Monica Dus

Monica Dus, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of Michigan and a member of the Michigan Neuroscience Institute, the Obesity and Nutrition Research Center, and the Diabetes Research Center. She graduated with a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the Cold Spring Harbor School of Biological Sciences, NY, under the supervision of Dr. Greg Hannon.

Her research focuses on how nutrients and genes interact to shape brain function, behavior, and disease, a field known as nutrigenomics. This work has been funded by the NIH (K99/R00, DP2, and R01), NSF (CAREER), and private foundations such as The Klingestein-Simons, Rita Allen, Sloan, and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, and recognized with the 2023 Ajinomoto Award for Gustation and the 2022 International Neurogenetics and Behavior Society Early Career Award. Dr. Dus teaches Genetics and Neuroepigenetics to ~500 undergraduate students yearly and is passionate about communicating science and making it accessible to the public. She has organized museum workshops, published SugarBuzz, a children’s comic book about food, hosted her own science podcasts (How to Science and Neuroepic), and written for The Conversation.