Naama Geva-Zatorsky
About
Humans have an intimate bond with their gut microbes. These microorganisms, six orders of magnitude smaller than us, live within us, share our meals, and support our health.
The Geva-Zatorsky lab studies the roles our gut microbes play in complementing our immune system. Lab members applied a novel chemistry tool to enable, for the first time, visualization of the live gut microbiota at real-time in their natural habitat. Their visualization helps the team define their natural localizations, and their detailed communications with the host immune system.
Recently, scientists have realized that bacteriophages, the viruses that infect bacteria in the gut, are both more diverse and more abundant than the gut bacteria. Nevertheless, their functional effects are yet unknown. The Geva-Zatorsky group are fascinated by gut bacteriophages and are currently studying their functional effects in the gut as a novel approach for disease prevention and treatment.
The lab is most interested in studying the mechanistic interactions of the gut microbiota (bacteria and viruses) with host physiology. Characterizing their mechanistic and functional effects will represent an important new approach for human health.
Awards
- Horev Fellow, Technion, 2017
- Alon Fellowship for young investigators, 2017
- L’Oréal-UNESCO International Award for Women in Science, 2014, 2012 and 2011
- John F. Kennedy Prize, for academic excellence and scientific accomplishments, 2010
- Teva Prize for outstanding PhD students, 2009
Relevant Publications
Cohen, A.A.*, N. Geva-Zatorsky*, E. Eden*, M. Frenkel-Morgenstern, I. Issaeva, A. Sigal, R. Milo, C. Cohen-Saidon, Y. Liron, Z. Kam, L. Cohen, T. Danon, N. Perzov and U. Alon. “Dynamic proteomics of individual cancer cells in response to a drug.” Science, 322(5907), (2018): 1511-6.
Geva-Zatorsky, N., E. Sefik, L. Pasman, L. Kua, T. Guan, A.M. McGuire, A. Earl, A. Ortiz-Lopez, R. Jupp, D. Mathis, C. Benoist and D. Kasper. “Mining the human gut microbiota for immunomodulatory organisms.” Cell (2017).
Geva-Zatorsky, N.*, D. Alvarez*, J.E. Hudak, N.C. Reading, D. Erturk-Hasdemir, S. Dasgupta, U.H. von Andrian and D.L. Kasper. “Metabolic Labeling of Gut Anaerobic Bacteria: A Strategy for Understanding Host–Microbiota Interactions.” Nature Medicine. (2015, August 17).
Geva-Zatorsky, N, I. Issaeva, A. Mayo, A. Cohen, E. Dekel, T. Danon, L. Cohen, Y. Liron, U. Alon and E. Eden. “Using bleach-chase to measure protein half-lives in living cells.” Nature Protocols 7, (2012): 801-811.
Geva-Zatorsky, N*, E. Dekel*, A.A. Cohen, T. Danon, L. Cohen and U. Alon. “Protein Dynamics in drug combinations-a linear superposition of individual drug Responses.” Cell 140(5) (2010): 643-651.