Excellence in plant and microbial science
In today’s blog, we hear from Aston Saini, a ‘Professional Internships for PhD Students’ placement student who recently spent three months working within the John Innes Centre policy team. Aston explores what his experience taught him about the ways researchers can engage with policy makers, as well as how crucial this aspect of science is...
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Crop science is beginning to reap the benefits of Arthur Ernest Watkins’ work in the early 20th Century to assemble a diverse collection of local cultivars of wheat. As wheat scientist Robert Koebner wrote of this unassuming pioneer in the Genetics Society magazine, “Over 50 years since Watkins’ death and about 100 years since his...
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The Governing Council of the John Innes Centre has been strengthened with the appointment of three new members. We are thrilled to welcome Professor Jane Langdale, Professor Julian Hibberd and Professor Mark Searcey to the institute. Sir Thomas Hughes-Hallett, Chair of the John Innes Centre’s Governing Council, said: “I am delighted to welcome the new...
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An innovative project to re-purpose existing drugs for their potential as antibiotics has uncovered a highly promising candidate with a potent and unique way of killing drug resistant bacteria
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An important breakthrough in efforts to halt the advance of wheat blast, an emerging threat to international food security, has come from a surprising source
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A decade-long collaborative study has discovered huge genetic potential that is untapped in modern wheat varieties. The international study which appears in Nature reveals that at least 60% of the genetic diversity found in a historic collection of wheat is unused providing an unprecedented opportunity to improve modern wheat and sustainably feed a growing global...
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Professor Diane Saunders has been recognised for her outstanding scientific achievements and dedication to women in STEM with the honour of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the King’s Birthday Honours 2024. Professor Graham Moore FRS, Director of the John Innes Centre said, “This prestigious honour reflects Diane’s remarkable contributions to...
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Two new studies which appear in Molecular Cell reveal core principles of how chromatin and transcription interconnect to regulate gene expression. The work was focused on FLC, a gene that determines developmental timing in plants. But the principle that emerges, of the balance between transcription termination and anti-termination regulating gene expression, is relevant to gene...
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The John Innes Centre has joined more than 25 leading research organisations in signing an environmental sustainability concordat. The Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice, hosted by Wellcome commits signatories and supporters to embedding environmental sustainability into all research and innovation practice. The aim of the concordat is to ensure research and...
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