Dr Holly Holliday
Biography
My background is in gene regulation controlling cell fate in development and cancer. In 2013 I graduated with a Bachelor of Medical Science (Hons class I and the university medal), majoring in Biochemistry from the University of Sydney. During this time, I developed a strong interest in cell and molecular biology.
I then undertook a PhD under the supervision of A/Prof Alex Swarbrick at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. My thesis was focused on transcriptional regulation of stem cell maintenance and differentiation within the mammary gland by the helix-loop-helix transcription factor ID4.
I am now researching microRNA-based therapeutics for the treatment of neuroblastoma. We have performed a high-throughput screen that identified several miRNAs which could sensitise neuroblastoma cells to chemotherapy. I am now characterising the function and activity of these candidate miRNAs in cell line and animal models of neuroblastoma.
In addition, I am also working on applying new spatial transcriptomics techniques to study tumour heterogeneity and the tumour microenvironment in the context of breast cancer and melanoma.
Technical expertise and tools
- Cell culture: primary and established cell lines, 3D organoid culture
- Molecular cloning techniques: Restriction enzyme digest, ligation, gel electrophoresis, PCR, transformation, plasmid preps
- Transfections: transient/stable, siRNA/miRNA/DNA vectors
- Western blotting
- Immunoprecipitation (IP)
- Proximity Ligation Assay (PLA)
- Rapid Immunoprecipitation Mass Spectrometry of Endogenous Proteins (RIME)
- Chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequencing (ChIP-seq)
- RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq)
- Spatial Transcriptomics (10x Visium)
- Basic bioinformatics analyses: Differential expression analysis, IGV, Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA)
- Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR)
- Immunocytochemistry (ICC), Immunofluorescence (IF) and Immunohistochemistry (IHC)
- Microscopy: Fluorescence, confocal, power mosaic
- Image analysis: QuPath, FIJI
- Flow cytometry and fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS)
- Luciferase-based reporter assays
- Proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation and colony formation assays
My background is in gene regulation controlling cell fate in development and cancer. In 2013 I graduated with a Bachelor of Medical Science (Hons class I and the university medal), majoring in Biochemistry from the University of Sydney. During this time, I developed a strong interest in cell and molecular biology.
I then undertook a PhD under the supervision of A/Prof Alex Swarbrick at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. My thesis was focused on transcriptional regulation of stem cell maintenance and differentiation within the mammary gland by the helix-loop-helix transcription factor ID4.
I am now researching microRNA-based therapeutics for the treatment of neuroblastoma. We have performed a high-throughput screen that identified several miRNAs which could sensitise neuroblastoma cells to chemotherapy. I am now characterising the function and activity of these candidate miRNAs in cell line and animal models of neuroblastoma.
In addition, I am also working on applying new spatial transcriptomics techniques to study tumour heterogeneity and the tumour microenvironment in the context of breast cancer and melanoma.
Technical expertise and tools
- Cell culture: primary and established cell lines, 3D organoid culture
- Molecular cloning techniques: Restriction enzyme digest, ligation, gel electrophoresis, PCR, transformation, plasmid preps
- Transfections: transient/stable, siRNA/miRNA/DNA vectors
- Western blotting
- Immunoprecipitation (IP)
- Proximity Ligation Assay (PLA)
- Rapid Immunoprecipitation Mass Spectrometry of Endogenous Proteins (RIME)
- Chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequencing (ChIP-seq)
- RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq)
- Spatial Transcriptomics (10x Visium)
- Basic bioinformatics analyses: Differential expression analysis, IGV, Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA)
- Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR)
- Immunocytochemistry (ICC), Immunofluorescence (IF) and Immunohistochemistry (IHC)
- Microscopy: Fluorescence, confocal, power mosaic
- Image analysis: QuPath, FIJI
- Flow cytometry and fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS)
- Luciferase-based reporter assays
- Proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation and colony formation assays