 She went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in 1970 and Master of Science in 1972, both from the University of Melbourne in the field of biochemistry.Blackburn then went to receive her PhD in 1975 from the University of Cambridge, where she worked with Frederick Sanger developing methods to sequence DNA using RNA, as well as studying the bacteriophage Phi X 174.It was also here, the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge University, where Blackburn met her husband John Sedat.