The Wellcome Genome Campus is part of Wellcome, a global charitable foundation that exists to improve health for everyone by helping great ideas to thrive. Wellcome is a politically and financially independent organisation, supporting scientists and researchers, taking on big problems, fuelling imaginations, and sparking debate.

Wellcome has been the de facto owner of the Wellcome Genome Campus estate since the establishment of what was then called the Sanger Centre, in 1992. Wellcome continues to support the work of the Research Institutes – Wellcome Sanger Institute and EMBL-EBI – and the work of Wellcome Connecting Science and other entities on the Campus.

Wellcome continues to support the work of the Research Institutes – Wellcome Sanger Institute and EMBL-EBI – and the work of Wellcome Connecting Science and other entities on the Campus.

The Wellcome Sanger Institute was responsible for sequencing one third of the human genome, as a partner in the Human Genome Project, which ran from 1990 until 2003. With Wellcome’s backing, the results were kept public, which meant researchers could freely and permanently access the data.

Sir Henry Wellcome’s legacy

Sir Henry Wellcome was a medical entrepreneur, collector, and philanthropist. He believed that science and research expand knowledge by testing and investigating ideas. The governance of Wellcome is still based upon an updated version of his will.

Sir Henry’s legacy is an investment portfolio valued at £38.2 billion in 2021, which enables Wellcome to support science to solve the urgent health issues facing everyone. Wellcome fund curiosity-driven research, and through a refreshed strategy plan to take on three of the health challenges facing society – mental health, infectious disease, and climate and health.  Wellcome spent around £5 billion between 2017-2021 on charitable activities including supporting researchers, campaigning and public engagement. The income from this portfolio supports over 15,000 people in 91 countries. Wellcome aims to spend around £16 billion by 2032 giving researchers the time and resources needed to make breakthroughs.