Education:
|
1993 |
B.Sc;. Hebrew University, Mathematics and Physics |
|
1999 |
M.Sc;. Tel-Aviv University, Astrophysics |
|
2005 |
Ph.D.; Weizmann Institute of science, Systems biology |
|
2009 |
Post Doctoral fellow; California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA |
Academic Positions:
|
2010 |
Senior Lecturer; Deptartment of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel-Aviv University |
Our main interest is in understanding the design principles of cooperative behavior in bacteria. More specifically, we focus on how bacterial communication (also known as quorum sensing) is involved in the regulation of cooperation. Our aim is to elucidate the impact of social structure, spatial organization and phenotypic hetrogeneity on the development of cooperation and its evolution. We therefore combine tools from microbiology, genetics, molecular biology, microscopy and quantitative modeling to study the phenomenon of cooperation in simple and complex structures. Our main model organisms are the Gram-positive soil bacteria B. subtilis and the Gram-negative pathogen P. aeruginosa. These two organisms are major model systems of quorum-sensing and biofilm development, allowing us to use their superb genetic tools and vast knowledge base as a starting point for our investigation.
Research interests include:
Transient Duplication-Dependent Divergence and Horizontal Transfer Underlie the Evolutionary Dynamics of Bacterial Cell–Cell Signaling. Eran Even-Tov, Shira Omer Bendori, Shaul Pollak, Avigdor Eldar. PLoS Biol 14(12): e2000330 (2016)
Social evolution selects for redundancy in bacterial quorum sensing. Eran Even-Tov, Shira Omer Bendori, Julie Valastyan, Xiaobo Ke, Shaul Pollak, Tasneem Bareia, Ishay Ben-Zion, Bonnie L. Bassler and Avigdor Eldar. PLOS Biology, 14(2): e1002386 (2016)
Facultative cheating supports the co-existence of multiple quorum-sensing pherotypes. Shaul Pollak, Shira Omer Bendori, Eran Even-Tov, Valeria Lipsman, Tasneem Bareia, Ishay Ben-Zion, Avigdor Eldar. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 113(8):2152-7 (2016)
Social conflict drives the evolutionary divergence of quorum sensing. Avigdor Eldar. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 108 (33): 13635-13640 (2011)
Functional Roles for Noise in Genetic Circuits. Avigdor Eldar and Michael Elowitz (Review) Nature, 467(7312):167-173 (2010).
Partial penetrance facilitates developmental evolution in bacteria. Avigdor Eldar,Vasant K. Chary, Panos Xenopoulos, Michelle E. Fontes,Oliver C. Losón, Jonathan Dworkin, Patrick J. Piggot PJ, Michael B. Elowitz. Nature, 460(7254):510-4 (2009).
