Julia has established and managed the Genomics CTU (Core Technology Unit) and its associated projects since 2017. She manages a team of 11 technicians and oversees all assay development, quality control, budgeting and business development for the unit.

Background

Julia began her career in Genomics as a postdoctural student in Queen's. Her research focused on the tumour suppressor gene BRCA1 that is mutated in the germ line of women with a genetic predisposition to breast and ovarian cancer.  During this time Julia developed and mastered a wide range of molecular laboratory skills with specialised experience in transcriptional regulation and genome wide analysis. 

Julia then undertook a secondment at Almac Diagnostics as Team Lead for NGS Assay Development within Internal Product Development, with a focus on developing novel, and evaluating up-to-date, research platforms for the migration of diagnostic assays.

These posts provided Julia with experience and understanding of the importance of establishing and implementing succinct workflows, competency training, S.O.Ps and generic workbooks, establishing new methodologies within a unit, as well as a sound understanding in genomic applications across the field of life sciences. She also learnt about the financial management and running of a lab, how to lead and negotiate, and how to establish, build and maintain collaborations between researchers and industry. 

All of this has encouraged Julia to become an ambassador for the importance of genomic research to ultimately benefit public health. 

Find out more about Julia's career at LinkedIn

Current roles and responsibilities

In July 2017, Julia helped establish, and has since managed, the Genomics Core technology Unit (GCTU) and its associated projects at Queen's. This includes overseeing the building of a new laboratory to suit  Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) applications and workflows.

The GCTU was set up to help facilitate the widespread adoption of genomics research within the University by providing a high quality, cost effective, fast and reliable genomics service. The GCTU offers a centralized Next and Third Generation Sequencing facility that has a collaborative ethos, working with Queen’s research teams and collaborators to develop bespoke projects and workflows, enhancing research output by providing technical assistance and consultancy, as well as access to the latest technologies. 

Julia manages a team off 11 technicians and oversees all assay development, quality control, budgeting and business development of the unit. 

Julia has also established robust relationships with core facilities across Ireland and the mainland UK, and has developed working collaborations with companies such as Almac, AFBI and RANDOX. The GCTU has recently been enrolled as a genomic support for the major European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) initiative of sequencing reference quality genomes for all European species and as such Julie has been able to extend her global network for biodiversity researchers.

The success of the facility has allowed the work within the unit to bridge from genomics medical research into the genomics fields within agriculture (land and sea), metagenomic analysis and single cell sequencing in both fields.

Contribution to specific research initiative or project

Over the last 18 months Julia have overseen the design and implementation of the workflow for sequencing all COVID-19 positive cases from Northern Ireland as part of the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium COG-UK. A Belfast hub was established to provide the rapid whole-genome-sequencing of positive samples to implement the COVID-19 surveillance programme across Northern Ireland. 

A Team, including Queen's COG-UK PI Dr David Simpson, was established and has delivered over 40000 sequences, and reports weekly to the Public Health Agency. The unit processes all positive cases identified through swab testing the wider population and supports overflow sequencing from swab testing in Public Health labs and hospitals, and health and care workers. 

The programme was implemented within 8 weeks and Julie was responsible for compiling the business model within the unit; which included financial forecasting, risk assessment and mitigation analysis, consumable resourcing, lab-scheduling, and implementing a safe COVID environment. 

Meeting short turn around times, when faced with gobal shortages in consumable supplies and BREXIT border delays, along with operating within restricted COVID measures and keeping team morale high, was extremely challenging but Julia led by example; and the Queen's COVID-19 Genomics Consortium (QCOG) has been shortlisted for the Team of the Year in the Staff Excellence Awards, and has played a vital part in helping to keep the Northern Ireland public safe.