New chief scientific officer for Genome Prairie

Saskatoon, SK – Genome Prairie has appointed Chris Barker as chief scientific officer. In this role, Mr. Barker will have responsibility for the organization’s strategic research and partnership agenda.

The organization says he has extensive technical, scientific and management experience through various positions held within the Prairie research community. Following the completion of a M.Sc. in applied microbiology from the University of Saskatchewan in 1995, he led project management activities with local start-up companies, BioSTAR and MetaMorphix. He joined Genome Prairie in 2006 as a project manager and has since managed multiple Genome Canada-funded research programs.

“Mr. Barker has a solid track record in the development and management of large-scale research projects with national and international scope,” said Dr. Reno Pontarollo, president and chief executive officer, Genome Prairie.