Dr. Laura Blackburn is Head of Science at the PHG Foundation, where she is responsible for delivering scientific expertise and policy analysis in genomics and personalised medicine. She leads innovative projects on clinical genomics, personalised/precision medicine and infectious disease, focusing on developing effective health policies.
Laura has collaborated with key clients, including NHS England and the MHRA, to advance initiatives to implement genomics and other innovations into healthcare. With a PhD in Zoology and a background in science writing and communications, she effectively bridges the gap between scientific research and public understanding.
Key skills are:
- Translation of complex research into health policy
- Science communication and public affairs
- Genomic and personalised medicine expertise
- Strategic partnership and stakeholder development
- Clinical application analysis for emerging technologies
- Optimising EXome PREnatal Sequencing Services
- Host genomics: lessons for infectious disease
- Polygenic scores for cancer
- Polygenic scores and clinical utility
- Citizen generated data and health: predictive prevention of disease
- The personalised medicine technology landscape
- Developing effective ctDNA testing services for lung cancer
- Pathogen Genomics Into Practice
- Somatic genome editing: promise and practicalities
- Citizen generated data – an opportunity for public health?
- Somatic genome editing: an overview
- Citizen generated data: the ethics of remote patient monitoring
- RNA vaccines: an introduction
- ctDNA technology in lung cancer: personalised healthcare in action
- Circulating tumour DNA technology: the future of cancer management?
- Protecting patients from healthcare associated infections: a role for genomics
- Genomics for infection control: meeting local and national needs
- Genomics and the management of antimicrobial resistance: current successes and future challenges
- AI – doing more with less in the NHS
- Commentary on ACMG statement
- Using genomics to improve drug prescribing
- Further pieces found in the puzzle of severe COVID-19
- An eye to the future: review of screening programmes in England
- A five-year strategy for infectious diseases
- Cancer screening services of the future
- Rethinking vaccination with RNA vaccines
- Meet the expert – Laura Blackburn
- Putting pathology back in the spotlight
- Microfluidics: enabling ‘micro’ medical technologies
- What is transcriptomics?
- Asking the right questions about genome editing
- Regenerative medicines – can the Government and the NHS deliver?
- ctDNA technology-personalised healthcare in action
- Genome-editing in medicine – where are we?
- Clinical proteome analysis – the key to personalised medicine
- Circulating tumour DNA technology-the future of cancer management?
- The ethics of genome editing: where now?
- AMR tops the international agenda
- Genome editing: promising, but beware the hype
- Liquid biopsy – liquid gold for cancer management?
- The global battle against AMR – can technology lead the way?
- Epigenome analysis: Another tool in the personalised medicine kit?
- Pathogen surveillance using WGS: forewarned is forearmed
- Illumina reaches for the cancer testing GRAIL
- A new path to smarter drug prescribing and funding?
- Infection control leads the way for the use of pathogen genomics
- TB in England: moving closer to deployment of whole genome sequencing
- An integrated strategy for implementing infectious disease genomics
- Rise of the superbugs?
- Smarter antibiotic use beats resistant bacteria
- Navigating genomic complexity: the epigenomics roadmap
- PHE and NHSE pledge to eliminate TB in England
- Using genomics to tackle antimicrobial resistance
- Genome sequencing sheds light on deadly antibiotic resistant hospital infections
- Babb de Villiers C, Plans-Beriso E, Erady C, Blackburn L, Wilson H, Turner H, Kuhn I, Barahona-López C, Diez-Echave P, Hernández OR, et al. Biomarkers for Personalised Primary or Secondary Prevention in Cardiovascular Diseases: A Rapid Scoping Review. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2025; 26(19):9346.
- Biomarkers for personalised prevention of chronic diseases: a common protocol for three rapid scoping reviews. Syst Rev 13, 147 (2024). Plans-Beriso, E., Babb de Villiers, C., Petrova, D. Turner, H., Blackburn, L. et al. https://doi.org/10.1186/
s13643-024-02554-9 - Optimising Exome Prenatal Sequencing Services (EXPRESS): a study protocol to evaluate rapid prenatal exome sequencing in the NHS Genomic Medicine Service
Melissa Hill; Sian Ellard; Jane Fisher; Naomi Fulop; Marian Knight; Mark Kroese; Jean Ledger; Kerry Leeson-Beevers; Alec McEwan; Dominic McMullan; Laura Blackburn et al. [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]. NIHR Open Res 2022, 2:10 - How can we address the uncertainties regarding the potential clinical utility of polygenic score-based tests?
Moorthie S, Hall A, Babb de Villiers C, Janus J, Brigden T, Blackburn L, Kroese M. Future Medicine. 15 March 2022.
