Julia C. van Kessel

Associate Professor of Biology
Microbiology graduate program
Biochemistry graduate program

Education

B.S. (2003), Utica College of Syracuse University, Biology
Ph.D. (2008), University of Pittsburgh, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
Postdoctoral Fellowship (2009 - 2013), Princeton University, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology

Julia received her B.S. in Biology in 2003 from Utica College in Utica, NY and worked in the lab of Dr. Lawrence Aaronson as an American Society for Microbiology Undergraduate Research Fellow. She received her Ph.D. in 2008 at the University of Pittsburgh. Julia worked in the lab of Dr. Graham Hatfull where she studied the recombination systems encoded by mycobacteriophages to develop a genetic system for manipulating Mycobacterium tuberculosis. As a graduate student, she received the Andrew Mellon Pre-doctoral Fellowship, Ivy R. McManus Award, and the Nat L. Sternberg Thesis Prize. Following her graduate work, she became a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Bonnie Bassler at Princeton University. She received an NIH/NRSA to support her research on LuxR transcriptional control of quorum-sensing genes. Julia began her independent career at Indiana University as an Assistant Research Scientist in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology in 2014. She was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2022!