Dr Jeffrey Barrett to lead Centre for Therapeutic Target Validation
Dr Jeffrey Barrett has been appointed as the founding Director of the Centre for Therapeutic Target Validation (CTTV), a public-private partnership between GSK, the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute on the Wellcome Genome Campus in the UK.
Dr Barrett, a member of Faculty at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, has been involved in the CTTV since its inception in 2014 and will begin his new role on 1 May 2015.
“The CTTV brings a fresh approach to drug discovery, and is a transformative initiative on the Wellcome Genome Campus. Jeff has been delivering cutting-edge science at the Sanger Institute for the past seven years, leading international genetics projects across a wide range of human diseases. I am confident that, as founding Director of the CTTV, he will lead and focus the best minds to redefine our collective approach to finding new medicines.”
Professor Mike Stratton Director of the Sanger Institute
The CTTV, launched in March last year, aims to harness the power of big data and genome sequencing to improve the success rate for discovering new medicines for a wide range of human diseases including cancer, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and respiratory disease. It is hoped that the collaborative initiative, which is committed to sharing its data openly with the scientific community, will speed drug development and help to reduce research and development costs.
“We’ve made amazing progress in the past ten years towards understanding the relationship between genetic variation and disease risk. The CTTV offers an unprecedented opportunity to apply that knowledge to a long-standing problem in drug discovery: how can we narrow the search for new therapeutic targets from the whole genome to the most promising individual genes?
“We are applying methods and technologies available on the Wellcome Genome Campus to help pharmaceutical researchers focus their detailed studies of biological mechanisms and improve their methods for designing effective medicines. The CTTV blends the pharmaceutical industry’s sense of urgency and motion, an academic style that gives questions the time and patience they need, and public data services to integrate many layers of knowledge. Open Data underpins everything, so that what we produce can ultimately benefit everyone.”
Dr Jeffrey Barrett Founding Director of the Centre for Therapeutic Target Validation (CTTV) and faculty member of the Sanger Institute
Dr Barrett will continue to lead the Medical Genomics group at the Sanger Institute, which analyses genomic variation in thousands of individuals to identify genetic risk factors for disease. Originally trained in physics, Dr Barrett was inspired to move into computational biology in Dr Mark Daly’s lab at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he developed the Haploview analysis software and joined the HapMap project.
After obtaining his D. Phil. in Statistics from University of Oxford, Dr Barrett helped design the first generation of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and became a lead analyst for the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. He continued his work on GWAS in the Todd group at the University of Cambridge until 2008, when he joined the Sanger Institute as a team leader in medical genomics.
Dr Barrett led the development of the Immunochip genotyping array and plays an important role in UK10K, the Deciphering Developmental Disorders study, the Autism Sequencing Consortium and the 1000 Genomes Project. He is also co-chair of the International IBD Genetics Consortium.
“I am delighted that Jeff will now be leading the CTTV, bringing outstanding expertise in human genetics and big data to this important initiative. It has been a really exciting year for me, and Jeff, who has been involved in genome-wide association studies from the beginning, is exactly the right person to take the project where it needs to go.”
Dr Ewan Birney Interim Head of the CTTV and Associate Director at EMBL-EBI
“The CTTV is a proving ground for a new approach to pharmaceutical R&D, and is fundamentally about resolving a scientific problem in drug discovery. I believe that Jeff’s unique experience in performing outstanding research in bioinformatics and statistical genetics makes him the right person to bring it all together.”
Professor Dame Janet Thornton Director of EMBL-EBI
“The work underway at the CTTV should allow us to systematically harness key advances in the understanding of human biology and has the potential to make a profound impact on how we select targets for new medicines. Jeff brings to this key role scientific vision and profound expertise in human genetics and bioinformatics. His scientific skills, vision and leadership are what we need to continue to advance the work we do within the centre.”
Professor Patrick Vallance President of Pharmaceuticals Research and Development at GSK
More information
Selected websites
The Centre for Therapeutic Target Validation
The Centre for Therapeutic Target Validation (CTTV) will provide evidence on the biological validity of therapeutic targets and provide an initial assessment of the likely effectiveness of pharmacological intervention on these targets, using genome-scale experiments and analysis. The CTTV aims to provide an R&D framework that applies to all aspects of human disease, and to share its data openly with the scientific community. It is a shared initiative between GSK, is a leading, global pharmaceutical company that has developed some of the most successful drugs of the past three decades; the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), a global leader in the management, integration and analysis of public domain life science data; and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, a world-leading genomics institution with expertise in human genetics, cancer and infectious disease.
The European Bioinformatics Institute
The European Bioinformatics Institute is part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Europe’s flagship laboratory for the life sciences (www.embl.org). EMBL-EBI provides freely available data from life science experiments covering the full spectrum of molecular biology, and performs investigator-led research using computational approaches to unravel the secrets of life. Our extensive training programme helps researchers in academia and industry to make the most of the incredible amount of data being produced every day in life science experiments. We are a non-profit, intergovernmental organisation funded by EMBL member states. Our 500 staff hail from 43 countries, and we welcome a regular stream of visiting scientists throughout the year.
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is one of the world’s leading genome centres. Through its ability to conduct research at scale, it is able to engage in bold and long-term exploratory projects that are designed to influence and empower medical science globally. Institute research findings, generated through its own research programmes and through its leading role in international consortia, are being used to develop new diagnostics and treatments for human disease.
The Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. We support the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities. Our breadth of support includes public engagement, education and the application of research to improve health. We are independent of both political and commercial interests.
