The Young Researcher Program of EMBO, the European Organization for Molecular Biology, supports researchers in the early stages of their careers as independent scientists
From right to left: Dr. Siegel Ben-Yehuda, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Prof. Ehud Razin, Ms. Lincia Metzner, CEO of Hadassah Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef. Photographer: Danny Oshani
Dr. Siegel Ben Yehuda (36), a researcher from the Department of Molecular Biology at the Faculty of Medicine at the Hebrew University, is the only Israeli scientist selected this year for the prestigious young researcher program of EMBO - the European Organization for Molecular Biology. Dr. Ben Yehuda is one of 21 scientists selected by EMBO from among 150 candidates from across Europe who reached the final stage.
The EMBO Young Researcher Program supports researchers in the early stages of their careers as independent scientists. The benefits of the program include: training programs, annual conferences, professional training and an annual research grant of €15,000 for 3 years.
The "young researchers" join the network of the best scientists in the field of life sciences in Europe. The three-year program offers benefits aimed at easing the transition to independent research by: helping to establish a reputation in the scientific community, helping to create new collaborations and helping to obtain funding for the research work.
Dr. Ben Yehuda was selected for the program due to her work in the field of repairing damaged DNA in the process of differentiation in bacteria. Earlier this year, Dr. Ben Yehuda led a group of researchers from the Hebrew University who were able to observe and describe for the first time how damaged DNA is recognized by a cellular protein. The study sheds new light on the understanding of the molecular mechanism of searching for and identifying DNA damage and is likely to help in the study of diseases involving damaged DNA, including cancer.
Also, thanks to these achievements, Dr. Ben Yehuda was awarded the dean's prize for an outstanding young researcher named after the late Prof. Metzner for the year XNUMX at the Faculty of Medicine.
