Julie Claycomb, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics at University of Toronto
Former RTI Lab: Postdoctoral Fellow, Mello Lab
Training Period: 2004 - 2011
Prior Academic Institution: MIT
Awards: Life Sciences Research Fellow (LSRF) Award
Julie holds a longstanding interest in understanding how chromosomes are copied, built, and faithfully segregated during cell division. In addition to this interest in chromatin and chromosome biology, she has been fascinated by “non-canonical” means of regulating gene expression during animal development. During graduate school, Julie studied the mechanisms of DNA replication in Drosophila while in the lab of Dr. Terry Orr-Weaver (Whitehead Institute/MIT). Julie’s post-doctoral training in the lab of Dr. Craig Mello at the University of Mass. Medical School led her to a new model system, C. elegans, and the exciting (and extensive) world of gene regulation by tiny RNAs and their Argonaute cofactors. Current work in the Claycomb lab combines Julie's interests in chromatin, small RNA biology, and regulation of gene expression. Julie is the Canada Research Chair in Small RNA Biology, and received an Ontario Early Researcher Award in 2014. She holds a strong interest in professional development in the biological sciences, and has led the charge to develop career education curricula for students in the Department of Molecular Genetics. As the Graduate Coordinator and Associate Chair, she oversees the progress of nearly 300 graduate students in the department and is responsible for graduate student recruitment, community building, and scientific outreach activities as well. Julie enjoys teaching, both in the lab and in the classroom, and has taught in MGY200, MMG1010 in previous years. She currently teaches the topics of transcription, chromatin and genomics in MGY311. Julie hails from farmland in rural central Pennsylvania. There, her family raises beef cattle and operates a 50+ year-old ice cream and hamburger stand, “The Cow,” where the family’s beef cattle become tasty treats...(which is one reason why she has become a vegetarian!) Consistent with her long family tradition, Julie now considers herself to be a worm farmer and urban gardener.