Oded Beja
Israeli researcher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oded Béjà (Hebrew: עודד בז'ה) is a professor in the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, in the field of marine microbiology and metagenomics.[1]
Oded Béjà | |
|---|---|
עודד בז'ה | |
| |
| Born | January 29, 1964 |
| Alma mater | Hebrew University, Weizmann Institute of Science |
| Known for | Bacterial Rhodopsin discovery, Viral Photosynthesis |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Metagenomics, Microbiology |
| Doctoral advisor | Prof. Eitan Bibi |
| Website | https://beja.net.technion.ac.il/ |
Academic work
Oded Béjà is best known for discovering the first bacterial rhodopsin[2] naming it proteorhodopsin,[3] during his postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Edward DeLong. Oded Béjà's laboratory focuses currently on the role and diversity of photosynthetic viruses infecting cyanobacteria in the oceans,[4] and the use of functional metagenomics for the discovery of new light sensing proteins.
In 2018, the team of Oded Beja discovered a new family of rhodopsins with an inverted membrane topology, which can be found in bacteria, algae, algal viruses and archaea.[5] Members of the new family were named heliorhodopsins.[5]
Early life and education
Oded Béjà graduated with a B.Sc. degree from the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment - Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He earned his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1998. Archived 2015-11-14 at the Wayback Machine
Recognition
- 2024 EMBO member [6]
- Editorial board of the International Society for Microbial Ecology[7]
- Faculty Member of the Year 2012 by Faculty of 1000.[8]
- EMBO Young Investigator 2002-2004[9]
- American Society for Photobiology 2002 New Investigator Award.
- Ranked 443 in the Ranking of scientists in Israel Institutions according to their Google Scholar Citations public profiles[10]