United Kingdom
June 8, 2020
Healthy Plants, Healthy People, Healthy Planet (HP³) is our vision for achieving a safer, healthier and more sustainable future through the power of plant and microbial science.
We are living through a stark demonstration of our collective vulnerability. The current crisis tells us that our world is more interconnected than we had ever realised. The next global threat could emerge in the form of a crop pathogen, or a human pathogen resistant to current antimicrobial treatment, putting our food security and health at enormous risk.
The scientific response to the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that transformational collaboration at pace is possible. There are a number of near and very real risks facing humankind and the planet more widely. Plant and microbial science has the potential to mitigate those risks. A new UK hub for open access plant and microbial science will provide a pivotal community resource for developing the solutions so urgently required.
The John Innes Centre and The Sainsbury Laboratory are uniquely positioned to lead the scientific effort needed to mitigate these era-defining risks. Our discoveries in plant science, genetics, microbiology and plant-microbe interactions have had a huge impact in the last century, but advances in technology, scientific practice and computing mean there is vast, untapped potential to be realised.
HP³ means working together in a new, collaborative, interdisciplinary and technology-driven ways, to tackle the biggest threats facing the world. In doing so, we will ensure that the scientific potential of today meets the global challenges of tomorrow.
We want to establish the best plant and microbial science infrastructure anywhere in the world. Capital investment in cutting edge future-proofed facilities will create a UK hub for world-leading plant and microbial research that will supercharge national ability to translate scientific knowledge in practical solutions.
We are working with UKRI’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to develop the case for investment in our new infrastructure, and are seeking private capital investment alongside public funding to enable us to realise our exciting and ambitious vision.
The John Innes Centre is an independent, international research centre specialising in plant science and microbiology. It is a registered charity funded by UKRI-BBSRC, the European Research Council and other charitable sources. The John Innes Centre uses genetic approaches to answer fundamental questions of bioscience, and to translate the answers into environmental and societal benefits
The Sainsbury Laboratory is a world-leading independent research institute that specialises in plant-microbe interactions, funded by The Gatsby Charitable Foundation, The University of East Anglia and UKRI-BBSRC. Its work is focused on leading global efforts to reduce crop losses to disease.
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