DSW ISP

Close up of a conference poster describing the aims of the DSW research programme. Image focuses in on the logo of DSW and the Earlham Institute and John Innes Centre.

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

Dr Simon Griffiths, Group Leader and Delivering Sustainable Wheat Programme Lead, wrapping up the DSW annual meeting for 2026

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 🌾

Miguel Gonzalez Sanchez, JIC Research Software Engineer, presenting a poster at the DSW annual meeting

JIC Head of Informatics, Dr Burkhard Steuernagel, presenting his talk at the DSW annual meeting

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 👇

Identifying direct TARGETs of transcription factors in wheat Transcription factors (TFs) are key regulators of expression of numerous genes. In wheat, many gene networks remain unresolved with the identification of TF target genes being p...

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...

Emilie Knight, research assistant, presenting her work on a promising protoplast-based method at the DSW annual meeting

Transformed wheat protoplasts expressing GFP. The lines are from the hemacytometer that the cells are in suspension on.

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.

Rapid response launched to tackle new yellow rust strains threatening UK wheat | John Innes Centre The UK’s wheat is under threat from a newly identified strain of the yellow rust pathogen, prompting an urgent mobilisation of research institutes to protect harvests.

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 Testa presenting her work at the DSW annual meeting

Senescent wheat at the JIC field station in Bawburgh, 2025

PhD student Becca Testa in the glasshouses

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.

Wheat rust on a leaf

Professor Diane Saunders presenting her work on wheat rust at the DSW annual meeting

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.

Delivering Sustainable Wheat The Delivering Sustainable Wheat Institute Strategic Programme aims to develop wheat germplasm containing the next generation of key traits.

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.

Attendees mingling at the DSW annual meeting

Eleri, DSW programme manager, starting the DSW annual meeting 2026

DSW mission statement poster

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 🌾

Isolation of durum wheat mutants defective in SS3a or SS3b.

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)

Front cover of The Plant Cell journal showing a spatial visualisation of wheat spike tips, with multi-coloured dots indicating gene expression patterns across the spike.

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

January 2026, The Plant Cell cover

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 👏

INDETERMINATE DOMAIN–DELLA protein interactions orchestrate gibberellin-mediated cell elongation in wheat and barley | PNAS DELLA proteins, members of the GRAS-domain family of transcriptional regulators, play a crucial role in plant growth and development. They modulate...

📢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 Rothamsted scientists have uncovered how a family of genes in wheat fine-tunes the plant’s growth and grain development.

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 High-resolution spatial transcriptomics reveals coordinated gene expression patterns that define spikelet and floral development in wheat.

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 whole developing wheat spike in spatial resolution at 1mm scale. Blue staining represents fluorescent staining for DNA withing the nuclei. There are different coloured spots showing gene expression detected using the probes in a method called MERFISH on Earlham institute's Vizgen MERSCOPE platform.

Senior Research Assistant and study co-first author Ashleigh Lister delivers training on using the vizgen Merscope on non-model systems

Close up image of inside the Vizgen Merscope, scientist wearing white lab coat and blue safety gloves handles the inner cartridge of the platform.

💬 "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 🌾

The Wheat transformation and gene editing team from the John Innes Centre, and the Crop Transformation and Genome Editing Unit from Rothamsted Research, worked together to create a science showcase about genome editing in wheat.

We had the opportunity to taste white bread made from high fibre wheat developed through work in DSW.

Sue Steele, science administrator at Rothamsted Research, and Roger Berwick, science support administrator at the John Innes Centre, organisers of the event, ready to welcome DSW members.

The Germplasm Resources Unit brought along ears from diverse wheat and wheat relatives.

BLOG - From cereal killers to high-fibre bread: the importance of networking in the wheat research community

Dr Eleri Tudor, Delivering Sustainable Wheat Programme Manager, attended the @dsw-isp.bsky.social Institute Strategic Programme annual meeting @rothamsted.bsky.social earlier this year 👇

@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! 🌱👩‍🔬