News from the John Innes Centre

Scientists from around the world will benefit from five days’ training at the John Innes Centre on bacteria that cause disease in economically important crops including maize, potato and apple. They will learn the complex techniques required to stitch together the genomes of phytoplasmas. Phytoplasmas are a class of bacteria able to modify their plant [...]

The John Innes Centre is offering a number of PhD projects through the new Norwich Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) programme which involves five world-class research institutions based on the Norwich Research Park. This new PhD training programme is supported by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) who recognise Norwich as a major centre for biosciences [...]

Applications for the 2013 International Undergraduate Summer Research Programme, which runs from 1st July till 24th August 2013, are now OPEN  (deadline:  8th February 2013). This 8 week programme is co-hosted by The John Innes Centre, The Sainsbury Laboratory and The Genome Analysis Centre and provides UK and non-UK students with the unique opportunity to [...]

The Trustees of the John Innes Foundation sponsor the annual award of a number of prizes for outstanding achievements by PhD students at the John Innes Centre and The Sainsbury Laboratory. The Prizes aqre awarded for Excellence in Scientific Research and Excellence in Science Communication. The 2012 prizes were awarded by Mr Frank Oldfield, Chairman of the [...]

The BBSRC funded Wheat Improvement Strategic Programme (WISP) aims to identify new and useful genetic variation to support the vital contribution of wheat breeding to food security. The aim of this BBSRC funded course is to offer training in the genetic analysis methodologies employed in WISP at the John Innes Centre.  The participants will gain [...]

Streptomyces produce the majority of clinically useful antibiotics, yet we don’t fully understand how they grow. PhD student Antje Hempel has contributed to our understanding of this by working out how and why the bacterial filaments produce branches. Streptomyces bacteria typically live in soil and survive by decomposing plant matter. They do this by growing [...]

The John Innes Centre recently hosted a Science Camp for Year 10 students from across Norfolk. 12 students were selected to take part in the 4 day camp, which mixed working in the centre’s labs with other science-based activities. Making use of the Chris Lamb training lab students learnt to use a pipette, extract DNA [...]

Scientists from across the world will meet at the University of Bristol on 6–8 June 2012 for a New Phytologist Workshop on Synthetic Biology. There, they will discuss recent advances in this rapidly evolving and controversial new field. Synthetic biology made headlines in 2010 when researchers at the J Craig Venter Institute announced they had [...]