Greetings from Bordeaux

In June 2026, PhD students Shir Hartman and Chemda Wiener from Dr. Yaara Erez's research group presented posters at the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) conference, held in Bordeaux, France. The conference showcases various methods for mapping the human brain. “From the very first moment, Yaara motivated us to apply to the conference and encouraged us to network with researchers from other universities,” they say. “At the conference, we met amazing researchers who had worked with Yaara during her time in Cambridge University. It was interesting to meet and learn from them, and we are very grateful to her for this opportunity.”

The functional organization of the brain in patients with brain tumors

Chemda, 27, was born and raised in New Jersey. She completed a bachelor's degree in New York, immigrated to Israel five years ago, and completed a master's degree in bioengineering in Dr. Yaara Erez's lab. She is now in the midst of her doctoral studies.

Chemda's research aims to deepen our understanding of the brain's functional organization in patients with brain tumors. She studies brain networks (regions that operate simultaneously) at the individual level, with the aim of enabling personalized clinical treatment in the future. “It was an enjoyable and fascinating experience to present my poster at the conference. I received interesting feedback that gave me several new ideas for continuing the research and for further analyses, and I am excited about what the future holds,” she says.

Functional connectivity in the human brain

Shir, 27, from Rishon LeZion, completed a double-major bachelor's degree in physics and neuroscience at Bar-Ilan, then continued to a master's degree in the Faculty of Engineering's bioengineering track, in Dr. Yaara Erez's lab. She is currently completing her first year of doctoral studies.

Her research examines functional connectivity in the human brain, using special electrodes placed on the exposed cortex during awake brain surgery. “The type of data we work with is very unique, and my poster received many enthusiastic and intrigued responses about the type of work and the various conclusions,” she says. “It was an amazing experience to travel to a global conference, to see up close that our research, which sometimes feels personal or niche, is in fact very interesting and engaging to many people from all over the world. It was also interesting to see other posters and interact with others who work in our fields. And of course, it's always an opportunity to uncover follow-up research questions.”