Immunology and Cancer Research

  1. Investigating the molecular mechanisms regulating the immune response by using advanced molecular imaging technologies.
  2. Developing novel immunotherapeutic approaches to treat cancer.
  3. Studying primary immunodeficiencies and developing therapeutic strategies.
  4. Boosting natural killer cell immune response in pathologies.

Prof. Barda-Saad Mira
  1. Understanding how eukaryotic cells keep their genome stable
  2. How eukaryotic cells distinguish properly folded from misfolded proteins, to prevent proteotoxic stress, and neurodegenerative diseases.
  3. Molecular genetics and cell biology of the model system, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Prof. Ben-Aroya Shay
  1. Development of novel immunotherapies for cancer and viral diseases.
  2. Genetic engineering and editing of immune cells to express chimeric receptors (CAR-T and CCR-T cells).
  3.  Utilization of the tumor environment to enhance anti-tumor immunity.
  4. Study of immune exhaustion mechanisms and their inhibition to improve immunity.
  5. Development of theranostic approaches and use of antibody-targeted nanoparticles (in collaboration with Prof. Popovtzer - Faculty of Engineering).
  6. Characterization of the anti-tumor immune response and identification of novel immune targets.
  7. Enhancement of T-cell motility to tumors and metastasis.

Prof. Cohen Cyrille
  1. The molecular base of aging, the role of deacetylases in life longevity.
  2. The molecular pathways that regulate the response for caloric restriction.
  3. The molecular and cellular biology of sirtuin deacetylases.
  4. Isolating new proteins that regulate longevity in mammals.

Prof. Cohen Haim
  1. The T-cell Repertoire
  2. Single-cell RNA sequencing
  3. Networks in Cancer Genomics
  4. Predicting drug response through cancer genomics

Prof. Efroni Sol
  1. Elucidation of the molecular mechanism that mediates the effects of E2F on cell fate and intracellular signaling.
  2. Studying the mechanisms by which E2F1 sensitizes cells to chemotherapeutic treatments.
  3. Studying the crosstalk between E2Fs and signal transduction pathways.
  4. Isolation and characterization of novel E2F-regulated genes that affect autophagy. Elucidating the role of E2Fs in the regulation of autophagy.
  5. Identification of novel molecular links between E2F1 and the tumor suppressor p53.

Prof. Ginsberg Doron
  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. Models and simulations of the dynamics of the development of T and B lymphocytes, the rearrangement of B cell and T cell antigen receptor genes, and subsequent selection, which is based on receptor-ligand interactions.
  2. Models for the development of the natural killer (NK) cell repertoire, from receptor gene expression to selection of functional, non-harmful cells.

Studies of the competition between B lymphocyte clones during the humoral immune response, the process of hypermutation, and the creation of memory cells, including the explanation of the phenomenon of repertoire shift, isotype switch, and graph-theoretical analysis of B lymphocyte immunoglobulin gene phylogenetic trees.

Prof. Mehr Ramit
  1.  Studying the reprogrammed metabolic and enrgy generation systems of cancer cells.
  2. Studying the regulatory role of the FerT kinase, which is solely present in the mitochondria of sperm and cancer cells.
  3. Development of new anti-cancer drugs, which selectively target the reprorammed mitochondria of cancer cells in general, and metastatic malignant cells in particular.

Prof. Nir Uri
  1. Structural biology - X-ray crystallography
  2. Drug design
  3. Axon guidance - the Slit-Robo signaling system
  4. Molecular basis for human brain evolution

Prof. Opatowsky Yarden
  1. Following mRNAs in living cells using high-resolution fluorescence microscopy
  2. Examining gene expression and transcription of single alleles in living cells in real-time
  3. Studying RNA processing factors in time and nuclear space
  4. Following long non-coding RNAs in the nucleus under normal and stress conditions
  5. Tracking the exit of mRNAs from the nucleus and through the nuclear pore using super-resolution microscopy and live-cell imaging
  6. Following signal transduction pathways that induce the activation of genes expressed in normal and cancer cells
  7. Examining stress-induced cytoplasmic granules and understanding their function in cells

Prof. Shav-Tal Yaron
  1.  Prevention of Chemotherapy-Induced Hematopoietic Damage by Oral Administration of SAS : Potential Role of VLA-4 Inactivation by the Compound
  2. Effect of the Tellurium compound SAS on PD-L1 Expression in AML: Mechanism of Action and Clinical Aspects
  3. Effect of the Tellurium Compound SAS on the Reciprocal leukemia- Stroma VLA-4-Dependent Activation of NF-kB Mediated Chemoresistance
  4. Effect of Tellurium Compound AS101 on PD-L1 Expression on Human NSCLC : Mechanism of Action and Correlation with Clinical Results in NSCLC Patients
  5. Effect of the Tellurium Compound SAS on PD-L1 Expression on Human and Murine Melanoma: Mechanism of Action and Clinical Aspects

Prof. Shredni Benjamin
  1. Mechanisms of host-microbiome communications
  2. Intestinal neuro-immune-microbiome interactions
  3. Effects of the gut microbiota on autoimmunity and cancer
  4. Computational biology / bioinformatics – analysis of host and microbiome transcriptomics

Dr. Yissachar Nissan