Maor Knafo - Curriculum Vitae
Name: Maor Knafo
Phone number: +972-54-4558996
Email: Maorkn@gmail.com
Education
2016 – 2023 Ph.D. student, The Weizmann Institute of Science
Supervisor: Prof. Ziv Reich
Research topic: Noise in gene expression as a substrate for novel capabilities.
2013 – 2016 MSc. The Weizmann Institute of Science
Supervisor: Prof. Yoav Soen
Research topic: Coping with novel stress by de novo re-organization of symbionts.
2010 – 2013 B.Sc. Faculty of Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Honors and Fellowships
2024 - Ideas Matter Writing Fellowship.
2019 - Feinberg Graduate School award for academic excellence.
2013 - Dean’s List The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
Teaching Experience
2018-Teaching instructor, “Real-time PCR - a lab course” The Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
Research Experience:
Molecular Biology:
Bulk RNA sequencing, genomic and metagenomic sequencing, RNA & DNA extraction, DNA transformation, RF cloning, CRISPR design and cell editing, in-vitro mutagenesis, large induced fitness assays, design and application of specialized sequencing pipelines for Illumina and 3rd generation sequencing (Smart-seq and read clouds), Microbiology: bacterial culture, antimicrobial sensitivity testing, next-generation sequencing of bacterial genomes.
Microfluidics:
Design and fabrication of specialized microfluidic system, including all the steps necessary to produce the PDMS chips (lab on a chip), silicon wafers (in the clean room), and costume-made precise, computer-controlled, temperature manipulating system. Design and implementation of custom software for precise, automatic management of microfluidic experiments, including dynamic temperature profiles, image acquisition software, online analysis, and automated decision-making.
Programming:
Python programming, MATLAB programming, data analysis (classical statistics, Bayesian statistics, machine learning, and neural networks), Bioinformatics: data analysis, functional genomics, pathway analysis, gene ontology, gene set enrichment analysis.
FACS analysis:
Intracellular/extracellular staining, fluorescence analysis, and cell sorting using FACS.
Community outreach:
2019 – Current – Led the establishment of citizen-led science project “Mapping the Israeli plant microbiome”
Multiple years of mentorship of the Davidson Alpha program.
A series of lectures exposing science and evolution to underprivileged youth.
Mentorship of high school students for their final exams in biology.
Selected conferences
January 2024 – Microbial Ecology and Evolution Hubs 2024. Poster presentation
July 2023 – EMBO Workshop Predicting evolution. Poster presentation
May 2022 – GRC When Stochasticity Meets Precision in a Single Cell. Poster presentation
March 2022 – Israeli Society of evolutionary biology conference. Poster presentation (awarded 3rd Place).
April 2022 - Single Cell Biology: Pushing New Frontiers in the Life Sciences Poster presentation
February 2022 – Wellcome connecting science- Evolutionary Systems Biology (Virtual Conference). Poster presentation (awarded best poster prize)
July 2019 – 8th Congress of European Microbiologists. Poster presentation
October 2015 - The 34th annual meeting of the Entomological Society of Israel – Oral presentation (Award for Outstanding Presentation (2nd Place))
List of publications
1. Rezenman S, Knafo M*, Tsigalnitski I, Barad S, Jona G, Levi D, et al. gUMI-BEAR, a modular, unsupervised population barcoding method to track variants and evolution at high resolution. PLOS ONE. 2023 Jun 7;18(6):e0286696.
2. Goldsmith M, Barad S, Knafo M*, Savidor A, Ben-Dor S, Brandis A, et al. Identification and characterization of the key enzyme in the biosynthesis of the neurotoxin β-ODAP in grass pea. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2022;298(5).
3. Soen Y, Knafo M, Elgart M. A principle of organization which facilitates broad Lamarckian-like adaptations by improvisation. Biology direct. 2015;10(1):1–17.
Preprints:
1. Knafo M, Rezenman S, Idan T, Elgart M, Dagan S, Reich Z, et al. CoSMIC - A hybrid approach for large-scale, high-resolution microbial profiling of novel niches. bioRxiv; 2023 [cited 2023 Oct 2]. p. 2023.09.03.556087.
*Equal contribution author
