Jenifer Monks, Ph.D.
Instructor
Department of Medicine, Pulmonary Division/Webb Waring, MS C-322
University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus
12800 E. 19th Avenue
Aurora, Colorado 80045
jenifer.monks@ucdenver.edu
EDUCATION/TRAINING
Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA
B.S.
1991
General Chemistry
University of Colorado Hlth Sci Cntr, Denver, CO
Ph.D. 1999
Cell & Devel. Biol.
VA Medical Center, Denver, CO
2000
Post-doc research
National Jewish Med. Res. Cntr., Denver, CO
2000-04
Post-doc research
UC Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO
2006-
Post-doc/Instructor
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
From 1992 to 1993 I did graduate research with Dr. Claude Seletrennikoff , Ph.D. in the
Cell & Developmental Biology Program at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. I
purified zeamatin, an antifungal protein from corn seed and tested its antifungal activity against
various strains of fungi.
From 1994 to 1999, I did my graduate thesis work with Dr. Margaret Neville, Ph.D. in
the Department of Physiology & Biophysics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences
Center. I developed in vivo techniques to study transport of extra-alveolar proteins by the
mammary epithelial cells in the lactating mouse mammary gland. I dissected the transport
pathways for transcytosed substances, recycled materials, and secreted components of
mouse milk, characterizing sorting mechanisms and organelles involved. I described a fluidphase component of transcytosis responsible for the transport of serum proteins into milk.
From September of 1999 to April 2000, I was a Postdoctoral Researcher/Microscope
Technician for Dr. Kim Heidenreich, Ph.D. at the VA Medical Center in Denver, Colorado.
During this time I was responsible for maintenance of the core deconvolution microscope. I
also did primary research investigating the cellular localization of components of the PI-3
Kinase/Akt pathway in primary cerebellar granule cells.
From 2000 to 2004, I was a postdoctoral research fellow with Dr. Valerie A. Fadok,
D.V.M., Ph.D. and Peter Henson, Ph.D. at National Jewish Medical & Research Center. I
studied phagocytic mechanisms and apoptotic cell clearance in mammary epithelial cells in
culture and in the mouse mammary gland after weaning.
In October of 2001 I attended a course given at the Marine Biological Laboratory at
Woods Hole, MA, entitled “Optical Microscopy and Imaging in the Biomedical Sciences”,
directed by Dr. Colin S. Izzard, and taught by the best microscopists in academia and industry.
I also took a Cryo-Microscopy course sponsored by Leica (July, 2001) and I participated in the
7th ISS American Stereology Course (April, 2003), in order to further develop my skills as a
researcher.
In October 2006, I returned to research after a two-year stay at home with my daughter,
working with Dr. Margaret Neville, elucidating the mechanisms of secretory activation in the
lactating mammary gland of the mouse. In January 2008, I was promoted to Instructor.
In March 2009, I began working with Dr. Richard M. Wright of the Webb Waring Center,
elucidating the role of the oxidant-producing enzyme, xanthine oxidase, in health and disease,
primarily breast cancer, using cell culture and animal models. I currently serve on the
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the University of Colorado Denver.
PUBLICATIONS
1. Monks, J, Neville, MC. 2001. Transcytosis of proteins across the mammary epithelium
into milk. Journal of Women’s Cancer. 2:193-200.
2. Monks, J, Huey, PU, Hanson, L., Eckel, RH, Neville, MC, Gavigan, S. 2001. A lipoproteincontaining particle is transferred from the serum across the mammary epithelium into the milk
of lactating mice. J. Lipid Res. 42:686-696.
3. Monks J, Neville MC 2001. Vesicular transport of soluble substances into mouse milk.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 501:257-63.
4. Monks J, Geske, FJ, Lehman, L, Fadok, VA. 2002. Do inflammatory cells participate in
mammary Gland Involution? J. Mamm. Gland Biol. Neoplasia. 7:163-176.
5. Monks J, Neville MC. 2004. Albumin transcytosis across the epithelium of the lactating
mouse mammary gland. J Physiol. 560:267-80.
6. Monks J, Rosner D, Geske FJ, Lehman L, Hanson L, Neville MC, Fadok VA. 2005.
Epithelial cells as phagocytes: apoptotic epithelial cells are engulfed by mammary alveolar
epithelial cells and repress inflammatory mediator release. Cell Death Differ. 12:107-14
7. Monks J. 2007. TGFbeta as a potential mediator of progesterone action in the mammary
gland of pregnancy. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia. 12(4):249-57.
8. Monks, J, Kruk, ER, Fadok, VA, Henson, PM. 2008. Epithelial cells remove apoptotic
epithelial cells during post-lactation involution of the mouse mammary gland. Biol Reprod.
78(4):586-94.
9. Monks, J, Henson, PM. 2009. Differentiation of the mammary epithelial cell during
involution: implications for breast cancer. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia. 14(2):159-70.
10. Obrien JH, Lyons T, Monks J, Lucia S, Wilson S, Borges V, Schedin P. 2009.
Alternatively activated macrophages and collagen remodeling characterize the post-partum
involuting mammary gland across species. Am. J. Pathol. 2010 Jan 28.
11. Rudolph MC, Monks J, Burns V, Phistry M, Foot MR, Bauman DE, Anderson SM, Neville
MC. 2009. Mammary Epithelial Specific Deletion of Escort Protein SCAP Reveals SREBFDependent and -Independent Fatty Acid Synthesis Control During Lactation. Cell Metabolism.
Submitted.
PRESENTATIONS
1. Monks, J, Fadok, VA. 2002. Clearance of Apoptotic Cells in the Involuting Mammary
Gland, Invited speaker at the 10th Euroconference on Apoptosis, Pasteur Institute, Paris.
2. Monks, J, Henson, P, Fadok, VA. 2003. Clearance of Apoptotic Cells in the involuting
Mammary Gland, Invited speaker at the Gordon Research Conference on Clearance of
Apoptotic Cells by Phagocytes: Mechanisms and Consequences. New London, CT.
AWARDS
Florence Myers Goldhamer Fellowship in Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, 2001