פרופ' איתי בנהר

סגל אקדמי בכיר בביולוגיה מולקולרית של התא ולב
ראש מרכז במנהלת הפקולטה למדעי החיים
ועדת מינויים יחידתית במקרוביולוגיה מולקולרית

ביולוגיה מולקולרית של התא ולב סגל אקדמי בכיר

דואר אלקטרוני: benhar@tauex.tau.ac.il

טלפון פנימי: 03-6407511

טלפון נוסף: 03-6407510

פקס: 03-6405829

לפרופיל האישי שלי במערכת CRIS

משרד: גרין ביוטכנו, 202

Professor Itai Benhar, PhD, Short CV October 2015.

Itai Benhar—Full Professor, Vice Dean for research at the George S. wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, The Morris and Manya Lee Chair in Biophysics and Biotechnology and former chairman of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology at Tel-Aviv University Israel

Prof. Benhar’s is an expert and opinion leader in the field of antibody engineering. Over the 20 years of being active in that field, he prepared several phage display libraries from which antibodies against numerous targets were isolated. Prof. Benhar publishes 86 research papers, wrote 11 book chapters and submitted 13 patent applications. Research in Prof. Benhar’s group if currently focused on three major topics: 1) evaluation of novel formats of bispecific antibodies and of antibody-toxin fusion proteins as potential anti-cancer agents. 2) Evaluation of death switches that are activated by viral proteases for potential eradication of virus-infected cells. 3) Application of filamentous phages as targeted drug-carrying nanomedicines.

Prof. Benhar has been a consultant to several Biotech companies, including Natera (developing prenatal diagnostics), AIT (developing antibodies for clinical applications) CEACAM (developing anti-cancer antibodies), GreenVision (developing advances imaging systems), Intellect Neuroscience (developed antibodies for Alzheimer's disease), SeraSense Biotech (developed anti-cancer antibodies) and Medgenics (developing “bio-pumps” for drug delivery).

CV

Education:

1992-1995 Post-Doctoral Associate; Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, USA

1992 Ph.D.; Microbiology summa cum laude, Hebrew University

1983 B.Sc.; Agriculture, Hebrew University

Academic Appointments:

2020-present Director of the Tel Aviv University Center for Combatting Pandemics

2014-2018 Vice Dean for Research, the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences

2014-present The Morris and Manja Leigh Chair in Biophysics and Biotechnology

2012-2015 Chairman of the Laura Schwartz-Kipp Institute of Biotechnology

2008-present Full Professor; Department Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel-Aviv University

2007-2011 Chairman; Department Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel-Aviv University

2002-2012 Head; B.Sc. program in Biotechnology, Tel Aviv University

2005-2008 Associate Professor; Department Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel-Aviv University

2001-2005 Senior Lecturer; Department Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel-Aviv University

1995-2001 Lecturer; Department Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel-Aviv University

Honors and Awards

1995 The "Alon" fellowship for outstanding young researchers. The Israeli Ministry of Education

1994 Federal Technology Transfer Award for an outstanding Scientific contribution of value to the USA. National Institute of Health (USA)

1992 The Hebrew University Faculty of Medicine Award for Excellence in Ph.D. Studies

1992 The Prize for Excellence in Ph.D. Studies. The Sepharadic Federation and The World Zionist Agency

1987-1989 Ph.D. Studentship Scholarship. Levi Eshkol Foundation at the Israeli Research Council, The Ministry of Science and Technology (Israel)

Research Interests

Prof. Benhar is an expert and opinion leader in the field of antibody engineering. Over the 22 years of being active in that field, he prepared several phage display libraries from which antibodies against numerous targets were isolated. Prof. Benhar publishes 93 research papers, wrote 12 book chapters and submitted 19 patent applications. Research in Prof. Benhar’s group is multidisciplinary, involves many collaborations and is currently focused on the following topics: 1) Study of design principles for bispecific antibodies their application to develop potential therapeutics. 2) Study of combinations and conjugates of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies with low-molecular-weight heparins for treating inflammatory bowel diseases. 3) Studies of targeted drug-carrying nanomedicines combined with Medicinal Chemistry approaches for the eradication of pathogenic fungi, chronic inflammation and cancer. 4) Study of novel approaches for discovering GPCR-specific antibodies. 5) Targeting lymphoma, allergy and autoimmunity with monospecific and bispecific antibodies.

Prof. Benhar is or has been a consultant to several Israeli Biotech companies, including AIT (developing antibodies for clinical applications) CEACAM (developing anti-cancer antibodies), GreenVision (developing advances imaging systems), Intellect Neuroscience (developed antibodies for Alzheimer's disease), SeraSense Biotech (developing anti-cancer antibodies) MedGenics (developing drug-producing skin grafts) and 4C-Biomed (developing anti-cancer antibodies).

Prof. Benhar teaches a graduate course “Antibody Engineering” and an undergraduate course “Introduction to Biotechnology”.

Please read Prof. Benhar’s detailed research description.

Publications 2010-2015

List of publications (2010- 2015) (of 86 total)

ARTICLES IN REFEREED JOURNALS (of
1.   Hartmann, C., Müller, N, Blaukat, A., Koch, J., Benhar, I., Wels, W. S. (2010) Peptide mimotopes recognized by antibodies cetuximab and matuzumab induce a functionally equivalent anti-EGFR immune response. Oncogene 12;29(32):4517-27.
2.   Bourbeillon, J., Orchard, S., Benhar, I., Borrebaeck, C., de Daruvar, A., Dübel, S (and 20 more authors) (2010) Minimum Information about a Protein Affinity Reagent (MIAPAR). Nature Biotechnology 28(7):650-653.
3.   Mendel, K., Eliaz, N., Benhar, I, Hendel, D., Halperin, N. (2010) Magnetic isolation of particles suspended in synovial fluids for diagnostics of natural joint chondropathies. Acta Biomaterialia,    Acta Biomater. 6: 4430-4438.
4.   Gal-Tanamy M, Zemel R, Bachmatov L, Jangra RK, Shapira A, Villanueva R, Yi M, Lemon SM, Benhar I, Tur-Kaspa R. (2010) Inhibition of protease-inhibitor-resistant hepatitis C virus replicons and infectious virus by intracellular intrabodies. Antiviral Res. 2010 Aug 10. (Epub ahead of print)
5.   Shapira A, Benhar I. (2010) Toxin-Based Therapeutic Approaches. Toxins 2: 2519-2583.
6.   Dalken B, Jabulowsky RA, Oberoi1 P, Benhar I, Wels WS (2010) Maltose-Binding Protein Enhances Secretion of Recombinant Human Granzyme B Accompanied by In Vivo Processing of a Precursor MBP Fusion Protein. PLoS One 5 (12) e14404.
7.   Hakshur K, Benhar I, Bar-Ziv Y, Halperin N, Segal D, Eliaz N. (2011) The effect of hyaluronan injections into human knees on the number of bone and cartilage wear particles captured by bio-ferrography. Acta Biomaterialia. 7: 848-857.
8.   Shapira A, Gal-Tanamy M, Nahary L, Litvak-Greenfeld D, Zemel R, Tur-Kaspa R and Benhar I. (2011) Engineered toxins "Zymoxins" are activated by the HCV NS3 protease by removal of an inhibitory protein domain. PLoS One 14;6(1):e15916.
9.   Shapira S, Shapira A, Starr A, Kazanov D, Kraus S, Benhar I and Arber N. (2011) An immunoconjugate of anti-CD24 and Pseudomonas exotoxin selectively kills human colorectal tumors in mice. Gastroenterology. 140(3):935-46.
10.   Artzy-Schnirman A, Blat D, Talmon Y, Fishler R, Gertman D, Oren R, Wolchinsky R, Waks T, Benhar I, Eshhar Z, Sivan U, Reiter Y. (2011) Electrically controlled molecular recognition harnessed to activate a cellular response. Nano Lett. 2011 Nov 9;11(11):4997-5001.
11.   Vaks L, Benhar I. (2011) Antibacterial application of engineered bacteriophage nanomedicines: antibody-targeted, chloramphenicol prodrug loaded bacteriophages for inhibiting the growth of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Methods Mol Biol. 2011;726:187-206.
12.   Bachmetov L, Gal-Tanamy M, Shapira A, Vorobeychik M, Giterman-Galam T, Sathiyamoorthy P, Golan-Goldhirsh A, Benhar I, Tur-Kaspa R , Zemel R. (2012) Suppression of hepatitis c virus by the flavonoid quercetin is mediated by inhibition of NS3 protease activity. J. Viral Hepatol. 19: e81-e88.
13.   Harel Inbar N, Benhar I. (2012) Selection of antibodies form synthetic antibody libraries. Arch Biochem Biophys. 2012 Jan 8. [Epub ahead of print]
14.   Shapira A, Shapira S, Gal-Tanamy M, Zemel R, Tur-Kaspa R, Benhar I. (2012) Removal of hepatitis C virus-infected cells by a zymogenized bacterial toxin. PLoS One. 2012;7(2):e32320. Epub 2012 Feb 16.
15.   Pichinuk E, Benhar I, Jacobi O, Chalik M, Weiss L, Ziv R, Sympson C, Karwa A, Smorodinsky NI, Rubinstein DB, Wreschner DH. (2012) Antibody targeting of cell-bound MUC1 SEA domain kills tumor cells. Cancer Res. 2012 Apr 17. [Epub ahead of print]
16.   Brimberg L, Benhar I, Mascaro-Blanco A, Alvarez K, Lotan D, Winter C, Klein J, Moses AE, Somnier FE, Leckman JF, Swedo SE, Cunningham MW, Joel D. (2012) Behavioral, Pharmacological, and Immunological Abnormalities after Streptococcal Exposure: A Novel Rat Model of Sydenham Chorea and Related Neuropsychiatric Disorders. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2012 Apr 25. doi: 10.1038/npp.2012.56. [Epub ahead of print]
17.   Brown Kav A, Sasson G, Jami E, Doron-Faigenboim A, Benhar I, Mizrahi I. (2012) Insights into the bovine rumen plasmidome. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Apr 3;109(14):5452-7. Epub 2012 Mar 19.
18.   Luria Y, Raichlin D, Benhar I (2012) Fluorescent IgG fusion proteins made in E. coli. MAbs. 2012 May 1;4(3). [Epub ahead of print]
19.   Barnea I, Ben-Yosef R, Karaush V, Benhar I, Vexler A (2012) Targeting EGFR-positive cancer cells with cetuximab-ZZ-PE38: Results of in vitro and in vivo studies. Head Neck. 2012 Sep 10. doi: 10.1002/hed.23093. [Epub ahead of print].
20.   Saggy I, Wine Y, Shefet-Carasso L, Nahary L, Georgiou G, Benhar I (2012) Antibody isolation from immunized animals: comparison of phage display and antibody discovery via V gene repertoire mining. Protein Engineering, Design & Selection 25(10):539-49.
21.   Mazor R, Vassall AN, Eberle JA, Beers R, Weldon JE, Venzon DJ, Tsang KY, Benhar I, Pastan I. (2012) Identification and elimination of an immunodominant T-cell epitope in recombinant immunotoxins based on Pseudomonas exotoxin A. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 109(51):E3597-603.
22.   Litvak-Greenfeld D, Benhar I. (2012) Risks and untoward toxicities of antibody-based immunoconjugates. Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews 2012 Dec;64(15):1782-99.
23.   Barnea I, Ben-Yosef R, Karaush V, Benhar I, Vexler A (2013) Targeting EGFR-positive cancer cells with cetuximab-ZZ-PE38: Results of in vitro and in vivo studies. Head Neck. 35(8):1171-7
24.   Shimoni M, Herschhorn A, Britan-Rosich Y, Kotler M, Benhar I, Hizi A. (2013) The Isolation of Novel Phage Display-Derived Human Recombinant Antibodies Against CCR5, the Major Co-Receptor of HIV. Viral Immunology. August 2013, 26(4): 277-290.
25.   Brown Kav A, Benhar I, Mizrahi I. A method for purifying high quality and high yield plasmid DNA for metagenomic and deep sequencing approaches. J Microbiol Methods. 2013 Nov;95(2):272-9. doi: 10.1016/j.mimet.2013.09.008. Epub 2013 Sep 17.
26.   Lotan D, Benhar I, Alvarez K, Mascaro-Blanco A, Brimberg L, Frenkel D, Cunningham MW, Joel D. Behavioral and neural effects of intra-striatal infusion of anti-streptococcal antibodies in rats. Brain Behav Immun. 2014 May;38:249-62.
27.   Artzy-Schnirman A1, Abu-Shah E, Dishon M, Soifer H, Sivan Y, Reiter Y, Benhar I, Sivan U. (2014) On the limited recognition of inorganic surfaces by short peptides compared with antibodies. J Pept Sci. 2014 Jun;20(6):446-50. doi: 10.1002/psc.2636. Epub 2014 Apr 15.
28.   Mazor R1, Eberle JA, Hu X, Vassall AN, Onda M, Beers R, Lee EC, Kreitman RJ, Lee B, Baker D, King C, Hassan R, Benhar I, Pastan I. (2014) Recombinant immunotoxin for cancer treatment with low immunogenicity by identification and silencing of human T-cell epitopes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Jun 10;111(23):8571-6.
29.   Shefet-Carasso L, Benhar I. (2015) Antibody-targeted drugs and drug resistance - challenges and solutions. Drug Resistance Updates, Accepted for publication.
30.   Levi O, Shapira A, Tal B, Benhar I, Eliaz N. (2015) Isolating epidermal growth factor receptor overexpressing carcinoma cells from human whole blood by bio-ferrography. Cytometry B Clin Cytom. 2015 Mar;88(2):136-44.
31.   Levi O, Tal B, Hileli S, Shapira A, Benhar I, Grabov P, Eliaz N. (2015) Optimization of EGFR high positive cell isolation procedure by design of experiments methodology. Cytometry: Part B - Clinical Cytometry. Mar 2015 Epub ahead of print.
32.   Ben-Horin S, Yavzori M, Benhar I, Fudim E, Picard O, Ungar B, Lee S, Kim S, Eliakim R, Chowers Y. (2015) Cross immunogenicity: antibodies to infliximab in Remicade-treated patients with IBD similarly recognise the biosimilar Remsima. Gut. Mar 2015 Epub ahead of print.

CHAPTERS IN BOOKS
1.   Vaks, L. and Benhar, I. (2011) Antibacterial application of engineered bacteriophage nanomedicines: antibody-targeted, chloramphenicol prodrug loaded bacteriophages for inhibiting the growth of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Methods Mol Biol. 726:187-206.
2.   Benhar, I. (2012) Combinatorial libraries of arrayable single-chain antibodies. Chapter 3 in Combinatorial methodologies for development of chemical and biological sensors. R.A. Potyrailo and V. Mirsky (Eds). Springer, Germany. DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-73713-3_9.
3.   Vaks L, Benhar I. (2013) Production of stabilized scFv antibody fragments in the E. coli bacterial cytoplasm. Methods Mol Biol. 2014;1060:171-84. doi: 10.1007/978-1-62703-586-6_10.
4.   Dergachev V. Benhar I. (2015) Challenges for Therapeutic Application of Pseudomonas Exotoxin-Based Immunotoxins. In: “Resistance of Targeted Anticancer Therapeutics“ Benjamin Bonovida, University of California, Editor. Accepted for publication.

PATENT APPLICATIONS

1.   Benhar I, Vaks L (2011). BI- AND MONOSPECIFIC, ASYMMETRIC ANTIBODIES AND METHODS OF GENERATING THE SAME. PCT application WO 2012/123949 Al filed Sept 2012.
2.    Benhar I, Shapira A, Litvak D, Gal-Tanamy M, Zemel R, Tur-Kaspa R (2011). ACTIVATABLE TOXIN COMPLEXES COMPRIZING A CLEAVABLE INHIBITORY PEPTIDE. PCT patent application was filed on August 2011.
3.     Benhar I, Shapira A, Gal-Tanamy M, Zemel R, Tur-Kaspa R (2011) ZYMOXINS AND METHODS OF USING THE SAME. Provisional US patent application filed August 2011.
4.   Solomon, B., Orgad, S., Benhar, I., Rosenfeld, R. (2012). HUMAN SYNTHETIC SINGLE-CHAIN ANTIBODIES DIRECTED AGAINST THE COMMON EPITOPE OF MUTANT P53 AND ITS USES. US Patent Number 8207309 B2. Issue date June 26, 2012.
5.   Barnea I, Benhar I, Ben-Yosef R, Vexler A (2013). RECOMBINANT FUSION PROTEINS AND POLYNUCLEOTIDE CONSTRUCT FOR IMMUNOTOXIN PRODUCTION. US Patent Number 8597655 B2. Issue date December 3, 2013.
6.   Nelson N, Yacoby Y, Gazit E. Benhar I (2014). PHOTOCATALYTIC HYDROGEN PRODUCTION IN CYANOBACTERIA. US Patent Number 8741598 B2. Issue date June 3, 2014.