Dr. Ivo Spiegel

Department of Neurobiology Weizmann Institute of Science

Dr. Ivo Spiegel received his BSc in biology with honors from Tel Aviv University, his MSc from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 2001, and his PhD from the Weizmann Institute in 2007 in the Department of Molecular Cell Biology. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. He joined the Weizmann Institute in 2016.

Dr. Spiegel’s research addresses an age-old question in brain science that has vast implications for the understanding of the human brain: To what extent do experience and environment dictate brain function, and to what extent do our genes do so?  Specifically, he explores the tight control over the balance between the neurons responsible for excitation and inhibition response, known as the “E/I Balance”, in the face of changing sensory experiences, which is critically important for normal brain function. He is making key inroads on understanding its importance in brain function in health and in disease—specifically, to what extent genes and to what extent environmental factors affect the balance.

Dr. Spiegel was a Zuckerman Scholar as a newly recruited scientist at the Weizmann Institute, and his awards and honors include the Weizmann Institute’s Feinberg Graduate School’s prize for excellence, its Dean’s award, and its John F. Kennedy Prize. He received a certificate of excellence from the Israeli Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology during his PhD studies, a Long-Term Fellowship from the Human Frontiers Science Program, and a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship from the European Research Council, an EMBO long-term fellowship, and a post-doctoral fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation.