Julie Blommaert: new territories
26 Jul 2022
“We can’t escape evolution so it’s about making it work for us,” says Dr Julie Blommaert, Post-doctoral Scientist in the Seafood Production group. “There are so many insights you can get from using an evolutionary lens that can have practical outcomes in terms of improving aquaculture and fish welfare.
"In addition to my natural curiosity for finding the interesting bits in the genome, I’d like to create more impact in terms of things like animal welfare, food production and security and even climate change solutions,” Julie says.
Julie joined Plant & Food Research at the end of 2021. “My research is digging into things in the genome that can have a biological impact, like helping improve snapper for aquaculture. We are exploring the use of genomics to look at things like growth, sex identification and the gut microbiome. If we can understand what microbes and conditions are good for snapper, in terms of growth and disease resistance, then that will help us create those conditions.”
Julie says one of the common challenges for genomic researchers is dealing with enormous quantities of data. “Our job as scientists is to distil all this data into something useful and identify something that is biologically meaningful.”
Building on her natural interest in biology and animals, Julie discovered genetics at school. Spending a day in the lab with a scientist at Cawthron sparked an interest in lab work. Following a science degree at Otago University, Julie completed her PhD in evolutionary biology in Austria, an experience she describes as “being thrown in at the deep end.”
Being involved in her parent’s bakery as a child also stirred Julie’s scientific curiosity. “I’m strongly of the opinion that making food is science; it’s just applied. My father always explained to us what he was doing in the bakery and I think that made me more curious about finding out how things work,” says Julie.
Doing post-graduate studies in Europe seemed natural to Julie, who was born in Belgium where she lived before moving to the US and then New Zealand during her childhood. Since childhood, embracing new experiences has been an important part of Julie’s life. “I’m proud of having moved around a lot, especially on my own. I think moving around makes you see the world differently and maybe see the big issues a bit more.”
Last year, the European Space Agency invited Julie to the second stage of astronaut recruitment. “One thing that stuck with me throughout the process was them saying ‘don’t rule yourself out’. I think it’s really important to put yourself out there; you never know what can happen.”
