# Wellcome Sanger Institute

Source: https://onco.cc/institutions/wellcome-sanger/  
OnCo record `wellcome-sanger` (Institution). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

The UK genome institute whose Cancer Genome Project found the BRAF mutation in melanoma, built COSMIC and defined mutational signatures.

## Summary

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.

## Fields

- Kind: Institution
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: Sanger Institute; Sanger Centre
- City: Hinxton, GB
- Type: research-institute
- Website: https://www.sanger.ac.uk

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellcome_Sanger_Institute
- Homepage: https://www.sanger.ac.uk
- Cancer, Ageing and Somatic Mutation programme: https://www.sanger.ac.uk/programme/cancer-ageing-and-somatic-mutation/
- COSMIC: https://cancer.sanger.ac.uk/cosmic

## Connected records

- collections: [COSMIC (Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer)](https://onco.cc/collections/cosmic/), [CZ CELLxGENE / Human Cell Atlas](https://onco.cc/collections/cellxgene-hca/), [DepMap (Cancer Dependency Map)](https://onco.cc/collections/depmap/), [Open Targets Platform](https://onco.cc/collections/open-targets/)
- cancers: [Colorectal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/colorectal/), [Melanoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/melanoma/), [Oesophageal cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/esophageal/)
- fronts: [Diagnostics & Biomarkers](https://onco.cc/fronts/diagnostics/), [Drug Discovery Platforms](https://onco.cc/fronts/drug-discovery/)
- technologies: [CRISPR functional genomics](https://onco.cc/technologies/crispr-screens/), [Functional (ex vivo) drug testing](https://onco.cc/technologies/functional-drug-testing/), [Patient-derived organoids](https://onco.cc/technologies/organoids/), [Single-cell & spatial profiling](https://onco.cc/technologies/single-cell-spatial/), [Whole-exome & whole-genome sequencing](https://onco.cc/technologies/wes-wgs/)
- targets: [BRAF](https://onco.cc/targets/braf/)
- institutions: [Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard](https://onco.cc/institutions/broad-institute/), [Cancer Research UK](https://onco.cc/institutions/cruk/), [Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre / CRUK Cambridge Institute](https://onco.cc/institutions/cruk-cambridge-centre/), [EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute](https://onco.cc/institutions/embl-ebi/)
- terms: [Mutational signature](https://onco.cc/terms/mutational-signature/), [Variant of uncertain significance (VUS)](https://onco.cc/terms/vus/)
- people: [Matthew Hurles](https://onco.cc/people/matthew-hurles/), [Michael Stratton](https://onco.cc/people/michael-stratton/)
- bottlenecks: [The undruggable drivers](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-undruggable-targets/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/wellcome-sanger.json