I received my academic training at Tel Aviv University in the laboratory of Prof. Eugene Rosenberg where I was trained as a microbial ecologist and a classical microbiologist. After finishing my PhD, moved to Cornell for postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Ruth Ley. During my postdoc I was part of the NIH Human Microbiome Project (HMP) and also studied the how pregnancy influences the microbiota (resulted in a publication in Cell 2012). My postdoc resulted in more than 25 publications, some of which were collaborations with leading scientists in the field. As part of the HMP I helped create pipelines for data analysis and developed tools for the analysis of “big data” and also analyzed the data for the paper that appeared in Nature 2012. After 3.5 years I returned to Israel (2013) and set up my lab at the newly established med school of Bar Ilan University. In my lab we study the interaction between the microbiome and the endocrine system and the effects on behavior.

Numerous studies have shown that the microbial composition changes throughout healthy development and in various disease states. Our research focuses on the two major questions in this field relating to the dual interactions between microbiota and the host: how do the bacteria affect the host, and how does the host affect the bacteria?
Among our main interests are the interactions between the microbiome and the host endocrine system. A good example of this is in pregnancy, during which significant changes in microbiota composition, host hormonal levels, and immune responsiveness all converge to attain healthy fetal development. Another interest in our lab includes the affects of the microbiome on host social behavior.
Our methods are varied and include next generation sequencing (NGS), computational analysis, and fecal transplants. We believe that beyond a better understanding of the healthy microbiota composition and its interactions with the host, results of our studies may lead to development of therapies such as specific probiotics to ameliorate disease states.

Teaching:
Microbiology