Christine Bolton
DPhil student
Medical Research Council Clinical Research Training Fellow and Paediatric Doctor
Dr Chrissy Bolton graduated from the University of Cambridge and UCL, where she was awarded national and university prizes in the fields of Paediatric Health, Endocrinology, Pain Medicine, Cardiology and Ethics.
Specialising in Paediatrics, Chrissy undertook Integrated Academic Training in Oxford and London, where she was awarded an Academic Foundation post and an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship. In collaboration with Dr Holm Uhlig (University of Oxford), she focused on rare single-gene causes of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, using single-cell profiling techniques to distinguish mechanisms of inflammation. This compendium formed the basis of the UK’s National Genomic Test Directory for genetic testing in Gastroenterology clinical care.
Subsequently, working as co-investigator of a pioneering study led by Professor Lucy Wedderburn (UCL) and Professor Adam Croft (University of Birmingham), Chrissy helped to establish the feasibility of taking minimally invasive joint biopsies in children with inflammatory arthritis. Advances in high-resolution imaging and profiling technologies enabled detailed analysis of tiny tissue fragments from the joint, better capturing the immune dysregulation where it occurs. Building on this work, Chrissy was awarded MRC funding for a PhD Fellowship to investigate why inflammation persists and extends across joints despite immunosuppressive treatment.