Barry James Thompson

Barry James Thompson (born 1978) is an Australian and British developmental biologist and cancer biologist. Thompson is known for identifying genes, proteins and mechanisms involved in epithelial polarity, morphogenesis and cell signaling via the Wnt and Hippo signaling pathways, which have key roles in human cancer. Early life and education Barry Thompson was born in 1978 into a British-Australian family. He was raised on the Atherton Tableland and in Brisbane in the state of Queensland (Australia). He attended Atherton State Primary School and Brisbane State High School and graduated as school Dux in 1995. Scientific career Thompson became interested in developmental biology and the control of tissue growth in 2000 when studying BSc(Hons) at the University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Biology (IMB) with Professor Michael Waters. He earned his PhD degree at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), where he studied the Wnt signaling pathway in Drosophila melanogaster with Dr Mariann Bienz.