In this SciencePoles interview, Dr. Bell provides an overview of what is currently known about the Gamburtsev Mountains in East Antarctica, and of how the research is unfolding. As a geophysicist specialised in Antarctic glacial and sub-glacial environments, Dr. Robin Bell has led seven major research expeditions to Antarctica and is one of the original instigators of the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-08. She is Director of the ADVANCE program at the Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York City, and a Doherty Senior Research Scientist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.