HBio ISP

Botanists unlock the Chilean medical marvel that Charles ... Vaccine properties of the soapbark tree to be cultivated in days rather than years by new process

Recently, we hosted a visit from @jamestapper.bsky.social at @theobserveruk.bsky.social, which included an interview and short tour with Prof. Anne Osbourn who explained the fascinating story of her group's work with the Chilean soapbark tree (Quillaja saponaria) 🗞️

observer.co.uk/news/science...

Many thanks to Katharina Höfer @hoeferlab.bsky.social for giving an inspiring presentation about RNAylation at our annual "Early-Career Microbiologists Symposium" @johninnescentre.bsky.social. Many thanks also to #EMBO @embo.org for supporting this "Young Investigator Seminar".

VACANCY

Optical Microscopy Specialist

Come work alongside the plant and microbial scientists at JIC and help us explore the biological frontier at the tissue, cell and subcellular scale!

That's a wrap!

Another fantastic year @latitudefestival.bsky.social with an amazing team @johninnescentre.bsky.social and @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social

Thanks to all the families that took on our #science Escape Bloom!

Until next time...

Nice to see our recent work on the fascinating KorAB system be featured on the back of @johninnescentre.bsky.social Advances!
Read the full paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I had a great time presenting my work on potato starch at #PlantBio2025 🥔 @aspbofficial.bsky.social

For more info see my poster 300-73!

Great to have two presentations from the Seung Lab at @johninnescentre.bsky.social in the same session, and another on Tuesday 🌱

We're proud to be working with the @uommib.bsky.social and @earlhaminst.bsky.social on a new £8.5M project, funded by @aria-research.bsky.social, to find biotechnological routes to feed a growing population while protecting crops against climate change and pests:

www.jic.ac.uk/news/future-...

Professor Anne Osbourn in conversation with the Summer School teachers.

Prof Anne Osbourn inspired our teachers no-end with a fascinating talk on harnessing plant metabolic diversity for therapeutic applications. "Finding drugs in the garden"💊🌱
So many questions answered. The teachers' students are in for a treat💚
#plantscience #summerschool @johninnescentre.bsky.social

Big congratulations to @kellythd-nguyen.bsky.social 👍👍👍Super beautiful structure👍👍👍Very happy to contribute some RNA structure work to this great collaboration😊 @johninnescentre.bsky.social @mrclmb.bsky.social

Optical Microscopy Support Specialist | John Innes Centre An exciting opportunity has arisen for an Optical Microscopy Support Specialist to join the Bioimaging Platform at the John Innes Centre.

VACANCY - We’re seeking an Optical Microscopy Support Specialist to join our Bioimaging Platform, to help train users on light microscopes, collaborate on imaging projects and provide technical support.

www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/op...

Closing date - 11 August 2025
Contract - Full time, indefinite

Why work at JIC | John Innes Centre Whether you have a passion for supporting scientific excellence or progressing fundamental or strategic plant and microbial science, the John Innes Centre is the place for you. We value the diversity…

Come and join our dynamic, welcoming scientific community.

For more information about life here at the JIC, please visit: www.jic.ac.uk/training-car...

We’re pleased to announce two new vacancies for senior roles at our institute:

Group Leader in Discovery Plant Sciences: www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/gr...

🗓️ Closes 25 August

Independent Fellowship in Plant-Associated Microbial Interactions: www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/in...

🗓️ Closes 5 September

Expanding the diversity of bacterial DNA partitioning: A CTP-independent ParABS system for plasmid partitioning in Streptomyces | PNAS The ATP- and CTP-dependent ParA-ParB-parS segrosome is a macromolecular complex that segregates chromosomes/plasmids in most bacterial species. CTP...

Finally published! Many thanks to the reviewers and editor whose comments & suggestions improved this work significantly more than the first preprint version!!!

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Function and firing of the Streptomyces coelicolor contractile injection system requires the membrane protein CisA CryoEM, genetic, and cell biological analyses reveal that the conserved membrane protein CisA mediates membrane recruitment of contractile injection systems Streptomyces coelicolor, enabling their act...

Happy to see our collaborative work on the contractile injection system (CIS) in Streptomyces published. We show that the membrane protein CisA gives Streptomyces CIS a licence to kill.
@pilhoferlab.bsky.social & Bastien Casu, @joesallmen.bsky.social #MicroSky

elifesciences.org/articles/104...

Fantastic opportunity to start your independent career at the JIC here. Great startup package. Repost = nice. Thank you!!!

Lister Prize Awards 2026. Applications now open. Includes £300k of flexible funding over five years. Open to those working in biomedical and clinical sciences in the U.K.

lister-institute.org.uk/how-to-apply/

Congratulations to Sachin Shah, winner of the HBio Award for his help and support in the Lomonossoff research group. Sachin works with both enthusiasm and kindness, helping students, post-doctoral scientists and visiting workers all alongside doing his own research. @johninnescentre.bsky.social

Congratulations to Mikaela Neequaye, winner of the HBio Award for her exceptional work in the lab, her research ideas, extensive outreach work and leading the JIC’s Race and Ethnicity, Equality and Diversity Group @johninnescentre.bsky.social

Many congratulations to winner of the @hbio-isp.bsky.social Award, Emma Banks. For her passion for science, ability to inspire others and commitment to making a difference in the lab and beyond. @johninnescentre.bsky.social

Congratulations to Edward Hems, winner of the @hbio-isp.bsky.social Award for his incredible scientific insights, technical support in chemistry and computing and collaborative spirit, supporting colleagues with their research and organising outreach activities. @johninnescentre.bsky.social

Conserved effectors underpin the virulence of liverwort-isolated Pseudomonas in divergent plants Robinson et al. identify pathogenic Pseudomonas viridiflava in wild Marchantia polymorpha liverworts and interrogate the mechanisms enabling virulence in non-flowering and flowering plants. Their resu...

Conserved effectors underpin the virulence of liverwort-isolated Pseudomonas in divergent plants

Very happy to share the published version of our work on natural Marchantia-Pseudomonas interactions.

Out now in Current Biology: www.cell.com/current-biol...

Extracellular redox sensors control the protein secretion stress response in Streptomyces Translocating unfolded polypeptides across membranes is essential in all domains of life and in bacteria requires the conserved Sec machinery and ATP. Bacterial Sec substrates fold outside the cell an...

Very happy to share this work led by @tommclean.bsky.social and @ainsley-beaton.bsky.social. The conserved Streptomyces sensor kinase CutS senses disulphide bond formation outside the cell. If it fails CutS activates CutR which switches on production of foldase HtrA3

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Microbe Profile: Streptomyces venezuelae – a model species to study morphology and differentiation in filamentous bacteria Streptomyces bacteria are renowned for their multicellular lifestyle and production of bioactive molecules (natural products) with important applications in medicine, agriculture and industry. Studies...

New Microbe Profile: Streptomyces venezuelae, a model species for the genus. Genetically tractable and completes its life cycle in liquid culture in 24 hours.

www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

Congratulations to Martin Rejzek, winner of the HBio Award, for providing expert chemistry skills, support for JIC researchers enabling excellence science and innovation. @johninnescentre.bsky.social

Congratulations to Marina Franceschetti, winner of the HBio Award, for setting up a new valuable resource for pea. An EMS population linked to phenotypic and sequencing data. @johninnescentre.bsky.social

We’re delighted to have Professor Janneke Balk opening the PCGIN Stakeholder Meeting 2025, hosted at @kewgardens.bsky.social as part of the UK Legumes Conference this week 🫛

Find out more about PCGIN’s latest funding from DEFRA UK: www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...

Our keynote speaker, Rose McNelly, gave a fantastic talk at the Norfolk Science Teaching Conference yesterday 🌱

Rose explained how she found a love of plant science from experiments using chocolate chip muffin soil to attending the Year 10 Science Camp at the John Innes Centre.

Great opportunity for early career researchers at Norwich Research Park to present their work on microbial genomics 🧬

Abstract deadline is 3rd April

@quadraminstitute.bsky.social @johninnescentre.bsky.social @earlhaminst.bsky.social @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social @thesainsburylab.bsky.social

Distinct Patterns of Antibiotic Sensitivities in Ammonia‐Oxidising Archaea Antibiotic sensitivity varies between different strains of ammonia-oxidising archaea. The results of this study will be useful for selective enrichment and development of a genetic system for ammonia...

Happy to have played a small role in this work from Laura Lehtovirta-Morley’s lab.

Distinct Patterns of Antibiotic Sensitivities in Ammonia-Oxidising Archaea

enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Today we updated streptomyces.org.uk/strepstrains... with lists of useful Streptomyces strains and plasmids we have @johninnescentre.bsky.social and details of how to request them.