The next wave of genomic innovation

Convergence and coordination across both, technology fields and the public, the private and the charitable sectors will be key to driving the next wave of genomic innovation. This is why, at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the Technology Transfer Office (TTO) together with many of the Sanger scientists is working with a range of industry partners and investors.

Collaboration allows us to innovate faster and find solutions to some of society’s most challenging problems such as tracking and prevention of the spread of infectious diseases and making new cancer medicines.

At Sanger, Dr Matthew Garnett’s lab is trying to understand how the genetic changes that occur in cancer cells, create vulnerabilities, that we can develop medicines to exploit, but because not all cancers are the same, our challenge lies in looking across the diversity of human cancers that exist in cancer patients. Dr Sarah Teichmann’s group is working on a project called the Human Cell Atlas which is mapping every cell in the human body and should reveal new secrets about our bodies throughout our lives and could lead to major healthcare advances.

What do our collaborators say?

“At CIC we have had really positive experiences working with the Sanger and investing in two of their spin-outs so far. The things that are so unique about these companies is that they’re based on ten, even more years of academic research, and so when they’ve been presented to us, they’re already well established, with proof of concept and are able to tackle the problems that few others have the bravery to do. And it’s that bold ambition that makes these companies really exciting, and an attractive investment opportunity for venture capitalists.”

-Dr Michael Anstey, Partner, Cambridge Innovation Capital

 “When you start 10 clinical programs, 9 are going to fail and that’s called attrition. By using genetics information, you are twice more likely to have a successful drug discovery program. So what we want to do is identify drug targets, and we want to do that, with Sanger- a world leading Institute in genetics and genomics.”

-Dr Philippe Sanseau, Head Computational Biology, GSK Senior Fellow, Functional Genomics and GSK lead for Open Targets

The video features:

• Dr Sarah Teichmann, Head of Cellular Genetics and Senior Group Leader, Wellcome Sanger Institute
• Dr Mathew Garnett, Translational Cancer Genomics Group Leader, Wellcome Sanger Institute
• Dr Paul Rhodes, CEO Specific Diagnostics and CEO NextGen Diagnostics
• Dr Michael Anstey, Partner, Cambridge Innovation Capital
• Dr Andrea Howarth, Head of Clinical Services, Congenica
• Dr Philippe Sanseau, Head Computational Biology, GSK Senior Fellow, Functional Genomics and GSK lead for Open Targets
• Dr Adrian Ibrahim, Head of Innovation, Wellcome Sanger Institute