News from the John Innes Centre

Tomatoes, said to be the world’s most popular fruit, can be made both better-tasting and longer-lasting thanks to UK research with purple GM varieties. “Working with GM tomatoes that are different to normal fruit only by the addition of a specific compound, allows us to pinpoint exactly how to breed in valuable traits,” said Professor [...]

Author, environmentalist and “stately scientific rationalist” Mark Lynas makes the case for GM technology to help deliver more, safe food with less impact on the planet’s resources. He gave the 4th Chris Lamb lecture at the John Innes Centre, set up in memory of the former JIC director who died in 2009. This was also the [...]

The genetic modification of plants is an invaluable tool used by scientists globally to gain a better understanding of the functions of certain genes in plants. Even if it is not used directly to create improved crop varieties, genetic modification is invaluable for probing gene function and identifying genomic markers that give breeders tools and [...]

At the end of this month, the world’s population will reach 7 billion; 1 billion are hungry, and 1 billion more are malnourished (http://tinyurl.com/3ngkyrt). In the next decades, there will be more humans. Limited land and water, costly energy for fertilizer, and climate change will ensure that more of them are hungry. Politics, economics and lack [...]

As part of the Norfolk Food Festival, the John Innes Centre hosted The Great Norfolk Food Debate, on the issue of GM Foods and Farming. A GM crop trial currently being conducted in Norwich is aiming to establish if a GM potato resistant to late blight can be developed to reduce the amount of fungicide [...]

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 [...]

What: Scientists from The Sainsbury Laboratory conducting a research trial of blight-resistant GM potatoes invited anti-GM campaigners planning a “photo shoot” in Norwich to take part in a debate. The invitation has been declined and instead campaigners plan to “deliver” some potatoes to the John Innes Centre, beside the TSL site, and to hold a “rally”. [...]

Freddy Cook recently spent three months in the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) after being awarded a BBSRC policy placement. At the time, Freddy was in the final year of his PhD, studying the genetic and biochemical control of grain development in cereal. As part of the placement, Freddy produced a briefing for [...]