The search for a global Strep A vaccine has narrowed after researchers sequenced the DNA of more than 2,000 Group A Streptococcus samples from around the world. Researchers identified potential vaccine targets present in strains from all the countries sampled, pointing to the possibility of developing an effective global vaccine against Strep A, one of the top 10 causes of death from infectious diseases worldwide.

The difficult decision has been made after consultation with the Sanger Institute board and the Genome Research Limited board, which has representation from Wellcome. The facility is expected to close over the next few years.

In the first large-scale analysis of cancer gene fusions, researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and their collaborators used CRISPR to uncover which gene fusions are critical for the growth of cancer cells. The team also identified a new gene fusion that presents a novel drug target for multiple cancers, including brain and ovarian cancers. The results give more certainty for the use of specific gene fusions to diagnose and guide the treatment of patients.

This annual honour is open to outstanding clinician researchers early in their academic career, and is named in memory of Dr Simon Newell – a renowned and widely respected neonatologist and paediatrician who had a passion for encouraging the next generation of paediatric clinicians and researchers.

The award honours scientists whose research has advanced medical science, delivered cutting-edge research discoveries, and produced benefits for patients and wider society. Dr Campbell's research has been instrumental in developing new ways to explore and understand the processes that cause the development of cancer.

The team report that three individuals were Europeans of diverse origins, including Spain and Sardinia, four were near Easterners who had been recruited to the fight, and two individuals had mixed genetic ancestry, suggesting they were the descendants of mixed relationships between Crusaders and near Easterners.

Today (17 April) Dr Matthew Hurles has been elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society, the UK's most prestigious scientific organisation. His work has provided many hundreds of families with clinical diagnoses and laid the foundations of national clinical genetic screening services in the UK and worldwide

Researchers have discovered a key clue into the development of the pancreas and brain by studying rare patients born without a pancreas. The study also identified an unexpected pathway in human pancreas development and confirmed this in mice.

Multiple new genes involved in hearing loss have been revealed in a large study of mouse mutants by researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, King’s College London, and colleagues. The new genes reveal the metabolic pathways and regulatory processes involved in hearing.

The datasets produced in this new study lay the foundations for producing the Cancer Dependency Map, a detailed rulebook for the precision treatment of cancer.