Gurevich Lab

Julia is a junior at Vanderbilt University studying Neuroscience and Medicine, Health, and Society. Her goal is to earn an M.D./Ph.D. to become a physician-scientist specializing in pediatric hematology/oncology. Previously, she has worked on the Development of a Novel Interleukin-27 (IL-27) Targeted Gene Therapy for Therapeutic Applications (Purdue

University Institute for Cancer Research) and presented her results at the 2023 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists and the 2023 Vanderbilt Undergraduate Research Fair. She has also presented a separate research project and served as a panelist at Eternacon 2020, an international science conference hosted by Stanford University. In addition to research, she serves as an ambassador at the VA Medical Center, tutors, serves as an ambassador for Gift of Life, and is captain of the field hockey team.

In the lab her project focuses on site-directed mutagenesis of JNK3-activating arrestin-3-derived peptide T16 to determine mutations that facilitate or reduce T16-dependent JNK3 activation in cultured cells. Peptide activators and inhibitors of anti-proliferative kinase JNK3 have therapeutic potential in disorders caused by excessive cell proliferation and excessive cell death, respectively.