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

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

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.

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.

Shenhav Shemer