At BioP, we believe that our innovations can have a real, positive impact on potato farming sustainability, and we want to tell anyone who will listen!

Last week, our Entrepreneur-in-residence, Dr Sasha Eremina, talked about BioP’s technology and mission with Sue Dougan on BBC Radio East.

Sasha highlighted why fighting pathogens is still of critical importance today: “We tend to think that we’re making a lot of progress at combating diseases, but the reality is that pests and pathogens evolve against our methods. So we come back to the challenges that we were facing years ago”.

As Sasha explained, BioP’s approach is anchored on solid scientific research “Some species are better at responding to pathogen attacks than others. Researchers under the leadership of Jonathan Jones’s group at The Sainsbury Laboratory have identified species which are naturally more resistant to blight, and they tried to understand what made them resistant.” This knowledge is the basis of BioP’s innovative approach to make potatoes resistant to late blight and potato viruses while drastically reducing pesticide use.

Listen to the full interview to hear about our latest work on potato late blight and viruses in the region (from 37:06-49:50): Louise Hulland on BBC Radio Norfolk – Sue Dougan sits in (21/08/2025) – BBC Sounds

As the field trials season is coming to an end, we can’t wait to evaluate the performance of our plants and select the plant that will make our first disease-resistant spuds. Stay tuned!