Center for Biodiversity & Ecosystems

Prof. Milo and his group bring the tools of systems biology to bear on the challenges of sustainability, with a focus on understanding energy and carbon transformations in quantitative terms. They work to understand fundamental design principles of carbon fixation and photosynthesis, with the goal of improving the efficiency of food and fuel production. Prof. Milo applies Big Data analysis tools to clarify our understanding of the biosphere and human impact on the living world, including the ecological costs of food production. The Milo lab has studied the environmental footprint of various food systems, and is developing the theoretical and experimental basis for engineering bacteria that can fix CO2 and transform it into food or feed.

Prof. Avraham Levy earned his BSc and MSc in field crops and plant breeding at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1987, he received a PhD in plant genetics from the Weizmann Institute. He conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford University and INRA Versailles, after which he joined the Weizmann Institute. He is a member of the Plant and Environmental Sciences department and served as the Dean of the faculty of Biochemistry until 2022.

Dr. Levy’s research probes the structure and evolution of the plant genome, in particular the genetic mechanisms responsible for biodiversity in the plant kingdom, including DNA repair and recombination, hybridization, and polyploidy. He develops advanced genetic manipulation techniques to engineer plants in a precise manner towards food security and sustainability. He serves on the scientific board of agro-biotech companies, on the editorial board for Plant Cell, and is an associate member of the French Academy of Agriculture. Dr. Levy leads the Green Campus Initiative at the Weizmann Institute. 

Weizmann Tree Lab
Studying trees and forests with a wealth of measurements and details, Dr. Klein and his group are able to capture the whole picture of how trees process water, air, and carbon, and gain more understanding about how trees and ecosystems adapt to the stress of drought. His discoveries have shed new light on how trees cycle water and nutrients between leaves, stems, and roots— and have even shown evidence for a certain amount of ‘carbon trade’ between the roots of trees located nearby each other.
 

A Bio and Geo Journey Through Microbial Interactions
In marine ecosystems, the interactions between microalgae and heterotrophic bacteria shape nutrient fluxes and the long-term burial of biogenic material in the ocean. These interactions have been occurring for millions of years. To better understand the mechanisms behind algal-bacterial interactions and their role in the environment, the group develops reduced model systems with adjustable complexity. By studying these model systems they can gain insight into molecular and genetic aspects of algal-bacterial ecophysiology.

Ecophysiology Group
The group focuses on biosphere-atmosphere interactions across scales and environmental conditions to understand the processes underlying the response of ecosystems in dry climates to local and global changes. 
 

Plant Metabolome in Action
The Aharoni lab conducts research on uncovering the molecular pathways that produce plant secondary metabolites—chemicals produced by plant species that help them cope with changes and stress in their environment. These metabolites hold the secrets to many biological processes that are beneficial to humans and plants alike, and have practical applications for fighting world hunger and malnutrition, investigating the use of cannabis and other psychoactives for biomedicine, and developing sustainable energy sources. His lab’s cutting edge high-resolution mass spectrometry techniques has been used, among other things, to understand the correlation between genes, metabolism and other traits, and is helping scientists and breeders produce improved tomato varieties.
 

Photosynthesis & Plant Engineering and Individuality
Prof. Reich’s group studies plants’ remarkable ability to efficiently utilize a capricious energy source such as ambient light under ever-changing environmental conditions. Insights gained from their investigations into resurrection plants, a special class that can withstand an almost complete loss (~95%) of water, could help scientists engineer drought-resistant crops. They are also using CRISPR/Cas9 technology to remove toxins from nutritious drought-tolerant plants, with the hope of providing safe food to drought ridden regions in Africa and Southern Asia.
 

Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecosystems
Dr. Zeevi combines his research with microbes and AI to see if these tiny creatures can increase crop yields and their resistance to droughts and rising temperatures. By sampling many unique wheat-growing plots and sequencing the DNA of all microbes (bacteria, fungi and viruses) in these plots, Dr. Zeevi and his team are using machine learning to pinpoint the ones that have a positive effect on the crop.

The group also studies how microbial ecosystems are affected by human-made artifacts, and it applies the insights learned from these microbes to devise new ways to protect the environment.