Prof Julia Cordero
Local and Systemic Functions of the Intestine in Health and Disease
Research in our laboratory aims to elucidate the mechanisms by which intestinal stem cells (ISCs) adapt and respond to changes in their micro- and macro-environment, how the intestine senses and controls whole-body homeostasis, and how intestinal dysfunction can lead to broader organismal instability.
We use the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a primary research model system due to its unparalleled genetic power and amenability for multi-organ in vivo studies combined with experiments in mammalian systems.
Biography
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Recent Publications
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Biography
Julia Cordero was born and raised in Argentina. After completing her University studies in her home country, Julia moved to the USA to her PhD studies in the laboratory of Ross Cagan at Washington University in St Louis where she studied developmental tissue patterning in Drosophila. In 2009, Julia moved to Owen Sansom’s group at the CRUK Beatson Institute in Glasgow for her postdoctoral work, funded by Marie-Curie and EMBO long-term fellowships. During her post-doc Julia discovered novel mechanisms driving intestinal regeneration and cancer using both flies and mice. Julia started her independent research group towards the end of 2014 at the Institute of Cancer Sciences, University of Glasgow, funded by a Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship from the Royal Society, a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship from the Wellcome Trust and Royal Society and, most recently, a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship. Julia is Professor of Systemic Signaling Biology at the University of Glasgow and Honorary Group Leader at the CRUK Beatson Institute. Julia’s laboratory combines Drosophila and mouse model systems to study local and whole-body functions of the intestine in health and disease. Outside of the lab, Julia enjoys travelling, physical exercise and, most of all, spending time with her family.
Education and qualifications
- 2007: Ph.D. degree in the Molecular Cell Biology Program, Washington University School of Medicine. Saint Louis, MO, USA. Thesis Advisor: Dr. Ross L. Cagan
- 1999: “Licenciada en Biología Molecular”, San Luis National University. San Luis, Argentina.
Appointments
- 2016–present: Senior Research Fellow, School of Cancer Sciences, University of Glasgow.
- 2016–present: Honorary Group Leader, Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute, Glasgow.
- 2016–present: Senior Research Fellow. Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre. Institute of Cancer Sciences, University of Glasgow.
- 2014–2016: Junior Research Fellow. Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre. Institute of Cancer Sciences. University of Glasgow. Glasgow, United Kingdom.
- 2009–2014: Postdoctoral Fellow, Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute
- 2007–2008: Post-doctoral Fellow, Mount Sinai School of Medicine New York, NY. USA
- 2000–2002: Research Assistant, Department of Internal Medicine, Renal Division, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, USA
Funding
- China Scholarship Council, Wellcome Trust, The Royal Society, CRUK, UKRI: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Panel
Recent Publications
2025
Medina AB, Perochon J, Tian Y, Johnson CT, Holcombe J, Ramesh P, Polcowñuk S, Yu Y, Cordero JB. Neuroendocrine control of intestinal regeneration through the vascular niche in Drosophila. Dev Cell. 2025.
Phillips JA, Perochon J, Johnson CT, Walker M, Nixon C, Hughes M, Barros-Carvalho A, Yu Y, Mitchell L, Blyth K, Vassalli M, Cordero JB. Intestinal Tissue Mechanics Regulate Angiogenesis and Stem Cell Proliferation via Vascular Piezo. bioRxiv. 2025:2025.2004.2016.649133.
2022
Chen Z, Cordero J, Alqarni AM, Slack C, Zeidler MP, Bellantuono I. Zoledronate Extends Health Span and Survival via the Mevalonate Pathway in a FOXO-dependent Manner. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2022;77:1494-1502.
Medina A, Bellec K, Polcowñuk S, Cordero JB. Investigating local and systemic intestinal signalling in health and disease with Drosophila. Dis Model Mech. 2022; 15:dmm049332.
2021
Guillermin O, Angelis N, Sidor CM, Ridgway R, Baulies A, Kucharska A, Antas P, Rose MR, Cordero J, Sansom O, Li VSW, Thompson BJ. Wnt and Src signals converge on YAP-TEAD to drive intestinal regeneration. Embo j. 2021:e105770.
Hodgson JA, Parvy JP, Yu Y, Vidal M, Cordero JB. Drosophila Larval Models of Invasive Tumorigenesis for In Vivo Studies on Tumour/Peripheral Host Tissue Interactions during Cancer Cachexia. Int J Mol Sci. 2021;22:8317.
Nászai M, Bellec K, Yu Y, Román-Fernández A, Sandilands E, Johansson J, Campbell AD, Norman JC, Sansom OJ, Bryant DM, Cordero JB. RAL GTPases mediate EGFR-driven intestinal stem cell proliferation and tumourigenesis. Elife. 2021 Jun 7;10:e63807.
Perochon J, Yu Y, Aughey GN, Medina AB, Southall TD, Cordero JB. Dynamic adult tracheal plasticity drives stem cell adaptation to changes in intestinal homeostasis in Drosophila. Nat Cell Biol. 2021;23:485–496.
2020
Bellec K, Cordero JB. The Peroxisome: A New Player in Intestinal Epithelial Repair. Dev Cell. 2020;53:131-132.
2019
Johansson J, Naszai M, Hodder M, Pickering K, Miller BW, Ridgway RA, Yu Y, Peschard P, Brachmann B, Campbell AD, Cordero JB, Sansom OJ. RAL GTPases drive intestinal stem cell function and regeneration through internalization of WNT signalosomes. Cell Stem Cell. 2019 Apr 4;24(4):592-607.e7. (Commentary in Cell Stem Cell 2019 Apr 4;24:499-500.)
Parvy JP, Yu Y, Dostalova A, Kondo S, Kurjan A, Bulet P, Lemaitre B, Vidal M, Cordero JB. The antimicrobial peptide Defensin cooperates with Tumour Necrosis Factor to drive tumour cell death in Drosophila. Elife. 2019;8:e45061. Recommended by the Faculty of 1000.
Scopelliti A, Bauer C, Yu Y, Zhang T, Krüspig B, Murphy DJ, Vidal M, Maddocks OK, Cordero JB. A neuronal relay mediates a nutrient responsive gut/fat body axis regulating energy homeostasis in adult Drosophila. Cell Metab. 2019 Feb 5;29:269-284.e10.
2018
Parvy JP, Hodgson JA, Cordero JB. Drosophila as a Model System to Study Nonautonomous Mechanisms Affecting Tumour Growth and Cell Death. Biomed Res Int. 2018:7152962.
Perochon J, Carroll LR, Cordero JB. Wnt Signalling in Intestinal Stem Cells: Lessons from Mice and Flies. Genes (Basel). 2018;9. pii: E138.
2017
Tian A, Benchabane H, Wang Z, Zimmerman C, Xin N, Perochon J, Kalna G, Sansom OJ, Cheng C, Cordero JB, Ahmed Y. Intestinal stem cell overproliferation resulting from inactivation of the APC tumor suppressor requires the transcription cofactors Earthbound and Erect wing. PLoS Genet. 2017 Jul 14;13:e1006870.
2016
Scopelliti A, Bauer C, Cordero J, Vidal M. Bursicon-α subunit modulates dLGR2 activity in the adult Drosophila melanogaster midgut independently to Bursicon-β. Cell Cycle. 2016;15:1538-44.
Elbediwy A, Vincent-Mistiaen ZI, Spencer-Dene B, Stone RK, Boeing S, Wculek SK, Cordero J, Tan EH, Ridgway R, Brunton VG, Sahai E, Gerhardt H, Behrens A, Malanchi I, Sansom OJ, Thompson BJ. Integrin signalling regulates YAP and TAZ to control skin homeostasis. Development. 2016;143:1674-87.