Eleanor Barnes is a British physician at the John Radcliffe Hospital and a Professor of Hepatology and Experimental Medicine at the University of Oxford. She has studied hepatitis C and the development of the development of HCV vaccines. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and serves as the lead for hepatology at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network.[1]

Eleanor Barnes
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
St Bartholomew's Hospital
Scientific career
InstitutionsJohn Radcliffe Hospital
University of Oxford
ThesisT-cell and dendritic cell function and the effects of combination therapy in Hepatitis C virus infection (2004)

Early life and education

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Barnes has said that she was interested in science as a child.[2] She decided to study medicine at university, and eventually trained at St Bartholomew's Hospital.[2] She completed an intercalated bachelor's degree in anthropology and philosophy.[2] After graduating, she worked as a medical resident at the Royal Free Hospital, where she decided to specialise in hepatology and gastroenterology. Determined to pursue a career in research, Barnes worked unpaid for three months, during which time she obtained data that she used to apply for a fellowship from the Medical Research Council.[3] She was a doctoral researcher at the University of Oxford. Her doctoral research considered T cell and dendritic cell function.[4]

Research and career

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Barners' research considers T cell immunology. She is focused on the translation of laboratory findings to clinical environments. Barnes worked as a Medical Research Council Senior Fellow at the University of Oxford, and eventually was appointed lead of herpetology in the Thames Valley.[5][6] She studied why 80% of patients with hepatitis C get chronic infection.[5] Barnes identified that the nature of the T cell response determines which pathway a patient goes down. This observation led Barnes to develop an T-cell vaccine to prevent hepatitis C infection. The vaccine is based on adenoviral vectors, which host the non-structural proteins of hepatitis C from a genotype 1B strain.[5] There are seven major hepatitis C strains, which presents considerable challenges for the development of vaccines.[5] Barnes was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2018.[7]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Barnes studied the design, effectiveness and implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine.[8] She showed that patients who suffered from COVID-19 were likely to be impacted by liver problems.[9]

Selected publications

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Personal life

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Barnes is married with two children.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Ellie (Eleanor) Barnes". Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 22 September 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Eleanor Barnes — Diversity Projects". parking.haiku.fry-it.com. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  3. ^ "Eleanor Barnes — Diversity Projects". parking.haiku.fry-it.com. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  4. ^ Barnes, Eleanor (2004). T-cell and dendritic cell function and the effects of combination therapy in Hepatitis C virus infection (Thesis). OCLC 1169825441.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Ellie Barnes: Women in Science - Internal Speaker — Working for NDM". www.ndm.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  6. ^ "PITCH Study". www.pitch-study.org. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  7. ^ "Professor Eleanor Barnes | The Academy of Medical Sciences". acmedsci.ac.uk. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  8. ^ "UK scientists back Covid boosters as study finds post-jab falls in antibodies". the Guardian. 22 July 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  9. ^ "Liver problems common among COVID-19 patients, study finds". NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre. 23 July 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021.