Eldad Tzahor PhD

Prof. Eldad Tzahor received a BSc in biochemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1991), and a PhD in molecular biology (1999) at the Weizmann Institute of Science. After postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School, he joined the staff of the Weizmann Institute in 2003.

Prof. Tzahor studies molecular mechanisms that control embryonic muscle development. In particular, he focuses on the formation of the heart in the vertebrate embryo. He has discovered that the mechanisms controlling the development of the heart appear to be tightly linked to those governing the development of the muscles in the head. His studies uncovered novel insights into how these muscles and parts of the heart arise from a similar set of progenitors. Our search for the developmental mechanisms driving organogenesis led to the identification of a novel gene regulatory network, findings that could pave the way toward a deeper understanding of certain birth defects.

Current efforts by the Tzahor team are focusing on novel mechanisms to regenerate the heart after birth, a major challenge in current biomedical research. His research informs the field of regenerative medicine and may potentially lead to treatments for muscle disease in the unborn fetus or in the adult patient.