Dr. Craig Montell was awarded the Prestigious Presidential Young Investigator award. A well-trained investigator and academician, he appears to be well on his way to achieving an illustrious career in the Biological Sciences. Dr. Montell will continue his indepth investigations and characterizations of a family of genes, and the functions of the proteins they encode, associated with the phototransduction of light stimuli into electrical stimuli within the visual system. His molecular biological model is in the Drosophila and utilizes sophisticated methodologies of germ-line gene transfer. Additionally, Dr. Montell has characterized a number of Drosophila mutants that will be exploited to understand the molecular basis for differing spectral sensitivities of rhodopsin cell type pairs affiliated with the visual transduction process. The potential for Dr. Montell to provide outstanding contributions to the field of molecular neurobiology is considerable. This award will assist in the professional development of a young, enthusiastic, and highly motivated scientist.
