New insights into the journey from health to disease in the human liver have been made by scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, the University of Cambridge and their collaborators. In the largest study of its kind, the team documented in unprecedented detail how the accumulation of changes in our DNA over time, known as mutations, evolves during the development of chronic liver disease and liver cancer.

The hidden world of genetic changes, or mutations, in healthy colon tissue has been uncovered by scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and their collaborators. The team developed technology to sequence the genomes of small numbers of colon cells, allowing them to study genetic mutations in unprecedented detail. Researchers found complex patterns of mutations, including changes in cancer genes, and a huge variability of mutations both within and between people.

The inaccurate allegations refer to specific research that aimed to support scientific discovery with partners working in Africa. The Sanger Institute has not commercialised any products based on this research and it has not received and will not financially benefit from any revenues.

For the first time, scientists have uncovered the likely series of events that led to the world’s deadliest malaria parasite being able to jump from gorillas to humans. Researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the University of Montpellier reconstructed an approximately 50,000-year-old gene sequence that was acquired by the ancestor of Plasmodium falciparum, giving it the ability to infect human red blood cells. 

The largest study of its kind into childhood developmental disorders has discovered that jumping genes cause genetic changes in some patients with undiagnosed neurodevelopmental diseases. The research has provided genetic diagnoses for three children enrolled in the Deciphering Developmental Disorders project, which will help the families access support and understand the disease risks for any future children.

In a world first, scientists have created the human developmental liver cell atlas that provides crucial insights into how the blood and immune systems develop in the foetus. It maps changes in the cellular landscape of the developing liver between the first and second trimesters of pregnancy, including how stem cells from the liver seed other tissues to support the high demand for oxygen needed for growth.
 

Scientists have identified new sub-types of cells that, when they interact, accelerate the scarring process in diseased livers.

Dr Mathew Garnett has received one of the first Excellence Awards given by the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI). The Innovation Award highlights the work of Dr Garnett and his team in producing hundreds of patient-derived 3D organoid cultures as a community resource to accelerate cancer research.

The first cell atlas of the human kidney’s immune system has been created after scientists mapped nearly 70,000 individual kidney cells from early life and adults. Researchers generated the atlas and used it to map immune cells in the kidney. This shows for the first time how the kidney’s immune system develops during early life, and strengthens after birth and as we mature into adults, with implications for tackling kidney disease and transplant rejection

Scientists are one step closer to discovering the causes of immune diseases such as asthma, multiple sclerosis and arthritis. Research from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, GSK and Biogen, under the Open Targets initiative, has shown that thousands of differences in DNA between individuals, associated with immune diseases, are linked with the switching-on of a specific subtype of immune cells.