Michal Danino Levi Awarded the PBC Scholarship for Outstanding PhD Researchers in Hi-Tech

Congratulations, Michal Danino Levi, a doctoral student at Dr. Shahar Alon’s lab, for winning the highly competitive PBC scholarship for outstanding PhD researchers in Hi-Tech.

Michal’s research focuses on the interactions between immune cells and tumor cells in cancer patient biopsies. “When tumor cells interact with immune cells, they activate a mechanism that allows them to circumvent the body’s immune response, thereby preventing the body from reacting and healing itself,” she explains. “My goal is to study these interactions in tumor tissues, and specifically understand the molecular changes that occur in immune cells when they interact with tumor cells – and vice versa.”

Michal uses computational tools which she developed, paired with existing tools for image analysis, machine learning, and statistics. This combination allows her to analyze spatial genomics datasets of human biopsies and study intercellular interactions. “I hope my research will help us better understand the evasion mechanism, and potentially point to therapeutic avenues,” she concludes.