September 9, 2025
8:00 - 8:45 Registration,
Opening, Chair: Mr. Scott Tobin and Prof. Yosi Shacham
8:45 Mr. Scott Tobin and Prof. Yosi Shacham
8:50: Prof. Arnon Afek, Opening Speech
Session (A) – Bioconvergence and Biotechnology Across Scales
Chairs: Dr. Ilana Kolodkin-Gal (The Dina Recanati School of Medicine, Scojen Institute, Reichman University) and Dr. Jonathan Giron (The Dina Recanati School of Medicine and The Sammy Ofer School of Communications, Reichman University).
9:00 Prof. Iftach Nachman (School of Biochemistry Neurobiology Biophysics, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University)
Title: Embryo models for biomed and cultured meat applications
09:20 Dr. Roni Rak (Department of Animal Science, the Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center).
Title: Engineering the Future of Meat: CRISPR Screening of Proliferation and Differentiation Trade-Offs in Cultivated Meat Systems
9:35 Dr. Avihu Yona (Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem).
Title: Evolving novel metabolic functions in probiotics
9:50 Prof. Shany Barath (Faculty of Architecture and Town planning, Technion).
Title: Photosynthetic Building Materials: Emerging Biotechnologies.
10:02 Adi Shalem (Ph.D. candidate, Ayelet Fishman lab).
Title: Protein engineering of a cutinase for improved degradation of polylactic acid.
10:05-10:20 Coffee Break
Session (KN) – Keynote Lecture
Chair: Prof. Hadar Ben Yoav (Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev).
10:20 Keynote Prof. Thomas K. Wood (Department of Chemical Engineering, Penn State University).
Title: Converting Methane into Acetate, Lactate, Electricity, and Hydrogen
Session (PA) – Panel
Chair: Prof. Roee Amit (Faculty of Biotechnology and food Engineering, Technion).
11:05 Panel: Synthetic biology – industry and infrastructure.
• Dr. Shai Melcer Head of the National Bioconvergence Program, Israel Innovation Authority (Moderator)
• Prof. Miriam Amiram( Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)
• Prof. Ben Maoz (Department of Biomedical Engineering, Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University)
• Prof. Yosi Shacham ( Israel Bio-Chip Center (IBCC); Director, Scojen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Reichman University)
• Dr. Orly Savion ( CEO, Alagene)
• Steve Grun ( CEO and Co-founder, MNDL Bio)
Session (B) - Synthetic Biology Innovation for Medical Research
Chairs: Dr. Milana Frenkel Morgenstern (The Dina Recanati School of Medicine, Scojen Institute, Reichman University) and Dr. Oren Moscovitz (The Dina Recanati School of Medicine, Scojen Institute, Reichman University).
11:45 Prof. Zohar Yakhini (Efi Arazi School of Computer Science, Reichman University).
Title: Synthetic DNA libraries, cellular functions and data storage applications.
12:15 Prof. Ayala Lampel (Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University).
Title: Designer Biomolecular Condensates for Programmable Compartmentalization
12:35 Prof. Lihi Adler-Abramovich (Department of Oral Biology, School of Dental Medicine, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University).
Title: Bioinspired Peptide-Based Materials for Regenerative Therapies
12:55 Dr. Mohamed Mahameed (School of Pharmacy, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem).
Title: Harnessing Synthetic Biology for Cancer Research and Drug Development.
13:15 Roee Samuel (Ph.D. candidate, Ramez Daniel lab).
Title: Modular Platform for Protein-Protein Prokaryote-Eukaryote Interaction.
13:20-14:20 - Lunch and posters
Session (C) - SynBio Pioneers
Chairs: Prof. Daniel Ramez (Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Technion) and Dr. Lior Nissim (Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem).
14:20 Prof. Shimshon Belkin (The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem).
Title: The quest for standoff biodetection of buried explosives.
15:00 Prof. Roy Bar-Ziv (Department of Materials and Interfaces, Weizmann Institute).
Title: Solid-state “artificial cells”: Cell-free gene expression across the scales.
15:40-16:00 - Coffee Break
Session (D) - Frontiers in Synbio – postdoc and recent graduates’ session
Chairs: Prof. Roee Amit (Faculty of Biotechnology and food Engineering, Technion) and Prof. Tamir Tuller (Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tel Aviv University).
16:00 Dr. Inbal Vaknin (Faculty of Biotechnology and food Engineering, Technion).
Title: The power of "UNILIB"- a universal regulatory system for amplifying gene expression in Eukaryotes.
16:20 Dr. Shai Zilberzwige-Tal (Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard).
Title: Rewiring Bacterial Defense: The Evolution of RNA-Guided Mechanisms and Their Biotechnological Potential.
16:40 Dr. Yonatan Chemla (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
Title: Tracking Engineered Microbiomes with Hyperspectral Reporters Across Time and From Space.
17:00 Aakash Jog (Ph.D. candidate, Yosi Shacham Lab).
Title: Genetic Logic Circuits in Plants for Improved Functional Sensing.
17:10 Oren Shatz (Ph.D. candidate, Zvulun Elazar lab).
Title: The GravyTrain Toolbox for Molecular Cell Biology.
17:15 Noam Golan (Ph.D. candidate, Avigdor Eldar Lab).
Title: Programming Bacteria to Respond to Their Micron-Range Environment.
17:20 Gil Zimran (Ph.D. candidate, Assaf Mosquna Lab).
Title: Evolvable Biosensors as a Modular Interface Linking Enzymatic Activity to High-Throughput Selection.
17:25 Closing Ceremony and Best poster Awards
