Ecology and Plant Sciences

  1. How the genome is folded in 3D in plant cells and how this folding is linked to gene regulation
  2. Identifying novel regulatory elements and gene regulatory networks in the plant genome
  3. Mechanisms of positive and negative transcriptional response to a single transcription factor.
  4. Rapid transcriptional response of immune cell to steroid hormones
  5. How the genome is organized in 3D during cellular differentiation and cancer progression.
  6. Identifying transcription factors driving tumorigenic transformation in breast cancer.

Dr. Hakim Ofir
  1. How do animal social networks form?
  2. What are rock hyraxes talking about? The evolution of vocal communication
  3. Computational models of social networks
  4. Using drones for observation and experiments

Dr. Ilany Amiyaal
  1. Mate choice and sexual networks
  2. Testosterone, survival, and reproductive success in males and females
  3.  Sperm competition and copulation success in polygynandrous wildlife
  4. Testosterone as a mediator of immunocompetence in males and females
  5. Sex differences in the effects of testosterone on risk-taking behavior
  6. How does information on individual quality encoded in hyrax vocalizations influence conspecific replies?
  7.  Hyrax phylogeny and vocalizations
  8.  Maternal testosterone, and offspring sex ratios
  9.  Steroid transfer between embryos in utero
  10. Hair and feather glucocorticoids as retrospective biomarkers for stress in wildlife

Dr. Koren Lee
  1.  Biological Clocks in Marine Organisms
  2. Biology and Molecular Ecology of Cnidarians
  3. Biology, symbiosis, Physiology and Molecular Ecology in Coral Reefs.
  4. Nanotoxicology in Marine Environments

Prof. Levy Oren
  1. Plant responses to abiotic stress
  2. Role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in abiotic stress sensing and signaling
  3. Rapid systemic response of plants to high temperature and high light intensity
  4. Identification of heat stress tolerance mechanisms in pollen
  5. Develop flow cytometry-based methods for pollen biology study

Dr. Miller Gad
  1. Molecular regulation of early fruit development (fruit set)
  2. Molecular recognition of viral and fungal pathogens by plants
  3. Identifying genes involved in fruit set and resistance to pathogens by CRISPR-CAS9

Prof. Perl-Treves Rafael
  1. Biofilms of cyanobacteria
  2. Regulated proteolysis of light pigment complexes
  3. Tailoring cyanobacteria for biofuel

Prof. Schwarz Rakefet
  1. Regulation of plant gene expression at the level of mRNA stability in the nonsense mediated mRNA decay (NMD) pathway.
  2. Enhancement of plant gene expression by introns at the levels of mRNA content and translational efficiency.
  3.  Regulation of plant gene expression by upstream open reading frames (uORFs).
  4. Transport of magnesium and heavy metals into the plant vacuole.

Dr. Shaul Orit
  1. Terrestrial ecosystem, dynamics and diversity of soil biota of arid, semiarid and agroecosystems.
  2. Belowground processes in with emphasis on relationship of soil invertebrates and detrital food web structure to primary production monitoring rangeland conditions (health)
  3. Assessing success of rehabilitation efforts on disturbed rangelands, such as improvement of primary production, reverse desertification processes and rehabilitation of coal strip mines
  4. Biological management of soil ecosystems for sustainable agriculture, decomposition processes, climate change effect on biotic component of soil biota. In the belowground processes the emphasis on soil microbial community (bacteria, fungi), free-living nematodes, protozoa, microarthropods and plant organism relationships.

Prof. Steinberger Yosef