Emily Gemmill

Emily grew up in Portland, Oregon, and started her research journey at community college. After transferring to Oregon State University, she pursued research on microtubules and kinesins and semantic networks. Now, as a member of Denise Montell’s lab, she is studying border cell clusters from Drosophila ovaries to investigate the mechanisms behind collective cell migration. In particular, she is interested in how the cytoskeleton works with Rho GTPases to regulate motion, cooperativity, and cohesion between cells and how the mechanics of the cells vary with migration behaviors. One interesting phenomenon she is studying is how the cell textures and shapes change as the levels of cytoskeletal elements are varied, and how this may correlate with cellular tension. When she’s not dissecting flies or hanging out in a dark microscopy room, she enjoys running, hiking, camping, baking, and reading! 

Faculty Mentor: Prof. Denise Montell

Program Mentor: Prof. Cristina Marchetti