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 Tzion Fahima for his News & Views article in Nature Genetics 

Congratulations to Eyal Privman and his team for publishing their work in PNAS . It is a beautiful story about >1000 year old grapes that were found in the Nabataean cities in the desert by Guy Bar-Oz and his archeological team. Meirav Meiri from Tel Aviv University managed to make a few samples work for ancient DNA sequencing. And Pnina Cohen (ex PhD student from our department) did the bioinformatic and evolutionary analysis. 

Big Congratulations to Prof. Sagi Snir for his election as the president of The Israeli Society for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (ISBCB)!

בנק הגנים .12023_1_ENGsubs (1).mp4

Catсhing Blind Mole Rats by Dr. Imad Shams in the Upper Galilee

Imad Video.mp4

Credit: 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:

        

22.05.2023, Safdie Auditorium floor -1, Multi-Purpose Building

           

   


      Prof. Gitta Coaker, 

     Department of Plant Pathology, University of California 


     Investigating plant responses to bacterial infection with   spatial and cellular resolution

Abstract:

Plants can be infected by all pathogen classes. Research in my laboratory is focused on pathogens that colonize above ground plant parts. We use a combination of genetic, biochemical, and microscopy-based approaches to investigate mechanisms controlling plant immune signaling and pathogen virulence. Here, I will focus on our work using single-cell RNA sequencing (sc-RNAseq) technology to profile ~12,000 individual leaf cells upon infection with the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. Spatial investigation of cell clusters was accomplished through confocal microscopy. We identified distinct pathogen-responsive clusters exhibiting transcriptional responses ranging from immunity to susceptibility in distinct areas of the leaf. Overall, this work uncovers heterogeneity in host response to pathogens within a tissue that was previously masked in bulk RNAseq analyses