Andy Sims graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a BSc. in Biological Sciences and began work at the British Antarctic Survey laboratories in Cambridge. He then worked as a Clinical Scientist at the Public Health Laboratories at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, developing new methods for routine diagnostic tests.
In September 2001, Andy moved to Manchester to study for a PhD. During this period, he began working with the new technology of gene expression profiling and he spent six months working in California (at Genencor a biotech company).
Dr Sims continued his focus on gene expression profiling whilst developing his interest in breast cancer during his postdoctoral research with Prof. Tony Howell (now director of the Breakthrough Research Unit in Manchester). Here he worked on a range of gene expression profiling projects looking at how certain risk factors and preventative measures for breast cancer actually impart their effects on patients.
In June 2008, Andy joined the Edinburgh Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Unit based at the Western General Hospital, to provide bioinformatics input for the collaborative multidisciplinary projects at the Unit and build his own research group.
Dr Andy Sims"Huge amounts of data are now being collected in all areas of research using modern high-throughput genomic approaches. Bioinformatics is essential to stop us 'drowning in the data' and enables us to unravel the complexity of breast cancer"
