EP 149: Sequencing 33 million samples to support the UK’s COVID-19 response with Tony Cox, CEO of UK Biocentre

In this episode, we’re joined by Tony Cox, CEO of UK Biocentre. After spending more than 20 years at The Wellcome Sanger Institute, where he worked on the Human Genome Project, Tony moved to UK Biocentre in January 2020 – just before the world was turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization pivoted to play a key role in the UK’s response effort, and under Tony’s leadership the center sequenced 33 million DNA samples in just two years. Patrick and Tony discussed receiving a phone call from the UK government, scaling from sequencing 1,000 to 100,000 samples per day, and how to manage producing five tonnes of cardboard waste on a daily basis.