The low oxygen levels experienced by the developing human embryo promote lung development
…October 14, 2025
Read more
Credit: Hyeryun Kwon
Our research
Within our remit to study development and disease, groups at the Institute work on a diverse range of research areas. We also use several different model organisms and apply up-to-the-minute techniques in genetics, gene editing, organoids, imaging and computational analysis.
Credit: Giada Vanacore
Our research areas
Find out about our range of research areas and which group leaders work in each area.
Our impact
Our scientists publish 80+ papers each year in the top journals, many of which become highly cited as seminal findings in their field.
Our focus is fundamental biology, yet more than a dozen start-up companies have emerged from research at the Institute. Several new therapies are now being tested in clinical trials, including for myeloid leukemia.
The cancer drug Olaparib resulted from former Gurdon Group Leader Steve Jackson’s research on DNA damage repair and is now licensed for use around the world, prolonging the lives of people with ovarian, breast and prostate cancer.
Scientific facilities
We boast many facilities available to our researchers, along with expert core staff to support learning and use of equipment, especially for imaging. We also offer next-generation sequencing on site, a core bioinformatics service and a high-performance compute cluster.
