News from the NRP Strategic Alliances and NRP research partners

Anglers’ delight as algal blooms breakthrough highlights innovative science

September 1, 2017 1:32: pm | by Matthew Hills

Millions of fish-deaths caused by toxic Prymnesium algal blooms could be prevented with the application of a household chemical best known for bleaching hair, breakthrough research has revealed.
Trials carried out in the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads National Park have shown that at controlled concentrations hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is deadly to Prymnesium parvum, the golden [Continue reading»]

ELSA welcomes a new Independent Research Fellow Dr Laura Lehtovirta-Morley

August 21, 2017 12:47: pm | by Matthew Hills

Dr Laura Lehtovirta-Morley who has been recently awarded a Dorothy Hodgkin Royal Society Fellowship joins us from the University of Aberdeen and brings new expertise on Archaea to the Norwich Research Park. She is based in the School of Biological Sciences at UEA and now shares the ELSA lab with Colin Murrell, Jenny Pratscher and [Continue reading»]

Multi-disciplined science approach improves diet and health

August 15, 2017 2:25: pm | by Matthew Hills

The cutting edge study of epigenetics to unravel how nutrition can regulate the genome and impact on health and wellbeing throughout life; the important insights from epidemiological research about diet-disease relationships; the discovery of new food components such as phytochemicals and their potential role in disease prevention, are just a few of the areas discussed [Continue reading»]

New study highlights how processing affects fat absorption from plant-based foods

August 15, 2017 2:17: pm | by Matthew Hills

Preserving the natural structure of plant-based food during processing can limit the amount of fat and energy absorbed by the body, a new study in the Journal of Functional Foods reports. During this innovative multi-centred study researchers from the Quadram Institute, King’s College London, the University of Surrey and the University of Messina showed that [Continue reading»]

Plant-produced polio vaccines could help eradicate age old disease

August 15, 2017 10:54: am | by Matthew Hills

Plants have been used to produce a new vaccine against poliovirus in what is hoped to be a major step towards global eradication of the disease.  A team of scientists, including Dr Johanna Marsian working in Professor George Lomonossoff’s Lab at the John Innes Centre, has produced the novel vaccine with a method that uses [Continue reading»]

Scientists find secret to cell size in world’s biggest food producer

July 26, 2017 11:43: am | by Matthew Hills

A gene controlling cell size has been identified in a microalgal group which underpins a fifth of the world’s food chains.
Scientists at The University of East Anglia (UEA) have discovered a gene which regulates the size of diatoms, which contribute 20 per cent of global primary production in food chains. The discovery could have [Continue reading»]

New study links antibiotic resistance to common household disinfectant triclosan

July 11, 2017 2:58: pm | by Matthew Hills

Scientists from the John Innes Centre, Quadrum Institute and the University of Birmingham have discovered a link between a major mechanism of antibiotic resistance and resistance to the disinfectant triclosan which is commonly found in domestic products.
Researchers made the unexpected finding that bacteria that mutated to become resistant to quinolone antibiotics also became more [Continue reading»]

Newly-discovered plant enzymes open the door to novel compound production

July 4, 2017 3:00: pm | by Matthew Hills

A wealth of previously undescribed plant enzymes have been discovered by scientists at the John Innes Centre. The team who uncovered the compounds hope that harnessing the power of these enzymes will unlock a rich new vein of natural products, including potential drug leads.
The research, published in PNAS reveals new insights into the bio-production [Continue reading»]

Decoding and recoding biological systems

May 23, 2017 1:29: pm | by Matthew Hills

The past few years have seen unprecedented advances in DNA sequencing and synthesis technologies. These technologies, in combination with sophisticated new methods of analysis, have opened up unprecedented opportunities to recode organisms to produce new bio-products which may support advances in medicine, agriculture or industrial processes.
A research workshop titled ‘Decoding and Recoding Biological [Continue reading»]

Discovering new antibiotics from ants

May 22, 2017 12:05: pm | by Matthew Hills

Bacteria which live on the surface of leaf-cutter ants discovered in the tropics produce an exciting array of antibiotics. These antibiotics are new to science and have exciting properties not found previously – including the ability to kill bacteria which are otherwise now resistant to other anitbiotics. The breakthrough results from research of [Continue reading»]