James Brown

Project Leader Crop Genetics, John Innes Centre

James Brown researches the processes by which fungal parasites overcome methods of controlling disease in crops and how this information can be applied to achieving more durable disease control. His current work concerns the challenge of ensuring that crop varieties have broad-spectrum resistance to the full range of important diseases, such as mildew and Ramularia in barley, and rust and Septoria in wheat. He is also researching the development of fungicide resistance in crop diseases. He has worked closely with the plant breeding and agro-chemical industries for over 20 years and is currently head of the Crop Genetics Department at the John Innes Centre, Norwich.