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, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

. Her research considers the

oogenesis Oogenesis () or ovogenesis 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 before birth during embryonic devel ...

process in ''

Drosophila ''Drosophila'' (), from Ancient Greek δρόσος (''drósos''), meaning "dew", and φίλος (''phílos''), meaning "loving", is a genus of fly, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or p ...

'' 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, NGO, 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 ...

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 in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

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

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

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 w ...

''. Montell was a postdoctoral fellow with Allan C. Spradling at the

Carnegie Institution for Science The Carnegie Institution for Science, also known as Carnegie Science and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, is an organization established to fund and perform scientific research in the United States. This institution is headquartered in W ...

, 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, an ...

'' 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 The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

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 ) is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms and in some eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms such as yeast. Biochemistry, Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes (Morphology (biol ...

, 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 a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

* 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 specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, Biological neural network, neural circuits, and glia, and their Behavior, behavioral, biological, and psycholo ...

and distinguished professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her daughter

Amanda Montell Amanda Montell (born February 16, 1992) is an American author, writer and linguist. Life and career Montell was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland to a Jewish family; she attended Hebrew school as a child. Montell studied linguistics at New ...

is an author of popular nonfiction books on

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

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

software engineer Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining software applications. It involves applying engineering principles and computer programming expertise to develop ...

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

Google Earth Google Earth is a web mapping, web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satelli ...

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)