Tackling global challenges through life science research.

EI Innovate 2020: From Identification to Intervention

Developing solutions to global issues with EI’s advanced capabilities and expertise in genomics and bioinformatics - improving global food security, environmental management, conservation, health and disease targeting.

Genome Annotation Workshop 2021

This 3-day course will help to provide scientists with an overview of eukaryotic genome annotation approaches, covering advances in Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies, transcriptome assembly, best practice guidance for building gene models utilising short and long read sequencing data or cross species proteins, how to integrate and assess different gene models and create a publication/release ready gene set.

Long Reads Workshop 2021

This two-day hands-on training workshop will enable researchers that are currently using long read technology and those analysing long read RNAseq data, to produce genome annotations, differential expression analyses and RenSeq.

Norwich Single-Cell Symposium 2021

Now in its fourth year, the annual Norwich Single-Cell Symposium at Earlham Institute covers single-cell genomics technologies and their application in microbial, plant, animal and human health and disease.

Feature | 8 min READ

Healthy soil is important, but what does it look like?

Without healthy soils, we’d have precious little food to eat. But this fundamental resource is being eroded by climate change and overuse of agrichemicals. Under severe threat are the communities of microbes which live in and around crops, helping them to thrive, yet we still know precious little about what our treatment of soils is doing to those microorganisms.

Feature | 10 min READ

Why statistics is important in a world of big data

From imaging black holes and predicting the weather to discovering genes and tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, statistics helps us understand data so we can make sense of the universe: and make more informed decisions.

Feature | 15 min READ

Orphan Crops: the neglected side of food security & climate change

When we speak of food security, we often associate that with staple crops such as wheat, rice and maize. But there’s another side to the picture - one that has been largely neglected. For hundreds of millions of people, ‘orphan crops’ are a vital resource, and one that Earlham Institute’s Dr Jose De Vega and Dr Janet Higgins have been working hard to improve.

Feature | 8 min READ

What makes a plant killer? Meet the scientists hot on the trail of invading pathogens

Most microbes live in and around our crops causing no harm whatsoever, often providing vital nutrients through decomposing organic matter, or symbiosis with plant roots. Yet a sudden event, perhaps just a fateful gust of wind, can turn even the most placid of microbes into a devastating pathogen.

Special Feature | 10 min READ

5 ways Earlham Institute is improving global food security

How can food security be improved? That’s one of the major challenges facing science and society. To feed and nourish a rapidly expanding population, crop yields must increase in the face of the threats posed by climate change and once fertile areas of land must be reinvigorated. However we manage it, it’s vital we protect and enhance the biodiversity on which much of our agricultural system relies.

Feature | 15 min READ

Chatting Guts: why the microbiome is important

A healthy gut might well be the key to a long and healthy life. But with trillions of bacteria and hundreds of species of microbe all interacting with your gut in unique and interdependent ways, understanding gut health is a vast and complex challenge.