Michalis Barkoulas

Dr. Michalis Barkoulas is a Reader in Molecular Genetics at the Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences at Imperial College London. His research focuses on understanding the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying phenotypic robustness and evolution using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system. Key areas include epidermal cell fate patterning, pathogen recognition, and immune responses to oomycete infections.

He holds a PhD from the University of Oxford (2003–2007), followed by postdoctoral training at the University of Oxford and École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He has led numerous high-impact research projects funded by prestigious institutions such as the BBSRC, Leverhulme Trust, Royal Society, Wellcome Trust, and ERC.

His lab investigates how genetic and environmental perturbations affect developmental robustness and phenotypic variability in C. elegans. Recent work includes uncovering genes buffering phenotypic variance and characterizing immune defense mechanisms against oomycete pathogens. He has developed innovative tools like the NanoDam toolkit for tissue-specific transcription factor profiling.

Dr. Barkoulas has supervised 10 PhD students, 8 postdoctoral researchers, and over 90 undergraduate/Master’s students. His affiliations include the Fungal Science Network, Microbiome Network, and Physics of Life research groups at Imperial College London.