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Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute

 

Professor Roger Barker

Parkinson's and Huntington's disease

Email: rab46@cam.ac.uk 

Laboratory: John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, Cambridge Biomedical Campus

Departmental Affiliation: Clinical Neurosciences

 

Biography

Roger Barker is the Professor of Clinical Neuroscience and Honorary Consultant in Neurology at the University of Cambridge and at Addenbrooke's Hospital.  He trained at Oxford and London and has been in his current position since 2000, after completing an MRC Clinician Scientist Fellowship.  

Roger combines basic research looking at novel therapies to treat chronic neurodegenerative disorders of the brain with clinically-based work aimed at better defining such disorders. He co-ordinated the TRANSEURO project looking at fetal cell grafting in patients with early Parkinson's Disease (PD) and is now leading a new stem cell trial in PD, STEM-PD. He is a Director of the ISSCR and is the Lead Academic Scientist on the ADDI in Cambridge.

 

Education

• BA, Oxford University, 1983

• MBBS, University of London, 1986

• MRCP (London) 1989

• PhD, University of Cambridge, 1994

 

Funding

Medical Research Council, Rosetrees Trust, EU, NIHR, Cure Parkinson's Trust, Novo Nordisk, Wellcome

 

External links

http://www.thebarkerwilliamsgraylab.co.uk/ 

Follow us on Twitter: @PDandHDLab

Follow us on Facebook: The Barker/Williams-Gray Lab

 

Dopaminergic neurons differentiated from embryonic stem cells using a clinical grade protocol and reagents—Tyrosine Hydroxylase (green), Beta III tubulin (red)

  

Research

Roger’s main interests revolve around two relatively common, chronic neurodegenerative disorders of the nervous system - Parkinson's disease (PD) and Huntington's disease (HD). 

 

He is interested in better understanding how these diseases develop and then how they change over time with the idea of better classifying patients into different subtypes of disease. These subtypes can then be used to test new therapies as some types of these diseases may be better suited for one type of experimental treatment whilst others may not: e.g. dopamine cell therapies from stem cells treatment may be better suited to younger PD patients with a more benign clinical course. 

 

In addition, his lab is trying to better understand the brain pathology in these diseases through snRNA sequencing and post mortem tissue analysis in collaboration with Annelies Quaegebeur in Cambridge and Johan Jakobsson in Lund. Finally, they are looking to develop new treatments for PD and HD and are currently undertaking a drug repurposing trial in HD (FELL-HD) and a stem cell trial in PD (STEM-PD) with Lund University.

 

Barker Group photo 

 

Plain English

Our research primarily focuses on neurodegenerative disorders of the brain such as Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Huntington’s disease (HD). We have sought to better define the true extent of clinical deficits in these disorders with the aim of building a more complete model of disease heterogeneity and its basis which will then serve to inform on new therapies. This includes the translation of stem cell therapies to clinics by targeting the right sub-group of patients at the optimal stage of disease as well as other treatments such as drug repurposing- e.g. felodipine in HD. 

 

 

Key Publications

  • Haniffa M, Taylor D, Linnarsson S, Aronow BJ, Bader GD, Barker RA, Camara PG, Camp JG, Chédotal A, Copp A, Etchevers HC, Giacobini P, Göttgens B, Guo G, Hupalowska A, James KR, Kirby E, Kriegstein A, Lundeberg J, Marioni JC, Meyer KB, Niakan KK, Nilsson M, Olabi B, Pe'er D, Regev A, Rood J, Rozenblatt-Rosen O, Satija R, Teichmann SA, Treutlein B, Vento-Tormo R, Webb S; Human Cell Atlas Developmental Biological Network. A roadmap for the Human Developmental Cell Atlas. Nature. 2021 Sep;597(7875):196-205. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03620-1. Epub 2021 Sep 8. PMID: 34497388.
  • Lovell-Badge R, Anthony E, Barker RA, Bubela T, Brivanlou AH, Carpenter M, Charo RA, Clark A, Clayton E, Cong Y, Daley GQ, Fu J, Fujita M, Greenfield A, Goldman SA, Hill L, Hyun I, Isasi R, Kahn J, Kato K, Kim JS, Kimmelman J, Knoblich JA, Mathews D, Montserrat N, Mosher J, Munsie M, Nakauchi H, Naldini L, Naughton G, Niakan K, Ogbogu U, Pedersen R, Rivron N, Rooke H, Rossant J, Round J, Saitou M, Sipp D, Steffann J, Sugarman J, Surani A, Takahashi J, Tang F, Turner L, Zettler PJ, Zhai X. ISSCR Guidelines for Stem Cell Research and Clinical Translation: The 2021 update. Stem Cell Reports. 2021 Jun 8;16(6):1398-1408. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2021.05.012. Epub 2021 May 27. PMID: 34048692; PMCID: PMC8190668.