Christine Blancher

Array Service Manager

Christine completed a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Paris V University (CNRS) on isolation and characterization of a novel cDNA expressed during the neuroretina development. She was trained in cancer biology for 4 years as a post-doctoral fellow in the Cancer Research UK unit of Prof. A.L. Harris at the WIMM in Oxford. Her project focused on the role of the hypoxic response pathway in tumour biology. She returned to Paris for a year as a post-doctoral fellow in the INSERM Unit of Prof. Y. Courtois where she worked on cell cycle arrest during neuroretina development and then went to work as a Senior Research Officer in the Breast and Ovarian Cancer Genetics unit of Pr I. G. Campbell at the Peter McCallum Cancer Institute in Melbourne.

She came back to Oxford to work in the Diabetes Genetics group of Dr D. Gauguier at the WTCHG where she gained experience in gene expression and microarray technologies. She joined the Core Genomics group at the WTCHG in 2006 as a senior R&D Scientist optimising chromatin IP on chip using Affymetrix array and characterizing mRNA targets by real time PCR for hypoxia regulated miRNAs in Human breast cancer cells. Since 2010, Christine is managing the High Throughput Genomics array service for the Oxford Genomic Centre, using her expertise in Genotyping, Cytogenetics, Epigenetics and Gene Expression to establish and maintain business relationships with worldwide scientists using the service, and guiding users through experimental design and use of the appropriate technology.