Ellie (Eleanor) Barnes
BSc. MBBS. PhD, FRCP. FMedSci.
Professor of Hepatology and Experimental Medicine
- Ludwig Adjunct Scholar
I lead an established research group with a focus on applied immunology relevant to liver disease, including cancer, and I seek to translate laboratory and clinical findings through to human experimental medicine studies.
My group is developing T cell pan-genotypic vaccines for hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevention and hepatitis B virus (HBV) cure using simian adenoviral and other viral vectors. We are also assessing COVID vaccines in disease cohorts. A major challenge for HCV vaccine development is the significant viral diversity both within the same host and between hosts – though parts of the viral genome are conserved, making these excellent T cell targets in the context of a T cell vaccine. Some of the technologies we are developing include integral genetic adjuvants that will have applicability in a broad range of diseases.
More recently, my group has developed national and international programmes in stratified medicine in the UK and S.E. Asia. I led STOP-HCV, a UK-wide MRC-funded stratified medicine consortium (22 partners) that united clinicians, scientists and industry partners in studies of personalised medicine (STOP-HCV.ox.ac.uk/home). The consortium developed high-throughput viral sequencing, integrating these with host genetic analysis, RNA sequencing in blood and liver, immune parameters and blood biomarkers to give new insights into pathogenesis and to use these parameters to identify patients with HCV who will develop hepatocellular liver cancer (HCC) and other negative clinical outcomes. Building on STOP-HCV and my experience in liver disease and immunology, I am now leading the CRUK-funded DeLIVER programme that will develop and test early detection methodologies for the identification of HCC.
I lead additional programmes of work in immune-mediated liver disease. One of these, IgG4-related disease (of unknown aetiology), affects multiple organs and includes severe biliary and pancreatic pathology, characterised by a lymphocytic infiltrate with IgG4-producing B cells. We have established a large cohort of patients and a national registry (funded through EASL) and are currently performing detailed assessment of T and B cells profiles to further define pathogenesis.
My group is developing liver imaging techniques with the Oxford Centre for Clinical Magnetic Resonance Research for the non-invasive detection of organ fibrosis and inflammation.
As NIHR CLRN lead for hepatology in the Thames Valley I oversee a portfolio of clinical studies relating to gastroenterology and hepatology at the Oxford University NHS Trust, Oxford.

Recent publications
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Risk factors of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease in a cohort of patients with chronic hepatitis B.
Journal article
Kalafateli M. et al, (2025), Clinical gastroenterology and hepatology : the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association
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Treatment options to support the elimination of hepatitis C: an open-label, factorial, randomised controlled non-inferiority trial
Journal article
Cooke GS. et al, (2025), The Lancet, 405, 1769 - 1780
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Genetically distinct within-host subpopulations of hepatitis C virus persist after Direct-Acting Antiviral treatment failure
Journal article
Zhao L. et al, (2025), PLOS Pathogens, 21, e1012959 - e1012959
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Complement-mediated enhancement of SARS-CoV-2 antibody neutralisation potency in vaccinated individuals.
Journal article
Mellors J. et al, (2025), Nature communications, 16
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Whole genome sequencing of hepatitis B virus using tiled amplicon (HEPTILE) and probe based enrichment on Illumina and Nanopore platforms
Journal article
Lumley SF. et al, (2025), Scientific Reports, 15
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Reply to: “Understanding virologic heterogeneity in chronic hepatitis B treatment”
Journal article
Matthews PC. et al, (2025), JHEP Reports, 7, 101280 - 101280
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Adaptive clinical trial of AZD7442 and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in immunosuppressed patients highly vulnerable to infection with SARS-CoV-2 virus (RAPID-PROTECTION): protocol for a multicentre, interventional open-label, randomised controlled trial.
Journal article
Varley M. et al, (2025), BMJ open, 15
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Impact of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in patients with vascular liver diseases: Observations from a VALDIG multicenter study
Journal article
Perez-Campuzano V. et al, (2024), JHEP Reports, 6
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The Differential Complement, Fc and Chemokine Receptor Expression of B Cells in IgG4-Related Pancreatobiliary Disease and Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis and Its Relevance for Targeting B Cell Pathways in Disease.
Journal article
Cargill T. et al, (2024), Biomedicines, 12
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Distinct Requirements for CD4<sup>+</sup> T Cell Help for Immune Responses Induced by mRNA and Adenovirus-Vector SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines.
Journal article
Yong L. et al, (2024), European journal of immunology
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Greater preservation of SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibody responses following the ChAdOx1-S (AZD1222) vaccine compared with mRNA vaccines in haematopoietic cell transplant recipients.
Journal article
Colton H. et al, (2024), British journal of haematology
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Prospective cohort for early detection of liver cancer (Pearl): a study protocol
Journal article
Khanna K. et al, (2024), BMJ Open, 14, e085541 - e085541
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Corrigendum to ‘Impact of COVID-19 on immunocompromised populations during the Omicron era: insights from the observational population-based INFORM study’ [The Lancet Regional Health – Europe 35 (2023) 100747] (The Lancet Regional Health - Europe (2023) 35, (S2666776223001667), (10.1016/j.lanepe.2023.100747))
Journal article
Evans RA. et al, (2024), The Lancet Regional Health - Europe, 44
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Cost-Effectiveness of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Surveillance Strategies in Patients With Compensated Liver Cirrhosis in the United Kingdom.
Journal article
Garay OU. et al, (2024), Value in health : the journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research
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Immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccines in patients with follicular lymphoma receiving frontline chemoimmunotherapy.
Journal article
Lim YJ. et al, (2024), British journal of haematology, 205, 440 - 451
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Safety, tolerability, viral kinetics, and immune correlates of protection in healthy, seropositive UK adults inoculated with SARS-CoV-2: a single-centre, open-label, phase 1 controlled human infection study
Journal article
Jackson S. et al, (2024), The Lancet Microbe, 5, 655 - 668
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Effect of Prior ChAdOx1 COVID-19 Immunisation on T-Cell Responses to ChAdOx1-HBV.
Journal article
Davis C. et al, (2024), Vaccines, 12
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Immunogenicity of third dose COVID-19 vaccine strategies in patients who are immunocompromised with suboptimal immunity following two doses (OCTAVE-DUO): an open-label, multicentre, randomised, controlled, phase 3 trial.
Journal article
Goodyear CS. et al, (2024), The Lancet. Rheumatology, 6, e339 - e351
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Vascular adhesion protein-1 blockade in primary sclerosing cholangitis: Open-label, multicenter, single-arm, phase II trial.
Journal article
Hirschfield GM. et al, (2024), Hepatology communications, 8
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Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on routine surveillance for adults with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the UK
Preprint
Campbell C. et al, (2024)