Dr Claudia Barros

Biography

Claudia Barros obtained her 5-year Diploma in Biology from the Lisbon Sciences University, Portugal and her PhD (2003) from the University of Cambridge, UK. In late 2003, she became a postdoctoral associate fellow in the laboratory of Prof. Ulrich Müller at the Dorris Neuroscience Center of The Scripps Research Institute, San Diego, USA. Her studies focused on cellular and molecular mechanisms directing neural development and function. Claudia returned to the UK in Autumn 2009 and after a brief stay at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford University, she was awarded an Early Career Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust, UK to start in late 2010 as a Research Fellow at Bangor University, Wales. In June 2013, Claudia moved to the Peninsula School of Medicine, Plymouth University, where she is currently a Lecturer in Neuroscience. Her research team investigates regulatory mechanisms responsible for the development and maintenance of postembryonic Neural Stem Cells in the brain during health and disease.

Research Interest

Current research in our team focus on the identification and characterisation of  molecular signals controlling post-embryonic Neural Stem Cell mitotic activation, cell identity and differentiation in normal but also in pathological conditions, such as upon neoplastic transformation. Our work involves functional genetics, gene expression and imaging studies. We take advantage of the fruit fly Drosophila brain as an in vivo model, and we translate findings into mammalian systems including human brain tissues and neural cell cultures.