2023 The two men who stopped by his office one afternoon three years ago were not interested in professorial chitchat, however. 2023 Using echolocation, the hosts descend on their guests, trying to infect them with boring chitchat. Lindsay Geller, Women's Health, 25 Apr. Rosenwasser Charitable Fund.Recent Examples on the Web Lee makes a point of noting that humans can express themselves in different ways beyond simple chitchat. Polen Charitable Trust, the Abraham & Sonia Rochlin Foundation, and the Ruth and Samuel J. Yaron Antebi is supported by The Abramson Family Center for Young Scientists, Clal Insurance, the Harmstieg New Scientist Fund, the Estate of David Levinson, The Jeanne and Joseph Nissim Center for Life Sciences Research, the Estate of Bella Ockman, the David M. When we get to the point where we understand how to construct ‘words’ in cellular language, we could potentially direct their behavior and thus correct undesired processes, construct specific tissues, or even create new synthetic cellular structures.”ĭr. “It turns out that they can talk, in a language yet to be fully understood. “I was fascinated about the many things cells can become in our body: bone, muscle, brain, and much more, and how a cell knows which path to choose,” says Dr. This view is a major departure from the conventional understanding of how cells communicate with each other-and provides a new foundation for understanding how information is communicated inherently through combinations of signaling molecules and their receptors. He has succeeded in showing something incredibly insightful: that cells respond to complex combinations of different ligands, rather than a single message, and also that different cell types can interpret the same set of signals in different ways. Antebi fused all of his areas of expertise, combining experimental biology with the mathematical modeling learned in his physics training. That understanding has given rise to a radical new paradigm for understanding how cells talk with each other.ĭigging deeper, Dr. It was clear to him by this point that his chief interest was tackling the complexity of intercellular communication.Ĭontinuing his postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology in biology and biological engineering, he eventually came to the surprising conclusion that cells aren’t communicating with individual ligands, but rather combinations of ligands. Uri Alon of the Department of Molecular Cell Biology, contributing new insights into the study of the control circuits governing cell population size. During this time, he also collaborated with another physicist-turned-biologist, Prof. Nir Friedman’s lab in the Department of Immunology, that he began learning the basic tools of immunology research in order to try to understand how conflicting signals are processed by the body’s T-cells. It was then, as a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. In a radical shift after completing his PhD in 2008, he focused his attention on cell biology. Ofer Aharony and Micha Berkooz in the Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, he was drawn to the study of string theory and supersymmetry. During his PhD studies in high-energy theoretical physics at the Weizmann Institute with Profs. Antebi completed a BSc in physics and mathematics magna cum laude at Tel Aviv University in 1998. This seems to complicate the ability of individual cells being able to properly interpret and respond to specific signals.Īfter studying as an undergraduate for a year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. In this way, communication between cells is like a conversation in a crowded room with everyone talking at once. In fact, it is a bit of mayhem: many different ligands appear to interact with many different receptors. However, scientists realized that it is not that simple. Under traditional models of cellular communications, each ligand was thought to serve as a key to opening a specific receptor lock. These ligands bind to receptors on the surface of other cells, which interpret the messages and trigger the appropriate response. Just as humans use letters to create words and messages, cells release molecules called ligands into the environment to send information to their neighbors. It turns out that cells talk-in their own way. Antebi is the latest Weizmann scientist to bring to bear his training and expertise in physics to the life sciences. Radically changing course towards the end of his graduate work, he began to apply the strengths he developed in understanding string theory and physics to the challenges of deciphering how cells communicate.Ī new recruit to the Department of Molecular Genetics, Dr. Yaron Antebi became captivated by exciting developments in biology. While studying physics at the Weizmann Institute, Dr.
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