Team
Meet the team
Professor Roger Barker
Professor of clinical neuroscience at the University of Cambridge and Honorary Consultant Neurologist at Addenbrookes hospital
Please see our group leader page to hear a bit more about Prof Barker.
Katie Andresen
Research Manager
I am Roger’s Clinical Research Manager and have been in the Barker group for just over 8 years now working on various Huntington’s and Parkinson’s disease trials. I currently oversee all of the clinical work in Roger’s group and run a few Huntington’s disease trials that you may see mentioned here on our website, currently the Roche BN42489 tominersen trial, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and HD Clarity. I also support Amy in conducting some Enroll-HD visits throughout the year.
Shaline Fazal
Research Manager
Shaline has been in the group since 2017. She joined the group as a postdoctoral researcher looking at the role of immune cells in mutant Huntingtin seeding and propagation. She went onto be a research associate looking at immunogenicity of stem cell derived dopaminergic neurons. Then since 2023 has been working as our Laboratory Research Manager.
Dr Tom Stoker
Honorary Consultant Neurologist
I have been looking after patients in our weekly Huntington's disease clinic since 2023. I previously worked in the group between 2016 and 2019, when I completed my PhD, working on a common genetic risk factor in Parkinson's disease. I also work in Peterborough City Hospital, where I look after patients with movement disorders and other neurological problems.
Sarah Mason
Clinical Psychologist
I am currently working to better understanding the psychological needs of people with Huntington’s disease and those supporting them. My research focuses on exploring how changes in social cognition relate to the expression of behaviours that challenge, such as apathy. Clinically, I am helping to build a psychological service for people with HD, within our HD clinic.
Josephine Mordi
Huntington's Disease clinic coordinator
Jo joined the group in April 2025. She is in charge of managing the Huntington's disease clinic. You may recognise her from when she calls up to confirm your appointment or to answer any queries!
Amy Evans
Clinical Trial Assistant
Hello, I am a Clinical Trial Assistant in Roger's group. I joined the group Autumn 2021 and work on Huntington’s and Parkinson’s disease trials. I currently look after Enroll-HD, TransEUro and STEM-PD.
Xiaoling He
Lab Technician
I have been coordinating the fetal tissue collection, dissection and distribution since joined the Barker group in 2011. I am also doing all the in-vivo work including stereotaxic transplant and making PD model. Apart from the ongoing fetal work I am currently involved in a project funded by ARIA, which is rebuilding the nigrostriatal pathway.
Dr Zanna Voysey
Clinical Research Fellow
Hello! I'm Zanna, a Neurology doctor and Clinical Research Associate working in the group. I started in the group at the end of 2019 to study a PhD in sleep problems in HD, looking specifically at whether they might be aggravating symptoms and disease progression. Excitingly, we did find evidence that this might be the case, so I've now moved to a post-doc position in the group where I'm running a clinical trial of a new sleep therapy, to see if it could slow disease progression in HD.
Dr Saeed Kayhanian
Clinical Research Fellow
I am a clinical research fellow in the Barker group and neurosurgery resident at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. I joined the group in 2023 to work on the STEM-PD clinical trial and my lab research is about the brain’s immune response to cell therapy.
Dr William Woods
Clinical Research Fellow
As an academic clinical fellow interested in movement disorders, I joined the Barker group in 2024. My time is split between clinical duties for the hospital and research. I am interested in developing ways we can better track and understand diseases such as Huntington’s to facilitate the introduction of disease modifying therapies.
Dr Rosana-Bristena Ionescu
Clinical Research Fellow
Bristena will be joining us as for 2026 - 2027. Her project will use cutting-edge single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to explore how the immune system shapes the course of Huntington’s disease (HD).
Hannah Weidling
Postdoctoral Research Associate
After obtaining my medical degree, I joined the group in November 2025 as a postdoctoral researcher. My research focuses on the immunogenicity of stem cell–derived dopaminergic neurons, with a particular emphasis on microglia. I use stem cell–based disease models to investigate microglia–neuron communication and the interface between microglia and the adaptive immune system.
Sophie Fields
PhD Student
I am currently a 3rd year PhD student in the Barker lab. My PhD project looks to uncover the role of transposable elements (a.k.a. Jumping genes) and neuroinflammation in Huntington's disease using postmortem brain tissue.
Angelica Guiloff
PhD Student
I have been in the Barker group since October 2024 and am a medical student working on my Clinical Neurosciences PhD in Huntington’s disease. I am using stem cell modelling in the lab to investigate the role of transposable elements, also known as jumping genes, in the progression of Huntington’s disease.
Jana Seb
PhD Student
I am PhD research student in Barker lab. My work focuses on Parkinsons disease (PD). I use in vitro primary human neuron cultures to study various authentic neuron types. To model PD, I utilize alpha synuclein preformed fibrils and aim to expand understanding of what makes some neurons more vulnerable to PD than others in context of early mechanisms leading the neural dysfunction and neurodegeneration
James (Jamie) Shonhard
PhD Student
I have been a student in the Barker Lab since October 2024 and am co-supervised by Professors Jo Jones and Roger Barker, with my PhD being jointly funded by the SCM DTP-MR and Harding (HDPSP) Scholarships.
I am working on Parkinson's Disease (PD) as part of the ASAP Consortium project, specifically investigating the role of Transposable elements on neuroinflammation using Spatial Transcriptomics in Incidental Lewy Body Disorder, which is thought to be a prodromal form of PD. I have a keen interest in neurodegeneration, as such I volunteer with the local branch of the charity Parkinson's UK to meet and help people with the PD, and In my free time I enjoy cooking and listening to music!
Mehak Malhotra
PhD Student
I have completed an MPhil degree with the Barker group this past year and am staying on as a PhD student. sleep abnormalities as early indicators of disease progression in Huntington’s disease, with a focus on quantitative EEG markers. I will also be working on the DORA HD clinical trial in the coming year.
Francesca Wilson
PhD Student
I started at the Barker Group in September 2025 under the Clinical School of Medicine’s MB/PhD programme. I am working on Huntington’s Disease, using stem cell models to investigate the role of transposable elements in disease progression and also to simulate neurone-microglia interactions.