John Innes Centre

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John Innes Centre

The John Innes Centre (JIC) located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, is an independent centre for research and training in plant and microbial science. It is a registered charity (No 223852) grant-aided by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and is a member of the Norwich Research Park.[1][2]

History

The John Innes Horticultural Institution[3] was founded in 1910 at Merton Park, Surrey (now London Borough of Merton), with funds bequeathed by John Innes, a merchant and philanthropist. The Institution occupied Innes's former estate at Merton Park until 1945 when it moved to Bayfordbury, Hertfordshire. It moved to its present site in 1967.[4]

John Innes Compost was developed by the institution in the 1930s.

In the 1980s, the administration of the John Innes Institute was combined with that of the Plant Breeding Institute and the Nitrogen Fixation Laboratory. In 1994, following the relocation of the operations of other two organisations to the Norwich site, the three were merged as the John Innes Centre.[4]

Mission

JIC's mission is to conduct research relating to the understanding and exploitation of plants and microbes. Their mission statement specifically emphasises research relating to:

  • yield and productivity
  • environmental interactions
  • quality and valuable products.

These strands provide the basis for their three research programmes:

  • Plant Growth and Development: Traits and Mechanisms
  • Plant Perception and Response to the Environment
  • Understanding and Exploiting Plant and Microbial Metabolism

The institute is divided into six departments: Biological Chemistry, Cell & Developmental Biology, Computational & Systems Biology, Crop Genetics, Metabolic Biology and Molecular Microbiology.[5]

JIC has a tradition of training PhD students and post-docs. PhD degrees obtained via JIC are awarded by the University of East Anglia. JIC has a contingent of postdoctoral researchers, many of whom are recruited onto the institute's Post-doctoral Training Fellowship programme. JIC also sponsors seminars and lectures, including the Bateson Lecture and the Biffen Lecture.

Affiliations

JIC is also the Norwich base of the Sainsbury Laboratory,[6] an institute focused on plant disease. Although well integrated with JIC, The Sainsbury Laboratory is closely affiliated with the University of East Anglia.[7]

Along with the Institute of Food Research[8] and University of East Anglia (UEA)[7] it hosted the British Science Festival [9] in September 2006.

Directors

William Bateson was the first director from 1910 to 1926; Sir A. Daniel Hall was director, from 1926 to 1939; C. D. Darlington was director from 1939 to 1953; K. S. Dodds was director from 1953 to 1967; Roy Markham was director from 1967 to 1980; Harold Woolhouse was director from 1980 to 1988; Richard B. Flavell was director from 1988 to 1999.[4] The John Innes centre is currently directed by Dale Sanders, previously it was directed by Chris Lamb from 1999 to 2009.

References

  1. ↑ "The John Innes Institute". Nature 202 (4930): 337–330. 1964. doi:10.1038/202337e0. 
  2. ↑ Humphries, E. C. (1964). "The John Innes Institute". Nature 204 (4955): 232. doi:10.1038/204232a0. 
  3. ↑ "The New John Innes Horticultural Institution". Nature 165 (4207): 955. 1950. doi:10.1038/165955a0. PMID 15423565. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 John Innes Centre, History. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  5. ↑ John Innes Centre, Science Departments. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  6. ↑ Sainsbury’s laboratory
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 University of East Anglia
  8. ↑ Institute of food research
  9. ↑ British Science Association

External links

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