Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University
Stanford, United States
Michelle Monje, MD, PhD, is a professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Dr. Monje is recognized as an international leader in the pathophysiology of glioma, especially diffuse midline gliomas and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG). Her research program focuses at the intersection of neuroscience and brain cancer biology with an emphasis on neuron-glial interactions in health and oncological disease. Her lab demonstrated that neuronal activity regulates healthy glial precursor cell proliferation, new oligodendrocyte generation, and adaptive myelination -- and that this plasticity of myelin contributes to healthy cognitive function. She discovered that neuronal activity similarly promotes the progression of malignant gliomas, driving glioma growth through both paracrine factors and through electrophysiologically functional neuron-to-glioma synapses.
Neuroinflammatory disruption of neuroplasticity mechanisms underlying cognitive function following cancer therapies is another area of deep focus, and she is credited with elucidating crucial neurobiological mechanisms responsible for cancer therapy-related cognitive impairment. Together with these basic studies, her research program has pioneered preclinical studies of novel therapeutics for pediatric high-grade gliomas and cancer therapy-related cognitive impairment in order to translate new therapies to the clinic. She has led several of her discoveries from basic molecular work to clinical trials for children and young adults with brain tumors, including a promising clinical trial of CAR T-cell therapy for H3K27M-altered diffuse midline gliomas.