Жылдық өсімдік және микробиология ғылымы орталығы

Independent centre for research in plant and microbial science

The John Innes Centre (JIC), located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, is an independent centre for research and training in plant and microbial science founded in 1910. It is a registered charity (No 223852) grant aided by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the European Research Council (ERC) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and is a member of the Norwich Research Park. In 2017, the John Innes Centre was awarded a gold Athena SWAN Charter award for equality in the workplace.

The John Innes Horticultural Institution was founded in 1910 at Merton Park, Surrey (now London Borough of Merton), with funds bequeathed by John Innes, a merchant and philanthropist. The Institution occupied Innes's former estate at Merton Park, Surrey until 1945 when it moved to Bayfordbury, Hertfordshire. It moved to its present site in 1967. In 1910, William Bateson became the first director of the John Innes Horticultural Institution and moved with his family to Merton Park. John Innes compost was developed by the institution in the 1930s, who donated the recipe to the "Dig for Victory" war effort. The John Innes Centre has never sold John Innes compost. During the 1980s, the administration of the John Innes Institute was combined with that of the Plant Breeding Institute (formerly at Trumpington, Cambridgeshire) and the Nitrogen Fixation Laboratory. In 1994, following the relocation of the operations of other two organisations to the Norwich site, the three were merged as the John Innes Centre. The John Innes Centre has a tradition of training PhD students and post docs. PhD degrees obtained via the John Innes Centre are awarded by the University of East Anglia. The John Innes Centre has a contingent of postdoctoral researchers, many of whom are recruited onto the institute's Post doctoral Training Fellowship programme. The John Innes Centre also sponsors seminars and lectures, including the Bateson Lecture, Biffen Lecture, Chatt Lecture, Darlington Lecture and Haldane Lecture.

The research at the John Innes Centre is divided into four Institute Strategic Programs (ISPs) funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). These ISPs, which combine the research of multiple groups to address a greater aim, were, from 2017 to 2023 as follows:
Genes in the Environment aims to develop a wider and deeper understanding of how the environment influences plant growth and development. Molecules from Nature will investigate the vast diversity of chemicals produced by plants and microbes. Plant Health aims to understand the molecular dialogue between plants and microbes, establishing how they communicate with each other and how they have evolved in relation to one another. Designing Future Wheat a program with other BBSRC institutes Rothamsted Research and National Institute for Agricultural Botany (NIAB) and the University of Nottingham and the University of Bristol.

The John Innes Centre is home to a collection of rare botanical books, lab books, manuscripts and letters documenting the history of genetics and research carried out by its scientists. This includes a letter from William Bateson documenting the first use of the word "genetics". The History of Genetics library also contains the archives of the Genetical Society.

An important part of the John Innes Centre is the John Innes Centre Germplasm Resources Unit (GRU). This seedbank houses a number of germplasm collections, including the Watkins Landrace Wheat Collection, the John Innes Centre Pisum Collection, BBSRC Small Grain Cereal Collection, Crop wild relative collection and several specialist genetic stocks collections. This material is extensively used by UK and non UK researchers and breeders, and is an available upon request to research, academic and commercial efforts, subject to availability. The complete list of the material can be found in the GRU database.