Dr. Julien Legrand is a Research Fellow at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University, Australia. He is currently working on understanding how the immune system regulates adult tissue repair and identifying mechanisms that can be targeted to enhance tissue regeneration following injury. In particular, he is interested in identifying immune-derived factors that can be developed further for therapeutic use in injury settings.

Dr. Legrand completed his PhD in Regenerative Medicine at the University of Queensland, where he studied adult stem cell and regenerative biology using murine skin and the hair follicle as a model system. Using novel mouse models and in vitro techniques, he characterised the role of transcription factors STAT5 and SOX18 in hair follicle regeneration, as well as the contribution of macrophage populations and genetic polymorphisms on skin wound healing and inflammation.

To pursue his interest in adult stem cell biology, Dr. Legrand joined the Germline Stem Cell Biology Group at Monash University (now based at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research) in 2015 where he used the murine male germline as a model system to understand molecular mechanisms underlying stem cell maintenance and fate decisions. There, he identified a critical role for the RNA helicase DDX5 in the maintenance and function of male germline stem cells.

In 2021, Dr. Legrand joined A/Prof. Mikaël Martino’s research group at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, where he hopes to combine the knowledge and skills accumulated in his research career thus far to develop novel therapeutics that promote tissue regeneration across a variety of injury contexts.

Besides his research work, Dr. Legrand is actively involved in representing Early Career Researchers at Institute- and Faculty-level committees, and is passionate about identifying and addressing areas to promote ECR career development and wellbeing.