The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute turns 25 in 2018, and as part of the celebration the Institute and its collaborators are sequencing 25 new genomes. Twenty of the species that will have their DNA decoded have already been selected; the remaining five will be selected by the public.
The Sanger Institute was founded in 1993 by Professor Sir John Sulston as part of the Human Genome Project. Since the completion of the human genome, the Sanger Institute has made many contributions in the field of genomics. Many important reference genomes have already been sequenced, from the mouse and zebrafish genomes to the pig, gorilla, mosquito and many others.
"Twenty five years ago the field of genomics was a budding idea and its implications only dreamed of. Today the reality of genomics and biodata is that it is transforming our understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases, ranging from cancer and heart disease to malaria and infections. The science and technology that is driving this era of discovery is accelerating our understanding of the human body, but also of the world around us,” explained Professor Sir Mike Stratton, director of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
The voting will be part of the “I'm a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here,” program that starts today and runs until December 8, 2017. Scientists and teams from the Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Natural History Museum, and other institutions will champion a species and go head to head to face the public vote. The final five standing will complete the set of species to send to the sequencers.
Read the pitches, get to know the species, and vote now.