Helen is a molecular biologist by training with over 25 years of experience in human genetics. She completed her PhD on the Molecular Genetics of Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome at the University of Cambridge in 1996. After a period working for a genomics start-up company, she joined the Cancer Genome Project based at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in 2000. During her 18 years at the Sanger Institute, Helen’s research involved the identification of novel cancer genes including BRAF and UTX and the cataloguing of driver mutations and genome wide genetic changes in a number of tumour types, most notably breast cancer.
Helen began working with Serena Nik-Zainal whilst at the Sanger Institute, working together on the ICGC breast cancer project. She went on to join Serena’s team at the University of Cambridge in 2018.
Working closely with the bioinformaticians in the team, Helen specialises in the biological interpretation of cancer whole genome sequencing data and the investigation of the clinical utility of mutational signatures.
Prof. Serena Nik-Zainal
Early Cancer Institute
University of Cambridge
Hutchison Research Centre
Box 197
Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Cambridge
United Kingdom
CB2 0XZ