Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Projects
From a role as a leader in the 12-year Human genome project, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute has built on its sequencing skills to develop new programmes in postgenomic biology - understanding the messages in genes. The Institute endeavours to maintain a position at the forefront of experimental and computational genome research.
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute's research projects fall into four main areas of research: human genetics; mouse and zebrafish genetics; pathogen genetics and bioinformatics. Each project is led by a member of the Institute's Faculty.
Our projects are listed below:
[Wellcome Library, London]
Human Genetics
- Applied statistical genetics - Develops and applies strategies for design, analysis and interpretation of large-scale disease association and resequencing studies
- Cancer genome project - Uses sequence and high-throughput mutation detection to identify genes critical in the development of cancers
- Genetics of common neurological diseases - Identifies genes and variants contributing to neurological diseases to better understand pathogenic mechanisms
- Genetics of complex traits in humans - Explores common disease and variable response to drugs through large-scale genome-wide association studies
- Genome dynamics and evolution - Examines the processes by which variations in DNA sequence are introduced and their effects on human health
- Genome-wide profiling of human diseases - Translates data from large-scale genome-wide population studies into information of relevance for clinical advance
- Genomics of quantitative variation - Uses quantitative intermediate traits to unravel novel mechanisms underlying common, complex diseases
- Human evolution - Exploring phenotypic changes and genotypic changes to reveal our evolution and what makes us human
- Metabolic disease group - Identifies genes linked to type 2 diabetes and obesity to better understand the aetiology of the diseases
- Molecular cytogenetics - Aims to detect rare structural changes in chromosomes to understand the causes of certain inherited disorders
- Statistical and computational genetics - Elucidates the genetic basis of common human disease using statistical and computational approaches
- Statistical genetics - Aims to understand common human disease by identifying and characterizing mutations underlying disease susceptibility
Mouse & Zebrafish
- Cell surface signalling laboratory - Aims to discover entirely new signaling pathways by identifying novel cell surface receptor-ligand pairs
- Experimental cancer genetics - Aims to understand mechanisms of cancer development by generating and characterising mutations in mice
- Genes to cognition - Carries out genome-wide and specific gene studies to understand synapse and multiprotein machines
- Genetics of deafness - Studies mice with hearing impairments to identify genes associated with deafness and determine their function
- Mouse cancer genetics - Uses genetic, genomic and biochemical approaches to understand cancer biology in mouse models
- Mouse developmental genetics - Uses mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells as a model of early embryonic development
- Mouse genomics - Uses disruption of genes in embryonic stem cells in mice to discover genes involved in cellular processes and diseases
- Vertebrate development and genetics - Aims to understand the mechanistic basis of human genetic diseases by using zebrafish and X. tropicalis as models
Pathogen Genetics
- Malaria programme: Billker group - Elucidates the molecular and cell biology of malaria parasites to understand development and transmission
- Malaria programme: Kwiatkowski group - Investigates biological consequences of natural variation in the human and plasmodium genomes
- Malaria programme: Rayner group - Investigates the interactions between P. falciparum and human red blood cells
- Microbial pathogenesis - Elucidates interactions between the host and the pathogen to understand how we respond to infection
- Parasite genomics - Uses sequencing to uncover the genomic basis for differences in the biology of strains or species of parasites
- Pathogen genomics - Sequences small genomes and analyses the data for information on DNA structure and function
- Virus genomics - Explores the diversity of DNA and RNA viruses and host-pathogen interactions using next-generation sequencing
Bioinformatics
- Classification of proteins and RNAs - Classifies proteins and RNAs into families to allow researchers to understand their properties and functions
- Genome informatics - Explores various types of sequence and variation informatics, often involving evolutionary analysis
- Population genomics of molecular phenotypes - Develops population genetic methods for integrated sequencing and functional data to help explain natural variation
- Vertebrate genome analysis - Generates vertebrate genome annotations and maintains the reference human, mouse and zebrafish sequences