Fred Sanger, 1918-2013
Fred Sanger, who died on Tuesday (19 November 2013), aged 95, was the quiet giant of genomics, the father of an area of science that we will explore for decades to come. His achievements rank alongside those of Francis Crick, James Watson and Rosalind Franklin in discovering the structure of DNA.
Cutting edge new build for Genome Campus
The Wellcome Trust Conference Centre has received planning permission to build an innovative development that will cater for a wide range of audiences such as conference delegates, school students and staff of the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus. The £9.7 million project, known as the Kitchen Garden Enclosure, is reminiscent of the famous glass ceiling in the British Museum and will include a new…
£25m to kick-start 'industrial revolution' in regenerative medicine
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is participating in a £25 million programme to develop regenerative medicine therapies for a range of applications, including Parkinson's disease, cardiovascular disease, wound and musculoskeletal repair, eye disorders and deafness.
Parasitic worm genome uncovers potential drug targets
Researchers have identified five enzymes that are essential to the survival of a parasitic worm that infects livestock worldwide and is a great threat to global food security. Two of these proteins are already being studied as potential drug targets against other pathogens.
Hand-in-hand with the local community
Wellcome Trust Conference Centre wins prize for engaging with local communities around Cambridge
Cancer’s origins revealed
Cambridge researchers have provided the first comprehensive compendium of mutational processes that drive tumour development. Together, these mutational processes explain most mutations found in 30 of the most common cancer types. This new understanding of cancer development could help to treat and prevent a wide range of cancers.
Distinct brain disorders biologically linked
Disruption to the gene TOP3B increases susceptibility to schizophrenia and a learning disorder
New opportunities to treat bowel cancer
Researchers have discovered the genetic processes that cause specific types of bowel cancer. Using this knowledge, they identified cancer drugs that target these genes. Their findings offer the opportunity to develop personalised treatment based on a person’s genetic profile.
Sanger Institute researchers spark discussion on genomes and healthcare
The Sanger Institute is sending 50 of its researchers to this year’s Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition to take visitors on a journey through genetic discoveries and find out what they think should be done with their DNA data.
Getting to grips with migraine
Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have identified some of the biological roots of migraine from a large-scale genome study.
Professor Mike Stratton knighted in Queen’s Birthday Honours list
Professor Mike Stratton, Director of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute - whose research career has focused on understanding cancer - was awarded a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
Malaria’s severity reset by mosquito
For the first time, researchers have proven that the way in which malaria is transmitted to the host affects how severe the resulting infection will be.
Scientists 'fingerprint' malaria parasite drug resistance
A worldwide collaboration of researchers has shown that resistance to the frontline antimalarial drug – artemisinin – can be identified by surveying the genomes of parasite populations. The effectiveness of this key drug is weakening, threatening hundreds of thousands of lives.
Evolving genes lead to evolving genes
Researchers have designed a method that can universally test for evolutionary adaption, or positive (Darwinian) selection, in any chosen set of genes, using re-sequencing data such as that generated by the 1000 Genomes Project. The method identifies gene sets that show evidence for positive selection in comparison with matched controls, and thus highlights genes for further functional studies.
Family ties: Relationship between human and zebrafish genomes
Researchers demonstrate today that 70 per cent of protein-coding human genes are related to genes found in the zebrafish and that 84 per cent of genes known to be associated with human disease have a zebrafish counterpart. Their study highlights the importance of zebrafish as a model organism for human disease research.
Fishing for solutions
Equipped with the zebrafish genome, researchers have designed a method to assay the function of each and every gene and to explore the effects genetic variation has on zebrafish. So far the team has generated one or more mutations in almost 40% of all zebrafish genes. The resource will be a comprehensive catalogue of how changes to our genes can have physical and biochemical consequences, giving…
Wanted: Your views on genetics
The world’s largest survey on public attitudes to genetics feels it simply isn’t big enough. What it wants is more people and what it really wants is more ‘ordinary people’.
Study identifies genetic variants associated with childhood obesity
Researchers have identified four genes newly associated with severe childhood obesity. They also found an increased burden of rare structural variations in severely obese children.
Final chapter to 60-year-old blood group mystery
Researchers have uncovered the gene at the root of a human blood group that has remained a mystery for the past 60 years. They showed that a genetic deletion on this gene is responsible for the lack of this blood group in some people.
Rise in CF patient infections explained
Researchers at Papworth Hospital, the University of Cambridge and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have discovered why a new type of dangerous bacterial infection has become more common among people with Cystic Fibrosis around the world. Through their ground-breaking research, the team has developed new measures to protect Cystic Fibrosis patients.
What are your views on what happens to your genomic information?
Would you want to know about your genetic risk for hundreds of conditions all in one go, ranging from whether you have a higher than average risk from Alzheimer’s disease or diabetes or whether you are sensitive to certain antibiotics or statins? How do you feel about researchers generating this information but not sharing it with you? An ethics team from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute…
Tapeworm DNA contains drug weak spots
For the first time, researchers have mapped the genomes of tapeworms to reveal potential drug targets on which existing drugs could act. The genomes provide a new resource that offers faster ways to develop urgently needed and effective treatments for debilitating diseases.
Director awarded prestigious prize
Professor Mike Stratton, Director of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, has been awarded the 2013 Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine, a major European award recognising excellence in biomedical research.
Bugs without borders
Researchers show that the global epidemic of Clostridium difficile 027/NAP1/BI in the early to mid-2000s was caused by the spread of two different but highly related strains of the bacterium rather than one as was previously thought. The spread and persistence of both epidemics were driven by the acquisition of resistance to a frontline antibiotic.
Nobody’s perfect: researchers produce catalogue of disease-causing genetic variants
Researchers at Cambridge and Cardiff have found that, on average, a normal healthy person carries approximately 400 potentially damaging DNA variants and two variants known to be associated directly with disease traits. They showed that one in ten people studied is expected to develop a genetic disease as a consequence of carrying these variants.