Institute of Evolution
The Institute of Evolution (IoE)
Established in the University of Haifa at 1977 by prof. Eviatar Nevo, includes 12 faculty members (members of the Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology) and more than 20 affiliated scientists with PhD degrees.
The Institute of Evolution (IOE) at the University of Haifa is unique in its broad and interdisciplinary research with particular expertise in population and evolutionary genetics, developmental evolution, behavioral evolution, bioinformatics and ecology. The IOE is situated on Mount Carmel at the heart of the Carmel national park, next to one of most beautiful cities around the Mediterranean, we are in prefect location to study biodiversity and evolution. We are abundant with in house and outdoor facilities providing for modern, cutting edge science. Together with the Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology based in our campus, we are a center of excellence in the field of ecology and evolution in the north of Israel.
Institute News
Congratulations to Prof. Tzion Fahima and his team for publishing a paper in the prestigious journal Nature Genetics!
We are proud of this excellent achievement which is a major contribution to the understanding of plant immunology, with wide implications for resistance to diseases in crop plants, in order to maintain food security and reduce global hunger.
Congratulations to Aya Marck (supervisors Nir Sapir and Yizhar Lavner from Tel Hai College) for winning the best PhD student talk award at the annual conference of the Zoological Society of Israel that was held on 29.12.2024! Aya's talk was on "Detection and classification of nocturnal flight calls for bioacoustic monitoring of bird migration in Southern Israel"
בנק הגנים .12023_1_ENGsubs (1).mp4Spalax Carmeli comming out of the tunnel
Spalax Carmeli comming out of the tunnel.mp4Credit: Anastasia Baturina
Catсhing Blind Mole Rats by Dr. Imad Shams in the Upper Galilee
Imad Video.mp4Credit: Dr. Grace Smarsh
Scientific Seminars
The presented lectures deal mainly with the hot topics in evolutionary biology, molecular genetics, genomics, and ecology. The seminars are delivered by expert lecturers and distinguished visitors in a relaxed environment.
At this point, the seminars will be held on Mondays at 12:00 pm
Next seminar:
20.01.2025, Safdie Auditorium, Multi-purpose building
Shmunis School of Biomedical and Cancer Research,
Tel-Aviv University
Rapid sensing and resistance to an RNA phage revealed through single cell and bulk RNA sequencing
Recently, there is increasing interest in bacterial defense systems against phage, yet the vast majority of studies focus on defense against DNA phages. How do bacteria defend themselves against RNA phages? In this research we used a combination of single cell sequencing and bulk transcriptomics to elucidate the response of E. coli to the RNA phage MS2. Surprisingly we noted a relatively minimal = response of cells to phage infection, despite massive phage genome takeover occurring by 45 minutes. However, we revealed a subset of cells that overexpressed pathways for upregulation of biofilm genes and inferred that this occurs in response to signals received by the cells at a very early stage post- infection. We conclude that since MS2 is an exceptionally rapid predator of cells, resistance occurs through rapid sensing of phage presence. We show evidence for two possible pathways of signaling, through either small molecules or phage genome sensing, which lead to cell resistance and growth.