Ivana Barbaric
Lecturer in Stem Cell Biology - Department of Biomedical Science
Profile
Dr Ivana Barbaric discovered a love of scientific research through competing in a national biology competition she entered in secondary school, for which she won first prize. Early on in her career, she realised the importance of networking and began to develop an international network of colleagues, as well as amassing new technical skills, through working and studying abroad.
During her PhD in Oxford, she completely changed the direction of her research to focus primarily on a new found fascination with stem cells - a challenging but positive experience. She went on to a postdoc position at the University of Sheffield where she started to think about what she needed to do to obtain an academic position.
She made sure to keep publishing in good journals, applying for lots of funding and showing her willingness to teach, which she did by taking on undergraduate and masters student groups and completing a Certificate in Learning and Teaching.
“I thoroughly recommend networking… I think it keeps you fresh, you get feedback from your colleagues… and you keep your finger on the pulse of what’s really trendy and emerging in your field of research.”
Career timeline
2000
Honours student, Max-Planck Institute for Immunobiology, Freiburg, Germany.
2001
BSc with distinction and first-class honours in Molecular Biology, University of Zagreb, Croatia.
2001-2002
Research Assistant, R&D, Pliva Pharmaceuticals, Zagreb, Croatia.
2006
PhD, Department of Pharmacology/MRC Harwell, University of Oxford.
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Biomedical Science, the University of Sheffield.
Second author
Parkinson, N., Hardisty-Hughes, R.E., Tateossian, H., Tsai, H.T., Brooker, D., Morse, S., Lalane, Z., MacKenzie, F., Fray, M., Glenister, P., Woodward, A.M., Barbaric, I., Dear, N., Hough, T.A., Hunter, A.J., Cheeseman, M.T., Brown, S.D. (2006) Mutation at the Evi1 locus in Junbo mice causes susceptibility to otitis media. PLoS Genet 2(10):e149.
2007
Invited talk at Selective Chemical Intervention in Biological Systems, BBSRC Workshop, Manchester.
First author
Barbaric, I., Wells, S., Russ, A., Dear, T.N. (2007) Spectrum of ENU-induced mutations in phenotype-driven and gene-driven screens in the mouse. Environ Mol Mutagen 48(2):124-42.First author
Barbaric, I., Stewart, M., Wells, S., Dear, T.N. (2007) A new coat color mouse line for testing germline transmission of embryonic stem cells while retaining an inbred genetic background. J Am Assoc Lab Anim Sci 46(3):37-40.First author
Barbaric, I., Miller, G., Dear, T.N. (2007) Appearances can be deceiving: phenotypes of knockout mice. Brief Funct Genomic Proteomic 6(2):91-103.First author
Barbaric, I., Dear, T.N. (2007) Optimizing screening and mating strategies for phenotype-driven recessive N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea screens in mice. J Am Assoc Lab Anim Sci 46(6):44-9.
2008
Invited talk - Seventh Annual International Symposium ‘Human Embryonic Stem Cells’, Sheffield.
First author
Barbaric, I., Perry, M.J., Dear, T.N., Rodrigues Da Costa, A., Salopek, D., Marusic, A., Hough, T., Wells, S., Hunter, A.J., Cheeseman, M., Brown, S.D. (2008) An ENU-induced mutation in the Ankrd11 gene results in an osteopenia-like phenotype in the mouse mutant Yoda. Physiol Genomics 32(3):311-21.Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Biomedical Science, the University of Sheffield
November 2008 to February 2013 (on maternity leave from January 2012 until September 2012).
2009
First author
Barbaric, I., Dear, T. (2009) Culture of murine embryonic stem cells. Methods Mol Biol. 561:161-84.
2010
Invited talk - EMBO Course: Anatomy and Embryology of the Mouse, Split, Croatia.
Second author
Ashrafian, H., Docherty, L., Leo, V., Towlson, C., Neilan, N., Steeples, V., Lygate, C.A., Hough, T., Townsend, S., Williams, D., Wells S, Norris, D., Glyn-Jones, S., Land, J., Barbaric, I., Lalanne, Z., Denny, P., Szumska, D., Bhattacharya, S., Griffin, J.L., Hargreaves, I., Fernandez-Fuentes, N., Cheeseman, M., Watkins, H., Dear, T.N. (2010) A Mutation in the Mitochondrial Fission Gene Dnm1l Leads to Cardiomyopathy. PLoS Genet 6(6): e1001000.Second author
Harrison, N.J., Barbaric, I., Andrews, P.W. (2010) Human embryonic stem cell characterization: similarities and differences between cell lines and sources. In: Stem Cells: From Bench to Bedside, 2nd ed. Chapter 2.First author
Barbaric, I., Gokhale, P.J., Andrews, P.W. (2010) High content screening of small compounds on human embryonic stem cells. Biochem Soc Trans 38(4):1046-50.First author
Barbaric, I., Gokhale, P.J., Jones, M., Glen, A., Baker, D., Andrews, P.W. (2010) Novel regulators of stem cell fates identified by a multivariate phenotype screen of small compounds on human embryonic stem cell colonies. Stem Cell Res 5(2):104-19.
2011
PhD CASE Studentship from AstraZeneca (£30,000) (co-I).
Invited talk - The Krebs Symposium, ‘-omics revolution’, Sheffield.
First author
Barbaric, I., Jones, M., Harley, D.J., Gokhale, P., Andrews, P.W. (2011) High-content screening for chemical modulators of embryonal carcinoma cell differentiation and survival. J Biomol Screen 16(6):603-17.First author
Barbaric, I., Andrews, P.W. (2011) Drug screens on human stem cells: from understanding cell biology to predicting drug toxicity. Eur Pharm Rev 16(5):52-6.First author
Barbaric, I., Jones, M., Buchner, K., Baker, D., Andrews, P.W., Moore, H.D. (2011) Pinacidil enhances survival of cryopreserved human embryonic stem cells. Cryobiology 63(3):298-305.
January 2012 to September 2012
Maternity leave
2012
Module coordinator for ‘Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine’.
Invited talk - The Cell Control in a Petri Dish Collaborative Network meeting, London.
Second author
Holen, I., Whitworth, J., Nutter, F., Evans, A., Brown, H.K., Lefley, D.V., Barbaric, I., Jones, M., Ottewell, P.D. (2012) Loss of plakoglobin promotes decreased cell-cell contact, increased invasion, and breast cancer cell dissemination in vivo. Breast Cancer Res 14(3):R86First author
Barbaric, I., Harrison, N.J. (2012): Rediscovering pluripotency: from teratocarcinomas to embryonic stem cells. Int J Dev Biol 56(4):197-206.Second author
Lund, R., Emani, M.R., Barbaric, I., Kivinen, V., Jones, M., Baker, D., Gokhale, P., Nykter, M., Lahesmaa, R., Andrews, P.W. (2012) Karyotypically Abnormal Human ESCs are Sensitive to HDAC Inhibitors. Stem Cell Research, 11(3):1022-1036.
April 2012 to present
Visiting Reader, Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Croatia.
2013
Invited talk - UK-China Stem Cell Initiative Workshop, Shanghai, China.
March 2013 to February 2014
Wellcome Trust Discipline Hopping Fellow, Department of Materials Science and Tissue Engineering, the University of Sheffield.
2014
Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PG Cert HE).
Organised a workshop: ‘High Content Screening of Stem Cells: Challenges and Opportunities’, Sheffield.
Invited talk - Pluripotent Stem Cell Platform Annual Consortium Meeting, Sheffield.
Royal Society Wolfson Grant (£90,000) (co-I).
First author
1. Barbaric, I., Biga, V., Gokhale, P.J., Jones, M., Stavish, D., Glen, G., Coca, D., Andrews, P.W. (2014) Time-lapse analysis of human embryonic stem cells reveals multiple bottlenecks restricting colony formation and their relief upon culture adaptation. Stem Cell Reports, 3:142-55.Second author
Na, J., Baker, D., Zhang, J., Andrews, P.W., Barbaric, I. (2014). Aneuploidy in pluripotent stem cells and implications for cancerous transformation. Protein & Cell, 5:569-79.
March 2014 to present
Lecturer, Department of Biomedical Science, the University of Sheffield.
2014 to present
Undergraduate and Masters level module teaching (‘Tissue Engineering in Biomedical Science’ and ‘Stem Cells’).
2015
MRC Confidence in Concept (£49,541).
Invited talk - UK Regenerative Medicine Platform Scientific Showcase, London.
Second author
Allison, T.F., Powles-Glover, N.S., Biga, V., Andrews, P.W., Barbaric, I. (2015) Stem cells as tools for high-throughput and high-content screening in drug discovery. Int J High Screen, 5:1-13.
2016
MRC Grant (£395,135)
Invited talk - The European Laboratory Research and Innovation Group (ELRIG), Nottingham.
Senior author paper
Baker, D., Hirst, A.J., Gokhale, P.J., Juarez, M.A., Williams, S., Wheeler, M., Bean, K., Allison, T.F., Moore, H.D., Andrews, P.W., Barbaric, I. (2016) Detecting genetic mosaicism in cultures of human pluripotent stem cells. Stem Cell Reports, 7:998-1012.Partner in an EU Horizon 2020 project (€650,000).
Inaugural UK Regenerative Medicine Conference, London.
Pluripotent learning lounge, Stem Cell Technologies Webinar.
International Stem Cell Initiative Workshop: Origins and implications of pluripotent stem cell (epi)genetic instability, Bar Harbor, USA.
Stem cell culture conditions and stability workshop, Cambridge.
Member of the Steering Committee of the Pluripotent Stem Cell Hub and PluriMes Joint Workshop.
2017
Senior author paper
Blair, N.F., Frith, T.J.R., Barbaric, I. (2017) Regenerative Medicine: Advances from Developmental to Degenerative Diseases. Personalised Medicine, (pp 225-239).Other author paper
Scarfe, L., Brillant, N., Kumar, J.D., Ali, N., Alrumayh, A., Amali, M., Barbellion, S., Jones, V., Niemeijer, M., Potdevin, S., Roussignol, G., Vaganov, A., Barbaric, I., Barrow, M., et al. (2017) Preclinical imaging methods for assessing the safety and efficacy of regenerative medicine therapies. NPJ Regen Med 19:2-28.‘Genetic Stability in Pluripotent Stem Cells’ workshop, Laax, Switzerland.
British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy Annual Conference, Cardiff.
UK Israel Young Investigator Stem Cell Meeting, Jerusalem, Israel.
The 33rd Annual Meeting European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, Geneva.
2018
Other author paper
Allison, T., Smith, A.J., Anastassiasdis, K., Sloane-Stanley, J., Biga, V., Jones, M., Coca, D., Barbaric, I., Gokhale, P., Andrews, P.W. (2018) Identification and single cell functional characterisation of a novel endodermally biased pluripotent sub-state in human embryonic stem cells. Stem Cell Reports, 10(6):1895-1907.Other author paper
Allison, T., Andrews, P., Avior, Y., Barbaric, I., Benvenisty, N., Bock, C., Brehm, J., Brüstle, O., et al. (2018) Assessment of established techniques to determine developmental and malignant potential of human pluripotent stem cells. Nature Communications, 9(1):1925.Medical Research Council (MRC): £1.3 million.
Human Pluripotent Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine: The Here and Now and Future of our Field, London.
Satellite meeting of the TECHNOBEAT Consortium, Weizmann Institute, Tel Aviv, Israel.
The Pluripotent and Engineered Stem Cell Platform kick-off meeting, London.
Nature Research Round Table: Challenges in ensuring hPSC quality, London.
Stem Cell Genomic Integrity conference, the Wellcome Collection, London.
Member of the International Stem Cell Initiative Genetics and Epigenetics Study Group.
Member of the organising committee of the third Workshop on High Content Screening of Stem Cells, Edinburgh, March 2018.
Speaker at the ‘Soapbox Science’ women in STEM event.
2019
Senior author paper
Zhang, J., Hirst, A.J., Duan, F., Qiu, H., Huang, R., Ji, Y., Bai, L., Zhang, F., Robinson, D., Jones, M., Li, L., Wang, P., Jiang, P., Andrews, P.W., Barbaric, I., Na, J. Anti-apoptotic Mutations Desensitize Human Pluripotent Stem Cells to Mitotic Stress and Enable Aneuploid Cell Survival. Stem Cell Reports doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2019.01.013.Laing, O., Halliwell, J., Barbaric, I.: Rapid PCR techniques for detecting genetic variants arising in pluripotent stem cells. Current Protocols in Stem Cell Biology (in press).
UKRMP Immunology Kick-off meeting, London.
Joint meeting of the Pluripotent Stem and Engineered Cell Hub and the Gene and Cell Therapy Catapult, London.
Member of the local organising committee for the Annual Meeting of the British Society of Gene and Cell Therapy.
Senior Lecturer in Stem Cell Biology.