A comprehensive map of genes necessary for cancer survival is one step closer, following the validation of the two largest CRISPR-Cas9 genetic screens in 725 cancer models, across 25 different cancer types. Scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard compared the consistency of the two datasets, independently verifying the methodology and findings.

Congratulations to Dr Konstantinos Tzelepis, Sir Henry Wellcome Fellow and Visiting Scientist at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, who has been awarded the ASH–BSH Abstract Achievement Award for his work on the leukaemia target, METTL3. This work was carried out in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, and with STORM Therapeutics, and revealed the work on targeting RNA modifying enzymes for cancer treatment  

Researchers have analysed over 500 genetically modified mouse lines to explore the effect of disrupting single genes on the immune system. The study by researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Kings College London identified more than 140 genes involved in regulating the immune system and the response to infection with pathogens such as salmonella and the flu.

The change in leadership comes as the Wellcome Genome Campus prepares to embark on an ambitious transformation project. In October, South Cambridgeshire District Council granted outline planning permission for a bold new vision to expand the campus, creating jobs, homes and additional facilities for the world-leading genome and data science at Hinxton.

A fundamental change in our understanding of the childhood kidney cancer Wilms’ tumour is on the horizon, after the discovery of its earliest genetic root by scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and their collaborators. By comparing genome sequences from normal kidney tissue and tumours, the team identified patches of normal-looking kidney tissue that in fact carried DNA changes that cause Wilms’ tumour.

A new study has revealed how two molecular pathways play an important role in maintaining balance in the human intestine, and how disruption of these pathways is linked to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The project was a collaboration between the University of Oxford, the Wellcome Sanger Institute, King’s College London and the University of Cambridge.

Professor Muzlifah Haniffa from Newcastle University and the Wellcome Sanger Institute has won the 2019 Foulkes Foundation Medal for outstanding contributions to biomedical science.

Dr Sam Behjati has received this year’s Liddy Shriver Early Career Research Award, given by the Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS). The Award highlights Dr Behjati’s internationally recognised, outstanding contributions as an early-career researcher working in the sarcoma field.

New research into the different life stages of malaria parasites has identified promising areas for new drug targets aimed at disrupting the parasite’s invasion of the liver. Scientists from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the University of Bern and Umeå University discovered seven metabolic pathways that the parasite needs to infect the liver, where the parasite multiplies rapidly before invading the blood and causing malaria.

The £9.4m funding from Wellcome will support researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and nine other partner institutions involved in the Darwin Tree of Life project to launch the first phase of sequencing all the species on the British Isles. This will see the teams collect and barcode around 8000 key British species, and deliver high-quality genomes of 2000 species.