Tree of Life pipeline suite

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  We tackle some of the most difficult challenges in genomic research. This demands science at scale; a visionary and creative approach to research that pushes the boundaries of our understanding in ever new and exciting ways.
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    Join our community of world class thinkers and professionals at the Sanger Institute located in Cambridge. Together we achieve life-changing science.
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  About Us
  We tackle some of the most difficult challenges in genomic research. This demands science at scale; a visionary and creative approach to research that pushes the boundaries of our understanding in ever new and exciting ways.
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  - Our Vision
    By focusing on fundamental discovery research led by our faculty and employing our unique scale in cutting-edge data generation and analysis, we deliver discoveries not easily made elsewhere.
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  About Us
  We tackle some of the most difficult challenges in genomic research. This demands science at scale; a visionary and creative approach to research that pushes the boundaries of our understanding in ever new and exciting ways.
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  About Us
  We tackle some of the most difficult challenges in genomic research. This demands science at scale; a visionary and creative approach to research that pushes the boundaries of our understanding in ever new and exciting ways.
  Read more
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  We tackle some of the most difficult challenges in genomic research. This demands science at scale; a visionary and creative approach to research that pushes the boundaries of our understanding in ever new and exciting ways.
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  We are sited on the Wellcome Genome Campus at the very heart of a global hub of fundamental and applied genomic research, education and engagement. It is home to some of the world’s foremost institutes and organisations using genomes and biodata to deliver science with the reach, scale and imagination to solve some of humanity’s greatest challenges and maximise societal benefit.
  About Us
  We tackle some of the most difficult challenges in genomic research. This demands science at scale; a visionary and creative approach to research that pushes the boundaries of our understanding in ever new and exciting ways.
  Read more
About
We tackle some of the most difficult challenges in genomic research. This demands science at scale; a visionary and creative approach to research that pushes the boundaries of our understanding in ever new and exciting ways.
About Us
We tackle some of the most difficult challenges in genomic research. This demands science at scale; a visionary and creative approach to research that pushes the boundaries of our understanding in ever new and exciting ways.
Read more
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  Browse our genomic and genetic data resources and repositories.
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  Our science is organised into six Scientific Programmes, each defining a major area of research with a particular biological, disease, analytic or generative focus.
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  We freely and openly provide the global research community with a wide range of genomics software, protocols, and platforms.
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  Our science is organised into six Scientific Programmes, each defining a major area of research with a particular biological, disease, analytic or generative focus.
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  Our science is organised into six Scientific Programmes, each defining a major area of research with a particular biological, disease, analytic or generative focus.
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  Our science is organised into six Scientific Programmes, each defining a major area of research with a particular biological, disease, analytic or generative focus.
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    The Sanger Institute played a major role in the genomic surveillance of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing large-scale high-throughput sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and analysis of its evolution and spread in the UK.
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    Throughout the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020-2021 we hosted a series of monthly freely available and open virtual seminars. From using genomic approaches to map all cell types in the human body, understand how cancer develops, and track the evolution and spread of global diseases, our senior scientists and faculty presented the latest developments in their field.
Science
Our science is organised into six Scientific Programmes, each defining a major area of research with a particular biological, disease or analytic focus. In all cases, the studies provide insights into human, pathogen, cellular evolution, the phenotypic and hence biological consequences of genome variation and the processes which cause mutations.
Science & technology
Our science is organised into six Scientific Programmes, each defining a major area of research with a particular biological, disease, analytic or generative focus.
Read more
People
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    Our Associate Faculty combine their skills and knowledge with the Sanger Institute’s unique abilities to conduct data generation and analysis at scale to pioneer genomic research in new areas.
  - International Fellows
    Our International Fellows Programme empowers early-career researchers with resources, mentorship, and funding to advance genomic research globally.
  - Honorary Faculty
    Our Honorary Faculty contribute to our research by providing insights and knowledge and collaborating on important research projects.
- All Sanger Staff
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  Almost 1,000 scientists, developers, engineers and skilled professionals work together to deliver the Sanger Institute’s cutting-edge genomic research.
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  Our science is founded on the talents, imagination and curiosity of our people. Our wet-lab scientists, bioinformaticians, developers, engineers and skilled administrators work together to deliver cutting-edge research. Join us
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People
Almost 1,000 scientists, developers, engineers and skilled professionals work together to deliver the Sanger Institute’s cutting-edge genomic research.
Join us
Our science is founded on the talents, imagination and curiosity of our people. Our wet-lab scientists, bioinformaticians, developers, engineers and skilled administrators work together to deliver cutting-edge research. Join us
Read more
Innovation
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  We deliver therapeutic, diagnostic and production benefits in areas as diverse as cancer, immunology, public health and personalised treatment.
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  Read how we benefit society by buiding on the innovative capabilities of our people by engaging with businesses and creating commercial opportunities. We also develop a unique and vibrant ecosystem to establish and grow innovative genomics and biodata businesses.
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  We apply our science to benefit society by empowering innovators and engaging with businesses and investors - driven by Sanger Genomics Innovation
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Innovation
We deliver therapeutic, diagnostic and production benefits in areas as diverse as cancer, immunology, public health and personalised treatment.
Sanger Innovation
We apply our science to benefit society by empowering innovators and engaging with businesses and investors - driven by Sanger Genomics Innovation
Read more
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  News and stories Announcements, articles and blogs from the cutting edge of genomic research.
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Latest News

10 Mar 2025

'Rescue' mutations protect liver from damage in patients with genetic disorder
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10 Mar 2025

Cellular changes as lung damage worsens in COVID-19 revealed
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6 Mar 2025

Sequencing decades-long population data unlocks health insights
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News and Blogs
News and stories Announcements, articles and blogs from the cutting edge of genomic research.
Read more

Sequence data processing

Tree of Life pipeline suite

Workflows and tools to investigate the genomic diversity of complex organisms.

Quick reference links

The Tree of Life programme has developed an extensive suite of pipelines that are used in production to assemble reference genomes for projects such as Darwin Tree of Life, and to pre-analyse those genomes to speed-up research.

The workflows are designed with three aims in mind

Biodiversity projects

Provide an end-to-end suite of pipelines, from genome assembly to genome analysis.

Bioinformaticians and researchers

We write portable, documented and easy to use workflows. Pipelines that just work !

Pipeline developers

The pipelines are modular, reusable & configurable pipelines that follow the nf-core model.

Further information

License and Citation

MIT license

Sanger Institute Contributors

Photo of Will Eagles

Will Eagles

Senior Bioinformatician

Photo of Ksenia Krasheninnikova

Ksenia Krasheninnikova

Senior Bioinformatician

Photo of Dr Matthieu Muffato

Dr Matthieu Muffato

Informatics Infrastructure Team Lead

Photo of Damon-Lee Pointon

Damon-Lee Pointon

Bioinformatician

Photo of Dr Priyanka Surana

Dr Priyanka Surana

BioDev Network Lead

Previous contributors

Photo of Dr Ying Yan

Dr Ying Yan

Former Senior Bioinformatician at the Sanger Institute

Related groups

Science group

Tree of Life Assembly

Genome Engine

The Assembly team implements the pipelines used to generate reference genome assemblies.

Science group

Tree of Life Informatics Infrastructure

Tree of Life Programme

The Informatics Infrastructure team defines the framework and the implementation guidelines, and develops the analysis pipelines.

External partners and funders

External

Nextflow

Our pipelines are implemented using the Nextflow workflow manager and leverage its latest features (modularity - DSL2 - and containeration).

External

nf-core community

Our pipeline suite relies extensively on tooling and code written by the nf-core community. We contribute back to the community as many modules as we can.

Wellcome Sanger Institute

Programmes and Facilities

Programme

Tree of Life

Investigates the diversity of complex organisms through sequencing and cellular technologies. We generate and use high-quality genome sequences to explore the ...

Related

Collaboration

Darwin Tree of Life Project

The objectives (size and throughput) of the Darwin Tree of Life project have been the determining factor in defining the pipeline ...