Resistance to disease in tropical crops – an interview with Professor Pathmanathan Umaharan

Professor Pathmanathan Umaharan (‘Uma’) is the Director of the Cocoa Research Centre, University of the West Indies. The Future Food Beacon is proud to welcome him as an Honorary Professor for the 2020/21 academic year. We spoke with Uma about his research career, current projects, and collaborations with Future Food.  Tell me about your work. What is your research about?   …

Understanding genetic variation in winged bean: an interview with Niki Tsoutsoura

Niki is a PhD candidate with the Future Proteins Platform. Niki holds an MSc. in Crop Improvement from the University of Nottingham. During her MSc studies, she became familiar with underutilised crops like winged bean. Underutilised crops are relatively underexploited as they have low economic importance or agricultural significance in developed economies, therefore they receive …

Genomic sequencing and Covid-19

Deep Seq, the University of Nottingham’s state of the art high-throughput genomics facility, is currently part of the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium, mapping the spread of coronavirus. We spoke to Prof Matt Loose and Dr Christopher Moore, about the work, the equipment they use, and how they are adjusting to this new challenge. Tell us …

Genomic characterisation of the University of Nottingham dairy herd

This post is written by Dr Sarah Blott, Associate Professor in Animal Breeding and Genetics, in the School of  Veterinary Medicine and Science.  Milk and dairy products are a significant source of nutrition in the human diet; the first evidence of dairy consumption dates back over 6,000 years, and today dairy farming is a global …

Working between the field and the lab: understanding barley

August 1st is Lammas, a day traditionally celebrating the first harvests of the season. Summer wheat, oats, rye, and barley grains are all harvested from now until October, and the first loaf of bread is baked with the new grains. How does the beginning of the harvest season affect our researchers and their work? Dr Guillermina …

Meet the Beacon: Dr Christopher Moore

Dr Chris Moore is a geneticist and the Future Food Beacon technologist. He is based in Deep Seq, where he performs DNA sequencing and provides genomics support for Future Food researchers. Chris helps researchers to plan their sequencing projects, carries out the lab work and transfers data to bioinformaticians, such as Dr Michael Wilson, for …

Meet the Beacon: Associate Prof Levi Yant

Levi Yant is an Associate Professor in Life Sciences and a member of the Future Food Beacon of Excellence. His research is focused on wild plant populations to understand how evolution finds solutions to significant environment and physiological challenges. Dr Yant uses innovative population genomic approaches to identify changes specific to adapted populations. This reveals …