News from the John Innes Centre

For the first time in nearly a century drinkers will be able to taste beer made from Chevallier, the classic heritage barley from the Victorian period. Old varieties are a rich source of new genes, and scientists at the John Innes Centre revived Chevallier from the institute’s Genetic Resources Unit as part of a barley [...]

Barley grown in Scandinavian countries is adapted in a similar way to reindeer to cope with the extremes of day length at high latitudes. Researchers have found a genetic mutation in some Scandinavian barley varieties that disrupts the circadian clock that barley from southern regions use to time their growing season. Just as reindeer have [...]

Two new research projects announced today (21 December) aim to make an important contribution to global efforts to breed improved cereal crops. The projects hope to shed further light on the genomes of wheat and barley, the two most widely grown cereal crops in the UK. Researchers hope that this will provide breeders with the [...]

GM take-away: How to genetically modify a tomato, and other things we eat A take-away photographic exhibition, being launched at the British Science Festival in Bradford on Saturday 10th September, is aiming to demystify the process of genetic modification, to try to make the debate about this controversial subject more informed. The exhibition has been [...]

The John Innes Centre will receive approximately £1million of funding for two new research projects that will help reduce yield losses in oilseed rape, and improve the efficiency of the conversion of barley grain to beer and whisky. On the morning of the first day of Cereals 2011, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [...]

[BBSRC news release] The UK’s primary public funder of bioscience research has announced over £13M of research projects to turn ideas from excellent basic plant science into practical applications to benefit the UK’s farmers and consumers. With the challenges to agriculture posed by climate change and an increasing need to grow and farm in sustainable [...]