Dr Emma Barker has wanted to be a scientist her entire life, so much so that when she was six years old she dressed in a white lab coat and stood on stage during a play about future careers announcing that she wanted to be a scientist. While children often change their mind about their future careers, Emma always knew that she wanted to follow in her parents’ footsteps and become a scientist.
Since then, Emma has worked hard to make these dreams a reality, excelling during her Biochemistry degree at Nottingham Trent University and later during her stem cell research PhD at the University of Nottingham. She enjoyed the cell culture aspect of her PhD and was keen to continue the downstream analysis that she had carried out when starting her new role as Bioassay Scientist at Cellomatics in April 2023.
There is no such thing as a typical day for Emma at Cellomatics, she spends a lot of her time in the lab and is constantly working on different projects and assays, depending on client needs. As a Bioassay Scientist she helps clients with their plans and protocols as well as running experiments for them and making models.
During her first six months at Cellomatics Emma has thoroughly enjoyed being part of the team and finds that she wakes up each day excited to go to work. She feels that from the beginning she has been included and supported each day by the entire Cellomatics team. In the future she is hoping to progress within the company and would love to eventually mentor new recruits and show them the same support she has been given throughout the year.
A highlight of Emma’s time at Cellomatics so far has been travelling to London for the prestigious Signature Awards, where Cellomatics was announced as a winner for the Small Business of the Year award. Cellomatics is a multi-award-winning company and so Emma hopes she will be attending many award ceremonies in the future as the organisation continues to grow and gain recognition for its achievements.
Emma was born and raised in Nottingham and so loves that she can continue to stay in her hometown while working at Cellomatics. When she isn’t in the lab Emma can be found using her Nottingham Forest season ticket to watch football games with her dad, a pastime they both thoroughly enjoy.
