Rate My Professor Christine Wells

Professor Christine Wells is Professor of Stem Cell Systems in the Department of Anatomy and Physiology, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne. She earned a PhD from the University of Queensland and a Bachelor's Degree with Honours from the University of New England. Her career trajectory includes early experience in stem cell sciences, genetics, and genomics at the UK Medical Research Council Harwell, followed by positions at Griffith University as a junior lecturer after her PhD, the University of Glasgow, and the University of Queensland. At the University of Melbourne, she has served as Founding Director of the Centre for Stem Cell Systems, former Chair of Stem Cell Systems, Deputy Program Leader at Stem Cells Australia, Head of the Australian Stem Cell Registry, and ARC Future Fellow. She is also an Associate Editor for Stem Cell Reports and a member of Phenomics Australia’s Scientific Director Committee.

Wells' research utilizes computational and systems biology to understand cell identity, differentiation, and activation, with a focus on stem cells, tissue macrophages, innate immunity, tissue injury, repair, and healthy ageing. Her laboratory emphasizes data accessibility, reproducibility, and collaboration, leading projects such as the Stemformatics platform for integrating stem cell datasets into molecular atlases and discovering genes like the novel growth factor Neuregulin 1: NRG1-VII involved in immune regulation of tissue repair. Major publications from large-scale consortia include 'The transcriptional landscape of the mammalian genome' (Science, 2005), 'An atlas of active enhancers across human cell types and tissues' (Nature, 2014), 'Antisense transcription in the mammalian transcriptome' (Science, 2005), 'Genome-wide analysis of mammalian promoter architecture and evolution' (Nature Genetics, 2006), and 'An atlas of human long non-coding RNAs with accurate 5′ ends' (Nature, 2017). Her contributions have earned the 2015 Metcalf Prize for Stem Cell Research, the 2016 Eureka Prize for International Scientific Collaboration (FANTOM5 consortium), and the 2026 Julian Wells Medal from the Lorne Genome Conference for advancing understanding of genome organisation and expression.