Prof. Asia Rolls from the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Professors Oded Beja and Benny Podbilevitz from the Faculty of Biology were elected as new members of EMBO, the European Organization for Molecular Biology. Their joining the organization will be celebrated at the EMBO event that will be held in Heidelberg and will begin on October 29.
Prof. Asia Rolls from the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Professors Oded Beja and Benny Podbilevich from the Technion Faculty of Biology have been elected as new members of EMBO, the European Organization for Molecular Biology. Their joining the organization will be celebrated at the EMBO event that will be held in Heidelberg and will begin on October 29.
Prof. Oded Beja from the Faculty of Biology Engages in environmental genomics (Metagenomics) - an approach that examines the animal world under the conditions of its natural environment. The background for the development of this approach is the fact that approximately 98% of microorganisms cannot grow, certainly not in a course similar to the natural process, in laboratory cultures. Analyzes of ribosomal RNA provide many insights but not a complete understanding of the ecological function of the organism and its physiological and biochemical properties. The approach taken by Prof. Beja's research group reveals this information by using environmental genomics, so that this problem can be circumvented by analyzing the microbial genomes and identifying protein-coding genes and biochemical pathways in cells. By using environmental genomics, microbial rhodopsin proteins were discovered that are used to harvest light energy.
Prof. my son Podbilevich from the Faculty of Biology Engages in research on the fusion mechanisms of cells in animals. His pioneering work led to the discovery of two fusogenic proteins (fusogens, which cause the fusion of cells) called EFF-1 and AFF-1 inC. elegans. חלבונים אלו נחוצים ומספיקים לאיחוי תאים בהתפתחות איברים. קבוצתו הראתה שהחלפת פוסוגן נגיפי ב-EFF-1 או AFF-1 גורמת לנגיף זיהומי; זו הייתה הפעם הראשונה שהוכח כי פוסוגנים תאיים מסוגלים להחליף פוסוגן נגיפי. קבוצתו פתרה את המבנה האטומי של EFF-1 וגילה דמיון מבני לפוסוגנים נגיפיים; זה היה המבנה הראשון שנפתר עבור פוסוגן תא-תא. עם פבלו אגילאר הוא חזה שחלבון זרע צמחי (GCS1/HAP2) דומה ל- EFF-1 מבחינה מבנית והוכיח את פעילותו. הם הגדירו משפחת על של פוסוגנים מבעלי חיים, צמחים, פרוטיסטים ונגיפים המכונים "פוסקסינים". מעבדתו מצא כי EFF-1 ו-AFF-1 משתתפים בשמירה על המבנה של עצים בתאי עצב ועל התחדשותם והראו כיצד עצים דנדריטיים מזדקנים ודרכים להצעיר אותם. יחד עם טטסויה הגשיאמה הוא חקר את הפוסוגן הראשון של זרע ביונקים, ועם קונסורציום בינלאומי הוא חקר פוסקסינים חדשים בארכאה (Archaea).
Prof. Asia Rolls from the Rapaport Faculty of Medicine Researches psychosomatic effects - how the brain affects the immune system and the ability to deal with diseases. Her work showed that the reward system in the brain, which is linked to motivation and hope, increases the activity of the immune system and thus strengthens the defense against bacterial infections (the research she published in 2016 in the journal Nature Medicine). In another study (published in Nature Communications in 2018) she showed that a similar brain intervention leads to a dramatic reduction in the volume of cancerous tumors, mediated by the immune system. In another article from 2021, published in Cell, Prof. Rawls demonstrated another aspect of the connection between the brain and the immune system when she showed that the brain preserves "memories" of past diseases, and is able to reproduce these diseases by activating those memories. These findings have dramatic consequences for understanding the placebo and nosbo phenomena and for understanding disease outbreaks following different emotional experiences.
EMBO is an international organization where scientists from 30 countries are members. 92 Nobel laureates are members of the organization or were members of it in the past. The main goals of the organization are to support talented researchers at all stages of their careers, promote the sharing of scientific knowledge and help build a rich research environment that allows researchers to exhaust their skills. The selected young researchers join a four-year program, a period during which the organization provides them with financial support, important professional connections, mentorship from veteran researchers from the EMBO community, training in leadership aspects and access to the research infrastructure of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany. The organization, which was founded in July 1964, is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, and the new cohort includes nine Israeli researchers.
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