Rate My Professor Michelle Mondoux

Michelle Mondoux is an Associate Professor of Biology at the College of the Holy Cross. She earned her Ph.D. from Princeton University. Her research employs the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model to explore molecular, cellular, and genetic responses to nutrient stress, with a focus on high-glucose diets. Mondoux investigates how excess nutrition influences fertility, lifespan, and other processes. Central to her studies are genes such as the insulin receptor (daf-2), O-GlcNAc transferase (ogt-1), and O-GlcNAcase (oga-1), which prove essential for the glucose stress response. Her lab employs genetic, molecular biology, and cell biology techniques to determine how these genes regulate fertility under glucose stress and whether maternal effects persist across generations. Additionally, unbiased genetic screens have identified over 100 candidate genes linked to aging, immunity, protein trafficking, and mitochondrial function that modulate insulin signaling during glucose stress.

Mondoux teaches Biological Principles and Cell Biology. She has obtained significant funding, including a $322,200 grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to examine sugar consumption's impact on reproductive cells in C. elegans. Key publications include "O-GlcNAc cycling and insulin signaling are required for the glucose stress response in Caenorhabditis elegans" (Genetics, 2011), "Dynamic O-GlcNAc cycling at promoters of C. elegans genes regulating longevity, stress, and immunity" (PNAS, 2010), "High-glucose diets have sex-specific effects on aging in C. elegans" (2015), "Timing of High-glucose Diet in the C. elegans Lifecycle Impacts Fertility Phenotypes" (2022), and "Metabolic shift from glycogen to trehalose promotes lifespan and healthspan in Caenorhabditis elegans" (2018). Her research involves undergraduates, resulting in conference presentations, and contributes insights into nutrient stress relevant to human conditions like type 2 diabetes.