Pick up a handful of soil and you’d be holding many millions of tiny microbes. These organisms may be microscopic but their impact on plants and agriculture is enormous. Microbes like bacteria, viruses and fungi might make us think of infections we’ve had, or mouldy fruit and vegetables. However, microbes aren’t all bad. We now understand that microbes in the soil (collectively known as the soil microbiome) are key partners in plant health and agriculture. Naturally occurring soil bacteria protect plants against disease, and improve plant growth. With global agriculture facing the...

March 2026 marked the latest milestone in the strategic partnership between the John Innes Centre and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), with a visit to CIMMYT’s Obregón field station in Mexico. Taking place during CIMMYT’s annual Visitor’s Week, which brings together researchers from across Africa, Asia, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United...

The Delivering Sustainable Wheat virtual training course recently returned with renewed energy, under its new name Green Horizons, offering more than 100 students from 19 UK universities a rare opportunity to engage directly with modern plant science.

This week, the Advancing Plant Health (APH) Institute Strategic Programme (ISP) hosted “A Celebration of Careers in Plant Health” event, showcasing a range of careers in academia, entrepreneurship, industry and policy.

Dr Pirita Paajanen, senior scientist, will soon be moving on from JIC to set up her own research group at the University of Helsinki. In this blog she reflects on the support she has received from the institute to help her get to the next step in her career, and the transformative impact that the Leaders Plus fellowship programme has had on her, both professionally and personally

Dr Eleri Tudor, Delivering Sustainable Wheat (DSW) Programme Manager, and her colleagues attended the DSW Institute Strategic Programme (ISP) annual meeting at Rothamsted Research earlier this year. She reflects on the value of collaboration in achieving strategic aims, and how this event is vital in bringing the wheat research community together. 

The past few months have been a truly memorable time in the life and career of Dr Miguel Montez. The John Innes Centre scientist achieved double success by having his research appear in two academic papers published within a few weeks of each other.

Ruth studied at the John Innes Centre from 2009 to 2013 after completing a Biology degree at the University of Manchester and working for the Food and Environment Research Agency. We spoke with Ruth about her love of plant pathology which has taken her career from Cereal Pathologist at RAGT to Disease Control Scientific Expert at Syngenta. 

DEWAS is one of the world’s largest crop pathogen surveillance and advisory systems, protecting wheat productivity in food vulnerable areas of East Africa and South Asia.