Emily Barr

Emily graduated with a BSc in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and a Genomics certificate from Simon Fraser University in 2017. She dove headfirst into research post-graduation, working with a team from SFU to utilize her bioinformatic skills in the curation of immune cell sequences into a globally accessible, researcher-driven database called iReceptor. After two years of working on omics data, Emily met Dr. Nadine Provençal and became fascinated by the interdisciplinarity of her work in epigenetics and psychology, ultimately deciding to pursue an MSc in the subject with a focus on DNA methylation sequencing. She is now studying epigenetics in the Provençal lab at SFU, investigating the links between childhood adversity, differential DNA methylation, and mental health trajectories in adolescence. Her focus is on the bioinformatic analysis of epigenetic data, as well as the production and use of biological markers as scores that relate to environmental variables, such as stress. Outside of the lab, she spends most of her time hiking, eating, playing video-games and boardgames, and escaping to the Gulf Islands as often as possible.