COSMIC (Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer) was set up in the Cancer Programme at the Wellcome Sanger Institute by Professor Sir Mike Stratton and Professor Andy Futreal and their team. Over the course of 20 years, it has become an integral part of the cancer research ecosystem. At the time, cancer data was embedded in the scientific literature, and it could take months for researchers to extract that information in meaningful ways. As the volume of genomic sequencing increased, navigating the vast extent of data would only become more challenging. It was with this in mind the COSMIC database was established, to create and capture that data and then add further layers of knowledge and actionable cancer insights in a standardised format.
On World Cancer Day 2004, COSMIC (Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer) was launched containing four gene transcripts (BRAF, KRAS, NRAS and HRAS), 67,000 samples and 10,000 coding mutations. Over time, our team of dedicated post-doctoral level Scientific Curators would help COSMIC adapt into an expansive, diverse range of datasets and tools reflective of the ever-changing landscape of genetic cancer research. In tandem, the COSMIC team evolved, gaining expertise in a range of disciplines allowing for meticulous data interpretation packaged in accessible and standardised formats. This growth was behind the development of CGC Hallmarks annotations in 2017, COSMIC 3D in 2018, the Cancer Mutation Census in 2020 and Actionability in 2021.
COSMIC is part of the Wellcome Sanger Institute and provides its data free for academic research. In 2021 COSMIC began a partnership with QIAGEN to distribute its licence to commercial users, the deriving funds from this allow us to maintain and further develop the Knowledgebase. We do this to ensure our data will be available to support and advance the scientific, pharmaceutical, biotech and health sectors for years to come.
The COSMIC database and team continues to innovate and advance today, motivated by our mission: Uniting academic, industry and clinical data to enable the fight against cancer.
