Dr Jeffrey Barrett is a COG-UK Principal Investigator at the Wellcome Sanger Institute where he is leading their COVID-19 genomic surveillance programme, and its contribution to COG-UK. The programme sequences and analyses samples from positive community (pillar 2) tests around the UK to help detect outbreaks and monitor for mutations that might affect vaccine efficacy. Prior to that he studied the genetic basis of human diseases in both industry and academia. Most recently Professor Barrett was Chief Scientific Officer at Genomics plc, and before that Director of Open Targets, a public-private initiative to use human genetics to improve early stage drug discovery. He was a group leader at the Sanger Institute for ten years, where he focused on the genetics of inflammatory and immune diseases. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
