Between 2000-2020 the UK Biotechnology and Biological Science research Council funded GARNet (Genomics Arabidopsis network). GARNet’s main aim was to ensure that the fundamental plant science research community remains competitive and productive at the national and international level by helping researchers make the best use of available funding.
Although GARNet funding ended in 2020 the resources are ongoing and the community-facing activities are continuing through the work of Dr Geraint Parry at Arabidopsis Events UK.
Ongoing highlights include:
- > GARNet has published a Community-Resources article in the Journal of Experimental Botany that highlights the lessons learnt in over twenty year as an academic-led network.
- > Dr Geraint Parry is organising the biweekly #UKPlantSciPresents webinar series that provides excellent plant science content in this era of COVID retrictions. The full schedule and recordings of all previous talks can be found on the GARNet blog.
- > The Resources page on the GARNet website provide a catalogue of experimental resources for plant scientists
- > The GARNish Newsletter has been published twice a year since 2004 so offer a fantastic summary of the evolution of the UK plant science community.
- > GARNet led the organisation of the 2022 International Conference on Arabidopsis Research (ICAR22). Dr Geraint Parry is lead organisation whilst members of the 2020 GARNet advisory committee make up an important contributor to the Scientific Advisory Board.
- > Over the past five years the GARNet Community Podcast has included interviews with UK-based plant scientists about their recent papers. This is a fantastic research and training resource to learn about the science from the scientists!
- > The @GARNetweets twitter account is very active promoting global plant science and will be the main source of information about ICAR2022.
A Potted History of GARNet
Initially established in 2000 via the BBSRC IGF initiative GARNet’s aim was to provide UK Arabidopsis researchers with access to genomic tools and resources such as transcriptomics, metabolomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, genomic clones and transposon tagged lines.
After four productive years of facilitating the adoption of functional genomics, the role of GARNet was revised to support the transition to systems biology. From 2004-2009 GARNet’s efforts to promote systems biology in the plant sciences were extremely productive; during this period GARNet assisted the Arabidopsis and wider plant community in obtaining over £31m investment in plant systems biology in the UK.
In 2009, GARNet was awarded a further 5 years of funding from BBSRC to help expand the uptake of systems biology, explore the use of synthetic biology and help promote translational research. This was extended for a further five years in 2014, to take GARNet through until 2020.
You can find out more about GARNet's recent activities in this video from 2015-2020 GARNet PI Jim Murray.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s44swqdW4sM
This is a list of the GARNet advisory board members over the past 20 years.
