Julia 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, she 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. Cohesin is a protein complex found in all animals, including humans, and is important for cell division and DNA repair. The main function of cohesin is to hold replicated chromosomes together until cells divide, but it also plays key roles in gene expression. The overall goal of her research is to understand the mechanism of cohesin contribution. She hopes her results from using the exemplary animal model, the zebrafish, will provide important and novel contributions to cancer research.