The Wellcome Sanger Institute is a genomics research institute founded in 1992 and based on the Wellcome Genome Campus near Cambridge, UK. Established by the Wellcome Trust, it conducts large-scale genomic research aimed at advancing understanding of human health, disease, and biological diversity. The Institute made the largest single contribution to the Human Genome Project, completing the first draft of the human genome by 2000, and has since contributed to sequencing hundreds of species' genomes for the first time. It also played a central role in COVID-19 genomic surveillance.
Research at the Institute is organised into six scientific programmes:
- Human Genetics – studying the genetic basis of human disease and traits
- Somatic Genomics – investigating non-inherited genomic changes, including in cancer
- Cellular Genomics – examining genomic variation and function at the cellular level
- Generative Genomics – exploring generative approaches to genomic research
- Parasites and Microbes – applying genomics to pathogen biology and infectious disease
- Tree of Life – sequencing and analysing genomes across species to map biodiversity
The Institute operates at substantial scale in both data generation and analysis, with a long-standing commitment to open access data sharing. Its work spans fundamental biological research, public health genomics, and computational analysis, drawing on expertise across sequencing technology, bioinformatics, and experimental science.