Julie Claycomb, PhD

Early Career Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentorship

Department of Molecular Genetics

Dr. Claycomb completed her PhD studying DNA replication using fruit flies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She went on to perform her Postdoctoral training with Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Craig Mello at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, studying gene regulation by RNAi and small RNA pathways. She joined the University of Toronto in 2011 and is now an Associate Professor. Dr. Claycomb 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 of the Department, she is responsible for overseeing the graduate program and curriculum, graduate student recruitment, community building, and scientific outreach activities in the Department. Dr. Claycomb finds teaching, both in the lab and in the classroom, to be one of the most fulfilling aspects of her career. At the undergraduate level, she has taught in MGY200, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, and currently enjoys teaching the topics of transcription, chromatin and genomics in MGY311, Molecular Biology. At the graduate level, she co-developed and co-instructed a novel and transformative  course, MMG1010, Molecular Genetics Colloquium, which strengthens  first year  students’ communication skills; and builds a sense of community through the science of molecular genetics