A second leading science institution in Norwich is to benefit from millions of pounds of government funding.

The Earlham Institute, at Norwich Research Park, will receive £26.6m from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to support its genomic research.

The institute, which was founded in 2009, is carrying out its Designing Future Wheat programme alongside the neighbouring John Innes Centre, which also received £78m funding, and Rothamsted Research to combine expertise on understanding the complex genome.

Federica Di Palma, director of Science, said: 'Our research program will take advantage of the latest technology in genomics and computer science to understand how living systems evolve and adapt to their environment.

'We will be working across kingdoms from plants and fish to microbes to address key areas of food production and food safety.'