Josh Waites

Josh is a PhD student working on a project to increase the carotenoid content of wheat grains, as a collaboration between Professor Wendy Harwood and Dr Noam Chayut of the GRU.

To do this, Josh is investigating natural variation for carotenoid content within wheat germplasm held at the JIC. Additionally, he will use the new CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing methods, base editing and prime editing, to generate new engineered variation in carotenoid content.

Previously, Josh studied Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol, followed by a Master’s in Plant Genetics and Crop Improvement at the John Innes Centre and the University of East Anglia.