Our Team

Dr. Viviane Slon

Principal Investigator

The aDNA PI, Dr. Viviane Slon, is the head of the ancient DNA facility at the Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research at TAU. She has vast experience studying DNA from various prehistoric contexts. In particular, she has developed methods to recover and analyse ancient DNA from sediments and has applied these to multiple archaeological sites. Dr. Slon’s work has been published in many peer-reviewed journals, including the highest-ranking scientific journals Nature and Science. For her work on ancient hominin DNA, Dr. Slon was awarded, among others, the Dan David Prize Scholarship for Young Researchers (2017), the Otto Hahn Medal (2018) and the Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award (2022), and was named one of Nature’s “Top 10” in 2018. Dr. Slon is also a member of the advisory board of the sedaDNA Scientific Society. Beyond the scientific community, her work has generated much interest among the general public, her research having been covered by popular science and general media outlets worldwide (e.g., The New York Times, The Economist, National Geographic, Scientific American). In this project, Dr. Slon will supervise and coordinate all aspects of sampling and laboratory work to generate aDNA data, and will provide expertise on the challenges, needs, and expectations related to the development of novel analytical strategies for aDNA data.

See Dr. Slon's personal website

Professor Muli Safra

Principal Investigator

The mathematics PI, Prof. Muli Safra, is an expert mathematician whose fields of interest range from formal verification, theoretical computer science as well as the mathematics of life sciences. His core research lies in developing strategic ideas as well as applying deep mathematical results, to problems in distinct areas. Prof. Safra has received several distinguished awards, including the Gödel Prize in theoretical computer science in 2001 for the proof of the PCP theorem, one of the most fundamental results in the area since its inception. He also received the Machtey award for his work in determinization of Buchi automata, and best paper award in FOCS 2018 for the proof of the 2-to-1 Games Theorem. Prof. Safra is primarily interested in thinking about problems that lie at the forefront of research, and whose solution has the potential to advance the field considerably. With his students, he also pursues a similar research strategy and focuses on problems that are considered by the community to be hard. Prof. Safra has a successful track record of students who’ve later on become leaders in the field of theoretical computer science. He is currently the PI of an ERC grant under Horizon 2020 focusing on PCP and Analysis of Boolean Functions. He has interest in applying advanced mathematical techniques to open problems in other fields, such as discrete analysis, physics and biology. Safra has experience applying theoretical mathematical approaches to solve real-world problems (e.g., publications establishing mathematical ground for analyzing spread of diseases).  In this project, Safra will assist with the mathematical and algorithmic aspects of the research, be it devising the algorithms necessary or mathematical analysis of phenomena.

See Prof. Safra's personal website

Dr. Azhar Jabareen

Wet Lab Manager

Azhar manages our wet lab, bringing her extensive experience working in sterile clean room conditions within the pharmaceutical sphere to the study of ancient DNA. She holds a PhD and an MSc in Microbiology, Immunology, and Genetics from Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Be'er Sheva, Israel.

Read Azhar's scientific publications

Dr. Valentina Vanghi

Postdoctoral Fellow

Valentina is a postdoctoral fellow focused on the geochemical characterization of archaeological sediments to build a predictive model for sedimentary ancient DNA fragments. Before joining our lab, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Metagenomics at the IBS Center for Climate Physics in Busan, South Korea. Valentina holds a PhD in Palaeoclimatology from the University of Newcastle in NSW, Australia; an MSc in Human Evolution, Paleoclimatology, and Quaternary Geology from Universidad de Burgos in Spain; and a BSc in Natural Sciences from the University of Florence in Italy.

Read Valentina's scientific publications

Dr. Aurora (Ayla) Campo

Postdoctoral Fellow

Aurora is a molecular biologist and bioinformatician with a PhD in Molecular Biology and over six years of postdoctoral experience in computational genomics. Her research focuses on the analysis of sedimentary ancient DNA from archaeological sites, with a particular interest in Paleolithic and Neolithic contexts in Greece. Aurora specializes in developing and optimizing bioinformatics pipelines for SNP recovery, population genetics, and evolutionary analysis from low-coverage ancient samples.

Read Aurora's scientific publications

Dr. Paula Kotli

Postdoctoral Fellow

Paula holds a BSc and an MSc in Biochemistry and Food Technology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a PhD in Paleoproteomics from the Weizmann Institute of Science. As the first in Israel to research and develop a new technique in paleoproteomics, she established the field and pioneered methods for studying ancient biomolecules. Paula's current research at TAU integrates aDNA sequencing and paleoproteomics to identify ulcerating pathogens, such as Treponema subspecies and Mycobacterium leprae, in ancient human remains from the Southern Levant, investigating the presence of syphilis before the Columbian Exchange.

Read Paula's scientific publications

Nihan Dilşad Dağtaş

PhD Student

Nihan is a PhD student focused on the prehistoric populations of Anatolia and the Levant using sedimentary ancient DNA as her investigative tool. She is particularly fascinated by the possibility of deciphering the far, unseeable past with the help of invisible DNA fragments. Prior to joining our lab, Nihan completed an MSc in Molecular Biology and a BSc in Biology at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey.

Read Nihan's scientific publications

Natalia Aleshkevich

PhD Student

Natalia's research is focused on the history of agriculture and plant biology. Her current work aims to solve challenges related to the search for wild ancestors of cultivated plants and early domesticated species, as well as optimize molecular methods for efficient extraction of ancient plant DNA. Prior to joining our lab, Natalia studied at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University in Russia.

Donya Khoury

PhD Student

Donya is a PhD student exploring aspects of ancient DNA and protein preservation over time. In her research, Donya examines how environmental factors affect the preservation of ancient molecules and how we can use these insights to understand past populations. She holds an MSc in Life Sciences from the Weizmann Institute of Science and a BSc from Tel Aviv University.

Read Donya's scientific publications

Eli Putterman

PhD Student

Eli is currently working on his PhD in Mathematics. He holds an MSc in Mathematics from Tel Aviv University and a BSc in Mathematics and Physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Read Eli's scientific publications

Nico Duek

Research Assistant

Nico is currently working on his BSc in Computer Science.

Noam Hecht

Research Assistant

Noam is currently working on his BSc in Medicine.

Aviva Lindell

Lab Technician

Aviva is currently working on her BSc in Biology with a focus on molecular techniques and lab work. As a lab technician, she specializes in DNA sampling and extraction while also managing reagents and preparing the lab for smooth daily operations. Beyond her current role, she applies her molecular skills to marine biology research in a neighboring lab — a perfect match for her love of diving and the ocean.