
Dr Ruth Pidsley
Dr Ruth Pidsley is an NHMRC Investigator Fellow, Group Leader of the DNA Methylation Biomarkers group at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and Conjoint Lecturer at St Vincent's Clinical School, UNSW Sydney. She graduated with a degree in Human Sciences from Oxford University, before studying for an MSc/PhD at King's College London, investigating epigenetics in the human brain and neuropsychiatric disorders. In 2013 she transitioned to cancer research, joining Professor Susan Clark’s Epigenetics Research Lab at Garvan, and established her own research group in 2018. The research in Ruth's group focuses primarily on the role of epigenetics in the prostate tumour microenvironment. Their goal is to use this epigenetic information to improve cancer diagnosis and prognosis, so that patients can receive the correct treatment. Since starting her scientific career in 2007, Ruth has published more than 35 papers, she has co-supervised the research projects of MSc and undergraduate students, as well as lecturing on two MSc courses. She has been awarded competitive funding for research projects from CINSW, CCNSW and NHMRC. She has contributed to further improving the research environment through serving on Garvan’s Postdoctoral Development and Engagement Committees and the NSW Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR) Committee. Ruth also engages with patient consumers to guide her research and shares her research outcomes with the general public through public events at Garvan.
Awards
- 2008MRC Studentship for MSc/PhD course at the MRC SGDP Department - King’s College London - UK
- 2012Tadion Rideal Prize for best PhD across the biomedical sciences at King’s College London - UK
- 2013Gottesman-Shields Award for best PhD at the MRC SGDP Department - King’s College London - UK
- 2015Cancer Institute New South Wales Early Career Fellowship
- 2022NHMRC Investigator Fellowship
Selected Publications
See all publications- 2023Nature cancer10.1038/s43018-023-00614-y
A first-in-class pan-lysyl oxidase inhibitor impairs stromal remodeling and enhances gemcitabine response and survival in pancreatic cancer.
- 2021Clinical epigenetics10.1186/s13148-021-01210-6
Identification of DNA methylation biomarkers with potential to predict response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer.
- 2021Bioinformatics (Oxford, England)10.1093/bioinformatics/btaa1060
MethPanel: a parallel pipeline and interactive analysis tool for multiplex bisulphite PCR sequencing to assess DNA methylation biomarker panels for disease detection.
- 2020Cancers10.3390/cancers12102993
Advances in Prognostic Methylation Biomarkers for Prostate Cancer.
- 2020Clinical epigenetics10.1186/s13148-020-00880-y
Comprehensive evaluation of targeted multiplex bisulphite PCR sequencing for validation of DNA methylation biomarker panels.