Topic description and stories

Cambridge has played a central role in the story of genomics: from uncovering the structure of DNA through to inventing a super-fast way of reading the genetic code. Today, researchers are using genomic information to make more accurate diagnoses, enable personalised medicine, tackle threats like COVID-19, and even reconstruct the ancient history of humans.

Professor Sharon Peacock

Q&A with Sharon Peacock, coronavirus variant hunter

22 Feb 2021

The UK is a world leader in sequencing SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Of all the coronavirus genomes that have been sequenced in the...

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Asymptomatic screening and genome sequencing help Cambridge understand spread of SARS-CoV-2 among its students

11 Jan 2021

Since the start of the academic year in October 2020, the University of Cambridge has been offering regular SARS-CoV-2 tests to all students living...

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Transmission electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, isolated from a patient

Cambridge-led SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance consortium receives £12.2 million

16 Nov 2020

The COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium has been backed by the Department for Health and Social Care Testing Innovation Fund to expand whole...

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Drug-resistant hospital bacteria persist even after deep cleaning, genomic study reveals

26 Oct 2020

Scientists have used genome sequencing to reveal the extent to which a drug-resistant gastrointestinal bacterium can spread within a hospital...

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“We’re in it for the long haul”

21 Oct 2020

In late 2019, a new institute opened on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. Its timing could not have been better - as the COVID-19 pandemic sent...

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A mass grave of around 50 headless Vikings from a site in Dorset, UK. Some of these remains were used for DNA analysis.

World’s largest-ever DNA sequencing of Viking skeletons reveals they weren’t all Scandinavian

16 Sep 2020

Invaders, pirates, warriors – the history books taught us that Vikings were brutal predators who travelled by sea from Scandinavia to pillage and...

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G-quadruplex

Four-stranded DNA structures found to play role in breast cancer

03 Aug 2020

Four-stranded DNA structures – known as G-quadruplexes – have been shown to play a role in certain types of breast cancer for the first time...

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DNA Double Helix

Genomes front and centre of rare disease diagnosis

24 Jun 2020

Cambridge-led study discovers new genetic causes of rare diseases, potentially leading to improved diagnosis and better patient care.

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Human Colon Cancer Cells

Blood test to monitor cancer up to ten times more sensitive than current methods

17 Jun 2020

A new method of analysing cancer patients’ blood for evidence of the disease could be up to ten times more sensitive than previous methods according...

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Close-up of virus molecule

Identification of viruses and bacteria could be sped up through computational methods

30 Mar 2020

A new multinational study has shown how the process of distinguishing viruses and bacteria could be accelerated through the use of computational...

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Cambridge to spearhead £20million alliance to map spread of COVID-19 coronavirus

23 Mar 2020

The University of Cambridge is to take a leading role in a major national effort to help understand and control the new coronavirus infection (COVID-...

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DNA

Detailed genetic study provides most comprehensive map of risk to date of breast cancer risk

07 Jan 2020

A major international study of the genetics of breast cancer has identified more than 350 DNA ‘errors’ that increase an individual’s risk of...

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