£750,000 award supports next-generation plant research facilities
Oak Foundation funding contributes to the John Innes Centre and The Sainsbury Laboratory's infrastructure programme
The John Innes Centre has announced a £750,000 Oak Foundation award supporting its joint Healthy Plants, Healthy People, Healthy Planet vision with The Sainsbury Laboratory.
The contribution will help create Technology Platform 1, a planned 3,900-square-metre glasshouse, insectary and horticultural facility within the Next Generation Infrastructure programme. It is not the project's total cost.
The facilities are intended to let researchers simulate climate conditions and examine interactions between plants, microbes and insects, supporting work on crop resilience, plant immunity and sustainable agriculture.
Why this matters for policymakers
- Food security: Research infrastructure underpins the search for more resilient crops.
- Long-term capability: Facilities need sustained investment alongside individual research grants.
- Partnership funding: Philanthropy can complement public investment in scientific capacity.
Sources: John Innes Centre: Oak Foundation award.
Image: John Innes Centre. Researchers planting an experimental wheat crop; illustrative archive photograph, not the new TP1 facility. Resized for the website Public Domain Mark 1.0.