The Sainsbury Laboratory

TSL is dedicated to making fundamental discoveries about plants and how they interact with microbes and viruses and favours daring, long-term research over work that could be equally well carried out elsewhere. The Laboratory is recognised as a centre of excellence for research on mechanisms of plant immunity and pathogenicity, and has a budding reputation for its research in plant pathogenomics. Groundbreaking work that has arisen from the Laboratory includes the cloning of the first of the receptor-like protein class of plant resistance genes and the discovery of small interfering RNA (siRNA), the specificity determinant in RNA-mediated gene silencing. Scientists working within the Laboratory have access to state of the art technologies and support services to enable cutting-edge science; TSL was one of the first research establishments in Europe to have access to next generation sequencing technology. Proteomics research is well supported with access to state of the art mass spectrometers and in-house scientific expertise. Similarly, high throughput cell biology research is possible using confocal high content screening microscopy instrumentation.