Ariel Darvasi
אריאל דרבסי‎
Born(1962-02-17)February 17, 1962
Santiago de Chile
DiedSeptember 28, 2018(2018-09-28) (aged 56)
Scientific career
FieldsGenetics
InstitutionsThe Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Ariel Darvasi (Hebrew: אריאל דרבסי; February 17, 1962 – September 28, 2018) was a Professor of Genetics and former Head of Life Sciences Studies and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Sciences at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Biography

Ariel Darvasi was born in Santiago de Chile. At the age of 10 his family moved to Israel and settled in Jerusalem.

Darvasi obtained his BSc degree (with honors) in Biology and Computer Science in 1988, and his MSc degree (with honors) and his PhD degree (summa cum laude) in Genetics from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, under the supervision of Moshe Soller. Subsequently, he conducted post-doctoral research at The University of Paris.

As a young scientist he won the Landau Prize.[1] in 1999, one of Israel's highest honors for sciences.

Between 2006 and 2009 Darvasi was Head of Genetics Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and then Head of the entire Life Sciences curriculum until 2012. From 2012 to 2016 Darvasi served as Vice Dean of the Faculty of Sciences of The Hebrew University.

Academic career

Darvasi published over 100 scientific articles.[2] His research can be divided into 5 major themes:

  • The theoretical basis of gene mapping. The early studies of Darvasi were aimed to develop experimental and computational strategies for the identification of genes affecting complex traits.[3] Several of the strategies developed by Darvasi are widely used by many geneticists all over the world till this day.
  • The genetic basis of chronic pain. Darvasi, in collaboration with Marshall Devor, studied the genetic basis of chronic pain. Using a mouse model they identified a novel gene affecting predisposition to chronic pain. Their findings[4] were shown to affect chronic pain in humans as well.
  • The Genetic basis of schizophrenia. Adopting experimental strategies he developed, Darvasi discovered one of the strongest genetic associations at the time (published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, 2002[5]) between a gene and predisposition to schizophrenia. More recently, he was part of a large international consortium that discovered over 100 genes affecting schizophrenia (published in Nature 2014[6]).
  • DNA Forensics. Darvasi developed experimental and computational strategies in DNA forensics.[7] He holds a US patent[8] for the identification of a suspect's DNA in a scene of crime where a mixture of DNA from several individuals is present.
  • The evolutionary basis of human behavior. Darvasi's current field of research is the evolutionary basis of human behavior – he teaches a unique course in this topic at The Hebrew University. His interest is in mind mechanisms that drive evolutionary beneficial behaviors. In this context he developed the "Boss Theory", an evolutionary driven theory that aims to describe a conceptual framework for conscious and unconscious mind processes.

Business career

Along with teaching and research, Darvasi founded IDgene, a biotechnology company that studied the genetic basis of common diseases (such as diabetes, asthma, cancer, schizophrenia and many others) as a mean to discover novel therapies. In 1999 the company raised over US$15 million from various venture capital firms, including world leaders such as Apax Partners.[9] At its peak, IDgene employed 50 employees in its Jerusalem central facilities.

In 2004 the company ceased formal operations and all intellectual property was transferred to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Over the years, Darvasi also co-founded several other biotechnology companies in Israel and the US.

In March 2017, Darvasi was under investigation by the SEC (Security Exchange Commission) for suspicion of alleged insider trading of Mobileye shares. The case was settled with a fine and no conviction of any wrongdoing[10]

References

  1. ↑ "The Landau Fund". www.pais.co.il. Retrieved 2017-11-04.
  2. ↑ "Ariel Darvasi - Google Scholar Citations". scholar.google.co.il. Archived from the original on 2017-09-18. Retrieved 2017-10-28.
  3. ↑ Darvasi, Ariel (1998-01-01). "Experimental strategies for the genetic dissection of complex traits in animal models". Nature Genetics. 18 (1): 19–24. doi:10.1038/ng0198-19. ISSN 1546-1718.
  4. ↑ Nissenbaum, Jonathan; Devor, Marshall; Seltzer, Ze'ev; Gebauer, Mathias; Michaelis, Martin; Tal, Michael; Dorfman, Ruslan; Abitbul-Yarkoni, Merav; Lu, Yan (2010-09-01). "Susceptibility to chronic pain following nerve injury is genetically affected by CACNG2". Genome Research. 20 (9): 1180–1190. doi:10.1101/gr.104976.110. ISSN 1088-9051. PMC 2928496. PMID 20688780.
  5. ↑ Shifman, Sagiv; Bronstein, Michal; Sternfeld, Meira; Pisanté-Shalom, Anne; Lev-Lehman, Efrat; Weizman, Avraham; Reznik, Ilya; Spivak, Baruch; Grisaru, Nimrod (2002-12-01). "A Highly Significant Association between a COMT Haplotype and Schizophrenia". The American Journal of Human Genetics. 71 (6): 1296–1302. doi:10.1086/344514. ISSN 0002-9297. PMC 378567. PMID 12402217.
  6. ↑ Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (2014-07-24). "Biological insights from 108 schizophrenia-associated genetic loci". Nature. 511 (7510): 421–427. doi:10.1038/nature13595. ISSN 0028-0836. PMC 4112379. PMID 25056061.
  7. ↑ Voskoboinik, Lev; Darvasi, Ariel (2011-11-01). "Forensic identification of an individual in complex DNA mixtures". Forensic Science International: Genetics. 5 (5): 428–435. doi:10.1016/j.fsigen.2010.09.002. ISSN 1872-4973. PMID 20888313.
  8. ↑ US 9447474, Darvasi, Ariel & Voskoboinik, Lev, "System and method for analyzing DNA mixtures", published Sep 20, 2016
  9. ↑ תבור, אלון (2001-01-17). "חברת הביוטכנולוגיה IdGENE גייסה כ-8 מיליון דולר מקרנות אייפקס, ישראל סיד ווולקום". TheMarker. Retrieved 2017-11-04.
  10. ↑ "Israeli professor settles Mobileye insider trading case in U.S." Reuters. 2017-07-25. Retrieved 2017-11-04.
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