Estelle – ‘How does auxin do everything?’
2008 – George Coupland – ‘Seasonal control of flowering in annual & perennial plants’
2006 – Joseph Ecker –‘Discovery of functional elements in the Arabidopsis genome’
2005 – Chris Somerville – ‘Genetic dissection of cell wall structure and function’
2004 – Nam-Hai Chua
2003 – Joanne Chory
2001 – Winslow Briggs
2000 – Maarten Korneef
Speaker portraits and prints
Speakers at the Woolhouse Lecture are presented with a print of a work of art by the late Leonie Woolhouse, a local artist and wife of the former Director Harold Woolhouse, which illustrates the life and career of Harold W Woolhouse.
During their visit to the John Innes Centre, speakers of the named lectures are given the opportunity to have their portrait done by Professor Enrico Coen.