Julie Brill, PhD

Excellence in Undergraduate Laboratory Teaching in Life Sciences

Department of Molecular Genetics

Dr. Brill is a Full Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Director of the Collaborative Graduate Program in Developmental Biology. She is also a Senior Scientist in the Cell Biology Program at The Hospital for Sick Children. Her research uses the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to address how a class of membrane lipids called phosphatidylinositol phosphates drives cell morphogenesis during animal development. In recognition of her contributions, she was elected a 2015 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.     Since 2006, she has taught the third-year Molecular Genetics undergraduate laboratory course, Principles of Genetic Analysis.

Reflection
As an undergraduate, I attended a small liberal arts college where strong mentoring of undergraduate students by faculty was the norm. There, I was inspired by one of my professors to pursue a career in research and teaching. At University of Toronto, I have had the pleasure of teaching students basic principles of genetics and helping them learn to apply these principles to actual experiments in my lab. I am delighted that many of my former students have chosen to pursue careers in science or science-related fields.

“Facts which at first seem improbable will, even on scant explanation, drop the cloak which has hidden them and stand forth in naked and simple beauty.”- Galileo Galilei