EVENT - NBI Accessible Science Talks 2026 📣 Calling all teachers, schools and colleges - SAVE THE DATE 🗓️ Tuesday 17 November 2026 We're excited to announce the return of the Accessible Science Talks at Norwich Research Park! 🔬🌿🧬
Rachel Wells
@oilseedrachel.bsky.social
Brassica scientist working towards crop improvement
Fantastic to speak to Harriet Gould about the impact of cabbage stem flea beetle on UK agriculture labmatters.podbean.com/e/s6-e2-how-...
S6 E2: How science is helping protect one of the UK’s most important crops | Lab Matters
In this episode of Lab Matters, we speak to Dr Rachel Wells, senior scientist and honorary professor at the John Innes Centre, about the science behind protecting oilseed rape in the UK. Rachel shar...
labmatters.podbean.com
📢 Registration now open for the UK Precision Breeding Farming Futures Conference Join us on Thursday, 24 September at the Norwich Research Park, uniting farming, science, policy, and industry to explore the fast‑moving landscape of precision breeding in the UK: www.jic.ac.uk/event/uk-pre...
Our latest UofHertfordshire/UoCopenhagen/JIC paper is on BioRxiv! Following on from our Fell et al. paper, we show light leaf spot resistance occurs 4-8 days post inoculation, restricting hyphae branching/colonisation, and profile previous candidate gene expression. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Characterisation of gene expression markers and glucosinolates during discrete infection stages of Pyrenopeziza brassicae in Brassica napus
Light leaf spot (LLS), caused by subcuticular hemibiotrophic ascomycete fungus Pyrenopeziza brassicae , is a major constraint on oilseed rape ( Brassica napus ) production, yet the genetic and biochem...
biorxiv.org
Join us at IPPM 2026: 🌱🦠🪲 Technological Innovation for Integrated Pest, Pathogen and Weed Management 📆 3- 4 November 📍 Leicester & Online Register now 👉 cvent.me/EyM7bm #plantscience #IPM #planthealth @oilseedrachel.bsky.social @ipmmark.bsky.social @georgiewildbray.bsky.social @nffn.bsky.social
Fabulous to see this work as an editor’s choice!!
Journal of Experimental Botany@jxbotany.bsky.social · 5mo ago🍃🌸🌀 EDITOR’S CHOICE 🌀🌸🍃 By studying a wild Arabidopsis plant that does not precisely synchronize leaf and flower formation, Dieudonné et al. showed that perturbation of developmental timing in nature can arise from several unexpected genes and widespread shifts in gene expression dynamics.
Our new preprint is up!!! A statistical approach for comparing time series data. For us this is key when looking at gene expression across time in models and crops but it has many other applications. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
EVENT - UK Precision Breeding – Farming Futures Conference 🔔 SAVE THE DATE 🔔 Join us for a one‑day conference uniting farming, science, policy, and industry to explore precision breeding in the UK 🌱 🗓️ 24 Sept 2026 📍 Norwich Research Park Register your interest: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
Very happy to announce that our paper on larval antibiosis in Brassica napus is now available!!! Unfortunately, a screen of diverse lines did not find reproducible resistance but this may change the way we look at larval studies in the field. scijournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Larval antibiosis to cabbage stem flea beetle (Psylliodes chrysocephala) is absent within oilseed rape (Brassica napus)
We screened a panel of 98 Brassicaceae genotypes (97 Brassica napus and 1 Sinapis alba) for cabbage stem flea beetle (Psylliodes chrysocephala) larval antibiosis. We found limited evidence for antibi...
scijournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Excellent undergraduate opportunity via the RSB sponsored by Defra for this summer! Come join team flea beetle for 10 weeks to work on larval feeding behaviour and transcriptomics. my.rsb.org.uk/services.php...
my.rsb.org.uk
Ending the year on a high point. 3 new PhDs made - they have all been amazing students and I am so proud! Gurpinder even managed to release his lovely story about the effect of cold on SOC1 and gene regulatory networks :) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Network analysis of flowering time genes suggests regulatory changes among SOC1 orthologues in response to cold in Brassica napus
Flowering plants respond to multiple environmental and endogenous cues to determine the timing of their transition from the vegetative to floral state. Most of our knowledge of the gene regulatory net...
biorxiv.org
Friday flea beetle husbandry :) It’s been a busy week with a conference, time course experiments and finally mucking in with the team to sort the colonies :)
Great to see this work out in press and the data released for access. A great collaboration from the Brassica BRAVO team @johninnescentre.bsky.social and @rothamsted.bsky.social and JIC informatics. Well done Hugh, Laura and team! doi.org/10.1038/s415...
A dataset of tissue-specific gene expression dynamics during seed development in Brassica - Scientific Data
Scientific Data - A dataset of tissue-specific gene expression dynamics during seed development in Brassica
doi.org
Shadow of the enemy for @samtmugford.bsky.social So many aphids on my weeping silver birch right now!
Lovely to have a visit @johninnescentre.bsky.social from the Institute and of Vegetables and Flowers, CAAS, Beijing. Lots of chat about #entomology and #brassica diversity.
Come join us for a Royal Society of Biology Plant Health Undergraduate Studentship this summer! my.rsb.org.uk/services.php...
mySociety: Me and the RSB
my.rsb.org.uk
Lovely to see this update on bioRxiv. So much work by Sana and the team! Was lovely for Ruth to experience Lyon and add our curve registration methodology :) doi.org/10.1101/2024...
Arabidopsis natural variation induces complex transcriptomic heterochronies at the floral transition and perturbs the coupling between leaf and flower development by an unexpected genetic control
Plant development may be viewed as a sequence of tightly orchestrated events in space and time. The coordination of developmental stages gives rise to various organs, such as leaves or flowers. For in...
doi.org
Amazing to see PTI and ETI suppression taking place from same Aphid. I'm imagining the evolutionary arms race that led to this 😍 Congrats to Team Hogenhout. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The conserved aphid saliva chemosensory protein effector Mp10 targets plant AMSH deubiquitinases at cellular membranes to suppress pattern-triggered immunity
Chemosensory proteins (CSPs) are a conserved family present in insects and other arthropods, recognized for their critical roles in both intra- and interspecies communication. However, the functional ...
biorxiv.org
bioRxiv Plant Bio@biorxiv-plants.bsky.social · 2y agoAphid effectors suppress plant immunity via recruiting defence proteins to processing bodies https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.20.624400v1
Who’s coming to Brassica 2025? It would be great to see you there! www.brassica2025.de
Brassica 2025 | conference
22nd Crucifer Genetics Conference, Giessen, Germany, September 1-4, 2025 – Catch up on the latest international research in Brassica crop genetics, genomics, phenomics, biotechnology, crop protection ...
brassica2025.de
Congratulations @delfidorussen.bsky.social on being awarded the #IWGSC -Feuillet Early Career award to present your work on #wheat homoeolog transcriptional compensation at PAG.🌾 #ProudPI.
International Wheat genome Sequencing Consortium@wheatgenome.bsky.social · 2y agoWant to know more about #IWGSC-Feuillet Early Career Awardee Delfi Dorussen @johninnescentre.bsky.social ? Read her profile here: www.wheatgenome.org/people/early...
Love this memory of crossing with my girl. She made a pretty good RA. A few years and she will be part of the summer casual staff team. Be the bee!!!!
Come and join an amazing community of researchers in plant-insect interactions, Group leader position at the John Innes Centre #plants #insects www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/pl...
Plant-Insect Group Leader | John Innes Centre
The John Innes Centre (JIC) seeks a visionary Group Leader to lead research on plant-arthropod interactions, including insects.
jic.ac.uk
No better place on a cold day that a warm lit glasshouse :)
Lovely to have a networking visit from the Xianghu Laboratory, Hangzhou. A bit chilly in the field!Really hope to visit in the future to talk #OSR
