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Many congratulations to Cell Biology Section Head Denise Montell, who has been given a 2014 Pioneer award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The award recognizes a select group of scientists whose innovative pioneering approaches have the potential to make an unusually high impact on a broad area of biomedical research.

Montell, from the University of California Santa Barbara, joined F1000 as a Faculty Member in 2001, and progressed to Section Head in ‘Cell Adhesion & Migration’ in January this year. Montell will receive $500,000 per year for five years to develop her project – a new biological phenomenon termed ‘anastasis’ (the Greek for rising to life), which challenges the dogma that cell death is irreversible. Montell proposes that anastasis may represent a previously unknown cause of cancer. She’ll study the physiological consequences and molecular mechanisms of this cell survival mechanism in order to develop new therapeutic approaches to degenerative diseases and cancer.

Many congratulations, Denise!