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:
[Genome Research Limited]
Human Genetics
- Applied statistical genetics - Aims to identify the genetic determinants of complex human traits by using next-generation association studies to detect novel disease loci
- Cancer genome project - Uses sequence and high-throughput mutation detection to identify genes critical in the development of cancers
- Genetic epidemiology - Explores genomic diversity and its impact on infectious and cardiometabolic risk factors among populations
- 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
- Genomic mutation and genetic disease - Aims to elucidate the genetic architecture of developmental disorders, and characterise mutation processes in mammalian genomes
- Genomics of quantitative variation - Uses quantitative intermediate traits to unravel novel mechanisms underlying common, complex diseases
- Human evolution - Investigates genetic variation in apes and humans to understand our evolutionary past and its implications for our current health
- Maintenance of genome stability - Focuses on understanding how cells detect, signal the presence of, and repair DNA damage
- Medical genomics - Elucidates the genetic basis of common human disease using statistical and computational approaches
- 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
- Regulatory evolution in mammalian tissues - Compares how transcription and transcriptional regulation vary during evolution and the implications this regulatory plasticity has for diseases such as cancer
- Single-cell genomics - Aims to develop methods to study DNA mutation and genomics in single cells to explore genetic differences between cells and how this diversity is related to disease
- 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 signalling pathways by identifying novel cell surface receptor-ligand pairs
- Epigenetic mechanisms in health and disease - Analyses next-generation sequencing data to understand biological and disease processes
- Epigenetic reprogramming - Studies how processes that add additional information to the genome enable reprogramming in stem cells and disease
- Experimental cancer genetics - Aims to understand mechanisms of cancer development by generating and characterising mutations in mice
- Gene expression genomics - Studies global regulation of gene expression in the mouse immune system using genomic approaches
- Genetics of instinctive behaviour - Investigates the sensory mechanisms that regulate stereotyped social behaviour by ablating candidate genes in mice
- Haematological cancer genetics - Studies the genes and genetic pathways involved in the development of haematological cancer genetics, including acute myeloid leukaemia and multiple myeloma
- Mouse cancer genetics - Uses genetic, genomic and biochemical approaches to understand cancer biology in mouse models
- Mouse developmental genetics and ES cell mutagenesis - Uses mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells as a model of early embryonic development and employs high throughput mutagenesis strategies to generate reporter-tagged mutations in ES cells
- Mouse genomics - Uses disruption of genes in embryonic stem cells in mice to discover genes involved in cellular processes and diseases
- Systems biology of bone - Uses genetic disruption of genes in mice to investigate how molecules originating from within and outside the bone regulate bone remodelling
- Vertebrate development and genetics - Aims to understand the mechanistic basis of human genetic diseases by using zebrafish and X. tropicalis as models
Pathogen Genetics
- Bacterial pathogenesis - Studies the host-pathogen interactions that are linked to disease and transmission in experimental murine models and human populations
- 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
- Computational genome biology - Analyses next-generation sequencing data to understand biological and disease processes
- Genome informatics - Explores various types of sequence and variation informatics, often involving evolutionary analysis
- Population and evolutionary genomics of gene regulation - Explores how changes in gene regulation affect disease susceptibility and human evolution
- Population genomics of molecular phenotypes - Develops population genetic methods for integrated sequencing and functional data to help explain natural variation
- Using outbred genetic variation to understand basic biology - Using genomic data to study basic biological process and changes in shape and form
- Vertebrate genome analysis - Generates vertebrate genome annotations and maintains the reference human, mouse and zebrafish sequences
Cellular genetics
- Pancreatic genetics - Identifies signalling and regulation networks controlling pancreas development and their involvement in metabolic disorders
- Stem cell genetics - Develops novel genetic engineering technologies in embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells for genetic screening and healthcare therapies
