BLOG - Women in wheat event provides training to address gender bias in wheat research This July saw the latest #WomenInWheat event, where 25 early career women researchers attended a JIC training event focused on addressing gender bias in the UK and internationally www.jic.ac.uk/blog/women-i...

DSW Newsletter July 2025 🌱🌾

📢New paper! The fungal pathogen Fusarium uses a specialized protein to weaken plant immune defences & cause head blight - discovery could lead to bio-engineered disease-resistant grains @iubiology.bsky.social @plantdisease.bsky.social Read the full story 👇 www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/fungal-...

We've been in the field this week visiting our Breeder's Toolkit trial sites! Thank you Elsoms Seeds, DSV UK, KWS, RAGT, Syngenta, NPZ UK and Limagrain for hosting us.

I'm excited to share our work investigating transcriptional compensation in polyploid wheat 🌾 It was fun to work on this project led by @philippaborrill.bsky.social and myself, with key contributions from @emilieknight.bsky.social and @simmojsimmo.bsky.social The key take-aways, a 🧵

🌾June 2025 newsletter🌾

Congratulations to Dr @philippaborrill.bsky.social and ‘Breaking the Wall of Epigenetics in Crop Breeding’ for being shortlisted for the Falling Walls Foundation Science Breakthrough of the Year 2025! 🌟 falling-walls.com/breakthroughs

Great week in the field collaborating with Malcolm Hawkesford's team at @rothamsted.bsky.social as part of the @dsw-isp.bsky.social project 🌾 Special thanks to Nicolas Virlet and March Castle for welcoming us and for all the hard work! @lancasterplantbio.bsky.social

Collected 1-meter-deep soil cores for our Delivering Sustainable Wheat @dsw-isp.bsky.social project. The cores will be scanned using X-ray CT for soil structural and root architectural analyses. @uniofnottingham.bsky.social @rothamsted.bsky.social

May 2025 newsletter

If you missed the @wheatgenome.bsky.social webinar yesterday with @simongriff.bsky.social "Breeding: Why we need to start over again" watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0kZ...

🔔 Final Countdown! Just days left until Simon Griffiths @johninnescentre.bsky.social webinar on wheat breeding innovation. 💡 Discover why we need to start over and how genomics is rewriting the future of wheat. 🌱 Secure your spot now: tinyurl.com/2k78bmmh

Our wheat researchers @dsw-isp.bsky.social visited the super powerful "microscope" @diamondlightsource.bsky.social to investigate where crucial nutrients like calcium sit within the grain 🔬🌱🍞 Read the full story👇 www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/wheat-r...

💬 "Some #fungi can change their behaviour in different environments, so understanding how a changing climate might affect fungal behaviour – and what role Starships play in this – is vital.” Starships enable new frontier of fungal genome evolution 🚀 🧬 🌱

Expected papers so far span salt tolerance, floral adaptation & cutting-edge phenotyping 🌾📘 Feel free to share with your networks! @tweeticum.bsky.social @wheatinitiative.bsky.social @cristobaluauy.bsky.social @dsw-isp.bsky.social @wheatgenome.bsky.social #JXBspecialissues #PlantScience 🧪 (2/2)

📃 A new study from the Earlham Institute and @rothamsted.bsky.social reveals insights into large mobile #fungal #genome elements - Starships - and how they jump between fungal species and influence their evolution. 🖥️ 🧬 🧪 ➡️ buff.ly/R5SF9j8 @rowenahill.bsky.social #Transposons #PlantScience

📢New Paper! Genes regulating wheat growth hormones mapped. The findings could pave the way for new varieties that produce bigger grains and are better suited to the challenges of climate change @jxbotany.bsky.social academic.oup.com/jxb/advance-...

Congratulations Isabel!

Congratulations @katielong.bsky.social

Keynote @monogram-uk.bsky.social #monogramuk25 Breeding: why we need to start all over again? By Simon Griffiths

Really enjoying #Monogram2025 so far @ibers.bsky.social Great talk by @chen-ji.bsky.social on her latest work exploring gene expression patterns in wheat grains. So many interesting genes to characterise!

Hard-hitting talk with lots of data about chronic diseases from @ondrejkosik.bsky.social from @rothamsted at #MonogramUK2025 , and how we can combat them through cereal dietary fibre. @monogram-uk.bsky.social @ibers.bsky.social

Very interesting talk from Stephen Pearce of @rothamsted.bsky.social on novel dwarfing genes at #MonogramUK2025. @monogram-uk.bsky.social @ibers.bsky.social

Wonderful talk from @delfidorussen.bsky.social at #Monogram2025 about DNA methylation mutants in wheat. You can read the full MET1-1 mutant characterisation which was just published this week @jxbotany.bsky.social ⬇️

We are at #Monogram @ibers.bsky.social wonderful networking with the wheat and cereal research community. @johninnescentre.bsky.social @dsw-isp.bsky.social

NEWS - Does this breakthrough mark a new epigenetic chapter in crop breeding? Today is #WorldHealthDay. Did you know that #wheat is an incredibly important crop for human health? 🌾 Read our latest news story about an important epigenetic breakthrough in creating more resilient crops okt.to/sL9oKr

I’m very happy to share the published version of our paper on the role of MET1 in wheat 🌾 🧬 It’s been really exciting to discover more about DNA methylation in wheat and it’s huge polyploid genome doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

Fantastic to welcome so many early-career female researchers from across the UK wheat community to undertake #WomenInWheat leadership training provided by @hfpconsulting.bsky.social at the JIC field station this week! 🌾 @ukri.org @thesainsburylab.bsky.social @rothamsted.bsky.social

Less than a week to go🌾 #MonogramUK25, Looking forward to this exciting programme. This year includes an ERC Skill-building workshop. www.aber.ac.uk/en/media/dep...

📢New Paper! Future crop breeding needs to consider future soils. @uniofnottingham.bsky.social with our own Malcolm Hawkesford & @johninnescentre.bsky.social published today in @natureplants.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A fantastic #proWeizen conference hosted at Julius Kühn-Institut in Quedlinburg, Germany. Really great to hear about the wheat research projects in @proweizen.bsky.social and @simongriff.bsky.social presented highlights from DSW research.

Contributing to @dsw-isp.bsky.social, the Grassroots Genomics platform developed at the Earlham Institute is helping the #cropscience community record, access, and share #genomic #data - improving research outputs, collaboration, and reproducibility.

At the Earlham Institute, we develop tools that help researchers share, access, and use large #genomic datasets. 🖥️🧬 One of those is Grassroots Genomics - an open-source platform supporting the plant genomic community. #FAIRdata #OpenScience ➡️ buff.ly/CRUNCDr @richardmleggett.bsky.social

📢New Paper - Smart roots! Plants modify roots to maintain strategically use water. When soils are drying, plants can decrease water use from topsoil whilst boosting uptake at greater depths. 🌱💧 @newphyt.bsky.social @uonresearch.bsky.social Full story 👇 www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/smart-r...

Can wheat keep up with climate change and food security demands? 🤔 Simon Griffiths @johninnescentre.bsky.social will explore how precision breeding can transform the future of wheat genetics. 📅 Webinar: 15 May 2025 at 11 AM EDT! 🔗 Sign up today: tinyurl.com/2k78bmmh

A new paper published today in @bio-protocol.bsky.social presents a protocol for isolating High Molecular Weight DNA from fungi. Lead author @greymj.bsky.social collaborated with researchers at @rothamsted.bsky.social to modify protocols from two commercial extraction kits. buff.ly/M02HgvR

The final version of our paper on genomics of understudied fungal root pathogens/endophytes of wheat is now out! The result of close ongoing collab between @earlhaminst.bsky.social (@mcmullan0.bsky.social @greymj.bsky.social @neilhall.bsky.social et al) and @rothamsted.bsky.social rdcu.be/edlB9

Collaboration is essential to address the challenges facing global wheat production. Thanks to those who joined us for the DSW Annual Meeting at Rothamsted Research - bringing together wheat researchers from across the UK to discuss and share ideas for the future.

Great to hear about the success of the #WomenInWheat mentoring programme and the opportunities available. @dsw-isp.bsky.social

Great set of talks at the Delivering Sustainable Wheat meeting at Rothsnsted Research. It's really nice to hear science talks that have real impact for society and that even I as a non wheat biologist can understand @dsw-isp.bsky.social

Thank you so much to everyone who has come to visit us at Norwich Science Festival! 🌟🧪 Whether you’re fascinated by plant science already, or just another curious mind (young or old!), we’re enjoying meeting every single one of you at @theforumnorwich.bsky.social. Come and see us today!

#Spotted: The JIC Pea testing out some of the fun activities we have at Norwich Science Festival! 👀🫛 🌾 Explore our varieties of wheat and discovery where they come from 🔬 Have a go at examining plant specimens under our microscopes 🐌 Watch a live slug feeding trial! @theforumnorwich.bsky.social

Come and see us at Norwich Science Festival! Did you know that slugs are estimated to cause approximately £8 million in damage to agricultural crops each year? 🤔🌾 Visit us at @theforumnorwich.bsky.social tomorrow (Weds 19th) and Thursday (20th Feb) to find out more about our work on slugs 🐌

Read the full paper... bsppjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

📢New paper! Fungal toxin helps Fusarium head blight infiltrate plant cells and could be a potential target for disease control. @swbiodtp.bsky.social Read the full story 👇 www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/fungal-...

📣 We're excited to share our invited speakers for the 2025 Norwich #SingleCell and #Spatial symposium! Abstract submission is open for PhD and Early-Career researchers to present a short talk or poster during the symposium. buff.ly/3WPzXyJ

NEWS - Elevating gender awareness and inclusivity in the wheat research community This #InternationalDayofWomenandGirlsinScience, read about the recent gender awareness leadership training undertaken as part of the Rosalind Franklin Women in Wheat Champions programme www.jic.ac.uk/news/elevati...

📂 We develop a range of open source software and #bioinformatics tools to support research, analysis, and the management of data according to FAIR principles. Made available to the #bioscience community, our tools enable integration, analysis, and interpretation of large or complex #datasets.

📢New paper: novel seed germination model will give breeders more predictive accuracy for seed development and growth 🌱 Full story 👇 www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/new-see...