Biography
A senior lecturer in neural plasticity and dementia research at Imperial College London, Dr Samuel Barnes investigates vulnerability in the ageing brain, aiming to understand the role of neural circuit plasticity in the healthy adult brain, ageing and early-stages of neurodegeneration. After graduating from the University of Oxford in 2006, Samuel was awarded an MRC Capacity Building PhD studentship at King’s College London to investigate the functional signatures of synaptic connection loss in the cortex. He then completed a postdoc investigating homeostatic plasticity in mouse visual cortex at University College London. In October 2015, he was awarded a prestigious Edmond J Safra Fellowship.
Samuel joined the UK DRI at Imperial in 2018, where he leads a group investigating the role of neural-circuit plasticity in the earliest stages of dementia. In September 2022, he was promoted to Senior Lecturer in Neural Plasticity and in April 2023 successfully underwent UK DRI renewal, providing long-term funding support until 2028. In April 2024, he was appointed the interim Deputy Director of the UK DRI at Imperial.
Barnes Lab
Explore the work of the Barnes Lab, focused on deciphering what causes impaired synaptic homeostasis in ageing and Alzheimer's and developing approaches to improve synaptic health.
