Associate Professor Clare Stirzaker

Associate Professor Clare Stirzaker completed her Bachelor of Science majoring in Biochemistry and Microbiology, and her Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours in Molecular Biology, at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, before completing her PhD at Macquarie University, Sydney, graduating in 1990.

Clare became fascinated by the field of epigenetics and joined the group of Professor Susan Clark as a post-doc at the Kanematsu Laboratories, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, in Sydney and later, at the Sydney Cancer Centre at Sydney University. The group moved to the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in 2004, where an Epigenetics Group was established within the Cancer Program. Clare has since established her own group, which focuses on understanding ‘Epigenetic Deregulation in Cancer’.

Clare has played a major role in delivery of many of the milestones in epigenetic research. She has made highly significant contributions to the field of DNA methylation and in understanding the mechanisms underpinning epigenetic deregulation in cancer. Clare has also played an integral role in developing new epigenetic technologies that have underpinned many of the seminal findings of the group. Her expertise is focussed on ChIP-Seq, whole-genome bisulphite sequencing, Illumina EPIC methylation arrays, RNA-Seq, and multiplex bisulphite amplicon sequencing. Clare has a keen interest in translating her DNA methylation discoveries in breast cancer into biomarkers of clinical utility for improved clinical outcomes.

Clare has been involved in a number of collaborative projects which include an NBCF project grant ‘Enabling Clinical Epigenetic Diagnostics: The Next Generation of Personalised Breast Cancer Care’ and an NBCF IIRS grant ‘Novel Epigenetic Biomarker panel to stratify Triple Negative Breast Cancer’.