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Team:BGU Israel/Team
From 2013.igem.org
About Our Team
It all started when two wandering friends heard about the epic quest of iGEM, immediately they knew they want to embark on this adventure. A band of 12 undergrad-adventurers from 10 different disciplines was then assembled for this pioneering quest. Against all odds they managed to learn about iGEM and introduce it to the Uni. Along with public, recruit the instructors, raise the funds create the project and get to the finals! In some encounters it is hinted that they even had fun! We are the first team from Ben Gurion University and the only Israeli team to participate this year. To get to know us personally, move your mouse over the picture above!
Our Proffesional Instructors and Advisors
Prof. Smadar Cohen
InstructorProf. Smadar Cohen from the Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Ben Gurion University, received her BSc, MSc and PhD (Biophysics) from Tel Aviv University, and went on to a postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (with Prof. Robert Langer). Prof. Cohen’s research explores several areas in modern biotechnology, from designing of instructive biomaterials for inducing tissue regeneration and tissue engineering ex- and in-vivo to implementation of intelligent delivery systems for therapeutic peptides and proteins. AlgiMatrix– a scaffold for 3-D cell culture – has been developed in her group and has been licensed and developed into a product by Invitrogen Corporation (Carlsbad, California). Prof. Cohen also developed BL-1040, an alginate-based biomaterial for treating acute myocardial infarction (in clinical phase I /II study).
Dr. Roey Tzezana
AdvisorDr. Roey Tzezana is a research fellow at the Interdisciplinary Center for Technology Analysis and Forecasting at Tel-Aviv University and lecturer at the Technion University in the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Tzezana received his PhD in Nano-technology of tissue engineering and human embryonic stem cells. Today his research focuses on predicting the futures of Israel and Europe, and subjects related to understanding the human of the future and enhancing human capabilities. His research is conducted in collaboration with the security industries, the Ministry of Defense, the Israeli Police, the Airport Authority and the European Union. He also writes columns in several magazines, owns the popular blog Blazing Science, and hosts the radio show Doctor Why.
Dr. Niv Papo
Instructor Senior lecturer at the Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering of Ben Gurion University.
Prof. Lital Alfonta
InstructorProf. Lital Alfonta from the Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Ben Gurion University, received her PhD (Chemistry) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and continued to a post-doctoral fellowship at the Scripps Research Institute in chemistry and molecular biology. Prof. Alfonta's group focuses on the wiring of microorganisms to electrodes and the development of novel microbial fuel cells and biosensors based on: 1) genetically engineering of bacterial cell surface for enhanced communication with electrodes; 2) site specific chemical modification of bacterial cell surface; and 3) evolution and characterization of new functionalities in enzymes.
Dr. Omri Amirav-Drori
AdvisorDr. Omri Amirav-Drory is the founder and CEO at Genome Compiler Corp., a synthetic biology venture to design and debug DNA, and one of the founders of Glowing Plant (glowingplant.com). Prior to starting his company, Dr. Amirav-Drory was a Fulbright postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine and HHMI, performing neuroscience research using structural and synthetic biology methods. He received his PhD in biochemistry from Tel-Aviv University for biochemical and structural studies of membrane protein complexes involved in bio-energetics.
Continue the journey: Get to know those who made our quest possible in our Acknowledgements page .
