Oct. 29, 2024

Jonathan D. Bohbot Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Entomology
Phone: +972 8 948 9396
Email: [email protected]
ORCID#: 0000-0001-5204-6340
CRIS
Jonathan's interest for insects and ants in particular started in childhood. He began studying olfaction during his M.Sc. with Dr. Patricia Nagnan-Le Meillour at INRA in Versailles France (1998). After getting his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Prof. Richard Vogt on the development and evolution of insect olfactory systems (2004), he joined Prof. Laurence Zwiebel's group at Vanderbilt University to study mosquito odorant receptors (2008). The function of mosquito odorant receptors and the molecular mechanism of insect repellent action led him to the laboratory of Dr. Joseph Dickens at the USDA near Washington DC. In 2014, Jonathan joined the Department of Entomology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to study the neurobiology of insect olfaction.
Assistant Professor of Entomology
Phone: +972 8 948 9396
Email: [email protected]
ORCID#: 0000-0001-5204-6340
CRIS
Jonathan's interest for insects and ants in particular started in childhood. He began studying olfaction during his M.Sc. with Dr. Patricia Nagnan-Le Meillour at INRA in Versailles France (1998). After getting his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Prof. Richard Vogt on the development and evolution of insect olfactory systems (2004), he joined Prof. Laurence Zwiebel's group at Vanderbilt University to study mosquito odorant receptors (2008). The function of mosquito odorant receptors and the molecular mechanism of insect repellent action led him to the laboratory of Dr. Joseph Dickens at the USDA near Washington DC. In 2014, Jonathan joined the Department of Entomology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to study the neurobiology of insect olfaction.

Esther Yakir Ph.D.
Lab Manager
Phone: +972 8 948 9396
Email: [email protected]
Esther Yakir completed her Ph.D. on the circadian clock of Arabidopsis in the lab of Prof. Rachel Green at the Hebrew University and graduated in 2009. She then worked on extending shelf life of banana fruits as a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Haya Friedman’s lab at Volcani Center before joining the lab in September 2015. Since then, Ety has been an unwavering engine for good in the lab in all areas of the lab, ranging from lab organization, administrative tasks, scientific ideas, and research findings, and key operational support.
Lab Manager
Phone: +972 8 948 9396
Email: [email protected]
Esther Yakir completed her Ph.D. on the circadian clock of Arabidopsis in the lab of Prof. Rachel Green at the Hebrew University and graduated in 2009. She then worked on extending shelf life of banana fruits as a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Haya Friedman’s lab at Volcani Center before joining the lab in September 2015. Since then, Ety has been an unwavering engine for good in the lab in all areas of the lab, ranging from lab organization, administrative tasks, scientific ideas, and research findings, and key operational support.

Miki Arbel
Ph.D. Student
Phone: +972 8 948 9396
Email: [email protected]
Science and nature have fascinated me for as long as I remember myself. Following this passion I have completed my B.Sc in Agroecology and plant heath at the Hebrew University, Faculty of agriculture. I act from a strong conviction that the more we learn and understand the world we live in, the better we are positioned to make it a better place. Therefore, driven by my beliefs, I started studying the functional evolution of insect indolergic receptors for my M.Sc in Biotechnology.
Miki joined the lab on November 3, 2022.
Ph.D. Student
Phone: +972 8 948 9396
Email: [email protected]
Science and nature have fascinated me for as long as I remember myself. Following this passion I have completed my B.Sc in Agroecology and plant heath at the Hebrew University, Faculty of agriculture. I act from a strong conviction that the more we learn and understand the world we live in, the better we are positioned to make it a better place. Therefore, driven by my beliefs, I started studying the functional evolution of insect indolergic receptors for my M.Sc in Biotechnology.
Miki joined the lab on November 3, 2022.

Ofer Aidlin Harari
Ph.D. Student
Phone: +972 8 948 9396 | +972-(0)8-9489271 (Morin's lab)
Email: [email protected]
Ofer did his B.Sc. in Agroecology and M. Sc. in Agroecology/Bioinformatics at HUJI. He is now a Ph.d. student co-supervised in our lab and Prof Morin's. Ofer studies plant-insect interactions using the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci as a model insect. He currently focuses on sugar sensation and its role in the feeding behavior of the whitefly.
Ph.D. Student
Phone: +972 8 948 9396 | +972-(0)8-9489271 (Morin's lab)
Email: [email protected]
Ofer did his B.Sc. in Agroecology and M. Sc. in Agroecology/Bioinformatics at HUJI. He is now a Ph.d. student co-supervised in our lab and Prof Morin's. Ofer studies plant-insect interactions using the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci as a model insect. He currently focuses on sugar sensation and its role in the feeding behavior of the whitefly.

Dor Perets
PhD. Student
Phone: +972 8 948 9396
Email: [email protected]
Dor did his BSc in Animal Science and Biotechnology at the Robert H.Smith Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew university. He focused his interest on Focused on genome engineering, molecular biology, microbiology and bio- informatics. He joined M.Sc. in Biotechnology in September 2020. Dor will be conducting mosquito genome engineering in my lab and in the lab of Dr. Philippos Papathanos.
PhD. Student
Phone: +972 8 948 9396
Email: [email protected]
Dor did his BSc in Animal Science and Biotechnology at the Robert H.Smith Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew university. He focused his interest on Focused on genome engineering, molecular biology, microbiology and bio- informatics. He joined M.Sc. in Biotechnology in September 2020. Dor will be conducting mosquito genome engineering in my lab and in the lab of Dr. Philippos Papathanos.

Yuri Vainer
PhD. Student
Phone: +972 8 948 9396
Email: [email protected]
Yuri graduated from the B.Sc. Biotechnology Engineering program at the Ben-Gurion University. His first lab experience was in the biosensor lab of Prof. Robert Marks where he studied bioluminescent bacteria. Yuri joined the lab on September 23, 2020 to study the function of insect odorant receptors and their application in biosensors. He is now enrolled in the Biotechnology program for his M.Sc. studies.
PhD. Student
Phone: +972 8 948 9396
Email: [email protected]
Yuri graduated from the B.Sc. Biotechnology Engineering program at the Ben-Gurion University. His first lab experience was in the biosensor lab of Prof. Robert Marks where he studied bioluminescent bacteria. Yuri joined the lab on September 23, 2020 to study the function of insect odorant receptors and their application in biosensors. He is now enrolled in the Biotechnology program for his M.Sc. studies.

Evyatar Sar-Shalom
Ph.D. Student
Phone: +972 8 948 9396
Email: [email protected]
Evyatar started his research in the beginning of 2019. The objective of his research project is to investigate the behavior of Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti, which is an aggressive and invasive species in many countries, including Israel. To accomplish this, Evyatar is tracking the trajectories of mosquitoes in real time and in 3D (see here). Previously, he worked as a lab manager in in Gal Ribak's lab located in the Department of Zoology in Tel Aviv University. Evyatar has a B.Ma in Science Teaching in Seminar Hakibuzim college. He is currently doing his Ph.D. studies on olfactory-mediated behaviors of mosquitoes.
Ph.D. Student
Phone: +972 8 948 9396
Email: [email protected]
Evyatar started his research in the beginning of 2019. The objective of his research project is to investigate the behavior of Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti, which is an aggressive and invasive species in many countries, including Israel. To accomplish this, Evyatar is tracking the trajectories of mosquitoes in real time and in 3D (see here). Previously, he worked as a lab manager in in Gal Ribak's lab located in the Department of Zoology in Tel Aviv University. Evyatar has a B.Ma in Science Teaching in Seminar Hakibuzim college. He is currently doing his Ph.D. studies on olfactory-mediated behaviors of mosquitoes.

Libi Tamir
M.Sc. student | Biotechnology Program
Phone: +972 3 968 1678
Email: [email protected]
Libi joined the lab as a third year B.Sc student of Agroecology (Amirim) and Plant Health at the Hebrew University's Faculty of agriculture. Libi is currently focused on Black Soldier Fly breeding optimization through behavioral tracking, using object tracking technology, ML and Artificial Neural Network. Libi joined the lab in May 2023.
M.Sc. student | Biotechnology Program
Phone: +972 3 968 1678
Email: [email protected]
Libi joined the lab as a third year B.Sc student of Agroecology (Amirim) and Plant Health at the Hebrew University's Faculty of agriculture. Libi is currently focused on Black Soldier Fly breeding optimization through behavioral tracking, using object tracking technology, ML and Artificial Neural Network. Libi joined the lab in May 2023.

Neta Keren
M.Sc. student | Biotechnology Program
Phone: +972 3 968 1678
Email: [email protected]
A third-year B.Sc student of Agroecology and Plant Health at the Hebrew University's Faculty of Agriculture. focusing on behavioral analysis of the reaction of mosquitoes to different organic compounds in the context of nectar foraging.
M.Sc. student | Biotechnology Program
Phone: +972 3 968 1678
Email: [email protected]
A third-year B.Sc student of Agroecology and Plant Health at the Hebrew University's Faculty of Agriculture. focusing on behavioral analysis of the reaction of mosquitoes to different organic compounds in the context of nectar foraging.

Liad Baruch
B.Sc. student in Agroecology | Agroecology Program
Phone: +972 3 968 1678
Email: [email protected]
Thanks to the course "Introduction to Entomology," I discovered a strong interest in insects, their unique and functional body structures, the complex relationships between species, and in their world hidden from the human eye. In the lab, I focus on understanding the relationship between mosquitoes and their search for nectar sources.
B.Sc. student in Agroecology | Agroecology Program
Phone: +972 3 968 1678
Email: [email protected]
Thanks to the course "Introduction to Entomology," I discovered a strong interest in insects, their unique and functional body structures, the complex relationships between species, and in their world hidden from the human eye. In the lab, I focus on understanding the relationship between mosquitoes and their search for nectar sources.