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institutionsInstitution
Wellcome Sanger Institute
The UK genome institute whose Cancer Genome Project found the BRAF mutation in melanoma, built COSMIC and defined mutational signatures.
Also called: Sanger InstituteSanger Centre
Overview
Founded in 1992 to sequence the human genome, the Wellcome Sanger Institute launched the Cancer Genome Project under Michael Stratton in 2000. It reported the BRAF V600E mutation in melanoma in 2002, created the COSMIC catalogue of somatic mutations, defined the mutational signatures framework with Ludmil Alexandrov in 2013, and with the Broad Institute built the cancer dependency map and Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer resources led by Mathew Garnett. Sanger co-founded Open Targets with EMBL-EBI and industry partners and the Human Cell Atlas, and leads the Mutographs Grand Challenge on cancer causes. Its tools underpin much of modern tumour sequencing and target discovery.
Location
Hinxton, GB
Type
research institute
Website
Newsweek 2026 oncology rank
Not in top 300 listing used
OnCo score
#75 · 44 points (0 Newsweek + 0 NCI + 44 from 22 linked objects) · ranking
Research output
From OpenAlex, oncology works in the last five years (2022 to 2026, current year in progress); counted on 2026-09-17.
Matched to Wellcome Sanger Institute, including child institutions. 97 works · 1,204 citations · 85% open access · 2% clinical trials · 2% reviews.
Oncology works per year
142022
212023
182024
212025
232026
Most works
- David J. Adams17 works
- Ingrid Ferreira8 works
- Carla Daniela Robles‐Espinoza7 works
- Shriram G. Bhosle7 works
- Mathew J. Garnett7 works
- Patrícia A. Possik6 works
- Iñigo Martincorena5 works
- Gabriele Picco5 works
- Trevor D. Lawley5 works
- Martha Estefania Vázquez‐Cruz5 works
Most cited
- Cancer Genome Project
- COSMIC
- Mutational signatures (Mutographs)
- Cancer dependency map and GDSC
- Open Targets
- Human Cell Atlas
Matthew Hurles
Director of the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Senior Group Leader
Human geneticsGenomic medicineDevelopmental disorders
Human geneticist who directs the Wellcome Sanger Institute, a world centre for cancer genome research.
Michael Stratton
Senior Group Leader; former Director
Cancer genomicsMutational signaturesSomatic mutation
Pioneer of cancer genome sequencing and mutational signatures; led the Cancer Genome Project and formerly directed the Sanger Institute.
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Open-source projects
All open source in oncology →Open-source projects that this organisation maintains, from OnCo's own catalogue: licence and last activity as the repository reported them on the day of the fetch. Listing is not endorsement; check the licence before reuse and the validation before clinical use.
Maps cell types onto spatial transcriptomics spots with a Bayesian model, from the Sanger.
Detects genes under positive selection in cancer by the ratio of non-synonymous to synonymous mutations, from the Martincorena lab.
Sanger's breakpoint and rearrangement caller for whole-genome tumour sequencing.
The Sanger Cancer Genome Project's whole-genome tumour-normal pipeline packaged as a container for Dockstore.
Sanger's tumour-normal indel calling built on Pindel.
The Sanger Institute's somatic substitution caller, wrapped for pipeline use.