DSW ISP

@earlhaminst.bsky.social @johninnescentre.bsky.social @quadraminstitute.bsky.social @rothamsted.bsky.social

Excited for a second #GreenHorizons training session with undergrads on #PlantScience that feeds the world! Today we’ll learn about the new tools that are transforming plant breeding, and what the future could look like for wheat. 🌾 🌱 #STEMCareers #FutureOfFood

#GreenHorizons #PlantScience #FoodSecurity #FutureOfFood #STEMCareers

Followed by our fantastic careers panel of DSW members past and present - sharing their career journeys and inspiring the next generation of plant scientists 🌾🌱

We were delighted to be joined by Professor Richard Flavell who spoke about his experience "joining the race to feed the world". 🌾🧑‍🔬🥼

We're still buzzing after yesterday’s session with 95 amazing students diving into plant science, food security, and sustainability. Their enthusiasm and questions show that the next generation of scientists is ready to make a difference. 🌾🌱

We’ll explore how plant science underpins global food security - from improving crop resilience to supporting sustainability and innovation in agriculture. Here’s to inspiring the next generation of plant scientists! 🌱👩‍🔬

🌾 Excited for today’s training session with undergraduates exploring food security, wheat research & careers in plant science. #GreenHorizons #PlantScience #FoodSecurity #WheatResearch #Sustainability #STEMCareers #FutureOfFood

Team JIC are having a cracking time in the “Future of Farm and Agriculture” @farmersweeklyuk.bsky.social zone at New Scientist Live @newscientist.com this weekend 🌟🌾

We’re here on Monday too - come along and see stomata down a microscope and our wonderful wheat varieties!!

@dsw-isp.bsky.social

New software tool MARTi fast-tracks identification and response to microbial threats. Scientists at the Earlham Institute introduce MARTi, a powerful new tool for the real-time analysis of nanopore metagenomics.

“MARTi has its origins in software we developed for really rapid identification of #pathogens in preterm infants, but we’ve since adapted it to use in a wide range of settings...including in agriculture, and biosurveillance..."

A powerful new tool for real-time analysis of #nanopore #metagenomics 👇

Super excited to see our bioRxiv paper out! It furthers our understanding of an FHB resistance locus in timopheevii with some DON resistance too!

New software tool MARTi fast-tracks identification and response to microbial threats. An open-source software tool that powers real-time analysis and visualisation of metagenomic data

💬 “It’s operationally very lightweight, you can use it in-field for taxonomic classification on a standard laptop, or undertake larger, complex analysis using HPC.”

💻🧬 Scientists at Earlham Institute introduce MARTi, a new tool for real-time #nanopore #metagenomics.

@genomeresearch.bsky.social

High fibre white flour developed at Rothamsted passes the taste test - Genetic differences in wheat varieties have been used to develop lines with naturally higher dietary fibre - and bread fans love it! 🍞👍 @uniofreading.bsky.social
Full story 👇
www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/high-fi...

Combatting wheat take-all disease with in-field and synthetic microbial communities

PhD studentship
Come help us understand the wheat rhizosphere at the Earlham Institute 🦠

Working at the interface of fungal antagonists & pathogens (@rowenahill.bsky.social @neilhall.bsky.social ), host genetic diversity (Simon Griffiths -JIC) and bacterial community diversity (Jacob Malone -JIC)

With partners @ibotcz.bsky.social Rothamsted has uncovered how a family of genes that regulate plant hormones in wheat fine-tunes the plant’s growth and grain development - could help breeders produce bigger harvests. 🧬🌱
Full story 👇
www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/key-whe...

New wheat diversity discovery could provide an urgently-needed solution to global food security Newly-discovered diversity in the wheat genome could offer vital new opportunities to improve and ‘climate-proof’ one of the world’s most important staple crops.

📃 New research published today in @natcomms.nature.com from the Earlham Institute and @helmholtzmunich.bsky.social presents the first wheat pan-transcriptome - revealing layers of hidden diversity spanning our modern wheat variations. 🧪

➡️ buff.ly/ZDIRnFW

@wheatinitiative.bsky.social @ukri.org

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-...

It was our last visit to Syngenta’s site at Whittlesford in Cambridgeshire which is due to close at the end of the year. Special thanks to Olga and Duncan, it's been great working with you over the years!

@johninnescentre.bsky.social @rothamsted.bsky.social

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🌾

Science Breakthroughs The Falling Walls Science Summit celebrates the forefront of scientific advancements with breakthrough speakers.

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

YouTube video by International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium Breeding: Why we need to start all over again

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