Neurobiology
Welcome to the frontier where neural architecture meets the raw realities of a changing mind. Within this domain, the Faculty of Life Sciences at Bar-Ilan University treats the human brain not as a static processor, but as a resilient, communicative network adapting to modern pressures. By integrating high-resolution molecular imaging, cellular electrophysiology, and translational behavioral models, our researchers decipher the mechanisms of brain function across six distinct layers:
- The Architecture of Motivation: Mapping how internal physiological need states are encoded as continuous neural signals, defining the neurobiological frameworks that govern goal-directed behavior, choice, and self-control.
- Neuropsychopharmacology and Circuit Plasticity: Decoding how trauma and chronic stress reshape brain reward and stress circuits, uncovering mechanisms underlying addiction, depression, and PTSD. Translating these findings into therapies, including engineered placental stem cells for addiction-related memory modulation, microbiome-based treatments for PTSD, and peptide therapeutics for addiction.
- The Language of Molecular Machines: Resolving the high-resolution architecture of cell-surface receptors and macromolecular assemblies in motion to unlock how precise chemical cues dictate cellular decisions in neurodegeneration and oncogenesis.
- The Lifelong Dialogue of the Mind: Investigating how the immune system, especially adaptive immunity, shapes brain aging and cognitive decline. We focus on neuroinflammatory mechanisms driving Alzheimer’s disease in aging and investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern how the fetus affects maternal cognitive decline.
- Cellular Calculators of Thought: Cracking the mind's native computational code by combining live brain slice electrophysiology with advanced, quantitative numerical modeling to track how single-neuron biophysics and synaptic integration break down in cortical dysfunction.
- The Molecular Biology of Sleep: Utilizing real-time imaging in transparent model organisms to elucidate how sleep drives essential nuclear maintenance, triggering chromosome dynamics to repair the neuronal DNA damage accumulated during wakefulness.
We look beyond isolated pathways to understand the overarching patterns of systemic adaptation, transforming complex neurobiological data into definitive, real-world insight for long-term brain health and therapeutic development.
- Prof. Appelbaum Lior
Molecular and cellular neuroscience of sleep and neurodevelopmental disorders
Why do humans and all animals spend a third of their lives sleep? It’s not just a break for the brain - it’s vital for cellular maintenance.
Research focus: Our lab explores the fundamental mysteries of sleep and neurodevelopmental disorders. Using the unique, transparent zebrafish model, we discovered that sleep increases chromosome dynamics to enable essential cellular maintenance and DNA repair in neurons. We investigate how these cellular processes evolved, from jellyfish to humans, and how their disruption contributes to disorders such as Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), epilepsy, and sleep disturbances. Finally, we develop pharmacological and genetic treatments including hyperbaric therapy.
Highlighted takeaway: Sleep is the "price of wakefulness", it is an essential offline period required to repair the cellular stress accumulated during active brain states, ensuring long-term neuronal health and reduced risk for neurodegenerative diseases.
Methods: 3D Live Imaging (Confocal & Two-Photon of single molecules, Single-cell RNA-seq, DNA editing using CRISPR/Cas9, Molecular Genetics, Generation of transgenic and mutant fish lines, Behavioral Video-tracking, Computational analysis, Hyperbaric Chamber Experiments.
Hobbies: Sport, Surfing, Ski, Scuba diving, Guitar, Nature photography, and Hiking.
- Prof. Korngreen Alon
Neurophysiology and Brain Computation
How does the brain compute information? Neurons use electrical and biochemical signals to integrate inputs and perform the basic calculations that underlie perception and behavior — and understanding this code reveals how the brain works.
Research focus: The lab investigates fundamental questions in cellular neurophysiology and neuronal computation: how individual neurons process information, what the neuronal code is at the cellular level, and how synaptic integration shapes neural computation. Research combines electrophysiology of neurons in acute brain slices with computational techniques to build realistic numerical models of complex cortical neurons. Projects include studying the biophysics of dendritic excitability, modeling calcium spikes and voltage‑gated channel dynamics, and developing computational tools that bridge experiment and theory.
Highlighted takeaway: Decoding how neurons compute and integrate signals is essential for understanding brain function and dysfunction.
Methods: Electrophysiology · Computational neuroscience · Biophysical modeling · Mathematical optimization · Neural network analysis · Acute brain slice recordings · High‑performance computing · Genetic algorithm‑based model fitting
Hobbies: Photography
- Prof. Okun Eitan
Mechanism of how Sex and Pregnancy affect Neuroimmunology and Age-related Brain Diseases
How does the immune system influence how we think, remember, and age? The brain does not work alone. It is in constant communication with the immune system, and this dialogue powerfully shapes cognition across life and during disease.
What the lab explores. The lab studies how immune activity outside the brain influences memory, aging, and vulnerability to brain disorders such as Alzheimer disease and Down syndrome, and how biological sex modulates these effects. A unique line of research investigates how pregnancy and fetal development leave lasting marks on the mother’s brain. This work shows how immune signals transferred during pregnancy can reshape brain function and affect cognition many years later, opening new possibilities for prevention. The lab views brain disease as a whole body process that connects immunity, development, and aging.
The lab utilized methods that include Cell sequencing, advanced whole-brain imaging, unique transgenic mouse models, immunology, and behavioral studies.
Hobbies: Classic rock, guitars, and everything in between.
- Prof. Opatowsky Yarden
- Structural biology - X-ray crystallography
- Drug design
- Axon guidance - the Slit-Robo signaling system
- Molecular basis for human brain evolution
- Prof. Shohat-Ophir Galit
Neurobiology of Motivation and Decision-Making
How do you avoid leaving the supermarket with a cart full of Doritos when you shop hungry? Not philosophy, neuroscience.
Research focus: The lab studies the neural mechanisms underlying the gradual accumulation of motivation. We investigate how physiological need states, such as hunger, thirst, and sex drive, are encoded in the brain as continuous signals that determine when, how strongly, and for how long goal-directed behaviors are performed, shedding light on how motivational “gray zones” give rise to graded behavioral responses.
Highlighted takeaway: Motivation shapes decisions and self-control; understanding it helps explain disorders where needs and actions become uncoupled, such as addiction and eating disorders.
Methods: Molecular genetics · CRISPR · Single-cell RNA-seq · Optogenetics · Behavior · Confocal microscopy · Biochemical methods
Hobbies: Photography and terrarium building
- Prof. Yadid Gal
Neuropsychopharmacology and Psychiatric Disease
Why do addiction, depression and trauma persist in the brain? Because powerful neural reward and stress circuits change chemically and behaviorally, making harmful habits and mood disorders hard to break.
Research focus: The lab investigates the neurochemical and molecular regulation of central neurotransmitter systems in animal models of psychiatric conditions such as drug addiction, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Research explores how biogenic amines, neuropeptides and their interactions shape brain function, behavior and response to psychoactive drugs, and aims to discover fast-acting antidepressant candidates, novel addiction interventions and PTSD biomarkers.
Highlighted takeaway: Understanding how reward and stress systems adapt in psychiatric illness opens paths to new therapeutic strategies for addiction, depression and trauma-related disorders.
Methods: Animal behavioral models · In vivo microdialysis · Neurochemical and molecular analysis · Genetic and physiological assays · Psychoactive drug response studies · Multimodal bioanalysis
- Prof. Emeritus Brodie Chaya
- Cancer stem cells from brain tumors for analyzing disease mechanisms and for drug and cell therapy screening
- Three dimensional human cultures - novel models of neural rare disorders and muscular dystrophies
- Exosomes in intercellular communication and drug delivery in neural and muscle diseases and brain tumors.
- Non-coding RNAs in cancer and degenerative disorders
- Unique signaling pathways in brain tumors and neurodegenerative diseases
