Monica Driscoll

Dr. Monica A. Driscoll is a biochemist known for her research on neuronal aging and degeneration in the model organism C. elegans. She is a Distinguished Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Rutgers University. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2023 for her work in genetics and cellular and molecular neuroscience.

Early life and education Driscoll earned her A.B. in Chemistry summa cum laude in 1979 from Douglass College of Rutgers University. She earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University in the Department of Cellular and Developmental Biology under Dr. Helen Greer in 1985 for her research on the regulation of gene expression in the model yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Her thesis is titled Regulation of Amino Acid Biosynthesis in S. cerevisiae.

Career After earning her doctorate, Driscoll began research on the model animal system, Caenorhabditis elegans to understand the molecular mechanisms and genetics of neuronal degeneration.

Driscoll's lab is credited with discovering exophers in 2017 in C. elegans. Exophers are cellular "trash bags" which aid in removing physiological waste from some cell types, including muscle and neuron cells, in response to stressors.

Driscoll was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in 2023 in genetics (primary subfield) and cellular and molecular neuroscience (secondary subfield). Driscoll served on the National Institute on Aging National Advisory Committee on Aging from 2019 to 2023.