The John Innes Horticultural Institution was founded in 1910 at Merton Park, Surrey, with funds bequeathed by John Innes, a merchant and philanthropist. The Institution occupied Innes's former estate at Merton Park until 1945 when it moved to Bayfordbury, Hertfordshire. It moved to its present site in 1967. 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 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 institute is divided into six departments: Biological Chemistry, Cell & Developmental Biology, Computational & Systems Biology, Crop Genetics, Metabolic Biology and Molecular Microbiology. 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 and the Biffen Lecture.
Research
The research at the John Innes Centre is divided into 4 Institute Strategic Programs funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. These ISPs, which combine the research of multiple groups to address a greater aim, are:
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.
The John Innes Centre is also the Norwich base of the Sainsbury Laboratory, an institute focused on plant disease. Although well integrated with the John Innes Centre, The Sainsbury Laboratory is closely affiliated with the University of East Anglia. Along with the Institute of Food Research and University of East Anglia, JIC hosted the BA Festival of Science in September 2006. Since 2015 The John Innes centre, University of East Anglia Sainsbury Laboratory, The Earlham Institute and Quadram Institute Bioscience have run Women of The Future an event aimed at promoting career in science to young women.
The John Innes Foundation is an independent charitable foundation and was formed in 1910 by John Innes. JIF set up the John Innes Horticultural Institution at Merton, London. Currently, the JIF owns the land and buildings at Newfound Farm, Colney and Church Farm, Bawburgh, Norfolk which are used by researchers from the John Innes Centre. The JIF trustees also play an active part in the management of John Innes Centre research and have the right to appoint three members of the Governing Council. The foundation sponsors several graduate studentships each year, support for educational programmes and the infrastructure of the site. They also fund student awards for scientific excellence and science communication. It also owns a very significant collection of archive material held in the Historical Collections library at the John Innes Centre.
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.
Germplasm Resources Unit
An important part of the John Innes Centre is the John Innes Centre Germplasm Resources Unit. This seedbank houses a number of germplasm collections, including the , the , 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.
