Julia graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Mathematics. While at UMass Amherst, she focused her studies and research on the topics of tissue engineering, biomaterials, and wound healing. In her lab, Julia worked on a project aimed at analyzing the effects of the circadian rhythm on tissue engineering. For her Senior Honors Thesis, she successfully isolated extracellular vesicles from seeded collagen scaffolds with the ultimate goal of applying these to skin wound healing. During the Fulbright/RCSI PhD award, Julia will be transferring her research skills to work on nerve repair. She will be enhancing collagen nerve guidance conduits with electrical stimuli and gene therapy to treat severe peripheral nerve damage.