Lab Members
Current Members
Prof. Sharoni ShafirSharoni has been the director of the B. Triwaks Bee Research Center since 1998. He advocates a multidisciplinary approach to promoting bee health and bee pollination services. He is especially interested in bee nutrition and bee cognition, specifically aspects of perception and decision making that relate to foraging and pollination. He has a BA and PhD from Stanford University, an MS from University of Florida, and was a postdoctoral fellow at The Ohio State University. |
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Alla Kuper Alla holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry and Environmental studies from Tel Aviv University. Her passion for sustainability and nature is evident in her professional work and personal life. She has a great interest in animals, with a special fascination for bees and their unique behavioral patterns as a group. In her free time, she enjoys bouldering, taking care of her house plants and spending quality time with her dog Pucha. |
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Dr. Danny Minahan Danny has been a postdoctoral researcher at the B. Triwaks Bee Research Center since 2019. He received his BA from the University of Colorado-Boulder, and his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His dissertation work examined the link between pollen foraging patterns and resource preferences by honey bees and bumble bees, to identify the potential for competition and resource partitioning. As pollen is a primary source of nutrition for bees, he has expanded on this work during his postdoc studying the effects of unbalanced nutrition, specifically that of omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acids on the behavior of honey bees and bumble bees. Danny applies modern barcoding and computer vision approaches to examine these processes at the level of individuals and colonies. In his free time, he enjoys long distance running and spending quality time with his dog Rupee. |
Meray KadeePh.D. student Meray is a Ph.D. candidate in the Agroecology and Plant Health program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He joined the lab as a research assistant in early 2017, and subsequently completed his Master's degree, co-supervised by Prof. Oz Barazani, where he studied the effects of honey bee pollination on Eruca sativa. Currently, Meray's research focuses on understanding the effects of dietary essential fatty acids on honey bee cognition and brain characteristics, with the goal of promoting pollinator health and developing sustainable beekeeping practices.
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Ben Perez Co-supervisor: Prof. Oz Barazani Ben is an MSc student in the Agroecology & Plant Health program, conducting a research project on phenotypic differentiation in populations of Eruca sativa in Israel. |
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Erez Rozenbaum Co-supervisor: Dr. Hadassa Daltrophe Erez completed a bachelor's degree in Plant Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Immediately afterwards he continued his MS studies on honey bee spatial cognition. As part of his research, he became an excellent bee trainer. In his free time he likes to travel to faraway places. |
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Nitzan Ben Arieh Co-supervisor: Dr. Zipora Tietel Nitzan has a BA in Animal Sciences from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2022) and is now an MS student for Agroecology and Plant Health in the department of Entomology. Nitzan is checking the effects of different diets, in particular high vs low omega 6:3 ratio, on different aspects of the honey bee drones. In her free time she enjoys gardening and drawing. |
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Zuzana SykorovaInternship Student Zuzana is an internship student from Czechia. She received her bachelor's degree in the field of inorganic non-metallic materials at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague. She is currently studying a master's program at the University of Life Sciences in Prague, where she deals with monitoring the honey bee as a biomonitor of the environment that was affected by the mining of brown coal during the communist regime, and this mining is still ongoing in many places in the Czech Republic. |
Lab Alumni
Haim KalevLab Manager and Beekeeper Haim has a B.Sc. in Agriculture from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has been a technician and beekeeper at the B. Triwaks Bee Research Center since 1997. Haim is very involved in education and collaboration with the international community of beekeepers. He has led many courses in subjects such as beekeeping for beginners, modern apiculture management (honey by-products and pollination), commercial beekeeping, and artificial insemination of queens. His courses take place all over the world, including Eritrea, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Uzbekistan, Rwanda, and El Salvador. haimk@savion.huji.ac.il |
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Chagit KanotMS student Co-supervisor: Dr. Arnon Dag |
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Moran LevanonDVM student Moran is an advanced veterinary medicine student, conducting a research project on the effect of honey bee nutrition on worker and royal jelly composition. |
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Maya Goren DVM student Maya is an advanced veterinary medicine student, conducting research on the effect of honey bee workers nutrition on their tending behavior of queen and worker larvae. |
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Jérémie Heraief Undergraduate student research assistant |
Yael ArienPh.D. Student Co-supervisor: Dr. Arnon Dag Yael has a B.Sc. in Agriculture from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and continued for a direct PhD program. She studies the importance of essential fatty acids in honey bee nutrition for their development, survival, and learning and memory. Yael uses methods such as proboscis extension response (PER) conditioning and electroantennogram (EAG) recordings. |
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Shiran WaskerUndergraduate student research assistant |
Dr. Raquel Teixeira de SousaPostdoctoral Fellow Raquel has a Bsc in Applied Biology from the Universidade do Minho (Braga, Portugal) and a Msc in Toxicology and Ecotoxicology from the Universidade de Aveiro (Aveiro Portugal). It was her first beekeeping endeavors in Portugal that led her to pursue a PhD in honey bee nutrition and feeding behaviour. In 2013, she enrolled a PhD Program (GABBA, Universidade do Porto, Portugal) that paved the opportunity to engage her research in Wright’s Lab in Newcastle University (UK). Her PhD research was on behavioural regulation and feeding preferences of mineral salts in adult worker honey bees. Raquel has recently started her first post-doc position (2018) to follow up her previous research in a joint collaboration between Wright’s Lab and Shafir’s Lab in the HUJI (Rehovot, Israel). |
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Dr. Sofia BouchebtiPostdoctoral Fellow Sofia investigates how ratios of macronutrients (proteins, carbohydrates, and fatty acids) affect various measures of performance in honey bees (such as survival, learning, and memory), and whether bees are able to balance their intake of nutrients as a function of different social parameters. During her PhD in the University Paul Sabatier Toulouse III, she has studied the foraging behavior of the leaf-cutting ant Atta laevigata, both in laboratory (in France) and in the field (in Brazil). |
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Rui GoncalvesResearch Associate Rui has a BSc in Applied Biology from the Universidade do Minho (Braga, Portugal) and a Joint European MSc in Environmental Studies (JEMES) between Portugal, Spain, Denmark and Germany. His MSc research focused on the development of a low-cost MFC (micro fuel cell) reactor using exoelectrogenic bacteria in the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (Spain) between 2009-2011. Soon after in Northern Portugal, he was introduced to beekeeping, co-founded a beekeeping association and a beekeeping company and ever since, Rui has been a devoted beekeeper without borders. In 2016, Rui conducted a market research in bee nutrition and beekeeping practices across the globe as an ICURE fellow. He joined Shafir’s Lab in Rehovot as part of a joint collaboration with the Wright’s lab (Newcastle University – UK) to improve bee nutrition. |
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Ira TreidelResearch Associate Ira is a passionate beekeeper, right-hand man of Haim. He has a B.Sc. in Agriculture from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and he joined the laboratory four years ago. In addition to his beekeeping work, he is involved in many different research experiments. |
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Dr. Harmen P. HendriksmaFormer Postdoctoral Fellow Harmen is a devoted beekeeper and researcher. He studied ecosystem biology at the University of Wageningen, in Holand. Thereafter, he was a professional beekeeper for 4 years until he started his PhD in Bayreuth and Wuerzburg in Germany. His PhD research was on honey bee risk assessment with transgenic maize. Harmen was a postdoc in the B. Triwaks Bee Research Center from 2012 – 2015, working on the nutritional balancing done by honey bees. |
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Tal ErezCo-supervisor: Dr. Oz Barazani MS Thesis: The role of flower morph in Eruca sativa (Brassicaceae) populations in attracting honey bees (Apis mellifera) |
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Dr. Yael GarbianCo-supervisor: Prof. Ilan Sela PhD Thesis: Horizontal Transfer of RNA sequences between honey bee, Varroa destructor, and IAPV. |
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Tania MasciFormer Laboratory Technician |
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Reut NyskaCo-supervisor: Dr. Doron Schneider Thesis: The gametophytic self-incompatibility system in loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) and the foraging behavior of honey bees |
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Karmi OxmanCo-supervisor: Prof. Ofer Feinerman MS Thesis: Reliability and the waggle dance: Honest honey bees dance more and attract more followers than dishonest bees |
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Dr. Amir RazCo-supervisor: Prof. Martin Goldway and Dr. Raffi Stern PhD Thesis: Pollination in apricots (Prunus armeniaca): honey bee foraging behavior and genetic aspects of the fertilisation mechanism |
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Shlomi ZarchinCo-supervisor: Dr. Arnon Dag Shlomi's M.Sc. thesis was on the ability of honey bee (Apis mellifera) foragers to discriminate between pollens according to their fatty acid composition |
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Nadav EzraNadav's M.Sc. thesis tested the subjective evaluation by honey bees of nectar secondary compounds and their fitness consequences. Specifically, he tested the effect on colony fitness of various components of avocado nectar, which is known to be unattractive to bees. In addition, he assessed the subjective evaluation of honey bees of caffeine in nectar, through analyses of their round dances. |
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Dr. Dorit AvniCo-supervisor: Dr. Arnon Dag PhD Thesis: The effect of pollen protein content and fatty acid composition on honey bee (Apis mellifera) nutrition |
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Dr. Gal SapirCo-supervisor: Prof. Martin Goldway PhD Thesis: Gametophytic self incompatibility in Japanese plum (Prunus salicina) – Investigation of the system and its horticultural impact |
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Anat Haya ZisovichM.Sc. Thesis: Study of pollination and fertilization factors influencing yield in the Israeli pear orchard |
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Dr. Mor Salomon-BotnerFormer Postdoctoral Fellow: Honey bee discrimination between omega-3 and omega-6 volatiles of fatty acids |
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Dr. Roy KaspiFormer Postdoctoral Fellow: Associative olfactory learning of the red dwarf honey bee, Apis florea |
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Nitzan PaldiM.Sc. Thesis: Using “scent genes” to enhance honey bee-assisted cross-pollination between cross-fertilizing cultivars, to produce hybrid seed |
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Alon BiluM.Sc. Thesis: Use of honey bees to disseminate Trichodex (Trichoderma harziatum T39) to strawberry for the control of gray mold (Botrytis cinerea) |
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Yeshurun PlesserM.Sc. Thesis: Factors that affect the attraction of bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) to the cotton plant (Gossypium spp.) yplesser@biobee.com |
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Lia Vaknin-YehonatanM.Sc. Thesis: Comparative evaluations of reward dimensions in honey bees: evidence from two-alternative forced choice proboscis-extension conditioning liaguy@hotmail.com |
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Sharon GolanM.Sc. Thesis: Risk-sensitivity in delay to reward in the honey bee (Apis mellifera) |
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Tamar Drezner-LeviM.Sc. Thesis: Evaluation of reward distribution by honey bee (Apis mellifera) foragers collecting nectar, pollen and water |
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Dr. Gil MendaM.Sc. Thesis: An experimental study of choice behavior of honey bees in response to variability in reward magnitude using a proboscis extension response (PER) paradigm. gm234@cornell.edu |
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Dr. Ohad AfikM.Sc. Thesis: The effect of ambient temperature on the crop loading behavior of honey bees (Apis mellifera) PhD Thesis: Factors influcencing the attraction of honey bees (Apis mellifera) to avocado (Persea americana) flowers ohad.afik@mail.huji.ac.il |
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Dr. Arnon DagFormer Postdoctoral Fellow: Honey bee (Apis mellifera) strains differ in avocado (Persea americana) nectar foraging preferences arnondag@volcani.agri.gov.il |
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Daniel MenchemFormer undergraduate student working in the lab. |
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Dan EliahuFormer undergraduate student working in the lab. |
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Dror FriedmanFormer undergraduate student working in the lab. |
