Julie Ji, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Contact:
723 West Michigan Street SL-220J
Indianapolis, IN 46202
(317) 278-2275; office
(317) 278-2455; fax
jji@iupui.edu

Education:
B.S. Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1999
PhD., Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania 2004

Postdoctoral Training:
Cardiovascular Research, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Research Area:
Dr. Ji's areas of interest include endothelial mechano-biology, cell and nuclear mechanics, and signal transduction in human disease models. Currently, her research focuses on understanding dynamic and temporal cellular responses to physiological mechanical forces. For example, at the inner lining of blood vessels, the endothelium actively participates in maintaining vessel tone, wall permeability, and cell adhesion, while responding to hemodynamic forces of blood flow.

Understanding the impact of various in vivo flow conditions on endothelial biology would aid in the analysis of vascular disease mechanisms and treatments.

Using techniques such as gene manipulation, protein analysis, and fluorescent confocal imaging, analysis of structural activities are done at the cellular and sub-cellular scale in response to external forces. Studies on processes such as cell migration, division, and inflammatory responses can be integrated into multi-cellular, 3-D models.