Underutilized crops and their future potentials
November 2, 2022
The importance of crop diversification, for biodiversity and to cope with extreme weathers brought on by climate change, has never been more important. At the University of Nottingham, we have set up a Crop Diversification Unit, led by Dr Sean Mayes, to examine traditionally underutilized crops and their potentials as alternative sources of food for …
Our technology platforms: Molecular Phenomics
October 24, 2022
The Molecular Phenomics Platform (MPP) was successfully commissioned in autumn 2020, and now resides within the analytical suite of the newly refurbished North Lab at Sutton Bonington. The LCMS system, consisting of a UHPLC front end and high-resolution Quadrupole-Time of Flight tandem mass spectrometer, can resolve thousands of chemical compounds in a single analytical run, across a …
Crack(er)ed it! Food Science students win Ecotrophelia UK finals
October 11, 2022
Megan Holden, Katy Tolson, Laura Hill and Kieran Spouge were the winning team from UoN at the UK Ecotrephelia competition finals. Ecotrephelia is a competition for the creation of eco-innovative food products. The team are final year Food Science & Nutrition (Megan, Katy and Laura) and Food Science (Kieran) students. We spoke to them about the competition, …
Next Generation X-ray Computed Tomography system awarded to UoN Hounsfield Facility, boosting soil research capacity
September 27, 2022
Soils represent a major store of global carbon, much more so than that held in vegetation or the atmosphere. However, this reservoir of soil organic carbon (SOC) is highly susceptible to destabilisation and loss, leading to declines in soil health, loss of biodiversity, and nutrient capital, and the release of harmful greenhouse gases (GHGs). We …
Pint of Science, in Greek
June 15, 2021
This blog post is written by Niki Tsoutsoura, PhD candidate with the Future Proteins Platform. Pint of Science is a worldwide, annual science festival, communicating science in an informal setting. It started in the UK by bringing scientists to pubs and cafes to present and explain their complicated research projects in a way ordinary folk …
Researching the future of wheat: An interview with Manpartik Gill
November 15, 2019
Manpartik Gill is the recipient of a UoN-RRes PhD studentship. Their project is titled: Novel brassinosteriod dwarfing genes as alternatives for improved wheat grain yields. Their supervisors are Dr Stephen Thomas (RRes), Assoc Prof John Foulkes (UoN), and Emeritus Prof Peter Hedden (RRes). Why did you decide to do a PhD? What were you doing …
Predicting micronutrients in the soil: an interview with Christopher Chagumaira
November 13, 2019
Christopher Chagumaira is a UoN-RRes PhD studentship recipient. His project is titled: Geospatial modelling of soil geochemistry at national scale for improved human nutrition and he is supervised by Prof Murray Lark (UoN), Prof Martin Broadley (UoN), Dr Alice Milne (RRes), Prof Patson Nalivata (LUANAR)and Dr Joseph Chimungu (LUANAR). Why did you decide to do …
Measuring carbon and water cycles in crop resource-use efficiency research
September 30, 2019
This post is written by Erik Murchie, Lorna McAusland, and Georgina Barratt Plants are active day and night, performing myriad processes in metabolism, conducting environmental sensing and responding to stimuli. The processes that draw carbon and water from the environment and into the plant and that shift oxygen and water out of the plant (photosynthesis, …
Duckweed: plant for the future!
August 15, 2019
One of the wonderful things about science is the sense of exploration into the expanse of the unknown. Finding future food sources, particularly protein, outside of livestock, is becoming increasingly important, for both human and animal diets. It is easy, despite the myriad of possible research avenues, to become stuck down a single trajectory, chipping …
Studying food safety in Brazil
August 7, 2019
The Food Safety in Brazil course is a second year module offered to Biosciences students at the University of Nottingham, funded by the Future Food Beacon. Established in 2017, the Food Safety course offers students the opportunity to travel to Brazil for a week to learn about contemporary issues in food safety. The course draws …
