Shemer - פקולטה לביולוגיה Biology Faculty

Education/ Resume:

2020-2022 Visiting scholar, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard, USA
2019- Associate Professor, Faculty of Biology, Technion, Israel
2013-2019 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Biology, Technion, Israel

2011-2013 Research Fellow, Cell Biology Department, Harvard, USA
2006-2011 Postdoctoral Fellow, Cell Biology Department, Harvard, USA
2002-2006 Senior researcher, Biotech, Weizmann Science Park, Israel
1996-2002 Ph.D. (Direct track), Bar-Ilan University, Israel
1992-1995 B.Sc., Biology, Bar-Ilan University, Israel

Research Summary

Muscle wasting is an inevitable sequel of aging and disease, and often correlates with patient demise. It results from the accelerated breakdown of the contractile myofibrillar apparatus by the proteasome, which is preceded by the loss of desmin intermediate filaments. We strive to uncover the underlyingmechanismsof muscle loss inorder to identify rational therapies to combat wasting. Our research encompasses different fields from physiology and mechanisms of muscle atrophy, through biochemistry and cell biology. Our goal is to advance foundational understanding of diverse types of wasting, highlighting how cells retain and adapt their size to a changing physiological environment.

Awards:

2020 Cooper Award for Excellence in Research
2020 Norman and Helen Asher Research Award
2020 ICA research award for an outstanding researcher

2015 Dr. Bernard and Bobbie Lublin Cancer Research award
2014 Malat family award
2014 Robin award for biomedical research
2006-2011 Postdoctoral fellowship from Harvard University
2007-2011 Edmond J. Safra Fellowship, New York, USA
1995-2000 Ph.D. fellowship from Bar Ilan University, Israel

Key Publications

Eid-Mutlak Y, Aweida D, Volodin A, Ayalon B, Dahan N, Parnis A, Cohen S. A signaling hub of plakoglobin, insulin receptors and dystrophin glycoprotein complex regulates muscle size. Nature Communications. 11(1):1381. 2020.
Aweida D, Rudesky I, Volodin A, Shimko E, Cohen S. GSK3-β promotes calpain-1-mediated desmin filament depolymerization and myofibril loss in atrophy. J Cell Biology. 217(10):3698-3714. 2018.

Volodin A, Kosti I, Goldberg AL, Cohen S. Myofibril breakdown during atrophy is a delayed response requiring the transcription factor PAX4 and desmin depolymerization. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 114(8):E1375-E1384. 2017.
Cohen S, Nathan JA, Goldberg AL. Muscle wasting in disease: molecular mechanisms and promising therapies. Nature Review Drug Discovery. 14(1):58-74. 2015.
Cohen S, Lee D, Zhai B, Gygi SP, Goldberg AL. Trim32 reduces PI3K-Akt-FoxO signaling in muscle atrophy by promoting plakoglobin-PI3K dissociation. J Cell Biology. 204(5):747-58. 2014.
Cohen S, Zhai B, Gygi SP, Goldberg AL. Ubiquitylation by Trim32 causes coupled loss of desmin, Z-bands, and thin filaments in muscle atrophy.J Cell Biology. 198(4):575-89. 2012.
Cohen S, Brault JJ, Gygi SP, Glass DJ, Valenzuela DM, Gartner C, Latres E, Goldberg AL. During muscle atrophy, thick, but not thin, filament components are degraded by MuRF1-dependent ubiquitylation. J Cell Biology. 185(6):1083-95. 2009.

Recent Publications:

Gilda JE and Cohen S. Molecular mechanisms of skeletal muscle wasting in cancer. Invited book chapter, Springer Nature. In press. 2021.

Agnetti G., Herrmann H. and Cohen S. New roles for desmin in the maintenance of muscle homeostasis. 2021. Review. FEBS J. In press.

Aweida D. and Cohen S. Breakdown of Filamentous Myofibrils by the UPS–Step by Step. 2021. Review. Biomolecules.11(1):110.

Cohen S. Role of calpain-1 in promoting desmin depolymerization in muscle wasting and aging. BBA-Molecular Cell Research. 1867(10):118788. 2020.

Goldbraikh D, Neufeld D, Eid-Mutlak Y, Lasry I, Gilda JE, Parnis A and Cohen S. USP1 deubiquitinates Akt to inhibit PI3K-Akt-FoxO signaling in muscle atrophy during prolonged starvation. EMBO reports. 21(4):e48791. 2020.

Yatsenko AS, Kucherenko MM, Xie Y, Aweida D, Urlaub H, Scheibe RJ, Cohen S, Shcherbata HR. Profiling of the muscle-specific dystroglycan interactome reveals the role of Hippo signaling in muscular dystrophy and age-dependent muscle atrophy. BMC Medicine. 18(1):8. 2020.

Shiloh R, Gilad Y, Ber Y, Eisenstein M, Aweida D, Bialik S, Cohen S, Kimchi A. Non-canonical activation of DAPK2 by AMPK constitutes a new pathway linking metabolic stress to autophagy. Nature Communications. 9(1):1759. 2018.

Bassat E, Mutlak YE, Genzelinakh A, Shadrin IY, Baruch Umansky K, Yifa O, Kain D, Rajchman D, Leach J, Riabov Bassat D, Udi Y, Sarig R, Sagi I, Martin JF, Bursac N, Cohen S, Tzahor E. The extracellular matrix protein agrin promotes heart regeneration in mice. Nature. 547(7662):179-184. 2017.

Piterman R, Braunstein I, Isakov E, Ziv T, Navon A, Cohen S, Stanhill A. VWA domain of S5a restricts the ability to bind ubiquitin and Ubl to the 26S proteasome. Mol Biol Cell. 25(25):3988-98. 2014.

Shenhav Shemer