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Welcome to Rakefet Schwarz Laboratory

Unlock the secrets of cyanobacterial biofilms

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Unlock the secrets of cyanobacterial biofilms

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Unlock the secrets of cyanobacterial biofilms

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Unlock the secrets of cyanobacterial biofilms

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Unlock the secrets of cyanobacterial biofilms

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Unlock the secrets of cyanobacterial biofilms

To be or not to be

Unlock the secrets of cyanobacterial biofilms

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Unlock the secrets of cyanobacterial biofilms

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Unlock the secrets of cyanobacterial biofilms

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Unlock the secrets of cyanobacterial biofilms

Cyanobacteria – Importance and Applications

Cyanobacteria, formerly termed blue-green algae, are ancient organisms with a profound impact on Earth's history. The ancestors of chloroplasts found in algae and plants, cyanobacteria were the first living cells to produce oxygen through photosynthesis, fundamentally altering our planet's atmosphere and enabling the evolution of all aerobic life forms. Today, cyanobacteria continue to shape our world. They play a crucial role in global carbon fixation, absorbing a substantial amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Additionally, cyanobacteria are being explored as a sustainable source for biofuels, offering a potential alternative to fossil fuels due to their ability to produce high-energy compounds. However, their blooms, particularly the toxic varieties, pose significant threats to aquatic ecosystems and water quality.

Our Projects

Cyanobacterial Biofilms

How cyanobacteria build and regulate biofilms

Division of labour in cyanobacterial biofilms

Bacteria are not all the same – specialization and teamwork in biofilm communities

Self-Suppression of Biofilm

To be or not to be planktonic?

Cyanobacterial extracellular membrane vesicles

Tiny couriers of the microbial world: Membrane vesicles in stress response and communication

Selected publications

A cyanobacterial sigma factor F controls biofilm

Suban S, Yemini S, Shor A, Waldman Ben-Asher H, Yaron O, Karako-Lampert S, Sendersky E, Golden SS, Schwarz R , 2024

Cell specialization in cyanobacterial biofilm development revealed by expression of a cell-surface and extracellular matrix protein

Alona Frenkel, Eli Zecharia, Daniel Gómez-Pérez, Eleonora Sendersky, Yevgeni Yegorov, Avi Jacob, Jennifer I C Benichou, York-Dieter Stierhof, Rami Parnasa, Susan S Golden, Eric Kemen, Rakefet Schwarz , 2023

Transcriptomic and Phenomic Investigations Reveal Elements in Biofilm Repression and Formation in the Cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942

Simkovsky R, Parnasa R, Wang J, Nagar E, Zecharia E, Suban S, Yegorov Y, Veltman B, Sendersky E, Schwarz R, Golden SS. , 2022

Impairment of a cyanobacterial glycosyltransferase that modifies a pilin results in biofilm development.

Suban S, Sendersky E, Golden SS, Schwarz R. , 2022

View Selected Publications

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