Meet our Team:
Our Coach and Cheerleader
Julie Claycomb, Ph.D.
Julie holds a longstanding interest in understanding how chromosomes are copied, built, and faithfully segregated during cell division. In addition to this interest in chromatin and chromosome biology, she has been fascinated by “non-canonical” means of regulating gene expression during animal development. During graduate school, Julie studied the mechanisms of DNA replication in Drosophila while in the lab of Dr. Terry Orr-Weaver (Whitehead Institute/MIT). As a postdoc, she came to appreciate RNA in all of its glory in the lab of Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Craig Mello, at UMass Medical School. There, she was inspired to think outside of the box about the bizarre and cool epigenetic functions of small RNA pathways in the C. elegans germline. She started her lab in the Dept. of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto in 2011, and was the Tier II Canada Research Chair in Small RNA Biology from 2012-2022. Julie was promoted to the rank of Full Professor in 2023.
Work in the Claycomb lab combines Julie's interests in chromatin, small RNA biology, and regulation of gene expression. Over the years, her team has focused on understanding how small RNA pathways regulate gene expression throughout development, mediate epigenetic inheritance, and can be deployed for intercellular communication. The team is now excited about all of the new avenues of research that have emerged from their recent comprehensive and systematic characterization of all 19 C. elegans Argonautes (Seroussi, et al., eLife 2023), and some new lab members are taking the team’s research in fun new directions as well (pathogens! RNA communication! modelling Argonaute syndrome!).
In addition to her team’s research, Julie truly enjoys teaching, mentoring, and building community. She was fortunate to be the Graduate Program Director of her department (~400 students) for six years, and had the privilege of developing novel graduate student recruitment approaches, implementing innovative new courses, spearheading new professional development initiatives, and building community. For these contributions, she won early and mid-career Graduate Mentorship Awards from the U of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine. For the past 9 years, Julie has also mentored talented groups of students who bring together our Toronto RNA community via the monthly seminars of Toronto RNA Club and the yearly symposium of Toronto RNA Enthusiasts’ Day (TREnD). She is currently enjoying roles in fostering our broader RNA and C. elegans communities as the Secretary of RNA Canada ARN, a recent former Board Member of The RNA Society and a co-organizer of the RNA Society Annual Meeting in Montreal (2026), and the Canadian Representative on the International “Worm Board.” Julie also works to help researchers share their work as a Senior Editor of the journal GENETICS, and for the past few years, she has co-organized an impactful virtual seminar series among worm small RNA researchers that draws in over 125 researchers each month. Julie enjoys teaching, both in the lab and in the classroom, and has taught in MGY200, and MMG1010/Colloquium in previous years. She currently teaches the topics of transcription, chromatin and genomics in the 3rd year Molecular Biology Course, MGY311, instructs a group of second year “small group” seminars, and leads a graduate course with Dr. Craig Smibert on Post-Transcriptional Regulation (MMG1326). In fall 2024, she was a pinch hitter in the graduate Genetics “Core course” MMG1001, which was a lot of fun. Julie views herself as the “coach” and cheerleader of the lab, and feels like the best part of her job as watching her lab members grow, make new discoveries, and achieve their goals.
Julie hails from farmland in rural central Pennsylvania, and is a first-in-her-family academic. Growing up, she never realized that being a scientist and professor was a career possibility, so she takes an interest in sharing this career path with kids in her son’s elementary school and where ever else possible. Back in Pennsylvania, her family still raises beef cattle and operates a 60+ year-old ice cream and hamburger stand, “The Cow,” where the family’s beef cattle become tasty treats...(which is one reason why she has become a vegetarian!) Consistent with her family farming and small business operating traditions, Julie now considers herself to be a “worm farmer” in her own lab and views the lab as a small business with an amazing team that she is entrusted to care for and coach!
Our Intrepid Grad Students
Mathias Renaud
Mathias grew up outside of Windsor, ON. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Waterloo, where he focused on Molecular Genetics. His background in Computational Biology is also a huge benefit to the team. Although he never worked with worms before, Mathias quickly adapted and thoroughly enjoys watching them go about their lives through the microscope. This kind of makes sense, because as a little kid, Mathias always wanted to be a “bug scientist.” He feels like he wasn’t that far off now that he’s studying worms and is calling this a win! For his PhD thesis, Mathias is characterizing the functions of small RNA pathways during spermatogenesis (#WormSperm). He’s currently sitting on piles and piles of genomic data that (thanks to his computational background!) he is now plowing through the analysis of! Aside from his key role in the lab as the current “senior” grad student, Mathias earned the title of “superdad” in 2023, with the birth of his son. Mathias is also the lab’s reigning Spotify guru and curates the best playlists for every type of lab outing. When it comes to favo(u)rite foods, Mathias is a bit of a foodie, and always knows the best and hippest things to eat in Toronto, but overall, Mathias’ current fave is fried chicken sandwiches. Much like enjoying a tasty chicken sandwich, Mathias is focused on enjoying each step of the way in his scientific journey! Keep crushing it, Mathias!
Sebastián Fuentes-Otálora
Sebastián was born in Villavicencio Colombia and grew up in Rockyview, just outside of Calgary, AB. Sebastián did his BSc in Cellular Molecular Microbial Biology at the University of Calgary, and joined MoGen in 2021. His project is aimed at understanding the composition and functions of phase separated germ granules, specifically focusing on the AGOs that are present in germ granules. Sebastián’s project started with studying a few AGOs and has rapidly expanded as he got TurboID up and running successfully in our lab. One of his favourite parts about working with worms is that they are translucent and super amenable to microscopy-this is obviously important and useful for his project, too! Sebastián has developed a passion for research and would love to run his own lab in the future. He’s been involved in grad student recruitment and outreach efforts, hoping to show Latinos and students from other underrepresented communities that there is a place for them in science! Outside of the lab, Sebastián has an “oddly wide array” of hobbies-from watching football (go Colts!) to reading SciFi, and running D&D. He loves to cook, and tries to tackle a new cooking challenge every week. (He makes a killer gumbo, folks!) A lot of Sebastián’s favourite foods are Colombian, including ajiaco, a potato soup popular in Bogota. While the rest of his family is into non-contact sports, Sebastián went down a very different path, playing 3 years of varsity football and 2 years of varsity rugby (and he still plays!). Remarkably, even with these “hobbies” and others like snowboarding, he’s never broken a single bone. Let’s keep it that way, Sebastián! Safety first!
Ismail Irshaid
Ismail is Palestinian, but had the unique experience of growing up in several places, including Palestine, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Canada. He completed his HBSc in Biochemistry at the University of Toronto before joining MoGen in 2024. In fact, Ismail is a former “fly guy,” having performed his fourth year honours thesis a few benches away in the lab of Dr. Craig Smibert. From his undergrad work and now his PhD project, it’s clear that Ismail is keenly interested in gene expression. As an undergrad, Ismail worked on the roles of GW182 and TIS11 (RNA Binding Proteins) in early Drosophila development. For his PhD project, Ismail is going to conquer the world of Argonaute/small RNA pathways, by figuring out HOW each of the Worm AGOs regulates gene expression. While this project is a huge undertaking, Ismail is off to a roaring start, CRISPRing worms left and right and building many new tools to enable his project. Stay tuned for some really handy new tools, strains, and reagents from Ismail in the coming years, guys! Ismail is very diplomatic when considering which is better: flies or worms, and tells us he loves the transparency of worms because it give you a “front row seat to development in real time!” While the small army of worms Ismail has created may make it seem like he spends all of this time in the lab, he also has a ton of other great hobbies that he enjoys, including playing and learning new musical instruments (he’s an alto sax player and is learning to play the harmonica, with his sights set on learning trumpet eventually), reading (and not just research papers!), baking bread (yea, the fancy kind), and cooking. He loves jazz music-including the “beautiful rhythms, rich foundation and history, and its seemingly infinite nature.” Ismail’s favourite foods include traditional Levantine dishes, because-well, do we really have to explain this? Levantine food is amazing and nutritious. His favourite is Ouzi, an aromatic rice dish with beef/lamb, peas and carrots, and topped with roasted almond slices/pine nuts. He’s also a fan of kiwi fruits (he eats ‘em with the skin on-that’s where the healthy stuff is, people!) and carrots. One more fun fact about Ismail: he can wiggle and move his ears. A man of many talents!
Ellanore Rughani
Ellanore grew up in Ottawa, Ontario, aka“our great nation’s capital!” as an “unashamed” theatre kid. She performed her HBSc in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Ottawa before joining MoGen in 2024. Ellanore aims to stay curious in all facets of science and life, learning a little about a lot of things…or in the case of her PhD, a “lot about very little?” (her words!) Just kidding, though, because Ellanore is kinda doing it all with her PhD project. She’s using both worms and iPSCs, to study the molecular functions of AGOs carrying mutations found in patients with Argonaute Syndromes. So, she’s bound to learn a LOT about a LOT of stuff. Like many of us, Ellanore was a new wormie when she joined the lab, and she’s loving all of the amazing resources available in the worm field. She’s also a fan of just watching those little guys squirm around and following their tracks-it’s kind of meditative, right? It may not be a surprise that outside of the lab, Ellanore is also into lots of stuff-she loves to read (Vonnegut, Morrisson), is into intarsia knitting, cooking and baking, loves soccer, lifting, and running long distances! Ellanore has eaten the same birthday dinner/dessert since she was 7, so these are probably her faves by default: lasagna and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Yum to carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, Ellanore. Same.
Our Perceptive Postdoctoral Fellows
Postdoctoral Fellow: Dr. Volker Nitschko
Volker grew up in southern Germany and studied biochemistry and chemistry at the LMU in Munich where he developed his fascination with sRNA pathways. During his thesis work he worked in the lab of Prof. Dr. Klaus Förstemann and uncovered the role of the Drosophila RBP Blanks in the nuclear export of siRNA precursors. In 2021 Volker followed his interest in sRNA pathways that led him to Canada. He is currently studying the role of miRNA-binding Argonaute proteins in the C. elegans germline. For the future, Volker has his eyes on a PI position to combine his passions for research, teaching, and mentoring the next generation of exceptional scientists. Volker has been a continuous and dedicated mentor of undergraduates and high school students over the past few years, and particularly enjoys mentoring students through the REO STEM program each March break. Volker is also deeply committed to building community, as a part of the GENETICS peer review training program, an active member of the U of T Faculty of Medicine Postdoc Association, and a repeat organizer of TREnD (Toronto RNA Enthusiasts’ Day). Aside from being an RNA Enthusiast, Volker is also an enthusiast of games, running a D&D group and organizing monthly game nights at the lab. Game on, Volker!
Postdoctoral Fellow: Dr. Victoria García Castiglioni
Victoria grew up in Montevideo, Uruguay and Valencia, Spain. She majored in Biotechnology at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, then got an MSc in Neuroscience at the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, and ultimately a PhD in Developmental Biology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Her postdoctoral work with Dr. Santiago Elena on Orsay virus led her to explore the iSAGOs (intestinal Secondary Argonautes) here in the Claycomb Lab on a Marie Sklodowska-Curie (MSC) Global Fellowship. Although she’s accustomed to warmer temperatures than Canada generally provides and arrived in the dead of winter, Victoria has adapted very well, and finds the summers here somewhat “refreshing”! When she’s not in the lab, Victoria enoys running, reading, playing with her adorable pup, and cooking vegan food. Victoria is a fan of all things sweets, and notably, the lab’s consumption of Bloomer’s <vegan> Donuts has gone way up since Victoria joined us! Yum! Victoria is a CRISPR whiz and has been teaching the rest of the lab all of her pro tips. Thanks, Victoria! She’s been been working with worms for a while now, and perhaps it’s no surprise absolutely loves worms and thinks they are the best model organism (a totally unbiased opinion, of course). She also thinks that working with a whole organism is a great way to understand the complexity of biological processes. So true! Ultimately, Victoria is in science for all the best reasons-she is curiosity driven and wants to to contribute to the field of biology by learning and describing how things work. Perfect! That’s how we roll in our lab, so let’s gooooooooo, Victoria!
Postdoctoral Fellow: Dr. Isaac Martínez-Ugalde
Isaac grew up in Mexico and studied Microbiology for his HBSc at the Autonomous University of Querétaro in Mexico, but his fascination with computers started long before that. Naturally, this led him to the world of bioinformatics. During his MSc in Integrative Biology at CINVESTAV, Mexico with, he was amazed by how Argonaute proteins can mediate ecological interactions, which inspired him to dive deeper into the field. For his PhD at the University of Edinburgh with our lab’s long-time collaborator Dr. Cei Abreu-Goodger, Isaac studied an Argonaute protein expressed by some parasitic nematodes called exWAGO, which plays a key role in helping these parasites evade the host immune responses (more here!). During his PhD, Isaac came to our lab as a visiting scholar. Despite visiting in a chilly October, Isaac decided that he could handle the Canadian weather, and joined our lab for a postdoc. In the Claycomb lab, Isaac is working to understand how C. elegans and bacteria that serve as sources of food or are pathogens can communicate molecularly via small RNAs and Argonautes. Since he arrived (like Victoria, in the dead of winter), Isaac has been the lab’s resident computational guru. And this highlights another of Isaac’s core values and passions: teaching and empowering others on how to use computational tools and navigate the sometimes intimidating world of programming. Isaac has already become a key “secret weapon” in many projects in the lab, and his extensive use of the cluster has maybe gotten us in a bit of “trouble” with cluster administrators a few times! Oops! Guess it’s time for your own server, Isaac! Isaac bills himself as a true “foodie” and since he’s Mexican, he thinks it’s only fitting that his favorite food is tacos de sudadero!
Our Determined Research Associate and Technician
Research Associate: Dr. Samantha Del Borrello
Dr. Del Borrello (or Dr. Sam, as we all know her in lab) was born and raised in Toronto. She earned her BSc as a Human Biology: Genes Genetics and Biotechnology specialist at the U of Toronto. Along the way she took lots of Developmental Biology courses, which may have influenced her love of worms and brought her back to the Claycomb lab, after performing her first undergraduate research project in the lab a “few” years ago. Sam also did her PhD at the U of T, studying the effects of anti-helminthic compounds on worm metabolism, and loves working with worms, because "the community is awesome and worms are such a powerful model for being so tiny and simple.” Sam loves worms so much that she even has a worm tattoo! Sam also loves puzzles, reading, and crafts; in fact she is a real “maker” and “DIYer.” She isn’t afraid to take apart a broken piece of equipment and figure out what makes it tick or 3-D print a new part to repair it. She also loves cooking and her favourite dish is pasta with homemade tomato sauce and lots of parmesan! Sam is always looking to learn and grow in everything she does, and enjoys passing what she learns on to newbies. She can't wait to be the seasoned Claycomb lab guru! At the moment, Sam is also busy as a supermom, following the birth of her son earlier this year. Congrats, Sam and fam! :)
Technician: Karen Sit
Karen was born and raised in beautiful Belleville, ON. She just completed her HBSc at the University of Toronto this year, where she completed a double major in pharmacology and quantitative biology. After a third year ROP in the lab of our collaborator Dr. Asher Cutter, Karen was hooked on evolutionary genetics and worms. She did her fourth year thesis in our lab, investigating how Argonaute and small RNA populations vary across a range of Clade V nematodes. She’s probably sequenced small RNAs from more species of worms than any other wormie out there! Karen’s fourth year project wrapped up right around the time Sam went on parental leave, so it seemed like a perfect transition to have Karen take the helm as our technician! As technician, Karen oversees lab operations (what’s broken in the lab now, Karen?), and has her pipets in several key projects in the lab, including continuing her undergrad project, and Isaac’s investigations of cross-species RNA communication. Her favourite thing about working with worms is how they are so docile and usually easy to work with (although some of Karen’s “special species” have been a bit of a challenge!), yet such a powerful model for understanding genetics, development, and evolution. Her favourite worm fun fact is that the evolutionary distance between C. elegans and C. briggsae (which look nearly identical on a plate) is roughly the same as between mice and humans! Crazy! When she’s not busy in the lab (which is always!), Karen is an avid birder and always has a pair of binoculars on hand! She loves sharing this knowledge with anyone who’s interested-birds and worms are cool! Karen also enjoys baking and live theater, and she plays several instruments including piano, guitar, and clarinet! And PS-she’s a leftie! While she’s busy as our lab’s technician for now, she has her sights set on grad school in the coming years, and any lab who recruits Karen will be lucky to have her!
Our Keen Undergraduate Students
2025 Summer UROP: Tabitha Lehnert, McGill University
Tabitha grew up in Toronto and is entering her third year of a Biochemistry degree at McGill University. While she’s still figuring out her research interests, she’s fascinated by the world of epigenetics! Her project this summer has involved generating in vivo microRNA reporter assays to test how different microRNAs/AGOs interact with and identify their targets. This was Tabitha’s first experience working with worms, but she’s really enjoyed them, as they’re “a really useful tool to study gene regulation” and, TBH she really enjoys just watching them wiggle around! Tabitha’s favourite foods include pizza, banana bread, and a nice crunchy apple, and when she’s not in the lab, she enjoys running, painting, taking long walks while listening to music, and hanging with her two cats. Like Karen, Tabitha is part of our lab’s leftie crew! :) Good luck back at McGill this fall, Tabitha! We’ve enjoyed having you as part of the team!
Calling all undergrads!
This could be you! If you’re interested in thesis or summer undergraduate research positions, please send an email to julie dot claycomb at utoronto dot ca, including your transcript, CV, and a statement of your research interests. You can also check out opportunities for undergraduate research, including summer fellowships in our Department, here.
Lab Alumni
Madeline Prevec, M.Sc. Student (2020-2023) [PhD Student, University of Tokyo]
Dr. Amanda Charlesworth, Ph.D. Student (2016-2023) [Center for Forensic Science]
Samantha Ormesher, Technician (2023) [Nursing Student, University of Toronto]
Aksel Gomel, Undergraduate Student (2023) [Graduate Student, University of Toronto]
Dr. Ruxandra Molnar, Research Associate (2019-2022)
Aida Sobhani, M.Sc., Technician (2022) [Technician, UBC]
Yuk Wa Lee, Joint M.Sc. Student with Dr. Karen Yuen of Hong Kong University (2020-2022) [Technician]
Kexin Tian, Undergraduate Student (2022-2023) [Graduate Student, Cornell University]
Merveille Madeda, Undergraduate Student (2022)
Elli Hung, Undergraduate Student (2022)
Dr. Uri Seroussi, Ph.D. Student (2017-2021) [Web Developer, Computational Support at several Digital Art Start-ups]
Adam Sundby, M.Sc. Student (2019-2021) [Lab Technician]
Lucie Perillat, Undergraduate Student (2021) [Graduate Student, University of Toronto]
Stephanie Musa, Undergraduate Student (2021)
Annette Diao, Undergraduate Student (2020-2021) [Graduate Student, MIT]
Robert Lao, Undergraduate Student (2018-2021) [MD/Ph.D. Student University of Toronto]
Melissa Wong, M.Sc. Student (2016-2018) [Sales Representative, VWR]
Julia Sobotka, M.Sc. Student (2016-2018) [Clinical Research Coordinator, Fred A. Litwin Centre in Genetic Medicine]
(An)Drew Lugowski, M.Sc., Computational Biologist (2017-2018) [Canadian Air Force]
Dr. Monica Wu, Ph.D. Student (2011-2018) [Senior Scientist, Sanofi mRNA Center of Excellence]
Dr. Christopher Wedeles, Ph.D. Student (2011-2018) [Senior Scientist, Gate Bioscience]
Ruyan Li, Summer Undergraduate Researcher from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (2018)
Dr. Kataryzna Tyc, Computational Post-doctoral Fellow (2016) [Assistant Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University]
Amena (Amy) Nabih, M.Sc. Student (2014-2016) [Ph.D. Student, ETH Zurich]
Dr. Tuhin Maity, MBA, Post-doctoral Fellow (2014-2016) [Associate Director, Health Technology Assessment and Evidence Synthesis, PDCI Market Access, a Division of McKesson Canada]
Matthew Tran, Undergraduate Student (2016)
Aldis Krizus, Technician (2014-2016)
Bakhtiyar Taghizada, Undergraduate Student (2015)
Vivian Cheung, M.Sc. Student (2012-2014) [Research Operations Coordinator at Public Health Ontario]
Michelle Francisco, M.Sc. Student (2011-2014) [Lab manager at Huang Lab, Sick Kids]
Laila Zaman, Undergraduate Student (2014)
Hasina Dhanani, Undergraduate Student (2014)
Samantha Del Borrello, Undergraduate Student (2013-2014) [Research Associate, Claycomb Lab]
Daniel Li, Undergraduate Student (2013)
Wendy Cao, Undergraduate Student (2011-2013) [Postdoctoral Fellow, Columbia University]
Ivy Su, Technician (2012)
Eesha Sharma, Undergraduate Student (2011-2012) [CEO, Lamar Health]
Monica Tolosa, Undergraduate Student (2011-2012) [Graduate Student, University of Toronto]
Scenes from around the Claycomb Lab...
