We want to introduce you to Prof. Christine Wells, member of Phenomics Australia’s Scientific Director’s team and Head of the Australian Stem Cell Registry.
Meet Christine:
Prof. Christine Wells is the Chair of Stem Cells Systems and former Director of the University of Melbourne Centre for Stem Cell Systems. She is a genome biologist with a focus on the differentiation and activation of mammalian cells and a particular interest in the intersection between innate immunity and stem cell biology in tissue injury and repair.
She is the architect of the Stemformatics collaboration resource that encourages collaboration between stem cell researchers and bioinformaticians, biostatisticians and computational biologists.
Professor Wells graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of New England in 1988. She gained experience in stem cell sciences, genetics and genomics at various positions in Australia and at the UK Medical Research Council, MRC Harwell before undertaking postgraduate studies at The University of Queensland. She gained a Doctor of Philosophy in 2004.
Over the past decade, she has worked at Griffith University, The University of Glasgow and The University of Queensland, developing a program of research in genomics and bioinformatics, and the application of these to better understanding of stem cell biology, tissue injury and repair.
She leads a program of research that encompasses three pillars of impact and output: (1) Method development in data integration and visualisation to create molecular atlases that provide a common reference for stem cell researchers (2) the development and direction of community-focused collaboration platforms to enable the adoption of complex, multidimensional data by clinicians and stem cell biologists, and (3) strategic application to projects that enable gene discovery and characterisation in both stem cell biology and innate immunity.
Her laboratory works to the principle of biological insight through data accessibility and reproducibility and a founding ethos of her laboratory is collaboration.
“ Phenomics Australia facilities create essential resources for the study of gene function. By supporting the establishment of the Australian stem cell registry, they are also supporting stewardship of these resources. By providing mechanisms for researchers to find and share cell lines, and the data generated on those lines, Phenomics Australia is also supporting Australian researchers to make the most of these important resources.“ Prof. Wells said.
Phenomics Australia provides a national centre of expertise and service provision to deploy a more comprehensive and sophisticated range of in vitro Genome Engineering and Disease Modelling capabilities to understand the functional consequences of DNA sequence variation in the human genome for health and disease while maintaining the expertise for in vivo disease modelling and genome engineering. To meet the high demand for adaptable and scalable disease-modelling platforms for improved diagnosis, Precision Medicine for genetic disorders, and therapeutic development by both academia and the biopharmaceutical industry, Phenomics Australia offers In Vitro services through a collaborative consortium of ten laboratories and facilities across Australia, operating at ANU (ANU Centre for Therapeutic Discovery), Perkins (Translational Cancer Research Program in Oncology), Monash (Monash Organoid Program & Monash Genome Modification Platform), MCRI (iPSC derivation & Gene Editing Facility), Peter Mac (Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics), UMelb (Centre for Stem Cell Systems & Stem Cell Disease Modelling Laboratory), UQ (In vitro Genome Engineering and Disease Modelling Service), and VCCRI (Stem Cell Production Facility iPSC Reprogramming Service)
