John Innes Centre
 The John Innes Centre (JIC) | |
| Headquarters | Norwich, UK |
|---|---|
Key people | |
Parent organization | John Innes Horticultural Institution (JIHI) |
| Affiliations | |
| Website |
jic |
Formerly called |
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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), the European Research Council (ERC) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and is a member of the Norwich Research Park.[1][2] In 2014, the John Innes Centre was awarded a silver Athena SWAN Charter award for equality in the workplace.[3]
History
The John Innes Horticultural Institution[4] 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.[5]
John Innes compost was developed by the institution in the 1930s.
During the 1980s, the administration of the John Innes Institute was combined with that of the Plant Breeding Institute[6][7][8][9] (formerly at Trumpington, Cambridgeshire) 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.[5]
The institute is divided into six departments: Biological Chemistry, Cell & Developmental Biology, Computational & Systems Biology, Crop Genetics, Metabolic Biology and Molecular Microbiology.[10]
The John Innes Centre has a tradition of training PhD students and post-docs. PhD degrees obtained via the John Innes Centre are awarded by the University of East Anglia. The John Innes Centre has a contingent of postdoctoral researchers, many of whom are recruited onto the institute's Post-doctoral Training Fellowship programme. The John Innes Centre also sponsors seminars and lectures, including the Bateson Lecture and the Biffen Lecture.
Research
The research at the John Innes Centre is divided into 4 Institute Strategic Programs (ISPs) which are funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) which combine research of multiple groups to address a greater aim:
- Genes in the Environment - aims to develop a wider and deeper understanding of how the environment influences plant growth and development.
- Molecules from Nature - will investigate the vast diversity of chemicals produced by plants and microbes.
- Plant Health - aims to understand the molecular dialogue between plants and microbes, establishing how they communicate with each other and how they have evolved in relation to one another.
- Designing Future Wheat - a program with other BBSRC institutes Rothamsted Research and National Institute for Agricultural Botany (NIAB) and the University of Nottingham and the University of Bristol.[11][12]
Affiliations
The John Innes Centre is also the Norwich base of the Sainsbury Laboratory,[13] an institute focused on plant disease. Although well integrated with the John Innes Centre, The Sainsbury Laboratory is closely affiliated with the University of East Anglia.[14]
Along with the Institute of Food Research[15] and University of East Anglia (UEA)[14] it hosted the British Science Festival in September 2006.[16]
Directors
The John Innes Centre has been directed by:
- William Bateson from 1910 to 1926;
- Sir A. Daniel Hall, from 1926 to 1939;
- C. D. Darlington from 1939 to 1953;
- K. S. Dodds from 1953 to 1967;
- Roy Markham from 1967 to 1980;
- Harold Woolhouse from 1980 to 1988;
- Richard B. Flavell from 1988 to 1999.[5]
- Chris Lamb from 1999 to 2009.
- Dale Sanders 2009 to date
Notable staff and alumni
Former staff and alumni include;
- William Ormston Backhouse
- Rowland Biffen
- David Baulcombe
- Kirsten Bomblies
- George Coupland
- Liam Dolan
- Sir David Hopwood
- Charles Leonard Huskins
- Nicholas Harberd
- Richard Anthony Jefferson
- Georgii Karpechenko
- Kenneth Mather
- Giles Oldroyd
- Leonard Francis La Cour
- Alison Mary Smith
- Morley Benjamin Crane
- Dan Lewis
- Cathie Martin
- Mike D Gale
- Mike Bevan
- Clayton Oscar Person
- Professor Dame Caroline Dean
- Enrico Coen
- George Lomonossoff
- J.B.S. Haldane
- Graham Moore
- Sarah O'Connor
- Claire Domoney
- Anne Edwards
John Innes Foundation
The John Innes Foundation (JIF) is an independent charitable foundation (registered Charity No. 1111527)and was formed in 1910 by John Innes. JIF set up the John Innes Horticultural Institution (JIHI) at Merton, London.
Currently, the JIF owns the land and buildings at Newfound Farm, Colney and Church Farm, Bawburgh, Norfolk which are used by researchers from the John Innes Centre.
The JIF trustees also play an active part in the management of John Innes Centre research and have the right to appoint three members of the Governing Council.
They sponsor several graduate studentships each year, support for educational programmes and the infrastructure of the site. They also fund student awards for scientific excellence and science communication.[17]
The Foundation owns a very significant collection of archive material held in the Historical Collections library at the John Innes Centre.[18]
The Special Collection and the History of Genetics Library
The John Innes Centre is home to a collection of rare botanical books, lab books, manuscripts and letters documenting the history of genetics and research carried out by its scientists. This includes a letter from William Bateson documenting the first use of the word "Genetics".[19] The History of Genetics library also contains the archives of the Genetical Society.[20][21]
Germplasm Resources Unit
An important part of the John Innes Centre is the John Innes Centre Germplasm Resources Unit (GRU).[22] This seedbank houses a number of germplasm collections, including the Watkins Landrace Wheat Collection, the John Innes Centre Pisum Collection, BBSRC Small Grain Cereal Collection, Crop wild relative collection and several specialist genetic stocks collections.
This material is extensively used by UK and non-UK researchers and breeders, and is an available upon request to research, academic and commercial efforts, subject to availability. The complete list of the material can be found in the GRU database.[23]
References
- ↑ "The John Innes Institute". Nature. 202 (4930): 337–338. 1964. doi:10.1038/202337e0.
- ↑ Humphries, E. C. (1964). "The John Innes Institute". Nature. 204 (4955): 232. doi:10.1038/204232a0.
- ↑
- ↑ "The New John Innes Horticultural Institution". Nature. 165 (4207): 955. 1950. PMID 15423565. doi:10.1038/165955a0.
- 1 2 3 John Innes Centre, History. Retrieved 10 August 2008.
- ↑ "Plant Breeding Institute, Cambridge". Nature. 161 (4097): 714. 1948. doi:10.1038/161714b0.
- ↑ "Plant Breeding Institute, Cambridge: Dr. G. D. H. Bell". Nature. 161 (4097): 714. 1948. doi:10.1038/161714c0.
- ↑ "Plant Breeding Institute, Cambridge". Nature. 170 (4335): 913. 1952. doi:10.1038/170913f0.
- ↑ "The Plant Breeding Institute, Cambridge". Nature. 176 (4480): 487. 1955. doi:10.1038/176487a0.
- ↑ John Innes Centre, Science Departments. Archived 16 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 10 August 2008.
- ↑ http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/news/policy/2012/120525-n-bbsrc-funding-to-tackle-challenges.aspx
- ↑ https://www.jic.ac.uk/research/
- ↑ Sainsbury’s laboratory
- 1 2 University of East Anglia
- ↑ Institute of food research
- ↑ British Science Association Archived 28 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ https://www.jic.ac.uk/news/2012/10/jif-prizes-2012/
- ↑ http://www.johninnesfoundation.org.uk/
- ↑ http://www.dnalc.org/view/16195-Gallery-5-William-Bateson-Letter-page-1.html
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 January 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
- ↑ http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/download/GB0440%20MSS
- ↑ https://www.jic.ac.uk/research/germplasm-resources-unit/
- ↑ https://seedstor.ac.uk/