The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is a world-leading genomics research centre. We are part of the global scientific community working to build a better understanding of the living world and improve human health. Our work is supported by Wellcome, a biomedical charity.
We are based in Hinxton, Cambridgeshire in the UK, and our 1,000 scientists and support staff are drawn from more than 50 countries. The Institute is one of eight centres funded by Wellcome that together receive £700 million a year to support our mission.
Our core purpose is to use genome sequences to advance understanding of biology and promote human health. We conduct research on behalf of the public good into some of the most pressing global challenges facing humanity today, such as cancer, infectious diseases and neurodegenerative conditions. Our findings are shared openly with the scientific community so that others can benefit from them too.
We were founded in 1992 as The Sanger Centre by Sir Aaron Klug OM KBE FRS with an endowment from the Wellcome Trust. We opened our doors in 1994 with just six employees working on one project – sequencing the genomes of bacteria that cause meningitis and gonorrhoea. Today we have more than 1,000 staff working on more than 4,000 projects across 60 different disease areas . These include many major international collaborations involving thousands of scientists around the world .
The first draft of the human genome sequence was completed at The Sanger Centre in 2000 , paving the way for a new era in genomic medicine . Since then we have played leading roles in some of biology’s biggest discoveries , including identifying all 20,000+ genes in humans ; helping to explain how genetic variation leads to disease ; providing key insights into cancer ; uncovering secrets hidden within DNA ;and unearthing new treatment targets for malaria .
Our success depends on attracting outstanding people from all over the world and providing them with state-of-the-art facilities and resources . This includes investing £150 million every five years in capital infrastructure such as next generation DNA sequencing machines , high performance computing resources , robotic automation technology and bespoke software development . It also means supporting our people so they can develop their careers here at The Sanger Institute or take their skills out into industry or academia worldwide .
Sir John Sulston FRS (1942-2018), who led The Sanger Centre from its early days until his retirement 2002 , described our culture thus: “I am very proud indeed that The Sanger Centre has become what it is – an exceptional place full of very talented people doing first class science which benefits humanity as a whole… A big family bound together not only by common purposes but also by mutual respect, trustworthiness, openness and enjoyment”. Our values continue to guide us as we strive be an even better institute tomorrow than we are today .