After receiving his B.S. degree in Physics at Tulane University in New Orleans, he enrolled in the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program at LSU Health Sciences Center. In 2001, he left the cajun and creole influences of Louisiana for the rolling hills of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. At the University of North Carolina, Dr. Barnes spent his time working to understand protein trafficking and polarized cell signaling in epithelial cells and neurons, first with Dr. Sharon Milgram, and later with Dr. Franck Polleux. During his last year at UNC, he served as a fellow of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation exploring signaling pathways involved in axon formation.