The earliest critical genetic changes that can lead to kidney cancer have been mapped by scientists. The first key genetic change occurs in childhood or adolescence, and the resulting cells follow a consistent path to progress into kidney cancer four or five decades later, scientists have found.

New research on bowel cancer has shown that every tumour is different, and that every cell within the tumour is genetically unique. In the first study of its kind, researchers used the latest single cell and organoid technologies to understand the mutational processes of the disease. This study could help researchers target cancer-specific processes for prevention or treatment.

A long-standing mystery of how the high-priority malaria vaccine target TRAP interacts with human host cells has been solved. Wellcome Sanger Institute scientists have discovered a receptor protein on the surface of human cells that the malarial TRAP protein interacts with as it navigates through the body. This could help improve the development of an effective malaria vaccine.

UK Biobank announces today (6 April) a major initiative to sequence the full genomes of 50,000 UK Biobank volunteer participants. Funded by a £30M grant from the Medical Research Council (MRC), sequencing of the whole genome will be undertaken during 2018 and 2019 by the Wellcome Sanger Institute. With the ultimate goal to sequence all 500,000 UK Biobank participants, the investment will help establish the world’s most detailed whole genome database – and further accelerate research into a wide range of diseases that cause disability and premature death in mid to later life.

New single-cell technology has allowed scientists to study malaria parasites at the highest resolution to date. By investigating the genes in individual malaria parasites, scientists are beginning to understand the genetic processes each parasite undergoes as it moves through its complicated lifecycle. The results are the first step towards developing the Malaria Cell Atlas, a data resource will allow researchers to identify weak points in the parasite’s lifecycle for intervention with drugs.

Wellcome Genome Campus Advanced Courses and Scientific Conferences (ACSC) today (Tuesday 27 March) announces the launch of its first online course, in partnership with FutureLearn, the leading social learning platform. The free online course introduces the genomics of disease-causing bacteria, such as MRSA, E. coli and Chlamydia which infect millions of people every year, and is open to anyone for enrolment now, with the course starting on April 30th 2018.

A principal contribution of the Wellcome Genome Campus will be to offer coordination and support for three Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) test beds called ‘Embedded Nuclei’. Dr Ken Skeldon, Head of Wellcome Genome Campus Public Engagement, based within Connecting Science, will lead the mentorship of these three research institutions, two of which are in Germany with the other in China.

Sanger’s Scientific Education and Excellence Development (SEED) Scheme offers five leadership development programmes to enable leaders across the life sciences industry to take their leadership skills to the next level. Through interactive training sessions, feedback and personality profiling, participants will have the opportunity to build meaningful networks, share best practice ideas and develop behaviours that will drive their own success and that of their teams.

In the largest study of its kind, genetic changes causing neurodevelopmental disorders have been discovered by scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and their collaborators in the NHS Regional Genetics services. The study of almost 8,000 families, published in Nature, found for the first time that mutations outside of genes can cause rare developmental disorders of the central nervous system.

A switch has been discovered that instructs blood vessel cells to become blood stem cells during embryonic development in mice. Reported in eLife, the findings from researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Rome could aid research into creating new blood cells for transplants and for understanding cancer metastasis.