Julaine Roffers-Agarwal

Julaine Roffers-Agarwal is a senior scientist in the laboratory of Dr. Laura Gammill in the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development at the University of Minnesota. She earned her B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Southern California, followed by a Masters of Science in Biological Sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology and Genetics from the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Roffers-Agarwal has developed skills in early vertebrate embryological development manipulation and observation. Her graduate work in Jeffrey Miller's lab involved examining the molecular mechanisms that impacted Xenopus laevis gastrulation and neurulation, including training with international leaders in developmental biology at the Marine Biological Laboratory. She then moved to the Gammill lab for postdoctoral studies and subsequent senior scientist position, using both mouse and chicken models to dissect mechanisms that control neural crest induction and migration using a combination of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and embryological manipulation techniques. Her more than a decade of work has uncovered novel neural crest biology including factors governing cell-cell signaling, phosphorylation, and lysine methylation.