Center for Global Health Faculty

Academic Degrees

Departmental Address

Contact Information

Email:

cmontell+jhmi.edu

Phone:

410-955-1199

Research and Professional Experience

Our research is concerned with characterizing the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying behavior in insects, such as the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.  A major component of our research employs genetic approaches in Drosophila to identify channels and other receptors for insect repellents and antifeedants.  Our goal is to use findings in flies to provide insights that could lead to new avenues to control mosquitoes, such as Anopheles gambiae and Aedes aegypti, which are the insect vectors for major diseases, including malaria and yellow fever.

Keywords

Drosophila, behavior, chemosensation, thermosensation, visual transduction, TRP channels, gustatory receptors, insect repellents

Honors and Awards

Rittenberg Award, Outstanding Graduate Student in Microbiology, UCLA Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Postdoctoral Fellowship National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award Bergmann Memorial Research Award American Cancer Society, Junior Faculty Award Jorge Chevesich Memorial Lecture, Albert Einstein College of Medicine The Pflügers Archive Lecture, Leuven, Belgium The Grass Traveling Scientist Distinguished Lecture, UCLA Keynote address, Gordon Research Conference on Ca2+ signaling Keynote address, Keystone Symposium on TRP channels Plenary lecture, 48th American Society for Cell Biology Meeting, San Francisco Doctor Honoris Causa for Fundamental Biomedical Research, University of Leuven, Belgium

Selected Publications

Shen, W, Kwon, Y,, Adegbola, A.A., Luo, J., Chess, A. and Montell, C. 2011. Function of rhodopsin in temperature discrimination in Drosophila. Science 331, 1333-1336.

Kim, S. H., Lee, Y., Akitake, B., Woodward, O. M., Guggino, W. B.  and Montell, C.  2010. Drosophila TRPA1 channel mediates chemical avoidance in gustatory receptor neurons. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 107, 8440-8445.

Elsaesser, R., Kalra, D., Li, R. and Montell, C. 2010. Light-induced translocation of Drosophila visual Arrestin2 depends on Rac2. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 107, 4740-4745.

Wang, X., Wang, T, Jiao, Y., von Lintig, J. and Montell, C. 2010. Requirement for an enzymatic visual cycle in Drosophila. Curr. Biol. 20, 93-102.

Moon, S.J., Lee, Y., Jiao, Y. and Montell, C. 2009. A Drosophila gustatory receptor essential for aversive taste and inhibiting male-to-male courtship. Curr. Biol. 19, 1623-1627.

Lee, Y., Moon, S.J. and Montell, C. 2009. Multiple gustatory receptors required for the caffeine response in Drosophila. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 106, 4495-4500.

Venkatachalam, K., Long, A.A., Elsaesser, R., Nikolaeva, D., Broadie, K. and Montell, C. 2008. Motor deficit in a Drosophila model of mucolipidosis type IV due to defective clearance of apoptotic cells. Cell 135, 838-851.

Jiao, Y., Moon, S.J., Wang, X., Ren, Q. and Montell, C. 2008. Gr64f is required in combination with other gustatory receptors for sugar detection in Drosophila. Curr. Biol. 18, 1797-1801.

Kwon, Y, Shim, H.S., Wang, X. and Montell, C. 2008. Control of thermotactic behavior via coupling of a TRP channel to a phospholipase C signaling cascade. Nat. Neurosci. 11, 871-873.

Wang, T., Wang, X, Xie, Q. and Montell, C. 2008. The SOCS box protein STOPS is required for phototransduction through its effects on phospholipase C. Neuron 57, 56-68.

Jiao, Y., Moon, S.J. and Montell, C. 2007. A Drosophila gustatory receptor required for the responses to sucrose, glucose, and maltose identified by mRNA tagging. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 104, 14110-14115.

Wang, T., Jiao, J. and Montell, C. 2007. Dissection of the pathway required for generation of vitamin A and for Drosophila phototransduction. J. Cell Biol. 177, 305-316.

Kwon, K., Hofmann, T. and Montell, C. 2007. Integration of phosphoinositide- and calmodulin-mediated regulation of TRPC6. Mol. Cell 25, 491-503.

Wang, T. and Montell, C. 2006. A phosphoinositide synthase required for a sustained light response. J. Neurosci. 26, 12816-12825.

Moon, S.J., Köttgen, M, Jiao, Y., Xu, H and Montell, C. 2006. A taste receptor required for the caffeine response in vivo. Curr. Biol. 16, 1812-1817.

Venkatachalam, K., Hofmann, T. and Montell, C. 2006. Lysosomal localization of TRPML3 depends on TRPML2 and the mucolipidosis-associated protein TRPML1. J. Biol. Chem. 281, 17517-17527.

Kwon, Y. and Montell, C. 2006. Dependence on the Lazaro phosphatidic acid phosphatase for the light maximum response. Curr. Biol. 16, 723-729.

Wang, T., Jiao, Y. and Montell, C. 2005. Dissecting independent channel and scaffolding roles of the Drosophila transient receptor potential channel. J. Cell Biol. 171, 685-694.

Wang, T. and Montell, C. 2005. Rhodopsin formation in Drosophila is dependent on the PINTA retinoid binding protein. J. Neurosci. 25, 5187-5194.

Wang, T., Xu, H. Oberwinkler, J. Gu, Y., Hardie, R.C. and Montell, C. 2005. Light activation, adaptation, and cell survival functions of the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger, CalX. Neuron 45, 367-378.

Lee, S.J. and Montell, C. 2004. Suppression of constant-light-induced blindness but not retinal degeneration by inhibition of the rhodopsin degradation pathway. Curr. Biol. 24, 2076-2085.

Lee, S.J., Xu, H. and Montell, C. 2004. Rhodopsin kinase activity modulates the amplitude of the visual response in Drosophila. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 101, 11874-11879.

Lee, S.J. and Montell, C. 2004. Light-dependent translocation of visual arrestin regulated by the NINAC myosin III. Neuron 43, 95-103.