Dr Holly Holliday is a Cancer Institute NSW Early Career Fellow in the Brain Tumour Group (PI Prof David Ziegler) at the Children’s Cancer Institute. She is a cell and molecular biologist with expertise in epigenetics, gene regulation, and paediatric cancer. Dr. Holliday completed a Bachelor of Medical Science, majoring in Biochemistry, from the University of Sydney in 2014. She completed her PhD at the Garvan Institute, where she...view more
Dr Holly Holliday is a Cancer Institute NSW Early Career Fellow in the Brain Tumour Group (PI Prof David Ziegler) at the Children’s Cancer Institute. She is a cell and molecular biologist with expertise in epigenetics, gene regulation, and paediatric cancer. Dr. Holliday completed a Bachelor of Medical Science, majoring in Biochemistry, from the University of Sydney in 2014. She completed her PhD at the Garvan Institute, where she investigated transcriptional regulation in mammary gland development. Her early postdoctoral research at the Garvan Institute focused on the role of microRNAs in neuroblastoma. Currently, Dr. Holliday’s research centres on developing epigenetic therapies for highly aggressive, epigenetic-driven paediatric high-grade gliomas. Her work includes targeting the FACT histone chaperone and other epigenetic regulators, such as BET proteins and PAD enzymes. In addition, she investigates tumour-microenvironment interactions using advanced spatial profiling technologies in patient specimens and mouse models.
My Grants
2025 – 2028 Chief Investigator B, Worldwide Cancer Research Grant. GBP£223,610.00. Unlocking The Origin: Deciphering The Critical Role of Neural Progenitor Cells In Pediatric Gliomagenesis
2024 – 2026 Chief Investigator C, Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) – Early to Mid-Career Researchers Grant. AUD$993,500, (2 years). An immuno-epigenomic approach to identify therapeutic opportunities for Paediatric High-Grade Gliomas
2024 – 2026 Chief Investigator C, The Cure Starts Now and DIPG Collaborative Grant. USD$181,736 (2 years). Targeting post-translational protein modification to halt Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma tumorgenicity
2024 – 2024 NSW Health and Medical Research Sponsorship Program Grant for the 2024 Kids Cancer Alliance Symposium "Origins of Childhood Cancer". AUD$5,000
2023 – 2026 Cancer Institute New South Wales Early Career Fellowship, valued at AUD$565,523 (3 years). Developing combination therapies with the FACT inhibitor CBL0137 for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG)
2023 – 2025 Lead CI, Can Too Emerging Leadership Program Project Grant, valued at AUD$200,000 (2 years). Investigating histone citrullination as a novel epigenetic driver in DMG.
2023 – 2024 Lead CI, UNSW Early Career Academic Network (ECAN) Ramaciotti Centre Seed Grant. Valued at AUD$6,000 (1 year). Multifaceted (epi)transcriptome analyses of Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) using direct RNA sequencing
2023 – 2024 Co-lead CI Three Strohm Sisters Family Foundation Research Grant (New York, USA), valued at USD$5000 (1 year). Dissecting the molecular mechanisms of FACT and H2A.Zac inhibition in DIPG
2022 – 2023 Lead CI, Kid’s Cancer Alliance New Project Grant, valued at AUD$50,000 (1 year). Therapeutic targeting of histone chaperone FACT and BET bromodomain proteins in Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG)
My Qualifications
Aug 2014 – Dec 2018 PhD, The Garvan Institute of Medical Research and UNSW Sydney, Australia.
Feb 2010 – Nov 2013 BMedSci, Hons I and University Medal, Major in Biochemistry, USYD.
My Awards
2022 Prize for runner up ECR oral presentation at the Kids Cancer Alliance Cell Therapies Symposium, 2022, Sydney, Australia, valued at $500
2022 Travel grant from the Robert Connor Dawes Foundation, valued at $5,000
2021 Runner up for The Future Impact Award, Children’s Cancer Institute
2020 Prize for oral presentation at the St Vincent's Campus Post-doc Symposium
2019 Prize for best rapid-fire talk at Sydney Catalyst International Translational Cancer Research Symposium
2019 Prize for best rapid-fire talk at Sydney Catalyst Postgraduate and Early Career Researcher Symposium
2018 Poster prize at Australian Translational Breast Cancer Symposium
2017 Poster prize at EMBO Advances in Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Conference, Heidelberg, Germany
2017 Prize for best student talk at ANZSCDB NSW Cells and Development Meeting
2017 Poster prize at Lorne Cancer Conference
2017 Poster prize at Australian Translational Breast Cancer Symposium
2014 – 2018 Australian Postgraduate Award Scholarship, valued at $25,392 p.a. (3.5 years)
2014 – 2018 UNSW Research Excellence Award, valued at $10,000 p.a. (3.5 years)
2013 University of Sydney Medal for placing first in cohort
2013 David J Monk Adams Award for academic excellence in Physiology
2013 Physiology Honours Scholarship
2012 Dean’s List for Academic Excellence (High Distinction Average) and University of Sydney Merit Prize
2011 Dean’s List for Academic Excellence (High Distinction Average) and University of Sydney Merit Prize
2010 – 2013 University of Sydney Access Scholarship, valued at $6,000 p.a. (4 years)
My Research Activities
1. Developing combination therapies with the FACT inhibitor CBL0137 for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG)
2. Investigating histone citrullination as a novel epigenetic driver in DMG
3. Mapping the spatial landscape of paediatric High Grade Glioma's using spatial transcriptomics
4. Exploring the epigenetic and epitranscriptomic mechanisms in DMG
My Research Supervision
Supervision keywords
Areas of supervision
Honours project currently available (potential to develop into a PhD project):
Project 1: Targeting the Epigenome in Diffuse Midline Glioma
Diffuse Midline Gliomas (DMGs) are lethal paediatric brain tumours driven by oncogenic histone mutations, which result in widespread epigenetic and transcriptional dysregulation. This project focuses on evaluating the efficacy and elucidating the mechanisms of novel therapeutic agents that target key regulators of the epigenetic landscape, transcriptional machinery, and RNA splicing processes, with the ultimate goal of identifying effective treatments for this incurable cancer.
Currently supervising
Current students
Co-supervisor of PhD candidate Arjayeeta Samadder. Project: Targeting the post translational modification of citrullination in Diffuse Midline Glioma
Co-supervisor of PhD candidate Grace Lee. Project: Deciphering the role of Neural Progenitor Cells in paediatric High Grade Glioma
Past students
Co-supervisor of Acadia Sivanathan (Honours). Project: Combination therapy with ACT001 and Auranofin in Diffuse Midline Glioma
Co-supervisor of Dr Eva Apostolov (PhD). Project: Cellular genomics analysis in prostate cancer
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3022-0114