Cecilia Moens is a Canadian developmental biologist. Moens is part of the faculty at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, where she researches the vertebrate brain using

zebrafish The zebrafish (''Danio rerio'') is a freshwater fish belonging to the minnow family ( Cyprinidae) of the order Cypriniformes. Native to South Asia, it is a popular aquarium fish, frequently sold under the trade name zebra danio (and thus often ...

as a

model organism A model organism (often shortened to model) is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the workin ...

Early life

Moens was born and raised in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada. From a young age, Moens worked in the laboratory of her father, Peter Moens, a biology professor at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

; she would prepare agar plates and solutions and later performed

electron microscopy An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times shorter than that of visible light photons, electron microscopes have a hi ...

. She decided to study

developmental biology Developmental biology is the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop. Developmental biology also encompasses the biology of Regeneration (biology), regeneration, asexual reproduction, metamorphosis, and the growth and di ...

after she saw a time-lapse film of a chick embryo's development, set to the ''Egmont'' Overture, during her high school biology class.

Education and career

Moens studied at

, where she initially worked in her father's laboratory and later studied environmental carcinogens in the laboratory of Barry Glickman. After she completed her

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in 1987, she spent a year at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in the U.S. before beginning a PhD in molecular and medical genetics at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. Her research, supervised by

Janet Rossant Janet Rossant, (born 13 July 1950) is a developmental biologist well known for her contributions to the understanding of the role of genes in embryo development. She is a world renowned leader in developmental biology. Her current research inte ...

, concerned the development of mouses; she earned her PhD in 1993. Moens became a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

, where her work involved searching for genes that controlled the development of hindbrain neurons. In 1998, she joined the faculty at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in

, Washington, within their Basic Sciences Division. She runs a laboratory that studies the development of the vertebrate brain, using the

as a model organism. She is also an affiliate faculty member in the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Department of Biology.

Awards and honors

* Human Frontier Science Program Long-Term Fellowship (1994-1996) * U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2000) *

Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American business magnate, investor, record-setting pilot, engineer, fil ...

Investigator (2000-2012)

Selected publications

* * * * *

References

External links

Moens Lab website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moens, Cecilia Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Developmental biologists Canadian women neuroscientists Canadian neuroscientists Canadian women biologists York University alumni University of Toronto alumni University of Oregon people 21st-century Canadian women Scientists from Toronto University of Washington faculty Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center people