[9][10] Arney was educated at the University of Cambridge where she was awarded a PhD in 2002 for research into epigenetic modification in the mouse zygote and regulation of imprinted genes.
[11] Her PhD was supervised by Azim Surani[1][12] and included research on Insulin-like growth factor 2 and the H19 gene.
[13] She went on to do postdoctoral research at Imperial College London working in the laboratory of Amanda Fisher.
[17] One notable success in this role was the "#NoMakeupSelfie" hashtag as it trended in August 2014; this was noted by CRUK's social media team who used a photograph of Arney – one of the charity's main media spokespeople – to publicise the SMS number for donations.
[19][20] In 2020 she published the book Rebel Cell: Cancer, Evolution, and the New Science of Life's Oldest Betrayal.