Naama Barkai is an Israeli systems biologist and professor for Molecular Genetics and Physics of Complex Systems at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).
Education and career
In 1995, Barkai earned a PhD summa cum laude in theoretical physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, on the statistical mechanisms of learning.[1][2] Barkai pursued a post-doc in the group of Stanislas Leibler at Princeton University, where she worked on theoretical analysis of biochemical networks.[1] During this time, she was supported by the Robert H. Dicke Fellowship.[1][2] From 2001 to 2004, Barkai was an EMBO young investigator.[1] Her work on deciphering mechanisms of control in complex biological systems combining experimental work with mathematical modelling shaped the field of systems biology.[1] From 2005 to 2006 she was a visiting professor at Harvard University.[1] In 2007, she was elected as EMBO member.[1]
She is on the scientific advisory board of Evogene Ltd.[2]
Awards and honours
- Rothschild Prize (2018)[3]
- FEBS/EMBO Women in Science Award (2008)[1]
- Helen and Martin Kimmel Award for Innovative Investigation (2007)[1]
- Teva Prize for Research in Systems Biology (2005)[1]
- Morris L. Levinson Biology Prize from the Weizmann Institute of Science (2004)[1]
- Michael Bruno Memorial Award (2004)[1]
Selected publications
- Barkai, Naama (December 2014). "Loss of growth homeostasis by genetic decoupling of cell division from biomass growth: implication for size control mechanisms." Molecular Systems Biology. 10: 769.
- Barkai, Naama (April 2008). "Two strategies for gene regulation by promoter nucleosomes." Genome Research. 18: 1084–1091.
- Barkai, Naama (September 2002). "Robustness of the BMP morphogen gradient in Drosophila embryonic patterning." Nature. 419: 304–308.
- Barkai, Naama (June 1997). "Robustness in simple biochemical networks." Nature. 387: pages913–917 .