TEAM MEMBERS
Viviane Slon
Principal Investigator
I have always been interested in prehistoric times, when no written records exist to help us understand how people lived, thought and behaved. My goal in establishing the lab is to use ancient DNA data to shed light on prehistoric and proto-historic populations, while striving to understand the effect that past events still have on our own genomes today.
Ivan Alexandrov
Research associate
Coming soon...
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Pnina Cohen
Post-doctoral fellow
Originally a software engineer, I have worked in the IT industry for a few years. However, I have always been intrigued by the natural world, the diversity of life and the great mystery of evolution. For that reason, I have changed course and completed my M.Sc and Ph.D in evolutionary biology. I have also become a keen amateur wildlife photographer. Currently, I am focusing on the study of ancient DNA and how it can be used to solve evolutionary questions.
Giulia Di Crosta
PhD student
I have a BSc and MSc in Bioarchaeology. Having explored the potential of archaeogenomics in shedding light on forgotten times, I became utterly intrigued by how ancient DNA can inform about prehistoric social structures. Using aDNA and sedaDNA, I will aim to explore demographic fluctuations, kinship systems and mating patterns that shaped prehistory in the Levant.
Valentina Vanghi
Post-doctoral fellow
I hold a Bsc in Natural Sciences (Italy), an MSc that combined Quaternary Geology, Palaeoclimate and Palaeoanthropology (Spain) and a PhD in Palaeoclimatology (Australia). After working in South Korea as a postdoc in Metagenomics, my current research project at TAU centres on the geochemical characterization of archaeological sediments aiming to build a model that can be used to predict the quantity and the quality of sedimentary ancient DNA fragments.
Azhar Jabareen
Wet lab manager
I have an MSc and a PhD in Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics. I have experience working in sterile clean room conditions in the pharmaceutical sphere, and am excited to apply my skills to the study of ancient DNA.
Amit Bergman
MSc student
(co-supervised by Prof. Daniel Deutch)
I am a master's student in Computer Science at TAU, and did my bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Psychology in TAU. In the last 3 years I have been working at Microsoft as a software engineer in the Azure Sentinel team. My (current) research interests are data science and computational genomics, and more specifically how we can use them to gain insights about our history and evolution.
Nihan DilÅŸad DaÄŸtaÅŸ
PhD student
I have a BSc and an MSc in Biology. The possibility of deciphering the far, unseeable past with the help of invisible DNA fragments absolutely fascinates me. Using sedimentary ancient DNA as my investigative tool, I will be focusing on the prehistoric populations of Anatolia and the Levant.
Itsik Dishon
MSc student
I have a BSc in biology. Since my retirement, I have been working with orchids tissue-culture. For many years I have been interested in the place humans occupy on earth. Now I intend to broaden my knowledge in this field through the investigation of ancient human DNA.
ALUMNI
Dr. Alessio Gerussi - Visiting PhD student (EMBO fellowship)
OPEN POSITIONS
We are actively looking for curious, talented, motivated team members at all levels.
Interested? Please contact viviane@tauex.tau.ac.il
For details see here