- Professor, School of Neurobiology, Biochemistry and Biophysics, Tel Aviv University
Dr. Oded Rechavi is a Full Professor in the School of Neurobiology, Biochemistry and Biophysics at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University. He earned his BSc in Neuroscience and his PhD in Neurobiology from Tel Aviv University, and completed postdoctoral research in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Columbia University’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Dr. Rechavi’s research challenges fundamental scientific dogmas. He found an exception to the original Cell Theory, provided the first direct evidence that an acquired trait can be inherited, and elucidated an alternative transgenerational inheritance mechanism based on small RNA molecules rather than DNA. He discovered how nematode brains can control the behavior of their progeny, uncovered a neuronal circuit-level mechanism explaining economic irrationality, demonstrated that parasites can be genetically engineered to deliver drugs to the nervous system, and utilized genome sequencing to reconstruct fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Dr. Rechavi is an ERC Fellow and recipient of the Schmidt Science Polymath Award, the Blavatnik Award, the Krill Wolf Award, the Kadar Award, the Alon and F.I.R.S.T. (Bikura) Prizes, and the Gross Lipper Fellowship. He has been named one of the ten most creative people in Israel under 40 and one of the 40 most promising people in Israel under 40.