Cocktail parties and cancer genomes: Separating out the mutational processes behind cancer development

Cancer genomes contain an archaeological record of the genetic events that have led to their formation. Ludmil Alexandrov talks about his new technique that is beginning to reveal this archaeological record and unravel the processes responsible for those events. Continue reading »

Tackling the looming epidemic of non-infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as obesity, heart disease and cancer are a substantial and rapidly growing problem in sub-Saharan Africa and are projected to overtake infectious disease as the most common cause of death in Africa in the next 20 years. Georgina Murphy speaks about her experiences collecting data on these non-infectious diseases in rural Uganda and the challenges they faced on this mammoth journey. Continue reading »

New frontiers for Chlamydia sequencing

1 May 2013: Using attractive magnetic beads to capture Chlamydia from clinical samples is a rapid and effective way to harvest this bacteria (and it’s DNA) for sensitive diagnosis and tracking Continue reading »

A brief history since 1953: 60 years after Crick and Watson’s discovery

25 April 2013: In a break from our traditional blog style, we celebrate the 60th anniversary of Crick and Watson’s discovery of the structure of DNA by taking a light-hearted look at some of major scientific breakthroughs over the past six decades. Continue reading »

Does science need to be entertaining for mass-market entertainments?

23 April 2013: ‘How much ‘creative licence’ should scientists allow creatives?’ asks Darren Logan, a Faculty member of the Sanger Institute. In his blog he explains how mentoring a genetics-based computer game completely changed his mind Continue reading »

Unravelling the spread of a cystic fibrosis pathogen

4 April 2013: Mycobacterium abscessus infection is on the rise in CF patients. Josie Bryant talks about her research tracking the transmission of this bacterium in patients which has led to changes in infection control procedures in Papworth Hospital. Continue reading »

Is arthritis due to DNA’s dark matter?

27 March 2013: Steven Witte explains how his fascination with the cause of autoimmune diseases such as arthritis has brought him to the Sanger Institute to study the effects of non-coding DNA [Image credit: ESA/Hubble] Continue reading »

No more free rides for tapeworms?

13 March 2013: Tapeworm’s leave all the hard work to their hosts. But their laziness could be their undoing. Genome sequencing has revealed that the parasites’ genetic simplicity makes them extremely reliant on certain genes and processes to live, and these ‘weak spots’ may be vulnerable to existing drugs Continue reading »

Mouse jumping genes don’t always land where they should

27 Feb 2013: piggyBac is a jumping gene that normally leaps from TTAA sequence to TTAA sequence. But, sometimes, it lands in unexpected places, causing point mutations. Zemin Ning explains how the Sanger Institute used next-generation sequencing and a lot of computing power to chase the gene around the mouse genome to understand how it works Continue reading »