Prof. Yifat Merbl of the Department of Systems Immunology has been honored by numerous organizations in Israel and internationally over the past year for her cutting-edge research.
In December, she was named to Nature’s 10, a list of the ten people who shaped science in 2025. Dubbed the “peptide detective,” the editors at Nature recognized her discovery of an entirely new part of the immune system by digging through cellular trash.
Globes magazine placed Prof. Merbl on their 2026 list of the 50 most influential women in Israel, describing her findings as a gateway to a whole world of potential drugs, including in the fight against cancer, and applications in diseases such as Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis.
Other scholarly recognitions include the Trailblazer Cancer Research Grant from the American Association for Cancer Research, awarded for groundbreaking work with significant therapeutic potential. She is also part of a Cancer Grand Challenges-winning team and recently received the 2026 Israel Immunological Society Award.
On the Weizmann faculty since 2014, Prof. Merbl studies how proteins are modified, regulated, and degraded within cells. Together with her team, she investigates how disruptions in these pathways contribute to cancer, autoimmune disorders, and infection, while also uncovering new opportunities for diagnostics and therapeutic development.
A focus of their work is the proteasome—the “cellular garbage can” that recycles proteins by breaking them into smaller fragments. Prof. Merbl pioneered technologies to map these degradation products and understand how they influence immune signaling and disease mechanisms. Her research has revealed that during bacterial infections, proteasomes produce increased levels of small protein fragments, known as peptides, some of which function as a newly identified class of antimicrobial agents— effectively “natural antibiotics” generated continuously within the body.
The findings suggest that the cells’ “dumpsters” might play a key role in fighting infection, opening a promising new avenue for antimicrobial therapies in an era of increasing antibiotic resistance. Beyond infectious disease, this discovery points to broader therapeutic potential, including strengthening immune protection in conditions where it is compromised, such as during cancer or its treatment.
Notably, Prof. Merbl is being lauded outside of scientific circles as well. In early 2026, she was awarded the Knight of Honor by the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, which commends contributions to society. She also received an honorary recognition from Rehovot Mayor Matan Dil, the RUTH Conference Women of the Nation Award, and the Halutzim (Pioneers) Award from Unión Sefaradí Mundial, an international umbrella organization representing Jews of Sephardic heritage.
YIFAT MERBL IS SUPPORTED BY:
The Lotte and John Hecht Memorial Foundation
The Knell Family Institute for Artificial Intelligence
