My latest first author paper is now out! (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) In this study we generated giant starch granules in wheat. These granules are twice as big as we see in nature and may have uses in food and industry. (1/6)

The unique cereal starch created by the Seung group at the JIC could lead to healthier, slower digesting pasta and bread. It could also reap dividends for many multi-million-pound industries which use starch in processing and may benefit from larger granules 🌾 www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...

PRESS RELEASE - Giant wheat starch granules - a big biotech breakthrough with potential benefits for manufacturing industries Scientists have grown wheat containing super-sized starch granules — a biological leap forward with potential benefits for our daily diets and  industrial applications.

Congratulations to Bernice Waweru! PhD student at the @johninnescentre.bsky.social and recent recipient of the 2026 Jeanie Borlaug Laube WIT Early Career Award 🎉🌱 bgri.cornell.edu/awards/wit-e...

New little data synthesis out in @fungal-ecology.bsky.social on Gaeumannomyces root fungi of cereals/wild grasses, using GlobalFungi to identify global incidence and summarising what we know about host/lifestyle range 🍄🌾🌍 👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.fu... @earlhaminst.bsky.social @dsw-isp.bsky.social

Today we’re delighted to be co-hosting an event at #UKFlourMillers in London. More than 40 experts from across the wheat–to–bread supply chain come together for a @rankprize.bsky.social forum to discuss the adoption of improved wheat varieties, focusing on increasing #fibre in our staple foods.

🆕 A new international network chaired by Dr Rachel Rusholme-Pilcher at the Earlham Institute is looking to overcome computational challenges of generating plant pangenome graphs, through a culture of openness and collaboration. Read more ⤵️ buff.ly/vNi07lz #PlantScience #Pangenomes #CropScience

"I am truly honoured to receive this recognition," said Emre. "I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to my late supervisor, @philippaborrill.bsky.social, who nominated me for this award. I will carry her encouragement with me throughout my journey." 2/2

Congratulations to Mustafa Emre Gül, PhD student at the @johninnescentre.bsky.social, named as one of the 20 Most Promising Young Plant Breeders in Europe 2026 by Seed World Europe! 🎉🌱

🆕 Blog! Research Scientist Dr Martina Vidmar and PhD Student Stefan Harper reflect on a recent trip to Nepal collaborating with local researchers to share DNA sequencing expertise and learn more about the microbiomes of fermented foods 🦠 ➡️ buff.ly/asO7iBP

Really nice piece in Nature this week by @aislingirwin.bsky.social about airborne DNA which includes a little mention of some of our work (with Matt Clark) and the spinout of @agnosbiosciences.com. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The award, presented at the #Agricultural #Genomics meeting of @agbt.bsky.social - Advances in Genome Biology and Technology, recognises outstanding early-career scientists and graduate students whose work and potential is shaping the future of agricultural genomics.

Congratulations to PhD Researcher Jade Van Wijk who is one of the Next Gen Leadership Award Recipients at this year's #AGBTAg2026! 👏 Jade's PhD research is using air #sequencing methods to identify and monitor cereal rust fungi. 🌱🧬 @nrpdtp.bsky.social @richardmleggett.bsky.social

💡 PhD Blog: What's the importance of training during your first PhD year? Heading into her second-year, #PhD researcher Marine has shared her insights and experience of enhancing her skills and knowledge over the last 12 months, and practical advice for other students. Read here: buff.ly/xOhpq0S

Applications for paid summer research projects from the Royal Society of Biology are now open, closing 28th April! Work with leading plant health researchers on 8-10 week placements, including Rothamsted. Apply now: www.rsb.org.uk/plant-health-ug-studentships.html #studentship #internship

We are seeking enthusiastic and motivated individual to join our Wheat Transformation and Gene Editing team. This is an exciting opportunity to work with cutting edge technologies at the forefront of crop science, contributing to innovative research in wheat improvement.

We are devastated to announce that our colleague and friend Professor Philippa Borrill died over the Easter weekend following a rare immune system disorder (HLH). She was a fantastic scientist, collaborator and mentor, and a close friend to many: www.jic.ac.uk/news/profess...

New paper out! We found that zero tillage reduced macroporosity and increased penetration resistance, but enhanced connected porosity. Despite structural differences, yield was not compromised even we observed increased rooting at depth in two genotypes @dsw-isp.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.ej...

BLOG - Green Horizons: plant science careers for a food-secure future The Delivering Sustainable Wheat virtual training course recently returned with renewed energy, offering university students an opportunity to engage directly with modern plant science www.jic.ac.uk/blog/green-h...

#Monogram2026 Session 8 - Regenerative, Precision, Profitable: Practices that Work 🍺 Christoph Dockter @carlsbergfondet.dk 📏 Stephen Pearce @rothamsted.bsky.social 🌾 Anisa Blower @niab-uk.bsky.social 🧬 Pooja Satpathy @leibnizipk.bsky.social

#Monogram2026 Session 7 - Measure What Matters: Traits, Throughout, Translation 🔬 Malcolm Bennett @uonresearch.bsky.social 🖥️ Lei Ju @niab-uk.bsky.social 🌾 Maxwell Asiedu, UoN 👉 Annalene Hansen @ibers.bsky.social

Really excellent talk on day 2 of #Monogram2026 by @ecarmosilva.bsky.social on improving wheat’s resilience to heat by studying rubisco activity during photosynthesis. Funded by @dsw-isp.bsky.social

#Monogram2026 Session 6 - From Meristem to Harvest: Building the Plant (Continued!) ❇️ Yunchuan Liu @johninnescentre.bsky.social 🌾 Kenan Tan @leibnizipk.bsky.social 🧬 Becca Testa @beccatesta.bsky.social

#Monogram2026 Session 5 - Climate-proofing Monocots: Physiology that Delivers 🌾 Miles Curl @johninnescentre.bsky.social ❄️ Dominique Hirsz @leibnizipk.bsky.social 🍬 Catherine Famelton @cathplantsci.bsky.social @rothamsted.bsky.social

Some lovely spring sunshine in Cambridge this morning as we begin Day 2 of #Monogram2026 with a great talk from Elizabete Carmo-Silva on the effects of temperature on photosynthetic productivity 🌾 @ecarmosilva.bsky.social @dsw-isp.bsky.social #plantscience

#Monogram2026 Session 1: Staying Ahead of the Outbreak - Biotics Threats & Defences 💪 🌪️ Jade van Wijk @earlhaminst.bsky.social 🧬 Katie Hawkins @uonresearch.bsky.social 🌾 Bernice Waweru @johninnescentre.bsky.social

#Monogram2026 Session 3 - Beyond Yield: Grain Quality & Human Nutrition 🍞 Alison Lovegrove @rothamsted.bsky.social @dsw-isp.bsky.social 🌍 Sibongile Zimba @bristolbiosci.bsky.social 🍺 Nupur Tailor @harperadamsuni.bsky.social

Year in industry student Poppy Leslie is presenting her great work on the evolution of wheat-infecting root fungi, check it out at poster 47! 🌾🍄 #CMINorwich26 @earlhaminst.bsky.social @norwichmicro.bsky.social @dsw-isp.bsky.social @mcmullan0.bsky.social

This afternoon at the #DeliveringSustainableWheat conference at @johninnescentre.bsky.social we're discussing a strand of the programme that focuses on developing sustainable data frameworks for the wheat community. @dsw-isp.bsky.social

Thanks to everyone who joined us at the @dsw-isp.bsky.social annual meeting today! From tackling wheat diseases to investigating the building blocks of plant growth, the event has been full of engaging discussion. To find out more about Delivering Sustainable Wheat, visit jic.link/DSW

If you are part of the wheat research community and want to share your ideas, please get in touch and fill in this survey here: wheat-tools.jic.ac.uk 🌾

Our Institute Strategic Programmes have already delivered impactful web services for the wheat community: wheatresearch.ac.uk/resources/ JIC Head of Informatics, Dr Burkhard Steuernagel, has opened discussion at the @dsw-isp.bsky.social annual meeting about ways to update, improve and add to them 👇

Sharing new methodologies and knowledge with the community is what this meeting is all about! You can read about Emilie’s method here: dx.doi.org/10.17504/pro...

We’re back at the @dsw-isp.bsky.social annual meeting this afternoon where @emilieknight.bsky.social is presenting a promising protoplast-based method to decipher gene networks in wheat. Protoplasts are living plant, bacterial, or fungal cells that have had their rigid outer cell walls removed.

More than 50% of the UK’s wheat is now vulnerable to infection from the fungal pathogen because of a newly identified strain, prompting an urgent mobilisation of research institutes to protect harvests. Read more: www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...

PhD student Becca @beccatesta.bsky.social is JIC’s first speaker at @dsw-isp.bsky.social annual meeting, giving a fascinating talk on genetic regulation of wheat senescence. This stage of development informs grain nutrient content, making her research important for agronomy and global health.

Professor Diane Saunders closed today’s second @dsw-isp.bsky.social session about yellow rust and the breakdown of a key resistance gene (Yr15). Yellow rust is a wheat disease that poses a major threat to global wheat production and food security.

Today we're excited to join the Delivering Sustainable Wheat Conference - a @ukri.org cross-institute programme bringing together expertise of 11 organisations and universities - including Earlham Institute, @johninnescentre.bsky.social, @quadraminstitute.bsky.social and @rothamsted.bsky.social.

We are excited to be hosting the Delivering Sustainable Wheat annual meeting at the John Innes Conference Centre today! We’ll be posting about how our scientists are addressing challenges facing global wheat crops, and working with national partners to deliver the @dsw-isp.bsky.social programme 🌾

SS3 in wheat starch granule initiation 📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... by Ding et al. @WileyPlantSci #PlantScience @johninnescentre.bsky.social

PRESS RELEASE - Rapid response launched to tackle new yellow rust strains threatening UK wheat Fifty percent of the UK’s wheat is under threat from a newly identified strain of the yellow rust pathogen, due to the breakdown of a key resistance gene, Yr15 www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas... 1/ 🧵 (cont)

Great to see our recent study with @johninnescentre.bsky.social make the cover of January's @theplantcell.bsky.social! 🌟 Well done to Ashleigh Lister, Katie Long, and the whole research team from Earlham Institute, JIC, and @vizgen.bsky.social! Check out the paper here: buff.ly/QN57HXG

We made the front cover of @theplantcell.bsky.social! Huge congratulations to co-first authors @katielong.bsky.social and Ashleigh Lister, corresponding author @cristobaluauy.bsky.social and everyone at JIC, @earlhaminst.bsky.social and @vizgen.bsky.social who collaborated on this exciting work 👏

📢New paper: Our collaborators at @rothamsted.bsky.social have identified transcription factors in wheat and barley that act downstream of the Green Revolution genes to regulate plant height. Read the full paper @pnas.org www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Family of genes that rule growth, grain development in wheat identified www.agriland.ie/farming-news...

Spatial transcriptomics reveals expression gradients in developing wheat inflorescences at cellular resolution (Katie A Long , Ashleigh Lister , Maximillian R W Jones , et al) doi.org/10.1093/plce... #PlantScience @aspbofficial

PRESS RELEASE - Innovations in spatial imaging could unlock higher wheat yields Researchers at the John Innes Centre and @earlhaminst.bsky.social are pioneering powerful single-cell visualisation techniques that could unlock higher yields of global wheat 🌾 www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...

Our new preprint is out on bioRxiv! A regulation-compliant infrared heating system for UK field trials 🌾🔥 doi.org/10.64898/202... Here’s what it looked like ↓

💬 "A lot of the methods I used in this paper have previously only applied to mammals, but by pushing the technical capabilities to allow for non-model species we can answer a wider variety of research questions." Innovations in #spatial imaging could unlock higher wheat yields 👉 buff.ly/a5nWTXx 💻🧬

She reflects on the value of collaboration in achieving strategic aims, and how this event is vital in bringing the wheat research community together: www.jic.ac.uk/blog/from-ce... @earlhaminst.bsky.social @quadraminstitute.bsky.social 🌾