Prof. Shulamit Michaeli has been Awarded the Katzir Prize for 2023 for Pioneering and Leading Ground-breaking Research on RNA Biology

Prof. Shulamit Michaeli Goldberg, Vice President for Research at Bar-Ilan University and member of the Dangoor Centre for Personalized Medicine, has been awarded the prestigious Katzir prize for 2023 for pioneering and leading ground-breaking research on RNA biology. The Katzir prize is a highly competitive award granted every three years by the Federation of the Israeli Societies of Experimental Biology (FISEB) for excellence in life sciences research.

Prof. Michaeli's research focuses on the RNA world of the ancient eukaryotes and parasites trypanosomes and Leishmania. She was the first to demonstrate the role of small nucleolar RNA on RNA pseudouridine modification, the most crucial RNA modification on the COVID vaccine. Her lab described almost all known non-coding RNAs in trypanosomes and Leishmania and showed how unique these are in these organisms. Her work demonstrated how RNA modifications regulate gene expression while the parasite cycles between its two hosts. Prof. Michaeli deciphered the mechanism of trans-splicing, revealing how it regulates the life and death of these parasites. Her discoveries over the years have paved the way for developing drugs to treat infectious diseases and cancer.

Prof. Michaeli received the Katzir prize during the Ilanit 2023 conference.

Read more >>