Julia Skoraczynski joined the Atherothrombosis and Vascular Biology laboratory as a Masters student, to pursue her passion of understanding how diseases occur and developing new therapeutics to address unmet clinical needs. Currently enrolled as a PhD student, she is conducting medical research under the supervision of Prof Karlheinz Peter, Dr Mitchell Moon and A/Prof James McFadyen.

Julia’s project focuses on breaking down occlusive blood clots that cause strokes and heart attacks. Improved methods for clot lysis are essential for reducing the morbidity and mortality of patients, and for providing more accessible care to those in rural areas. One approach is through using targeted drug-delivery systems, to deliver high local concentrations of therapeutics directly to the site of interest. By developing novel drug-delivery systems, for the targeted break down of occlusive clots, Julia aims to improve the efficacy and safety of current clinically used clot-busting drugs.

She previously completed her Honours year in the Monash University Pharmacology department under Prof Hodgson, investigating muscle necrosis post snake envenoming.