Prof. Nissan Yissachar

The intestinal immune system and the microbiome: communication networks and decision-making processes 

We study the cellular, molecular and genetic mechanisms that facilitate communication between cells of the immune system and their environment in the gut - the gut microbes (microbiome), the enteric nervous system, and intestinal epithelium, etc…

We aim to understand how these intercellular communication networks control immunological decision-making processes, between inflammation and immunological tolerance, in health and in autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases (such as inflammatory bowel diseases). 

We combine microscopy, genomics and molecular biology together with a unique gut organ culture system, that allow dissecting these host-environment interactions in real-time, ex-vivo (Yissachar et al., Cell, 2017).

In addition, we combine principles of systems biology, to understand how cells of the immune system process environmental signals in real-time (Yissachar et al., Molecular Cell, 2013).