Monica J. Justice, Ph.D.

Molecular and Human Genetics

Using mouse mutagenesis to define gene function and model human disease

Monica J. Justice, Ph.D., received the award for her research in mouse functional genetics. The recent completion of the mouse and human genome sequences requires that biologists develop systematic approaches to determine the function of each gene. Dr. Justice's research exploits the fact that genes and whole chromosome regions are conserved between the mouse and human. Using the power of mouse genetics, she developed high throughput methods for assigning functions to mammalian genes. Her internationally recognized program has produced hundreds of new mouse models of human disease, which have allowed for discoveries of gene functions in diverse areas such as reproduction, neurobiology, obesity, and blood, heart, and bone development.

Dr. Justice’s nomination was based on the following publications:

Kile BT, Hentges KE, Clark AT, Nakamura H, Salinger AP, Liu B, Box N, Stockton DW, Johnson RL, Behringer RR, Bradley A, Justice MJ." Functional genetic analysis of mouse chromosome 11. ". Nature. 2003 Sep 4;425(6953):81-6.

Hentges KE, Justice MJ. " Checks and balancers: balancer chromosomes to facilitate genome annotation. ". Trends Genet. 2004 Jun;20(6):252-9.

Lorenzetti D, Bishop CE, Justice MJ.) " Deletion of the Parkin coregulated gene causes male sterility in the quaking(viable) mouse mutant. ". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Jun 1;101(22):8402-7.