Page 41 - Rappaport Institute Magazine 2024

CELL BIOLOGY AND CANCER SCIENCE
38-39
Study bacterial functionality in human health and disease
Our studies aim to decipher the “hidden” molecular language between the microbiome and the host. We combine systems biology (computational approaches) with microbiology and immunology (experimental models and patients) to study the intimate interactions between the gut microbiome and the host immune system in health and disease, with a major focus on bacterial functional plasticity. We also embrace the presence of bacteriophages – viruses specific to bacteria, and demonstrate their importance in modulating bacterial functionality. Our studies reveal how the residential microbes react to their surroundings, and their potential consequences to our health, which may be applied both for diagnostics and for future microbiome-based therapeutics.
Selected Publications
ˆ Carasso, S.*, Zaatry, R.*, Hajjo, H.*, Kadosh-Kariti, D.*, Ben-Assa, N., Naddaf, R., Mandelbaum, N., Pressman, S., Chowers, Y., Gefen, T., et al. (2023). Inflammation and bacteriophages affect DNA inversion states and functionality of the gut microbiota. Cell Host & Microbe. 2024;32(3):322-334. e9. doi:10.1016/j.chom.2024.02.003
ˆ Hajjo, H., Bhardwaj, N., Gefen, T., and Geva-Zatorsky, N. (2023). Combinatorial fluorescent labeling of live anaerobic bacteria via the incorporation of azide-modified sugars into newly synthesized macromolecules. Nat Protoc 18, 3767-3786. 10.1038/s41596-023-00896-7.
ˆ Ben-Assa, N.*, Coyne, M.J.*, Fomenkov, A., Livny, J., Robins, W.P., Muniesa, M., Carey, V., Carasso, S., Gefen, T., Jofre, J., et al. (2020). Analysis of
a phase-variable restriction modification system of the human gut symbiont Bacteroides fragilis. Nucleic Acids Res 48, 11040-11053. 10.1093/nar/ gkaa824.
*These authors contributed equally
Grants and Awards
2017 – Alon Fellowship for young investigators 2019 – Gutwirth award
2021 – National Young Academy member 2021 – Hershel-Rich Innovation Award
naamagvz@gmail.com
Naama Geva Zatorsky Lab
Naama Geva-Zatorsky, PhD Associate Professor of Microbiome
and Immunology
PhD, 2012 – Weizmann institute of Science, Israel
Mouse colon. In purple – gut bacteria, Green – mucus, Blue – epithelial cells