פרופ' גיל אסט

פרופסור מן המניין

ראש המחלקה לגנטיקה של האדם ולביוכימיה

ראש המדרשה לתארים מתקדמים

מחלקה: גנטיקה מולקולארית של האדם וביוכימיה

תואר ראשון           מדעי החיים אוניברסיטת תל אביב                                   

תואר שני ושלישי    מכון ויצמן למדע

פוסטוקטוראט        אוניברסיטת ייל, ניו היבן, ארה"ב

1. הקשר בין איפגנטיקה ומבנה הכרומטין לשיחבור חליפי (alternative splicing).

2. כיצד שיחבור חליפי מעורב ביצירת מחלות סרטניות.

3. חקר מחלת הדיסוטונומיה המשפחתית.

4. כיצד מערכת השיחבור מכירה את האקסונים בתוך 'ים' האינטרונים, ומה משתבש במחלות גנטיות וסרטניות.

Publications (last 3 years)

When epigenetics meets alternative splicing: the roles of DNA methylation and GC architecture. (2013) Gelfman S, Ast G. Epigenomics. 5:351-353

Alternative splicing regulates biogenesis of miRNAs located across exon-intron junctions. (2013). Ze'ev Melamed, Asaf Levy, Reut Ashwal-Fluss, Galit Lev-Maor, Keren Mekahel, Nir Atias,  Shlomit Gilad,  Roded Sharan,  Carmit Levy,  Sebastian Kadener, and Ast G.. Molecular Cell, 50:869-881.

Testing for Natural Selection in Human Exonic Splicing Regulators Associated with Evolutionary Rate Shifts. (2013). Ramalho RF, Gelfman S, de Souza JE, Ast G, de Souza SJ, Meyer D. J Mol Evol. 76:228-239.

Phosphatidylserine increases IKBKAP levels in a humanized knock-in IKBKAP mouse model.(2013) Bochner R, Ziv Y, Zeevi D, Donyo M, Abraham L, Ashery-Padan R, Ast G. Hum Mol Genet. 22:2785-2794.

DNA-methylation effect on cotranscriptional splicing is dependent on GC architecture of the exon-intron structure. (2013) Gelfman S, Cohen N, Yearim A, Ast G. Genome Res. 23:789-799.

Hadas Keren, Galit Lev-Maor and G. Ast. (2013). The bi-directional interplay between alternative splicing and nucleosome organization. PLoS One, 8(1):e53506.

Maayan Amit, Maya Donyo, Dror Hollander, Amir Goren, Eddo Kim, Sahar Gelfman, Galit Lev-Maor, David Burstein, Schraga Schwartz, Benny Postolsky, Tal Pupko, G. Ast. (2012) Differential GC content between exons and introns establishes distinct strategies of splice site recognition. Cell Reports, 1:543-556..

Gelfman S, Burstein D, Penn O, Savchenko A, Amit M, Schwartz S, Pupko T, Ast G. (2112) Changes in exon-intron structure during vertebrate evolution affect the splicing pattern of exons. Genome Res. 2012 Jan;22(1):35-50.

Schwartz, S., Ram, O., Ast, G. (2011) Detection and removal of biases in the analysis of next-generation sequencing reads. PLoS One. 6:e16685.

Gelfman S, Burstein D, Penn O, Savchenko A, Amit M, Schwartz S, Pupko T, Ast G. (2011) Changes in exon-intron structure during vertebrate evolution affect the splicing pattern of exons. Genome Research Oct 5.

Schwartz, S., Ram, O., Ast, G. (2011) Detection and removal of biases in the analysis of next-generation sequencing reads. PLoS One. 6:e16685.

Cheishvili D, Maayan C, Cohen-Kupiec R, Lefler S, Weil M, Ast G, Razin A. (2011) IKAP/Elp1 involvement in cytoskeleton regulation and implication for familial dysautonomia. Hum Mol Genet. 20:1585-1594.

Keren H., Donyo M., Zeevi D., Maayan, C., Pupko, T. and Ast G. (2010)

Phosphatidylserine increases IKBKAP levels in Familial Dysautonomia Cells. PloS One, 5:e15884.

Llorian, M., Schwartz, S., Clark, T. A., Hollander, D., Tan, L., Spellman, R., Gordon, A., Schweitzer, A. C., de la Grange, P., Ast, G., and Smith, C. (2010, accepted for publication). Position-dependent alternative splicing activity revealed by global profiling of alternative splicing events regulated by PTB. Nature Struct Mol Biol.

Sela N, Mersch B, Hotz-Wagenblatt A, Ast G. (2010) Characteristics of transposable element exonization within human and mouse. PLoS One. 2010 Jun 1;5(6):e10907.

Sela N, Kim E, Ast G. (2010) The role of transposable elements in the evolution of non-mammalian vertebrates and invertebrates. Genome Biol. 2010 Jun 2;11(6):R59.

Schraga Schwartz and Ast G. (2010) Chromatin density and splicing destiny: on the cross-talk between chromatin structure and splicing. EMBO. 2010 Mar 26.

Keren H, Lev-Maor G, Ast G. (2010) Alternative splicing and evolution: diversification, exon definition and function. Nature Rev Genet. 11:345-355.

Goren A, Kim E, Amit M*, Vaknin K, Kfir N, Ram O, Ast G. (2010) Overlapping splicing regulatory motifs--combinatorial effects on splicing. Nucleic Acids Res. 38:3318-3327.

Asaf Levy, Schraga Schwartz and Ast G. (2010) Insertion hotspots and nepotism of DNA parasites: large-scale analysis of human nested transposed elements. Nucleic Acids Research, 38:1515-1530.

Vaknin K, Goren A, Ast G. (2009) TEs or not TEs? That is the evolutionary question. J Biol.;8(9):83.

Gal-Mark N., Schwartz S., Ram O., Eyras E., Ast G. (2009) Pivotal roles of TIA proteins in 5' splice site selection of Alu exons and across evolution. PloS Genetics, 5(11):e1000717.

Schwartz S, Meshorer E, Ast G. (2009) Chromatin organization marks exon-intron structure. Natare  Struct. Mol Biol. 16:990-995.

Schwartz, S., Hall E., and Ast. G. (2009) SROOGLE: webserver for integrative, user-friendly visualization of splicing signals. Nucleic Acids Research, 37(Web Server issue):W189-192.

Schwartz S, Gal-Mark N, Kfir N, Ram O, Kim E, and Ast G. (2009) Exonization events reveal features required for precise recognition of exons by the splicing machinery. PLoS Computational Biology, e1000300.

Sela N, Stern A, Makalowski W, Pupko T, Ast G. (2008) Transduplication resulted in the incorporation of two protein-coding sequences into the Turmoil-1 transposable element of C. elegans. Biol. Direct.; 3:41-45.

Galit Lev-Maor, Oren Ram, Eddo Kim, Noa Sela, Amir Goren, Erez Y Levanon and Ast G. (2008) Intronic Alus influence alternative splicing. Plos Genetics, 4(9):e1000204.

Kim, E., Goren, A., and Ast, G. (2008) Alternative splicing and disease. RNA Biol. 5(1): 1-3.

 Ram O, Schwartz S, Ast G. (2008) Multifactorial interplay controls the splicing profile of Alu-derived exons. Mol Cell Biol. 28:3513-3525.

Gal-Mark Nurit, Schraga Schwartz, Ast G. (2008) Alternative splicing of Alu exons – Two arms are better than one.  Nucleic Acids Res. 36 :2012-2023.

Goren Amir, Eddo Kim, Maayan Amit, Ron Bochner, Galit Lev-Maor, Nadav Ahituv, Ast. G. (2008) Alternative approach to a heavy weight problem. Genome Research, 18:214-220.

Kim, E., Goren, A., and Ast, G. (2008) Insights into the connection between cancer and alternative splicing. Trends Genet. (Genome analysis) 24:7-10.

Levy Asaf, Sela Noa, Ast G. (2008) TranspoGene and microTranspoGene: Transposed elements influence on the transcriptome of seven vertebrates and invertebrates. Nucleic Acides Res. 36(Database issue):D47-52.

Goren Amir, Eddo Kim, Ast G (2008) Alternative Splicing Current Update. BioEssay, 30:38-47.

Grants (last 3 years)

We have been funded by several major competitive grants in Israel and international: the Israel Science Foundation (ISF), Israel Cancer Association, the German-Israeli Binational Science Foundation (GIF), German Israeli Project (DIP), FD Hope and FD Foundation, and others.