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 The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

. Her research considers the

oogenesis Oogenesis, ovogenesis, or oögenesis is the differentiation of the ovum (egg cell) into a cell competent to further develop when fertilized. It is developed from the primary oocyte by maturation. Oogenesis is initiated in the embryonic stage. O ...

process in ''

Drosophila ''Drosophila'' () is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or (less frequently) pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species ...

'' and border cell migration. She has served as President of the

Genetics Society of America The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is a scholarly membership society of more than 5,500 genetics researchers and educators, established in 1931. The Society was formed from the reorganization of the Joint Genetics Sections of the American Soc ...

and was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 2021.

Early life and education

Montell grew up in a family of scientists and became interested in science at a young age. She was an undergraduate student at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

, where she majored in biochemistry and cell biology. She moved to

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

for her graduate studies, where she investigated substrate adhesion molecules in ''

Drosophila embryogenesis ''Drosophila'' embryogenesis, the process by which ''Drosophila'' (fruit fly) embryos form, is a favorite model system for genetics and developmental biology. The study of its embryogenesis unlocked the century-long puzzle of how development ...

''. Montell was a postdoctoral fellow with

Allan C. Spradling Allan C. Spradling is an American scientist and principal investigator at the Carnegie Institution for Science and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute who studies egg development in the model organism, ''Drosophila melanogaster'', a fruit fly. H ...

at the

Carnegie Institution for Science The Carnegie Institution of Washington (the organization's legal name), known also for public purposes as the Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS), is an organization in the United States established to fund and perform scientific research. Th ...

, where she developed a new model to study cell motility ''

in vivo Studies that are ''in vivo'' (Latin for "within the living"; often not italicized in English) are those in which the effects of various biological entities are tested on whole, living organisms or cells, usually animals, including humans, and ...

'' by combining cell biology and molecular genetics. She worked on a ''P'' element-mediated mutagenesis screening in ''

''. She was appointed to the faculty at the

Research and career

Montell joined the faculty at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

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. In 2013, she moved to the

, where she was made Duggan Professor. In 2020, Montell was appointed President of the

. Montell's research considers the

process in ''

'' and border cell migration. She has studied

apoptosis Apoptosis (from grc, ἀπόπτωσις, apóptōsis, 'falling off') is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms. Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes (morphology) and death. These changes incl ...

, cell motility, and cell engulfment. 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. The process, which Montell named anastasis, can salvage cells that are difficult to replace. 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. Montell created an ''in vivo'' model for the study of cell motility.

Awards and honors

* 2014 Elected to the Council of the

American Society for Cell Biology The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) is a professional society that was founded in 1960.National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award is a research initiative first announced in 2004 designed to support individual scientists' biomedical research. The focus is specifically on "pioneering" research that is highly innovative ...

* 2017 Elected Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

* 2019 Elected Fellow of the American Society for Cell Biology * 2021 Elected to the

Selected publications

* * *

Personal life

Montell is married with two children. Her husband is Craig Montell, a

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, Biological neural network, n ...

and Distinguished Professor in the Department of the Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her daughter Amanda Montell is an author of popular nonfiction books on

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

. She has collaborated with her son Brandon Montell, a computer

software engineer Software engineering is a systematic engineering approach to software development. A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software. The term ''p ...

. He designed and patented the “I’m feeling lucky” feature on

Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montell, Denise Johnson Living people Stanford University alumni University of California, San Diego alumni University of California, Santa Barbara faculty American biologists Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the American Society for Cell Biology Year of birth missing (living people)