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Scientists find new explanation for hybrid vigour
Plant scientists at the John Innes Centre have provided a new solution to an old debate on why species hybrids are often more vigorous than their parents. They found a type of genetic “noise” - caused by a surprising degree of variation in gene activity even for highly similar traits in closely related species. In this study, the scientists analysed the trait of flower asymmetry in two closely related species of snapdragon.

JIC researcher recognised for her contribution to public engagement
Fiona Corke, a Research Assistant in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at JIC has received a Public and Community Engagement Award from CUE East and the University of East Anglia for her long-standing work in public engagement and communicating the John Innes Centre’s science to the wider community.

ABRF Outstanding Scientist/Technologist Award
Gerhard Saalbach, from the JIC Proteomics Facility, has been awarded an Outstanding Scientist/Technologist Award by the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities at this year's annual science conference in Sacramento, California

Key milestone towards the development of a new clinically useful antibiotic
John Innes Centre scientists have identified the genes necessary for making a highly potent and clinically unexploited antibiotic in the fight against multi-resistant pathogens.

John Innes Centre named as one of the best places to work in academia
The John Innes Centre has come fourth in an annual international survey to find the best places to work in academia, outside of the US. The survey, carried out by The Scientist magazine, is based on academics responding to a survey to assess their working environment.

John Innes Rose presentation
The John Innes Centre is to present a gift of a rose bush to a number of the science institute's partners and supporters at a special evening at Peter Beales Roses, Attleborough, on Monday 28th June. The John Innes Centre, one of the world's leading research centres in plant and microbial research, is celebrating its centenary this year, and to mark the occasion rosa "John Innes" was launched by Peter Beales at this year's Chelsea Flower Show in May, where the celebrated rose breeders picked up their 18th Gold Medal.

What is the JI's most significant contribution?
The John Innes Centre wants you to vote on what you think is the most important contribution it has made to plant and microbial science over the last 100 years. At a recent public event speakers gave short presentations supporting each of the 5 achievements shortlisted, and these are now available to watch to help you decide.

JIC and TSL top in plant and animal science
The John Innes Centre and The Sainsbury Laboratory have topped a survey ranking the most influential papers of the last ten years in plant and animal sciences. A total of 88,700 institutions were surveyed worldwide. JIC and TSL on the Norwich Research Park were ranked significantly higher than any other organization.

Food allergy scientists meet
Scientists from the Food and Health Network of the Institute of Food Research involved in developing better tests for food allergens gathered recently at LGC, an international science-based company and recognised market leader in analytical, forensic and diagnostic services and reference materials, to share the latest developments in tackling the growing problem of food allergy.

How does broccoli stop prostate cancer?
Light has been cast on the interaction between broccoli consumption and reduced prostate cancer risk. IFR Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Molecular Cancer have found that sulforaphane, a chemical found in broccoli, interacts with cells lacking a gene called PTEN to reduce the chances of prostate cancer developing.

IFR and FHN will help create the "World Food Network"
The Institute of Food Research, and the IFR Food and Health Network, are set to play a part in the creation of the "World Food Network" an international capabilities network based around innovation in the food sector.

Understanding complex emulsions
New work from the Institute of Food Research has shown how sugar beet pectin acts as an efficient emulsifier, using a technique that could be used to unravel in the finest detail how such important food ingredients work.

Award for IFR Scientist
IFR post-doctoral scientist Valeria Giosafatto has been awarded a prize for her work on the enzyme transglutaminase as a biotechnological tool for the production of edible films to be used in active packaging.

HRH The Duke of York visits IFR
HRH The Duke of York visited the Norwich Research Park on Friday 25th June. Scientists at the Institute of Food Research showed The Duke of York their 'Model Gut'. Co-inventor Richard Faulks and Dr Martin Stocks from PBL Ltd, who provide investment and business development leadership to the project, introduced the system, which is providing the food and pharmaceutical industries with a physiological, cost effective and ethical alternative to animal studies and allows scientists to investigate the digestion of real foods or real pharmaceutical preparations on the laboratory bench.

Hay fever relief may be in your fridge
Hay fever sufferers will learn if the answer to their annual summer discomfort could already be available on supermarket shelves or even lurking in their fridge. Experts at IFR, the University of East Anglia and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, are investigating whether yoghurt type drinks can help bring relief to hay fever summer suffering.

Public Participation Can Strengthen Food Risk Studies
The inclusion of activists and members of the general public on teams of technical experts can, in some cases, beneficially expand the focus of food risk reviews, according to a new study. The results are important to government agencies and policymakers interested in including more public input and enhancing public trust of expert recommendations on food safety.

HRH The Duke of York visits TGAC
HRH The Duke of York visited the Norwich Research Park on Friday 25th June. The Duke of York toured the BBSRC Genome Analysis Centre, opened in 2009, where the Director, Dr Jane Rogers introduced him to the staff and explained how TGAC is addressing problems in agriculture, sustainable energy, food and nutrition, through novel approaches in genomics and how it is specialising in genomics technology, high throughput data analysis, advanced bioinformatics and innovation.

New starters join TGAC's bioinformatics team
The Bioinformatics team at The Genome Analysis Centre is continuing to develop and has recently welcomed a selection of new talent to their already excellent scientific analysis team. The team of bioinformaticians analyse and interpret data sets, develop new methods and integrate multiple different types of data that together describe biological systems

Quality Award for The Genome Analysis Centre and Genome Enterprise Ltd
Following an assessment by an independent body, The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC) and Genome Enterprise Ltd (GEL) have been awarded ISO 9001 certification. This certification has only been achieved by about 5% of UK businesses and this prestigious award is supported by the Government and recognised world-wide

GM trial to reduce agrochemicals
A field trial of GM potatoes is being planted this week to test whether genes from wild relatives can successfully protect commercial potato varieties from late blight, the disease that caused the Irish potato famine, without the need to spray fungicides.

Royal Society global food security report published
The Sainsbury Laboratory welcomes a Royal Society report calling for an investment of £2 billion into a research programme on global food security. The report published today (21 October 2009) says that the UK should lead international research efforts if we are to achieve the massive increase in food crop production that will be required by 2050 to meet global food demands without damaging the environment.

TSL scientists helped crack the code that bacteria use to manipulate agricultural crops
Sebastian Schornack, currently working with Sophien Kamoun at TSL, co-disovered the code which explains how bacterial effectors bind to specific host plant DNA sequences, manipulating host gene expression and leading to disease. This work is now published in Science.