Dr. Rachel Sarig

Department of Molecular Cell Biology

Dr. Rachel Sarig received her BSc summa cum laude from Bar-Ilan University in life sciences in 1992, and her M.Med.Sc summa cum laude from Ben-Gurion University Medical School in 1994. She received a PhD with distinction from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 2000, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Weizmann Institute from 2000-2004. In 2004, she became a staff scientist, and currently works at the Department of Molecular Cell Biology, in the lab of Prof. Eldad Tzahor. She is the incumbent of the Gabriella Schmidt Research Fellow Chair.

Dr. Sarig’s research focuses on the biology of stem cell differentiation and reprogramming of mature mammalian cells. She is currently studying the biology of cardiac cells in the attempt to advance heart cell regeneration. Ischemic heart disease is the most common cardiac ailment and the leading cause of death in the developed world today. The development of novel procedures that facilitate the renewal of cardiac cells (cardiomyocytes) as well as stem cell therapy are a major goal and challenge in current biomedical research. Prof. Tzahor’s research group, of which Dr. Sarig is an integral member, combines these novel approaches to study the biology of cardiomyoctyes and their microenvironment in order to improve heart regeneration.

Since 2009 Dr. Sarig has been a member of the editorial board of the World Journal of Stem Cells, and since 2011, she has been a member of the editorial board of Stem Cell Discovery. She is the recipient of the Klein Award from the Israel Science Foundation as well as fellowships from Feinberg and the Israel Cancer Research Fund.