Caroline Wright
British biochemist
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Caroline Fiona Wright is a British biological chemist who is Professor of Genomic Medicine at the University of Exeter. Her research is focused on how to use genome-wide sequencing technology for the diagnosis of rare diseases. She was elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2025.
Wellcome Sanger Institute
Caroline Fiona Wright | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Exeter Wellcome Sanger Institute |
| Thesis | Folding and aggregation of an immunoglobulin domain (2004) |
Early life and education
Wright studied natural sciences at the University of Cambridge, where she focussed on biological chemistry.[1] She matriculated in 1997.[2] Her doctoral research investigated the aggregation of immunoglobulin domains.[3]
Research and career
Wright joined The PHG (Population Health Genomics) Foundation in 2007, a think tank in Cambridge that looks to understand how emerging technologies (including genomics) can provide more effective healthcare and improve patient's lives.[citation needed]
Wright joined the Wellcome Sanger Institute in 2011.[4] At Sanger she managed the Deciphering Developmental Disorders project,[5] a translational research study that makes use of exome sequencing to understand undiagnosed developmental disorders.[6] Genome sequencing, which is now offered on the National Health Service, can improve the quality of life of children with development disorders.[7][8] She was briefly seconded part-time to Genomics England where she was scientific lead for the 100,000 Genomes Project. In particular, Wright led on variant discovery and clinical interpretation.[9]
Wright joined the University of Exeter in 2017, where she was made a Personal Chair in Genomic Medicine in 2020. She has worked on using genome sequencing techniques to diagnose rare diseases, and understanding penetrance in populations.[10] She looks to understand rare disease-causing variants in genes, applied in both diagnostic and screening contexts.
In 2025, Wright was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.[11][12]
Selected publications
- Sebastian Köhler; Sandra C Doelken; Christopher J. Mungall; et al. (January 2014). "The Human Phenotype Ontology project: linking molecular biology and disease through phenotype data". Nucleic Acids Research. 42 (Database issue): D966-74. doi:10.1093/NAR/GKT1026. ISSN 0305-1048. PMC 3965098. PMID 24217912. Wikidata Q27927005.
- Caroline F Wright; Tomas W Fitzgerald; Wendy D Jones; et al. (17 December 2014). "Genetic diagnosis of developmental disorders in the DDD study: a scalable analysis of genome-wide research data". The Lancet. 385 (9975): 1305–1314. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61705-0. ISSN 0140-6736. PMC 4392068. PMID 25529582. Wikidata Q30881351.
- Caroline F Wright; David R FitzPatrick; Helen V Firth (19 February 2018). "Paediatric genomics: diagnosing rare disease in children". Nature Reviews Genetics. doi:10.1038/NRG.2018.12. ISSN 1471-0056. PMID 29456250. Wikidata Q49886189.