Abbreviation | TSL |
---|---|
Formation | 1988 |
Type | Research institute |
Headquarters | Norwich, UK |
Key people | Sophien Kamoun |
Affiliations | University of East Anglia |
Website | tsl |
The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) is a research institute located at the Norwich Research Park in Norwich, Norfolk, England, that carries out fundamental biological research and technology development on aspects of plant disease, plant disease resistance and microbial symbiosis in plants. The Sainsbury Laboratory partners with the John Innes Centre on a Plant Health Institute Strategic Program (ISP) funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
In 1987, an agreement was signed to establish The Sainsbury Laboratory. [1] This agreement made the laboratory a joint venture between several organizations, including the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, [2] the John Innes Foundation, the University of East Anglia, and the Agricultural and Food Research Council (now BBSRC). Later that year, the laboratory employed its first members of staff. Then, in 1989, The Sainsbury Laboratory moved into its current building. [1] This building was constructed alongside the John Innes Centre on the Norwich Research Park. [3]
The Sainsbury Laboratory conducts research on various topics related to plant-microbe interactions. [4] It investigates innate immune recognition in plants and the signaling and cellular changes that occur during plant-microbe interactions. Additionally, researchers at the laboratory study plant and pathogen genomics to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in plant-microbe interactions. [4]
One of the key areas of research is the identification and study of plant disease resistance genes. Another important research area is the biology of pathogen effector proteins, which play a crucial role in the interaction between plants and pathogens. [4] With this knowledge, the laboratory employs biotechnological approaches to develop crop disease resistance. These approaches are aimed at reducing agrochemical input and the percentage of crops lost to disease. [4]
The Sainsbury Laboratory provides a training environment with the intention of preparing post-graduate students, post-doctoral scientists and early career project leaders to excel in their careers. This includes training from the expert technology groups in plant tissue culture and transformation, bioinformatics and computational biology, proteomics, and synthetic biology as well as mentoring from established scientists. In 2021, The Sainsbury Laboratory launched a one-year taught MSc in Global Plant Health in partnership with the University of East Anglia. [5]
The four core technology teams of TSL develop new technologies to enhance TSL research and provide direct expert support and guidance to the other groups of TSL.
A number of scientists have worked at TSL including;
The Gatsby Charitable Foundation is a core funder of The Sainsbury Laboratory [2] in addition to The University of East Anglia and a BBSRC Institute Strategic Programme Grant in Plant Health (in partnership with the John Innes Centre). The remainder of funds are sourced from competitive BBSRC and European Research Council grants, charitable and philanthropic donations and, for some research programmes, commercial companies. [6]
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 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.
The Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech was a research institute specializing in bioinformatics, computational biology, and systems biology. The institute had more than 250 personnel, including over 50 tenured and research faculty. Research at the institute involved collaboration in diverse disciplines such as mathematics, computer science, biology, plant pathology, biochemistry, systems biology, statistics, economics, synthetic biology and medicine. The institute developed -omic and bioinformatic tools and databases that can be applied to the study of human, animal and plant diseases as well as the discovery of new vaccine, drug and diagnostic targets.
Jonathan Dallas George Jones is a senior scientist at the Sainsbury Laboratory and a professor at the University of East Anglia using molecular and genetic approaches to study disease resistance in plants.
Sir David Charles Baulcombe is a British plant scientist and geneticist. As of October 2024 he was Head of Group, Gene Expression, in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge, and the Edward Penley Abraham Royal Society Research Professor and Regius Professor of Botany Emeritus at Cambridge. He held the Regius botany chair in that department from 2007 to 2020.
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Norwich Research Park (NRP) is a business community located to the southwest of Norwich in East Anglia close to the A11 and the A47 roads. Set in a 568-acre (230-hectare) area of parkland, it is one of five Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) funded campuses. It is the only site with three BBSRC funded research institutes and the focus of the community is on creating and supporting new companies and jobs based on bioscience.
Catherine Rosemary Martin is a Professor of Plant Sciences at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and project leader at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, co-ordinating research into the relationship between diet and health and how crops can be fortified to improve diets and address escalating chronic disease globally.
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Nicholas José Talbot FRS FRSB is Group Leader and Executive Director at The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich.
Giles Edward Dixon Oldroyd is a professor at the University of Cambridge, working on beneficial Legume symbioses in Medicago truncatula. He has been a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award winner and the Society of Biology (SEB) President's Medal winner. From 2014 Oldroyd has been in the top 1% of highly cited plant scientists across the world.
Jane Elizabeth Parker is a British scientist who researches the immune responses of plants at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research.
Martin Parniske is a German biologist with a specialisation in genetics, microbiology and biochemistry. He is university professor and head of the Institute of Genetics at the Faculty of Biology of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Parniske's scientific focus is on the molecular interaction between plants and symbiotic and pathogenic organisms including bacteria, fungi, oomycetes and insects.
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Sophien Kamoun is a Tunisian biologist. He is a senior scientist at the Sainsbury Laboratory and professor of biology at the University of East Anglia (UEA). Kamoun is known for contributions to our understanding of plant diseases and plant immunity.
Anne Elisabeth Osbourn is a professor of biology and group leader at the John Innes Centre, where she investigates plant natural product biosynthesis. She discovered that in the plant genome, the genes involved with biosynthesis organise in clusters. She is also a popular science communicator, poet and is the founder of the Science, Art and Writing (SAW) Initiative. She was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2022.
Saskia A. Hogenhout, is a Dutch professor of entomology and ecology specialising in molecular plant, microbe and insect interactions.
2Blades is an agricultural phytopathology non-profit which performs research to improve durable genetic resistance in crops, and funds other researchers to do the same. 2Blades was co-founded by Dr. Roger Freedman and Dr. Diana Horvath in 2004.
Diane Gail Owen Saunders is a British biologist and group leader at the John Innes Centre and an Honorary Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia. Her research investigates plant pathogens that pose a threat to agriculture. She was awarded the Rosalind Franklin Award by the Royal Society in 2022.