Nissim Benvenisty

Nissim Benvenisty is Professor of Genetics, the Herbert Cohn Chair in Cancer Research and the Director of “The Azrieli Center for Stem Cells and Genetic Research” at the Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University.

Nissim Benvenisty
NationalityIsraeli
Alma materHebrew University
Known forResearch on human pluripotent stem cells
AwardsThe Katzir Prize; ACTO Prize (Japan); Milken Prize; Kaye Prize; Yamagiwa-Yoshida Fellowship (Japan); Hestrin Prize; Senta Foulkes Prize (London).
Scientific career
FieldsStem Cells, Human Genetics, Cancer Research, Hereditary Disorders
InstitutionsDirector, Azrieli Center for Stem Cells and Genetic Research, Hebrew University
Websitehttp://benvenisty.huji.ac.il/

Benvenisty earned his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the Hebrew University, and conducted postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University. He is a member of the steering committee of the International Stem Cell Initiative (ISCI),[1] the Programme Board of the UK-RMP, and serves as the academic advisor for the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR). He is a founding member of the Israel Stem Cell Society,[2] and he is the Founder and CSO of NewStem Ltd.[3]

Research

Benvenisty’s research projects focus on pluripotent stem cell biology, human genetic disorders, tissue engineering, genetic and epigenetic aberrations and cancer research. His laboratory made several contributions in these fields of research:

  • Differentiation and genetic manipulation of human embryonic stem cells: In 2000, his laboratory pioneered the first demonstration of both spontaneous differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into embryoid bodies and direct differentiation into more than ten cell types.[4][5] In addition, his laboratory was the first to demonstrate genetic manipulation of human embryonic stem cells.[6] These discoveries where highlighted by a Focus article in “Science”.[7]
  • Disease modelling using human pluripotent stem cells: Benvenisty’s laboratory was the first to show a model for a human disease using human pluripotent stem cells.[8] Since then he has demonstrated six methodologies to generate models for genetic disorders,[9] generating more than a dozen models for studying mainly neural diseases (such as Fragile X syndrome)[10][11] and imprinting disorders (such as Prader-Willi syndrome).[12]
  • Tumorigenicity and immunogenicity of human pluripotent stem cells: Immunogenicity and tumorigenicity of human pluripotent stem cells are very relevant for the safe and efficient use of these cells in regenerative medicine. Benvenisty’s laboratory was the first to study the immunogenicity of the cells,[13] and to analyze the basis of their tumorigenicity.[14]
  • Genetic and epigenetic stability of human pluripotent stem cells: The genetic and epigenetic instability of human pluripotent stem cells is a major characteristic of the cells affecting their tumorigenicity and their use in disease modeling. Benvenisty’s lab was the first to study the chromosomal stability of human induce pluripotent stem cells,[15] and developed methodologies to analyze genetic and epigenetic aberrations.[16][17][18][19]
  • Haploid human embryonic stem cells and genome-wide screenings: Benvenisty’s lab was the first to generate haploid human embryonic stem cells (having half of the chromosomes).[20] His laboratory utilized these cells for genome-wide genetic screenings to analyze human development and disease.[21][22][23]

Benvenisty's lab serves as an incubator for excellent students, and over ten of his former students hold principal investigator positions in the Israeli academia (Hebrew University, Weizmann Institute, Tel-Aviv University, Bar-Ilan University, Technion).

Awards and honors
  • The Rappaport Prize for excellence in the field of biomedical research (2023)[24]
  • The Katzir Prize (2020) for exceptional achievements in life sciences, given triennial by FISEB/ILANIT.[25]
  • Awarded Member of Academia Europaea (2018).[26]
  • The ACTO Prize (Japan) (2018) for “Best Innovation in Stem Cell Research”.[27]
  • Milken Prize for Excellent Teachers,[28] Hebrew University (2016).
  • Awarded the “Azrieli Center for Stem Cells and Genetic Research” by the Azrieli Foundation (Canada)[29] (2014).
  • Kaye Prize for best innovation (2010).[30]
  • Awarded the “Legacy-Heritage Stem Cell Center” (USA) (2006).[31]
  • Yamagiwa-Yoshida Memorial International Cancer Study Fellowship[32] (Japan) (2000).
  • Hestrin Prize in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology[33] (1997).
  • Senta Foulkes Prize (London).[34]

References
  1. "International Stem Cell Initiative".
  2. "Israel Stem Cell Society".
  3. "NewStem Ltd".
  4. Schuldiner, Maya; Yanuka, Ofra; Itskovitz-Eldor, Joseph; Melton, Douglas A.; Benvenisty, Nissim (2000-10-10). "Effects of eight growth factors on the differentiation of cells derived from human embryonic stem cells". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 97 (21): 11307–11312. doi:10.1073/pnas.97.21.11307. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 17196. PMID 11027332.
  5. Itskovitz-Eldor, J.; Schuldiner, M.; Karsenti, D.; Eden, A.; Yanuka, O.; Amit, M.; Soreq, H.; Benvenisty, N. (February 2000). "Differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into embryoid bodies compromising the three embryonic germ layers". Molecular Medicine. 6 (2): 88–95. doi:10.1007/BF03401776. ISSN 1076-1551. PMC 1949933. PMID 10859025.
  6. Eiges, R.; Schuldiner, M.; Drukker, M.; Yanuka, O.; Itskovitz-Eldor, J.; Benvenisty, N. (2001-04-03). "Establishment of human embryonic stem cell-transfected clones carrying a marker for undifferentiated cells". Current Biology. 11 (7): 514–518. doi:10.1016/s0960-9822(01)00144-0. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 11413002. S2CID 14242857.
  7. Vogel, Gretchen (2002-03-08). "Stem cells. In the Mideast, pushing back the stem cell frontier". Science. 295 (5561): 1818–1820. doi:10.1126/science.295.5561.1818. ISSN 1095-9203. PMID 11884731. S2CID 19465884.
  8. Urbach, Achiya; Schuldiner, Maya; Benvenisty, Nissim (2004). "Modeling for Lesch-Nyhan disease by gene targeting in human embryonic stem cells". Stem Cells. 22 (4): 635–641. doi:10.1634/stemcells.22-4-635. ISSN 1066-5099. PMID 15277709. S2CID 23231597.
  9. Avior, Yishai; Sagi, Ido; Benvenisty, Nissim (March 2016). "Pluripotent stem cells in disease modelling and drug discovery". Nature Reviews. Molecular Cell Biology. 17 (3): 170–182. doi:10.1038/nrm.2015.27. ISSN 1471-0080. PMID 26818440. S2CID 2543121.
  10. Eiges, Rachel; Urbach, Achia; Malcov, Mira; Frumkin, Tsvia; Schwartz, Tamar; Amit, Ami; Yaron, Yuval; Eden, Amir; Yanuka, Ofra; Benvenisty, Nissim; Ben-Yosef, Dalit (November 2007). "Developmental study of fragile X syndrome using human embryonic stem cells derived from preimplantation genetically diagnosed embryos". Cell Stem Cell. 1 (5): 568–577. doi:10.1016/j.stem.2007.09.001. ISSN 1934-5909. PMID 18371394.
  11. Urbach, Achia; Bar-Nur, Ori; Daley, George Q.; Benvenisty, Nissim (2010-05-07). "Differential modeling of fragile X syndrome by human embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells". Cell Stem Cell. 6 (5): 407–411. doi:10.1016/j.stem.2010.04.005. ISSN 1875-9777. PMC 3354574. PMID 20452313.
  12. Stelzer, Yonatan; Sagi, Ido; Yanuka, Ofra; Eiges, Rachel; Benvenisty, Nissim (June 2014). "The noncoding RNA IPW regulates the imprinted DLK1-DIO3 locus in an induced pluripotent stem cell model of Prader-Willi syndrome". Nature Genetics. 46 (6): 551–557. doi:10.1038/ng.2968. ISSN 1546-1718. PMID 24816254. S2CID 205348484.
  13. Drukker, Micha; Katz, Gil; Urbach, Achia; Schuldiner, Maya; Markel, Gal; Itskovitz-Eldor, Joseph; Reubinoff, Benjamin; Mandelboim, Ofer; Benvenisty, Nissim (2002-07-23). "Characterization of the expression of MHC proteins in human embryonic stem cells". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 99 (15): 9864–9869. Bibcode:2002PNAS...99.9864D. doi:10.1073/pnas.142298299. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 125045. PMID 12114532.
  14. Blum, Barak; Bar-Nur, Ori; Golan-Lev, Tamar; Benvenisty, Nissim (March 2009). "The anti-apoptotic gene survivin contributes to teratoma formation by human embryonic stem cells". Nature Biotechnology. 27 (3): 281–287. doi:10.1038/nbt.1527. ISSN 1546-1696. PMID 19252483. S2CID 19622228.
  15. Mayshar, Yoav; Ben-David, Uri; Lavon, Neta; Biancotti, Juan-Carlos; Yakir, Benjamin; Clark, Amander T.; Plath, Kathrin; Lowry, William E.; Benvenisty, Nissim (2010-10-08). "Identification and classification of chromosomal aberrations in human induced pluripotent stem cells". Cell Stem Cell. 7 (4): 521–531. doi:10.1016/j.stem.2010.07.017. ISSN 1875-9777. PMID 20887957.
  16. Ben-David, Uri; Mayshar, Yoav; Benvenisty, Nissim (May 2013). "Virtual karyotyping of pluripotent stem cells on the basis of their global gene expression profiles". Nature Protocols. 8 (5): 989–997. doi:10.1038/nprot.2013.051. ISSN 1750-2799. PMID 23619890. S2CID 25227524.
  17. Weissbein, Uri; Schachter, Maya; Egli, Dieter; Benvenisty, Nissim (2016-07-07). "Analysis of chromosomal aberrations and recombination by allelic bias in RNA-Seq". Nature Communications. 7: 12144. Bibcode:2016NatCo...712144W. doi:10.1038/ncomms12144. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 4941052. PMID 27385103.
  18. Lezmi, Elyad; Benvenisty, Nissim (September 2021). "Identification of cancer-related mutations in human pluripotent stem cells using RNA-seq analysis". Nature Protocols. 16 (9): 4522–4537. doi:10.1038/s41596-021-00591-5. ISSN 1750-2799. PMID 34363070. S2CID 236946680.
  19. Bar, Shiran; Benvenisty, Nissim (2019-06-17). "Epigenetic aberrations in human pluripotent stem cells". The EMBO Journal. 38 (12): e101033. doi:10.15252/embj.2018101033. ISSN 1460-2075. PMC 6576196. PMID 31088843.
  20. Sagi, Ido; Chia, Gloryn; Golan-Lev, Tamar; Peretz, Mordecai; Weissbein, Uri; Sui, Lina; Sauer, Mark V.; Yanuka, Ofra; Egli, Dieter; Benvenisty, Nissim (2016-04-07). "Derivation and differentiation of haploid human embryonic stem cells". Nature. 532 (7597): 107–111. Bibcode:2016Natur.532..107S. doi:10.1038/nature17408. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 26982723. S2CID 4459224.
  21. Yilmaz, Atilgan; Peretz, Mordecai; Aharony, Aviram; Sagi, Ido; Benvenisty, Nissim (May 2018). "Defining essential genes for human pluripotent stem cells by CRISPR-Cas9 screening in haploid cells". Nature Cell Biology. 20 (5): 610–619. doi:10.1038/s41556-018-0088-1. ISSN 1476-4679. PMID 29662178. S2CID 4895581.
  22. Yilmaz, Atilgan; Braverman-Gross, Carmel; Bialer-Tsypin, Anna; Peretz, Mordecai; Benvenisty, Nissim (2020-10-01). "Mapping Gene Circuits Essential for Germ Layer Differentiation via Loss-of-Function Screens in Haploid Human Embryonic Stem Cells". Cell Stem Cell. 27 (4): 679–691.e6. doi:10.1016/j.stem.2020.06.023. ISSN 1875-9777. PMID 32735778. S2CID 220908922.
  23. Bar, Shiran; Vershkov, Dan; Keshet, Gal; Lezmi, Elyad; Meller, Naama; Yilmaz, Atilgan; Yanuka, Ofra; Nissim-Rafinia, Malka; Meshorer, Eran; Eldar-Geva, Talia; Benvenisty, Nissim (2021-11-18). "Identifying regulators of parental imprinting by CRISPR/Cas9 screening in haploid human embryonic stem cells". Nature Communications. 12 (1): 6718. Bibcode:2021NatCo..12.6718B. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-26949-7. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 8602306. PMID 34795250.
  24. "The Rappaport Prize for Excellence in the field of Biomedical Research".
  25. "The Katzir Prize (2020) for exceptional achievements in life sciences, given triennial by FISEB/ILANIT".
  26. "Nissim Benvenisty, Academia Europaea".
  27. "Asian Cellular Therapy Organization".
  28. Milken Prize for Excellent Teachers.
  29. "Azrieli Foundation".
  30. "The Kaye Innovation Awards".
  31. "Legacy Heritage Fund".
  32. "Yamagiwa-Yoshida Memorial International Cancer (YY) Study Grants".
  33. "Hestrin Prize".
  34. "The Senta Foulkes Research Prize".
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