Bernice Waweru, a fourth-year doctoral student at the John Innes Centre, has received a 2026 Jeanie Borlaug Laube Women in Triticum Early Career Award, an international honor recognizing outstanding early-career women in wheat research.
Waweru is one of three young scientists worldwide selected for the award, which was established by the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative to support the professional development of women working in wheat research.
Her research focuses on the genetic basis of wheat disease resistance by combining molecular biology, high-resolution phenotyping, genetics and computational approaches.
Using large-scale genomic datasets, Waweru has helped identify genetic sequence variation associated with yellow rust resistance in wheat. Her work has improved understanding of complex regions of the wheat genome and supports the development of tools that enable breeders to identify disease resistance genes more effectively.
The award is named for Jeanie Borlaug Laube, a scientific mentor and daughter of Nobel Peace Prize laureate and wheat scientist Dr. Norman Borlaug.
Recent John Innes Centre recipients of the honor include Dr. Marina Millan-Blanquez in 2023 and Dr. Isabel Fauci in 2024.
The Borlaug Global Rust Initiative said the 2026 award recipients represent research that advances scientific discovery while supporting practical improvements in wheat breeding. The organization also noted that the recognized work has the potential to help breeding programs accelerate the development of disease-resistant wheat varieties and strengthen crop resilience to disease and climate-related stress.
Source: John Innes Centre, "Borlaug award for outstanding wheat researcher"