The Institue of Plant Scienes and Genetics in Agriculture

Tel: 972-2-948-9333
Fax: 972-8-946-7763
Website: http://departments.agri.huji.ac.il/botany/

Staff

Professors Emeriti	Jacoby, B., Ph.D. Koller, D., Ph.D. Negbi, M., Ph.D.
Professors	Noy-Meir, I., Ph.D. Tel-Or, E. Ph.D. Zamski, E., Ph.D.
Associate Professors	Kigel, J., Ph.D. Ziv, M., Ph.D.
Senior Lecturers	Adam, Z., Ph.D. Moran, N., Ph.D. Schwartz, A., Ph.D. (Head of Department)

Introduction

Research in the Department of Botany includes: physiology and regulation of solute transport; detoxification of polluted water by plants; analysis of plant growth, development and productivity, as affected by specific different components of the environme nt, emphasizing seed germination, production and growth of leaves, stems, roots and organs of vegetative reproduction in geophytes, flowering, fruit development and dormancy; structural, anatomical and ultrastructural aspects of plant development; stereos pecificity of the sugar carrier systems in tissue and cell suspension; phloem unloading and sugar uptake by storage tissue; analysis and control of in vivo and in vitro morphogenesis in plants; application of differentiation, hardening and acclimatization methods of tissue culture grown plants to agriculture; physiology of plant resistance to environmental stress and to fungal infection; ecological aspects of the photo-environment; physiology of solar-tracking by leaves; physiology, biochemistry and utili zation of photosynthetic nitrogen-fixation by blue-green algae, alone and in association with ferns and higher plants; energy conversion by the photosynthetic reaction center; proton conduction in the thylakoid membrane; effects of water stress on photosy nthetic reaction proper; stomatal physiology; guard cell longevity, bioenergetics of stomatal movement; heat, drought and salinity tolerance.

ADAM, ZACH
Born 1952, Los Angeles; Ph.D. 1987, Hebrew Univ.; Lect. 1991; Sen. Lect. 1996. E-mail: zach@agri.huji.ac.il Tel: 972-8-948-9329; Fax: 972-8-946-7763; Website: http://indycc1.agri.huji.ac.il/~zacha/

Research Interests:
Assembly and degradation processes in chloroplasts of higher plants.

Research Projects:
1. The N-end rule and protein degradation in chloroplasts. Funding: The Austrian Friends of the Hebrew University.
2. Processing of precursors for chloroplast proteins - biotechnological implications. Funding: Israel Ministry of Science and the Arts.
3. Degradation of abnormal proteins in chloroplasts of higher plants. Funding: BARD.
4. Assembly and degradation of the cytochrome b-f complex in chloroplasts of higher plants. Funding: Israel-European Communities Scientific Cooperation Program.

JACOBY, BENJAMIN
Born 1927, Insterburg (Germany); Ph.D. 1960, Hebrew Univ.; Lect. 1962; Sen. Lect. 1966; Assoc. Prof. 1971; Prof. 1978; Emeritus 1996. E-mail: jacoby@agri.huji.ac.il Tel: 972-8-948-9319

Research Interests:
Bioenergetics and control of membrane transport in plant cells; osmotic shock and turgor regulation; regulation of cytoplasmic sodium content as related to salt resistance of plants; physiology of fungal infections of plants.

KIGEL, JAIME
Born 1943, Rio Negro (Argentina); Ph.D. 1975, Hebrew Univ.; Lect. 1975; Sen. Lect. 1981; Assoc. Prof. 1994. E-mail: kigel@agri.huji.ac.il Tel: 972-8-948-9916; Fax: 972-8-946-7763

Research Interests:
Environmental control of plant development. Physiology of seed germination. Seed-bank dynamics. Plant responses to heat and water stress. Adaptation of desert annuals and geophytes to arid conditions. Management of semiarid rangelands. Reproductive biolog y of weeds.

Research Projects:
1. Root development and water balance in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) as affected by inoculation with Azospirillum. Funding: ARO.
2. Regulation of seed germination in plant introductions. Funding: ARO.
3. Role of the seed-bank in semi-arid rangeland management. Funding: ARO-IACC.
4. Reproductive strategies in desert annuals along gradients of increasing aridity. Funding: Israel Science Foundation.
5. Weed fitness in herbicide-susceptive and resistant types. Funding: ARO.
6. Improvement of grain and vegetable amaranth in Malawi. Funding: AID-CDR.

KOLLER, DOV
See Department of Plant Sciences, Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science.

MORAN, NAVA
Born Poland; D.Sc. 1979, Technion (Physiology and Biophysics); Sen. Lect. (HU) 1998. E-mail: morana@agri.huji.ac.il Tel: 972-8-948-9324; Fax: 972-8-946-7763

Research Interests:
Regulation of plant membrane ion transport, plant signal transduction, phototransduction, structure-function relationship of plant ion channels, circadian rhythm.

Research Projects:
1. Structure-function relationship of plant K+ uptake channel: molecular biology and electrophysiology approaches to the study of a K channel in a model system. Funding: GIF.
2. Characterization of a novel class of plant Ca2+-CAM-binding proteins with high similarity to ion channels: molecular and physiological studies in transgenic plants. Funding: ISF.

NEGBI, MOSHE
Born 1927, Tel Aviv; Ph.D. 1959, Hebrew Univ.; Lect. 1962; Sen. Lect. 1969; Assoc. Prof. 1975; Prof. 1989; Emeritus 1996.

Research Interests:
Developmental plant physiology. History of botanical science

NOY-MEIR, IMANUEL
Born 1941, Avigdor (Argentina); Ph.D. 1970, Australian National Univ. (Canberra); Lect. 1970; Sen. Lect. 1973; Assoc. Prof. 1976; Prof. 1979. Tel: 972-8-948-9323, 948-9830

Research Interests:
Plant-herbivore interactions and effects of grazing on production and species composition of grassland vegetation: analysis of field observations, theoretical models, stability analysis, simulation. Plant and animal production and management in agro-pasto ral systems in semi-arid and Mediterranean zones. Population ecology of wild wheat in Mediterranean grasslands.

Research Projects:
1. The role of spatial structure in the effects of grazing on Mediterranean grassland communities: a modeling approach. Funding: ISF.
2. The role of grazing in conservation of biodiversity of geophytes in Mediterranean grassland and woodland ecosystems. Funding: BMBF - German Ministry of Science.
3. Vole damage to rangeland. Funding: Chief Scientist's Office, Ministry of Agriculture.

SCHWARTZ, AMNON
Born 1945, Be'er Tuvia (Israel); Ph.D. 1980, Hebrew Univ.; Lect. 1982; Sen. Lect. 1988. E-mail: schwartz@agri.huji.ac.il Tel: 972-8-948-9832, 948-9917

Research Interests:
Plant-water relations. Ion transport and electrophysiology. Stomata physiology. Osmotic adjustment and drought adaptation in crop plants.

Research Projects:
1. The physiology and electrophysiology of ABA and Ca2+ mediated plant responses to water stress.
2. Direct effects of environmental stress (high temperature, photoinhibition, UV-B) on guard cell responses and the control of transpiration.

TEL-OR, ELISHA
Born 1944, Tel Aviv; Ph.D. 1974, Weizmann Inst.; Lect. 1977; Sen. Lect. 1978; Assoc. Prof. 1984; Prof. 1994; Director, The Otto Warburg Center for Agricultural Biotechnology. E-mail: telor@agri.huji.ac.il Tel: 972-8-948-9262; Fax: 972-8-946-7763

Research Interests:
Salt tolerance in cyanobacteria and citrus calli: osmoregulation, metabolism and bioenergetics. Antioxidative mechanisms in cyanobacteria, dinoflagellate, desert plants and crops. The water fern Azolla: biofilter, biofertilizer, nitrogenase and symbiosis.

ZAMSKI, ELIEZER
Born 1942, Tel Aviv; Ph.D. 1971, Hebrew Univ.; Lect. 1972; Sen. Lect. 1978; Assoc. Prof. 1985; Prof. 1998. E-mail: zamski@agri.huji.ac.il Tel: 972-8-948-9317

Research Interests:
Phloem unloading; sugar transport; sugar accumulation in crops; ultrastructure of storage tissues; membrane transport; immunolocalization of sugar-carrier proteins.

Research Projects:
1. Improvement of quality and quantity of peanut crops. Funding: Ministry of Agriculture.
2. Salt stress-induced biosynthesis of oil bodies in citrus cultured cells. Funding: ISF.

ZIV, MEIRA
Born 1931, Tel Aviv; Ph.D. 1979, Hebrew Univ.; Lect. 1979; Sen. Lect. 1982; Assoc. Prof. 1990. E-mail: meira@agri.huji.ac.il

Research Interests:
Plant morphology in vitro. Physiological aspects of regeneration, hyperhydricity and acclimatization of tissue culture regenerated plants. Somatic embryogenesis. Developmental physiology of corms, tubers and bulbs produced in vitro. Computerized vision an d imaging of in vitro plants for automated mass micropropagation. Micropropagation in large-scale disposable plastic presterilized bioreactors.

Research Projects:
1. In vitro regeneration and the control of hyperhydricity in geophytes, micropropagated in bioreactors (with E. Zamski). Funding: Hebrew University, Applied Research Funds.
2. Micropropagation and bulb production of Nerine and Narcissus in bioreactors (with H. Lilien-Kipnis, ARO). Funding: Ministry of Agriculture.
3. Tissue culture and cloning of Neem for enhanced bioinsecticide production (with S.W. Applebaum). Funding: Hebrew University, Applied Research Funds.
4. Development of propagation techniques for economically important crops (with A. Altman, Y. Saranga and S. Wolf). Funding: Hebrew University, Applied Research Funds.
5. Acclimatization of tissue culture plants using polymers which increase the water holding capacity of the growth medium to reduce desiccation stress.
6. Enhanced storage organ formation in bulb and corm producing plant in vitro. Funding: Israel Flower Growers Board.