David Julian,

Basic Research. My basic science research area is comparative physiology, with a specific focus on cellular responses and adaptations of animals to environmental stressors. The overall goal of my research is to help elucidate the cellular, biochemical, and molecular adaptations that allow animals to avoid cellular damage when faced with extremes of oxidative stress, hydrogen sulfide, oxygen, salinity, pH and temperature. To investigate the impact of multiple stressors in cells and small organisms (such as C. elegans and larvae of marine invertebrates), my laboratory has developed high-content screening techniques to assess cellular and molecular responses to combinations of stressors or pharmaceutical compounds.

Mentoring and Education. My outreach and service efforts are devoted to STEM education transformation and biomedical workforce development. I direct two programs at UF that are designed to increase number of undergraduates from disadvantaged backgrounds who successfully pursue research careers: the MARC Gator-STAR program, and the SF2UF Bridge to Baccalaureate Program (a partnership with the two-year Santa Fe College); I am a co-director of the GATORAADE program (housed in the Department of Neuroscience); and I directed the BioScience Scholars Program (a combined BS/MS program for low-income students). I also established and directed the X-Laboratory Program (a cross-disciplinary undergraduate laboratory for freshmen that merges biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics while teaching basic research skills). Additional education-related research activity includes the development of online learning tools for teaching human physiology to undergraduates and medical students.