Data Analysis and Engineering

Genomic Surveillance Unit

Archive Page

This page is maintained as a historical record and is no longer being updated.

We were a team within the Genomic Surveillance Unit, we transformed raw data into actionable public health insight by integrating, processing, curating and analysing genomic surveillance sequence data. Following a strategic review the Wellcome Sanger Institute decided to disband its Genomic Surveillance Unit in 2026 as part of a broader institutional shift to focus exclusively on fundamental discovery science.

About us

We were a group of bioinformaticians, data scientists, and data engineers who created the software, data processing pipelines, analysis workflows, and reports that make genomic data available for public health decision making. A key driver for our team was the delivery of actionable data in real time, and we were passionate about creating efficient, reliable and well-engineered products and processes.

Our work

Our work spanned bioinformatics, data curation, engineering, and analysis. We were product-oriented and our approach focuses on agile delivery. Working across surveillance streams and disease areas in the Genomic Surveillance Unit, we:

• Developed and maintained robust, high-quality bioinformatics data-processing pipelines and apply them to large genomic datasets to deliver analysis-ready data to partners.
• Performed in-depth analysis on genomic datasets to address questions posed by public health programmes, and drove methodological improvements of our laboratory and analytical workflows.
• Collaborated in the creation of high-quality data resources (like Pf7 for malaria parasites) that are impactful for both public health and act as a foundation for discovery research.
• Developed highly scalable tools and processes that imported and standardised data from dozens of external sources, enabling seamless integration with sequence data generated by the GSU.
• Developed efficient data upload tools and processes for submission of GSU data to key public genomic data repositories (e.g. the European Nucleotide Archive).