Born on Moshav Moledet, Israel, in 1971, Prof. Amos Tanay earned his BSc (1996) and MSc (2001) in mathematics, and a PhD with distinction in computer science (2005) from Tel Aviv University. While in graduate school, he headed a team that developed algorithms for an optimization company, Schema Group, then co-founded an optical networks technology start-up, Optivera Technologies, and headed its R&D effort for two years. After conducting postgraduate research at Rockefeller University, he joined the Weizmann Institute in 2007. Today he serves as the Scientific Director of the Ilana and Pascal Mantoux Institute for Bioinformatics and is intricately involved in the Bench-to-Bedside program.
Prof. Tanay builds mathematical models for the epigenetic changes in cells—mechanisms that affect the availability and function of the cell’s DNA without changing the sequence itself. Similar to tiny computers, cells regulate their activity by running “software” encoded into their DNA that controls the “hardware”—the components of the cell itself. In order for such software to work correctly and distinguish among different cell types, cells employ several mechanisms that serve as their memory.
Prof. Tanay and his group develop single cell genomics techniques to characterize the molecular activity and epigenetics of cells within tissues. They then apply mathematical methods to understand how individual cells determine and maintain their proper role within the context of billions of other cells in the body. Methods for profiling and modeling tissues at single cell resolution are particularly important in cancer, since tumors develop due to individual cells that rewrite their memory and suppress the tissue's normal control mechanisms.
Prof. Tanay has received a number of prestigious scholarships and awards, including the 2013 Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Award for Innovative Investigation, the 2012 Krill Award for Excellence in Scientific Research, the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) young investigator award (2010), the Morris L. Levinson Prize in Mathematics (2010), and the Rothschild Postdoctoral Fellowship (2006). In 2015, he became a member of the EMBO.
Prof. Tanay is married and has four children. He is also a keen jazz piano player.