Prof Julia Horsfield

Prof Julia Horsfield completed her PhD at the University of Otago in 1995. In 1996, she took up an HRC Overseas Postdoctoral Fellowship to work at the University of Adelaide. There, Julia first became acquainted with control of the cell cycle in development, and took part in forward genetic screens for cell cycle regulators in Drosophila.

Julia then moved to the University of Auckland in late 1999, where she used a forward genetic screen to identify new leukaemia genes in zebrafish. This resulted in the identification of a cell cycle protein – cohesin. Lucky enough to have the opportunity to start her own lab at the University of Otago in 2007, she has spent the last 15 years trying to understand developmental and cancer roles for the cohesin complex. During this time, she created and directs the Otago Zebrafish Facility, and was director for the Genetics Otago Research Centre from 2017-2021.