image: Dr. Itamar Harel
Credit: Credit-Miriam Alster Flash90
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is proud to announce that two of its outstanding researchers have been selected to join the EMBO Young Investigator Programme, a prestigious initiative recognizing exceptional early-career group leaders in life sciences across Europe and beyond.
These researchers will be among the 27 newest members of the EMBO Young Investigator Network, which fosters scientific excellence and interdisciplinary collaboration. They will receive a grant of 15,000 euros, access to core facilities at EMBL in Heidelberg, Germany, training in laboratory leadership and responsible research practices, and mentoring by EMBO Members. The programme also provides opportunities to apply for additional funding and organize or attend international conferences.
The recipients from Hebrew University are:
Dr. Itamar Harel, of The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, conducts pioneering research on the biology of aging using the African turquoise killifish as a model organism. This short-lived vertebrate, which shares key genetic and physiological traits with humans, allows for efficient studies of aging and age-related diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Dr. Harel’s work has identified proteins with age-related folding malfunctions that lead to cellular disruptions and has uncovered sex-specific mechanisms, including how the germline regulates male longevity while enhancing DNA repair in females. These findings provide innovative insights into the molecular mechanisms driving aging and offer potential strategies to delay aging and combat age-related diseases.
"I am thrilled to join the EMBO Young Investigator Program because it offers my students an unparalleled platform to collaborate with exceptional scientists across diverse disciplines. Being part of this vibrant community is an incredible opportunity to accelerate the impact of our work and inspire the next generation of scientists."
Dr. Mor Nitzan, The School of Computer Science and Engineering, Racah Institute of Physics, and The Faculty of Medicine, for her research on the representation, inference and design of multicellular systems. Dr. Nitzan develops mathematical models and computational frameworks to better understand how cells encode multiple layers of spatial and temporal information, and how to efficiently decode that information from large and complex biological data. Her research group aims to uncover organization principles underlying information processing, computation, division of labor, and self-organization of multicellular structures such as tissues, and how cell-to-cell interactions can be manipulated to optimize tissue structure and function.