Dr Timothy Barrow
2023 - Lecturer, University of Essex
2017 - 2022 Senior Lecturer, University of Sunderland
2014 - 2017 Research Associate, Newcastle University
[2011 - 2013 Visiting Researcher, Brigham & Women's Hospital]
2011 - 2014 Postdoc, Universitätsklinikum Freiburg
2005 - 2010 PhD, University of Cambridge
I am a lecturer at the University of Essex. My primary research interests are in the field of cancer epigenetics and environmental epigenetics. Much of my ongoing work examines genetic and epigenetic changes in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), and how we can use this knowledge to better understand the development of malignancies and to develop clinical biomarkers that will benefit patients.
My work has revealed epigenetic changes in patients undergoing treatment that reduce sensitivity to frontline therapies (Barrow et al, 2021, Br J Cancer) and has identified epigenetic changes that are detectable in some patients years before their diagnosis (Barrow et al, 2021, Haematologica). I have also been part of collaborative projects that have identified genetic variants associated with progressive CLL (Lin et al, 2021, Nat Comms) and developed bioinformatics-based methods for identifying subtype-specific vulnerability genes in a range of malignancies (Schwalbe et al, 2021, Oncogene). My earlier work in the field focussed upon epigenetic changes in solid tumours, including loss of genomic imprinting in breast cancer (Barrow et al, 2015, Int J Cancer) and smoking-associated hypermethylation of the APC tumour suppressor gene in colorectal cancer (Barrow et al, 2017, J Pathol). In parallel to this, I maintain an active interest in fundamental epigenetic processes and epigenetic changes in response to environmental exposures. My collaborative work has included examining the genomic targets and inhibition of DNMT isoforms (Sae-Lee et al, 2022, Clin Epigenetics), the impact of morphine exposure on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA methylation in different regions of the rat brain (Barrow et al, 2017, Epigenetics), and the impact of diet upon epigenetic models of ageing (Sae-Lee et al, 2018, Mol Nutr Food Res). I also contributed to a study which demonstrated, for the first time, that exposure to carcinogenic compounds and endocrine disruptors can modify RNA m6A methylation (Cayir et al, 2019, Environ Res).
Prior to Essex, I spent five years as Senior Lecturer in Genomics at the University of Sunderland, following postdoctoral positions at Universitätsklinikum Freiburg (Germany), Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston, USA) and Newcastle University (UK). I obtained my PhD with Professor Sheila Bingham O.B.E. at the University of Cambridge, working on the role of diet in colorectal carcinogenesis.
My research has been supported by funding from Bright Red and the Leukemia Research Foundation.