Dr. Neta Shlezinger

Neta Shlezinger earned her PhD at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University. From there, she went on to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, where she was one of three recipients of their Postdoctoral Research Award (out of more than 600 postdoctoral fellows).

For her lab at the Koret School of Veterinary Medicine in the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Dr. Shlezinger’s goal is to define the molecular and cellular events, both on the host and the pathogen, that lead to fungal cell death and that are critical to determining host outcomes after fungal infection. Her longstanding interest in host-microbe interactions positions her to build a multidisciplinary program investigating the interplay between innate immunity and fungal pathogens and elucidating the molecular mechanisms that enable fungal pathogens to overcome immune surveillance. She believes that this research direction, which embraces pathogen virulence as a concept that integrates both microbial and host factors, has the potential to yield new insights and novel immunotherapeutics that could potentially help to combat systemic fungal pathogenesis, often a life-threatening condition.

She notes that Israeli research is widely recognized for scientific excellence and innovation, and she is truly honored and committed to carry on that legacy.