Dr. Victor Yashunsky

My life before BGU:​

I was born in Leningrad and made aliya to Israel in 1990. I graduated from high school in Tel Aviv. I studied physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where I also obtained my PhD. My doctoral research focused on developing a method for characterizing layers of living cells. In my postdoctoral research, I studied freezing processes under Prof. Ido Braslavsky of the Hebrew University’s Faculty of Agriculture. The next stop was the Institut Curie in Paris, a leading global center in physical biology. There, I joined Prof. Pascal Silberzan and studied the laws of physics underlying the dynamics and organization of cell tissue. After returning to Israel, I worked as a senior researcher at Efa Technologies, where we developed a mobile apparatus for blood tests using a single drop of blood, without the need to forward them to laboratories.

Why BGU?

I am grateful for the opportunity to join a place where physicists and researchers from a range of fields collaborate. The interaction with other disciplines is invigorating and opens new directions for research.​

My rese​arch:

I am fascinated by the ability of cells to move in coordination and organize into structures. This coordinated movement of cells is very similar to the movements of flocks of birds or schools of fish. To understand the laws governing natural development processes, I am developing a system for monitoring and controlling the organization of cell populations using microscopy, computerized vision, micro-fabrication and physical models. My research will help understand - as well as direct - change and development of biological tissue. In the future, it will enable us to design and create artificial materials that behave like living tissue.