DrJulia Di Stefano

Since July 2025, Dr. Julia Di Stefano is a Postdoctoral Researcher at University College Dublin, in the laboratory of Dr. Dearbhaile Dooley. Currently, her research centres on the inflammatory response of microglia after spinal cord injury. Specifically, her work is focussed on the replication of the inflammatory aspect of spinal cord injury using both in vivo mouse models and in vitro brain organoids. Additionally, her work investigates the use of hydrogels to improve the delivery of anti-inflammatory molecules.

Julia’s academic journey began in Italy, where she earned both her Bachelor’s and her Master’s degree in Neurobiology from the Università degli Studi di Torino. She later moved to Belgium to complete her PhD at the University of Antwerp, developing a deep expertise in neuroimmunology and brain organoids modelling.