Director Profiles
Dr Carol Barker - Hiking the Mazama Trail on Mount Hood, Oregon, USA
Dr Carol Barker
Managing Director
  • 15 years cell culture experience.
  • BSc (Hons) in Physiology and Pharmacology from Sheffield University.
  • PhD from the FRAME Alternatives Laboratory, University of Nottingham (FRAME = Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Research). Subject of PhD was the development of an in vitro model of human skin for use as a screening tool in cosmetics and drug development, with a particular emphasis on metabolism. The work was funded by Unilever Research and Boots.
  • 2 years post doctoral research developing an in vitro model of psoriasis, using cells from psoriasis patients, as a screen for the efficacy of potential anti-psoriatic drugs. The work was funded by AstraZeneca.
  • 5 years experience in drug development (Glaxo, Roche).
  • 8 years business development experience: Manager of European Operations of the cell culture company, Cascade Biologics. Spent 2 years at Cascade’s headquarters in Portland, Oregon, USA, then established and developed the company’s European business, based from the UK, prior to its acquisition by Invitrogen in 2007.
  • Co-founder of XCellR8 Ltd.
  • Interests: variety of sports and outdoor activities, adventure travel, good restaurants and the occasional glass of good wine!


Bushra Sim
Bushra Sim
Technical Director
  • Over 10 years cell culture experience
  • MPhil from University of Nottingham. Subject of study: interactions of serum proteins with osteoblasts, with a particular focus in biomaterial adhesion.
  • 1 year at The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore, London. Investigation into osteoblast characterization and differentiation.
  • 12 years at University of Nottingham. Involved in establishing the Biomaterials Group which included research into biological interactions of osteoblasts in biomaterial adhesion.
  • 4 years business development experience at Cascade Biologics, which included culturing a wide range of normal human cell types.
  • Co-founder of XCellR8 Ltd.

NEWS & EVENTS

Interested in stem cells? Join us at XCellR8's first "Fast Train" event: a unique training workshop and exhibition on stem cell research.
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NEW! Human primary cell culture course, Autumn 2010!
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Human breast fibroblasts stained with an antibody to the intermediate filament protein vimentin (green). Nuclei are stained with DAPI (blue). The cells are currently being used to investigate the stromal contribution to breast cancer invasion, by Dr Deborah Holliday at Bart’s and The London, UK.