Cell scientist to watch – Alexis Barr

ABSTRACT Alexis Barr is a Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Career Development Fellow at the Institute of Clinical Sciences (ICS), Imperial College London and Medical Research Council (MRC) Investigator at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS). Alexis graduated in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge, UK, and then undertook a PhD at the CRUK Cambridge Institute, where she studied the role of centrosomes in mitotic spindle assembly under the supervision of Fanni Gergely. For her postdoctoral studies, Alexis moved to the Institute of Cancer Research in London, where she joined the team of Chris Bakal and was awarded a Pathway to Independence Fellowship. There, she investigated the mechanisms that control cell cycle entry using quantitative single-cell imaging. In 2018, Alexis was awarded a CRUK Career Development Fellowship to start her own research group at the ICS, to research the control of cell cycle entry and exit and how these pathways can be manipulated to treat cancer. She was awarded the 2024 Women in Cell Biology Early Career Medal by the British Society for Cell Biology (BSCB). We spoke with Alexis over Zoom to find out more about her career, her advice on collaborative research and her approaches to scientific mentorship.