Ensembl VEP analyses your variant alleles in detail using a flexible choice of options, but it can also create simple summary tables and graphics describing your full variant set.
Continue readingCool stuff the Ensembl VEP can do: analysis with RefSeq transcripts

By default, VEP uses the Ensembl/GENCODE transcript set when analysing your variants, but you can also choose to use NCBI’s RefSeq transcripts.
Continue readingEnsembl Rapid Release
We are excited to announce the launch of the Ensembl Rapid Release website. Ensembl Rapid Release is a new, lightweight genome browser designed to allow quick release of the latest genome annotation for a large number of vertebrate and non-vertebrate species.
Continue readingWhat’s coming up in Ensembl 101 / Ensembl Genomes 48?
Ensembl 101 (and Ensembl Genomes 48) are due out in mid-August 2020. As with all releases, we cannot guarantee that anything listed here will make it into the final release.
Continue readingPre 2017 archive websites unavailable next week
Some of our archive websites will be unavailable on Wed 24th June 2020 for further necessary maintenance. The work will commence at 0900 UTC and is expected to last for a few hours. The sites that will be affected are the December 2016 site (Ensembl 87) and earlier. All later archives and other Ensembl resources will not be impacted. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Ensembl under lockdown – Part 4
Whilst the UK has started to lift some of the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, Ensembl staff are still working from home. We are fortunate that we can continue to do this and that there are flexible working arrangements in place to support us.
Continue readingEnsembl under lockdown – Part 3
The start of the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the changes it brought has affected all of us in different ways. In this blog, we hear from Michal and Beth.
Continue readingNormalising variants to standardise Ensembl VEP output
Variants can be represented in myriad different ways; indeed, Ensembl VEP currently supports input in many different formats, including VCF, HGVS and SPDI. However, even within these specifications, variants can be described ambiguously. Insertions and deletions within repeated regions can be described at multiple different locations. For example, VCF describes variants using their most 5’ representation, while HGVS format describes a variant at its most 3’ location.
Starting in Ensembl 100, VEP optionally normalises variants within repeated regions by shifting them as far as possible in the 3’ direction before consequence calculation. This standardises VEP output for equivalent variant alleles which are described using different conventions.
Ensembl under lockdown – Part 2
It’s now ten weeks since we have started working remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The novelty of the situation is gone and we got accustomed to the ‘new normal’.
Continue readingEnsembl launches COVID-19 resource

Today, Ensembl has joined the international scientific effort to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which has spread rapidly since emerging in late 2019. Our SARS-CoV-2 genome browser and related resources at covid-19.ensembl.org are intended to support both basic research and ongoing work to develop treatments, diagnostics and vaccines.
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