Nissim Benvenisty Explained

Nissim Benvenisty
Nationality:	Israeli
Fields:	Stem Cells, Human Genetics, Cancer Research, Hereditary Disorders
Workplaces:	Director, Azrieli Center for Stem Cells and Genetic Research, Hebrew University
Alma Mater:	Hebrew University
Known For:	Research on human pluripotent stem cells
Awards:	The Katzir Prize; ACTO Prize (Japan); Milken Prize; Kaye Prize; Yamagiwa-Yoshida Fellowship (Japan); Hestrin Prize; Senta Foulkes Prize (London).
Website:	http://benvenisty.huji.ac.il/

Nissim Benvenisty is Professor of Genetics, the Herbert Cohn Chair in Cancer Research and the Director of “The Azrieli Center for Stem Cells and Genetic Research” at the Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University.

Benvenisty earned his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the Hebrew University, and conducted postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University. He is a member of the steering committee of the International Stem Cell Initiative (ISCI),^[1] the Programme Board of the UK-RMP, and serves as the academic advisor for the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR). He is a founding member of the Israel Stem Cell Society,^[2] and he is the Founder and CSO of NewStem Ltd.^[3]

Research

Benvenisty’s research projects focus on pluripotent stem cell biology, human genetic disorders, tissue engineering, genetic and epigenetic aberrations and cancer research. His laboratory made several contributions in these fields of research:

• Differentiation and genetic manipulation of human embryonic stem cells: In 2000, his laboratory pioneered the first demonstration of both spontaneous differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into embryoid bodies and direct differentiation into more than ten cell types.^{[4] [5]} In addition, his laboratory was the first to demonstrate genetic manipulation of human embryonic stem cells.^[6] These discoveries where highlighted by a Focus article in “Science”.^[7]
• Disease modelling using human pluripotent stem cells: Benvenisty’s laboratory was the first to show a model for a human disease using human pluripotent stem cells.^[8] Since then he has demonstrated six methodologies to generate models for genetic disorders,^[9] generating more than a dozen models for studying mainly neural diseases (such as Fragile X syndrome)^{[10] [11]} and imprinting disorders (such as Prader-Willi syndrome).^[12]
• Tumorigenicity and immunogenicity of human pluripotent stem cells: Immunogenicity and tumorigenicity of human pluripotent stem cells are very relevant for the safe and efficient use of these cells in regenerative medicine. Benvenisty’s laboratory was the first to study the immunogenicity of the cells,^[13] and to analyze the basis of their tumorigenicity.^[14]
• Genetic and epigenetic stability of human pluripotent stem cells: The genetic and epigenetic instability of human pluripotent stem cells is a major characteristic of the cells affecting their tumorigenicity and their use in disease modeling. Benvenisty’s lab was the first to study the chromosomal stability of human induce pluripotent stem cells,^[15] and developed methodologies to analyze genetic and epigenetic aberrations.^{[16] [17] [18] [19]}
• Haploid human embryonic stem cells and genome-wide screenings: Benvenisty’s lab was the first to generate haploid human embryonic stem cells (having half of the chromosomes).^[20] His laboratory utilized these cells for genome-wide genetic screenings to analyze human development and disease.^{[21] [22] [23]}

Benvenisty's lab serves as an incubator for excellent students, and over ten of his former students hold principal investigator positions in the Israeli academia (Hebrew University, Weizmann Institute, Tel-Aviv University, Bar-Ilan University, Technion).

Awards and honors

• The Rappaport Prize for excellence in the field of biomedical research (2023)^[24]
• The Katzir Prize (2020) for exceptional achievements in life sciences, given triennial by FISEB/ILANIT.^[25]
• Awarded Member of Academia Europaea (2018).^[26]
• The ACTO Prize (Japan) (2018) for “Best Innovation in Stem Cell Research”.^[27]
• Milken Prize for Excellent Teachers,^[28] Hebrew University (2016).
• Awarded the “Azrieli Center for Stem Cells and Genetic Research” by the Azrieli Foundation (Canada)^[29] (2014).
• Kaye Prize for best innovation (2010).^[30]
• Awarded the “Legacy-Heritage Stem Cell Center” (USA) (2006).^[31]
• Yamagiwa-Yoshida Memorial International Cancer Study Fellowship^[32] (Japan) (2000).
• Hestrin Prize in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology^[33] (1997).
• Senta Foulkes Prize (London).^[34]

External links

• Benvenisty lab's website
• Benvenisty's lab at the Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences
• Nissim Benvenisty publications indexed by Google Scholar

Notes and References

1. Web site: International Stem Cell Initiative .
2. Web site: Israel Stem Cell Society .
3. Web site: NewStem Ltd. .
4. Schuldiner . Maya . Yanuka . Ofra . Itskovitz-Eldor . Joseph . Melton . Douglas A. . Benvenisty . Nissim . 2000-10-10 . Effects of eight growth factors on the differentiation of cells derived from human embryonic stem cells . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . en . 97 . 21 . 11307–11312 . 10.1073/pnas.97.21.11307 . 11027332 . 17196 . 0027-8424. free .
5. Itskovitz-Eldor . J. . Schuldiner . M. . Karsenti . D. . Eden . A. . Yanuka . O. . Amit . M. . Soreq . H. . Benvenisty . N. . February 2000 . Differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into embryoid bodies compromising the three embryonic germ layers . Molecular Medicine . 6 . 2 . 88–95 . 10.1007/BF03401776 . 1076-1551 . 1949933 . 10859025.
6. Eiges . R. . Schuldiner . M. . Drukker . M. . Yanuka . O. . Itskovitz-Eldor . J. . Benvenisty . N. . 2001-04-03 . Establishment of human embryonic stem cell-transfected clones carrying a marker for undifferentiated cells . Current Biology . 11 . 7 . 514–518 . 10.1016/s0960-9822(01)00144-0 . 0960-9822 . 11413002. 14242857 . free . 2001CBio...11..514E .
7. Vogel . Gretchen . 2002-03-08 . Stem cells. In the Mideast, pushing back the stem cell frontier . Science . 295 . 5561 . 1818–1820 . 10.1126/science.295.5561.1818 . 1095-9203 . 11884731. 19465884 .
8. Urbach . Achiya . Schuldiner . Maya . Benvenisty . Nissim . 2004 . Modeling for Lesch-Nyhan disease by gene targeting in human embryonic stem cells . Stem Cells . 22 . 4 . 635–641 . 10.1634/stemcells.22-4-635 . 1066-5099 . 15277709 . 23231597.
9. Avior . Yishai . Sagi . Ido . Benvenisty . Nissim . March 2016 . Pluripotent stem cells in disease modelling and drug discovery . Nature Reviews. Molecular Cell Biology . 17 . 3 . 170–182 . 10.1038/nrm.2015.27 . 1471-0080 . 26818440 . 2543121.
10. Eiges . Rachel . Urbach . Achia . Malcov . Mira . Frumkin . Tsvia . Schwartz . Tamar . Amit . Ami . Yaron . Yuval . Eden . Amir . Yanuka . Ofra . Benvenisty . Nissim . Ben-Yosef . Dalit . November 2007 . Developmental study of fragile X syndrome using human embryonic stem cells derived from preimplantation genetically diagnosed embryos . Cell Stem Cell . 1 . 5 . 568–577 . 10.1016/j.stem.2007.09.001 . 1934-5909 . 18371394. free .
11. Urbach . Achia . Bar-Nur . Ori . Daley . George Q. . Benvenisty . Nissim . 2010-05-07 . Differential modeling of fragile X syndrome by human embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells . Cell Stem Cell . 6 . 5 . 407–411 . 10.1016/j.stem.2010.04.005 . 1875-9777 . 3354574 . 20452313.
12. Stelzer . Yonatan . Sagi . Ido . Yanuka . Ofra . Eiges . Rachel . Benvenisty . Nissim . June 2014 . The noncoding RNA IPW regulates the imprinted DLK1-DIO3 locus in an induced pluripotent stem cell model of Prader-Willi syndrome . Nature Genetics . 46 . 6 . 551–557 . 10.1038/ng.2968 . 1546-1718 . 24816254. 205348484 .
13. Drukker . Micha . Katz . Gil . Urbach . Achia . Schuldiner . Maya . Markel . Gal . Itskovitz-Eldor . Joseph . Reubinoff . Benjamin . Mandelboim . Ofer . Benvenisty . Nissim . 2002-07-23 . Characterization of the expression of MHC proteins in human embryonic stem cells . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 99 . 15 . 9864–9869 . 10.1073/pnas.142298299 . 0027-8424 . 125045 . 12114532. 2002PNAS...99.9864D . free .
14. Blum . Barak . Bar-Nur . Ori . Golan-Lev . Tamar . Benvenisty . Nissim . March 2009 . The anti-apoptotic gene survivin contributes to teratoma formation by human embryonic stem cells . Nature Biotechnology . 27 . 3 . 281–287 . 10.1038/nbt.1527 . 1546-1696 . 19252483. 19622228 .
15. Mayshar . Yoav . Ben-David . Uri . Lavon . Neta . Biancotti . Juan-Carlos . Yakir . Benjamin . Clark . Amander T. . Plath . Kathrin . Lowry . William E. . Benvenisty . Nissim . 2010-10-08 . Identification and classification of chromosomal aberrations in human induced pluripotent stem cells . Cell Stem Cell . 7 . 4 . 521–531 . 10.1016/j.stem.2010.07.017 . 1875-9777 . 20887957. free .
16. Ben-David . Uri . Mayshar . Yoav . Benvenisty . Nissim . May 2013 . Virtual karyotyping of pluripotent stem cells on the basis of their global gene expression profiles . Nature Protocols . 8 . 5 . 989–997 . 10.1038/nprot.2013.051 . 1750-2799 . 23619890. 25227524 .
17. Weissbein . Uri . Schachter . Maya . Egli . Dieter . Benvenisty . Nissim . 2016-07-07 . Analysis of chromosomal aberrations and recombination by allelic bias in RNA-Seq . Nature Communications . 7 . 12144 . 10.1038/ncomms12144 . 2041-1723 . 4941052 . 27385103. 2016NatCo...712144W .
18. Lezmi . Elyad . Benvenisty . Nissim . September 2021 . Identification of cancer-related mutations in human pluripotent stem cells using RNA-seq analysis . Nature Protocols . 16 . 9 . 4522–4537 . 10.1038/s41596-021-00591-5 . 1750-2799 . 34363070. 236946680 .
19. Bar . Shiran . Benvenisty . Nissim . 2019-06-17 . Epigenetic aberrations in human pluripotent stem cells . The EMBO Journal . 38 . 12 . e101033 . 10.15252/embj.2018101033 . 1460-2075 . 6576196 . 31088843.
20. Sagi . Ido . Chia . Gloryn . Golan-Lev . Tamar . Peretz . Mordecai . Weissbein . Uri . Sui . Lina . Sauer . Mark V. . Yanuka . Ofra . Egli . Dieter . Benvenisty . Nissim . 2016-04-07 . Derivation and differentiation of haploid human embryonic stem cells . Nature . 532 . 7597 . 107–111 . 10.1038/nature17408 . 1476-4687 . 26982723. 2016Natur.532..107S . 4459224 .
21. Yilmaz . Atilgan . Peretz . Mordecai . Aharony . Aviram . Sagi . Ido . Benvenisty . Nissim . May 2018 . Defining essential genes for human pluripotent stem cells by CRISPR-Cas9 screening in haploid cells . Nature Cell Biology . 20 . 5 . 610–619 . 10.1038/s41556-018-0088-1 . 1476-4679 . 29662178. 4895581 .
22. Yilmaz . Atilgan . Braverman-Gross . Carmel . Bialer-Tsypin . Anna . Peretz . Mordecai . Benvenisty . Nissim . 2020-10-01 . Mapping Gene Circuits Essential for Germ Layer Differentiation via Loss-of-Function Screens in Haploid Human Embryonic Stem Cells . Cell Stem Cell . 27 . 4 . 679–691.e6 . 10.1016/j.stem.2020.06.023 . 1875-9777 . 32735778. 220908922 . free .
23. Bar . Shiran . Vershkov . Dan . Keshet . Gal . Lezmi . Elyad . Meller . Naama . Yilmaz . Atilgan . Yanuka . Ofra . Nissim-Rafinia . Malka . Meshorer . Eran . Eldar-Geva . Talia . Benvenisty . Nissim . 2021-11-18 . Identifying regulators of parental imprinting by CRISPR/Cas9 screening in haploid human embryonic stem cells . Nature Communications . 12 . 1 . 6718 . 10.1038/s41467-021-26949-7 . 2041-1723 . 8602306 . 34795250. 2021NatCo..12.6718B .
24. Web site: The Rappaport Prize for Excellence in the field of Biomedical Research .
25. Web site: The Katzir Prize (2020) for exceptional achievements in life sciences, given triennial by FISEB/ILANIT . 2022-12-12 . 2022-12-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221212154227/https://conf.fiseb.org/ephraim-katzir-prize-awardees/ . dead .
26. Web site: Nissim Benvenisty, Academia Europaea .
27. Web site: Asian Cellular Therapy Organization .
28. Book: Milken Prize for Excellent Teachers .
29. Web site: Azrieli Foundation .
30. Web site: The Kaye Innovation Awards . 9 August 2020 .
31. Web site: Legacy Heritage Fund . 2022-12-14 . 2022-12-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221226104906/https://www.legacyheritage.org/ . dead .
32. Web site: Yamagiwa-Yoshida Memorial International Cancer (YY) Study Grants .
33. Web site: Hestrin Prize .
34. Web site: The Senta Foulkes Research Prize .