I am an entomologist specializing in honeybees and mites.
In my Mater’s and Ph.D. at the Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University and Volcani Center, I have worked with Victoria Soroker and Ada Rafaeli, studying the interaction of the honeybee and its parasitic mite, Varroa destructor, using diverse approaches including chemical ecology, behavior and electrophysiology, transcriptomics and proteomics, and used genetic manipulations to study the underlying mechanisms of this interaction.
During my studies I have also taught Entomology and statistical courses, as a teacher assistant. After completing my PhD, I pursued postdoctoral studies at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan, where I worked with Sasha Mikheyev and Evan Economo to study the genetic architecture and evolution of the varroa mite, and its interaction with its vectored viruses, using genomic and bioinformatic approaches.
Since 2022 I have been a researcher at the Shamir Research Institute, an R&D center of the Ministry of Science and the Haifa University, located in the Golan Heights. In my lab we use economically important agricultural systems as models, to study complex interactions.
Our research integrates molecular methods, omics, bioinformatics, and field experiments, aiming to address long-standing evolutionary questions, and at the same time provide farmers with environmentally friendly solutions for pest management.