Denise Montell

Last updated
Denise Johnson Montell
Denise J. Montell.png
Alma mater Stanford University
University of California, San Diego
Scientific career
Institutions Carnegie Institution for Science
Thesis Cell and substrate adhesion molecules in D̲r̲o̲s̲o̲p̲h̲i̲l̲a̲ embryogenesis  (1989)
Website https://www.mcdb.ucsb.edu/people/faculty/denise-montell

Denise Johnson Montell is an American biologist who is the Duggan Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research considers the oogenesis process in Drosophila and border cell migration. She has served as president of the Genetics Society of America and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.

Contents

Early life and education

Montell grew up in a family of scientists and became interested in science at a young age. [1] She was an undergraduate student at the University of California, San Diego, where she majored in biochemistry and cell biology. [1] She moved to Stanford University for her graduate studies, where she investigated substrate adhesion molecules in Drosophila embryogenesis . [2] Montell was a postdoctoral fellow with Allan C. Spradling at the Carnegie Institution for Science, where she developed a new model to study cell motility in vivo by combining cell biology and molecular genetics. [3] She worked on a P element-mediated mutagenesis screening in Drosophila . [1] She was appointed to the faculty at the Carnegie Institution for Science.[ citation needed ]

Research and career

Montell joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins University in 1992. After ten years at Johns Hopkins, she was promoted to full Professor, where she became Founding Director of the Center for Cell Dynamics. [4] In 2013, she moved to the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she was made Duggan Professor. In 2020, Montell was appointed president of the Genetics Society of America. [5] [6]

Montell's research considers the oogenesis process in Drosophila and border cell migration. She has studied apoptosis, cell motility, and cell engulfment. [3] Montell identified that cells that had previously been considered to be beyond the point of no return in the dying process can recover and proliferate. [3] The process, which Montell named anastasis, can salvage cells that are difficult to replace. [3] Cell motility is the process by which embryos develop, wounds heal and immune systems fight disease. At the same time, cell motility can give rise to tumor metastasis. [7] Montell created an in vivo model for the study of cell motility. [3]

Awards and honors

Selected publications

Personal life

Montell is married with two children. [1] Her husband is Craig Montell, a neuroscientist and Distinguished Professor in the Department of the Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. [16] Her daughter Amanda Montell is an author of popular nonfiction books on linguistics. She has collaborated with her son Brandon Montell, a computer software engineer. [17] He designed and patented the “I’m feeling lucky” feature on Google Earth. [18]

Related Research Articles

The border cells are a cluster of 6-8 cells that migrate in the ovariole of the fruit-fly Drosophila melanogaster, during the process of oogenesis. A fly ovary consists of a string of ovarioles or egg chambers arranged in an increasing order of maturity. Each egg chamber contains 16 central germline, nurse cells surrounded by a monolayer epithelium of nearly 1000 follicle cells. At stage 8 of oogenesis, these cells initiate invading the neighbouring nurse cells, and reach the oocyte boundary by Stage 10.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Sedwick, Caitlin (2011-11-14). "Denise Montell: Lighting the way in border cell migration". The Journal of Cell Biology. 195 (4): 540–541. doi:10.1083/jcb.1954pi. ISSN   0021-9525. PMC   3257536 . PMID   22084303.
  2. Montell, Denise Johnson (1988). Cell and substrate adhesion molecules in D̲r̲o̲s̲o̲p̲h̲i̲l̲a̲ embryogenesis (Thesis). OCLC   78233573.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Denise J. Montell | Denise Montell Lab | UC Santa Barbara". labs.mcdb.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  4. "Denise J. Montell | MCDB | UC Santa Barbara". www.mcdb.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  5. "Denise signs off as President of the Genetics Society of America. | Denise Montell Lab | UC Santa Barbara". labs.mcdb.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  6. "Denise Montell Elected Vice President 2019 and President 2020 of the Genetics Society of America | MCDB | UC Santa Barbara". www.mcdb.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  7. "Cell Motility | Denise Montell Lab | UC Santa Barbara". labs.mcdb.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
  8. "Denise elected to the American Society for Cell Biology council | Denise Montell Lab | UC Santa Barbara". labs.mcdb.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  9. "NIH Pioneer Award". The UCSB Current. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  10. "NIH Director's Pioneer Award Program - Funded Research". commonfund.nih.gov. 2013-06-26. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  11. "Denise elected Fellow of AAAS | Denise Montell Lab | UC Santa Barbara". labs.mcdb.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  12. "2017 AAAS Fellows Recognized for Advancing Science | American Association for the Advancement of Science". www.aaas.org. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  13. "Denise elected Fellow of ASCB | Denise Montell Lab | UC Santa Barbara". labs.mcdb.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  14. "Sixteen new ASCB Fellows to be welcomed at annual meeting of cell biologists this December". ASCB. 2019-10-11. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  15. "2021 NAS Election". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  16. Montell, Craig (September 14, 2021). "DIstinguished Professor Craig Montell". Archived from the original on 2014-05-05. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  17. Dai, Wei; Guo, Xiaoran; Cao, Yuansheng; Mondo, James A.; Campanale, Joseph P.; Montell, Brandon J.; Burrous, Haley; Streichan, Sebastian; Gov, Nir; Rappel, Wouter-Jan; Montell, Denise J. (2020-11-20). "Tissue topography steers migrating Drosophila border cells". Science. 370 (6519): 987–990. Bibcode:2020Sci...370..987D. doi:10.1126/science.aaz4741. ISSN   0036-8075. PMC   8103818 . PMID   33214282.
  18. Montell, Brandon. "Point of interest selection based on a user request" . Retrieved September 14, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)