Zuckerman STEM Leadership Program

Congratulation to @Zoharnon Zuckerman Israeli Postdoctoral Scholar (Alum) at Columbia University,  for joining the faculty in the Department of Biotechnology Engineering at @bengurionu University of the Negev. Dr. Arnon’sresearch spans programmed biological systems, DNA nanotechnology, and bioinspired materials. His appointment marks an exciting step in a multidisciplinary research career that bridges nanotechnology, biology, chemistry, and physics.

Congratulation to Zuckerman Israeli Postdoctoral Scholar Tal Gordon (alumna), for joining the faculty of @bengurionu University of the Negev, where she has opened a lab on the university’s Eilat campus. Her lab studies regeneration and wound response in marine invertebrates, with a focus on tunicates. Her new research program builds on her broader work in marine regeneration and aims to uncover fundamental mechanisms that shape how animals repair and rebuild tissues after injury.

Congratulations to Zuckerman Israeli Postdoctoral Scholar Hila Glanz on being awarded the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) PhD Prize. The annual award recognizes outstanding scientific contributions and exceptional doctoral research by early-career astronomers around the world.  Dr. Glanz completed her PhD at @TechnionLive Israel Institute of Technology where she researched accretion, migration and explosions in stellar interactions.  She is currently conducting her postdoctoral research at @Caltech

New Study on Human Blood Fluke Development Published in Research (SPJ) by @omriwu The study found that a chemical mark on messenger RNA, known as m6A, plays an important role in helping the human blood fluke develop, reproduce, and adapt its metabolism. By mapping this mark across male and female parasites, Dr. Wurtzel found that it helps regulate key genes in sex-specific ways, offering new insights into how the parasite survives and spreads,  and may provide strategies for controlling schistosomiasis. @TelAvivUni spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/r…

Face Memory and Face Perception Are Not Always Linked: a new study by @MichalRamot found that people can perceive faces and hold them in memory as separate processes when a task is relatively simple. However, when the task becomes more demanding, these two abilities appear to interact. The findings help clarify how the brain manages face recognition and memory under different levels of cognitive load nature.com/articles/s4146…

Zuckerman Scholars Sweep 2026 Israel Science Foundation Grants! In a remarkable showing of excellence, 13 Scholars and alum have been awarded competitive grants including Personal Research and Biomedical Research Grants. We warmly congratulate the awardees and take great pride in the groundbreaking research they are advancing for the benefit of science and society. @AmiadDaria @BrombergYaron @LimorFreifeld @goldstein_lab @ItamarHarel @lobel_lior @AssafRamot , Pavel Sidorenko @ShaniSternLab Inbal Wortel, Adi Ashkenazi, @YosefKiat @RoeySchurr zuckermanstem.org/research-grant…

“FOR GUT’S SAKE” 
Watch Danielle Karo-Atar, Zuckerman Faculty Scholar at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, protecting the gut. @bengurionu youtu.be/j8M9MLrTX4g?si…

Congratulations to Zuckerman Faculty Scholar Limor Freifeld on the publication of “Escape behaviors are transiently modulated after acutely induced epileptic seizures in larval zebrafish” in Scientific Reports. Dr. Freifeld and her team found that seizures trigger a temporary drop in behavioral responses to startling stimuli that can last for several hours, and that seizure severity can be reversed anti‑epileptic drugs. Abstract:
Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder giving rise to both recurrent and spontaneous seizures as well as additional neurological comorbidities. In approximately 30% of patients, seizures are not ameliorated by existing anti-seizure drugs. To bridge this treatment gap, the larval zebrafish has emerged as a powerful model for high-throughput drug-screening, based on changes in swimming behavior during seizures.@LimorFreifeld @TechnionLive nature.com/articles/s4159…

25 Million NIS Cryo Microscopy Grant Awarded to Zuckerman Alum @DvirHarris a leading member of the Technion team receiving this prestigious award, where he heads his lab. A team of six Technion faculty members has been awarded a Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC) grant to acquire two of the most advanced electron microscopes in the world, a CRYO-TEM and a CRYO-FIB-SEM. These new capabilities will expand access to molecular‑resolution imaging, accelerate interdisciplinary research in structural biology, medicine, and soft materials, and support broad scientific collaborations in Israel and worldwide. @TechnionLive

Study Maps Hidden Groundwater: Congratulations to @yaelkiro Zuckerman Faculty Scholar at  @WeizmannScience on publishing The Global Contribution of Individual Submarine Groundwater Discharge Components to the Ocean in Geophysical Research Letters. In this study, Dr. Kiro and her team examine how different forms of submarine groundwater discharge contribute to ocean chemistry on a global scale. By combining numerical modeling with geospatial data, the team distinguishes between density-driven and tidally driven components and shows that these flows may deliver substantial amounts of dissolved elements to the ocean. The findings highlight coastal aquifers as an important and often overlooked part of the global marine chemical cycle. agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/…

Highlighting Understudied Inflammatory Diseases: Congratulations to Itay Raphael, Zuckerman faculty scholar on the publication of Exploring Understudied Inflammatory Diseases, in the journal Expert Review of Clinical Immunology.  Defined as medical conditions with limited or insufficient research, inadequate funding and the need for more clinical trials, the editorial highlights how understanding the genetic and molecular mechanisms of these conditions could improve diagnosis and treatment of immunological diseases @HebrewU_heb tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.10…

Marine Ecosystems and Coastal Assets Face Disproportionate Risks in Eastern Mediterranean Risk @IBerenshtein Zuckerman Faculty Scholar at @UofHaifa , presented at ASLO-SIL 2026: Aquatic Confluence: Science, People, Knowledge Conference, held in Montreal in May.  Dr. Berenshtein, a senior lecturer at Haifa University’s Department of Marine Biology, discussed the disproportionately high-risk marine assets face from offshore hydrocarbon spills in the Eastern Mediterranean.  He demonstrated how integrated modelling can help reveal uneven risks posed to marine assets from offshore hydrocarbon spills. His presentation touched on broader issues in marine ecosystems, environmental change, and an interdisciplinary approach in aquatic science. zuckermanstem.org/lab/marine-eco…