iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

My girls prepared delicious Nems and dumpling soup. It was worth every cent I spent on feeding them to reach this moment...

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Every lab needs its own coffee ☕ place

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

For this #FluorescenceFriday, beautiful round tonoplast memebranes engulfing chloroplasts (magenta) and a stomata (cyan) sends a kiss. Image taken by talented postdoc Hala Khamesa-Israelov. #PlantScience

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

I'd like to believe this won't affect my personality #Reviewer2

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

With everything going on, I can always count on grant writing to serve as an island of stability...

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Something tells me I should go to the membrane contact sites session...

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Sun 🔆 is rising over the bay of Eilat/Aqaba and the 2nd day of ILANIT 2026 is coming up.

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

We had a fab lab trip last week 🌻

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Our own ‏Dorothy Matiki‏ presented her research (on autophagy in 🍅 ripening) impressively and earned her M.Sc. title! 🎉🍾 Soon Dorothy will meet the @weizmanninstitute.bsky.social Doctoral studies committee to (hopefully) approve her joining the lab of Prof. ‏Michal Sharon‏. All the best Dorothy!

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Christmas 🎄 and Hanukkah 🕎 celebration in Hala's (Dr. Khamesa-Israelov) place with all group members. What a treat 🥂🍻🍰

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

When the localization of a protein you thought you know well still manages to surprise you... 😯🤔☘️ #fluorescenceFriday by postdoctoral fellow Dr. Hala Khamesa-Israelov @volcaniinstitute.bsky.social

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

In between some excellent talks, mostly from PhD students and postdocs (including our Dr. Pradeep Kumar Pathak 👇) and even one brave MSc student 👏🏻

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Was fabulous at the Israeli Society of ☘️ Sciences (ISPS) 2025 conf. held at Sde Boker @bengurionuni.bsky.social. It started with an In Memoriam lecture by @taw-lab.bsky.social dedicated to the Late Prof Gad Galili and ended with best poster 🏆 awarded to Dr. Hala Khamesa-Israelov from our group!

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

My November.... Fun as well as troubling

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

A short #research highlight on the intriguing, complex and potentially dual role of #autophagy in fruit ripening: #plantscience rdcu.be/eOY3h

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

A bit more of my Chengdu experience

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Probably the best urinal point in the world... Tanglang mountain in Shenzhen

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

How you say you're in a conference in Chengdu without saying you're in a conference in Chengdu...

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

Hearing the good news from my country while in Chengdu. Much nicer to start the symposium on the plant hormone #ethylene tomorrow under these circumstances 🎉

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Yeah, another normal day outside the office... Never imagined I would present in such a venue #TCTeAC

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

When they said they rented a train to take us to the woods, they weren't fooling around! #TCTeAC

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

At the Woodstock Bio+Night Science you don't have to choose, you can be both a scientist AND a rock star! #TCTeAC

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

All standing and singing for the #photosynthesis anthem (part 1) #TCTeAC

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

Even now, in these troubling times, Israel is still the only country in the Middle-East that marks and celebrates #PRIDEmonth. Wishing Queer Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, Atheists and all others in Israel, the M-E and beyond the best, and better days ahead. Remember, we're not our government!

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

3. ACC and ethylene induce autophagy activity

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

2. They are more sensitive to ACC (ethylene's precursor)

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

We were still skeptical about the ethylene direction until we realized the autophagy impact on ethylene may be broader, beyond ripening. 1. ATG5, ATG2, and ATG7 Arabidopsis mutants produce more ethylene than WT seedlings.

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

One of the coolest things we saw was that fruits deficient in different ripening genes (upstream or downstream of ethylene) show different autophagy activity.

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

But what about ethylene? Its production from ATG4-silenced fruits started climbing a few days before wild-type fruits. Then, when we applied 1-MCP, an ethylene antagonist, we saw the mutants behave as the WT.

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

This, together with another approach (Virus-Induced gene silencing of other ATG genes), revealed that autophagy restricts ripening. This was surprising to us, as it was in contrast to other previous reports in climacteric and nonclimacteric fruits.

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

1st, we analyzed autophagy's activity and saw that it's increasing along ripening from essentially 0 when fruits are mature green up to impressive activity at mid the process. The collaboration from @suaybuestuen.bsky.social and former lab members @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social helped a lot. Thanks!

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Studying fruit ripening is important for many (agronomic, economic, and environmental) reasons. In addition, we thought that climacteric fruit ripening, heavily relying on the hormone ethylene, may reveal the nature of autophagy-ethylene interaction (long suggested).

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

📢 It's online (and open access) @newphyt.bsky.social 🍅 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... "Autophagy restricts tomato fruit ripening via a general role in ethylene repression" & why timing is everything... Let's dig into it 👇 #plantscience #autophagy @volcaniinstitute.bsky.social

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

This is Horvat Aqav, the remains of a manor, which was inhabited by Jews until the second half of the 1st century CE. The site was resettled by the Byzantines (4th to 7th CE) until the Muslim conquest. Whoever the owners were, they sure knew how to choose a spot. What a view to the Mediterranean

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Surrounded by some amazing people (and a dog!) at the Volcani Institute 🥂🍾🍅

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Enjoyed organising (with Danielle Douanis-Assaf) the annual Volcaninstitute Postharvest &Food Sciences students symposium at Yearim Hotel. Brave MSc & PhD students & postdocs shared their excellent talks+ social events. It was a pleasure #IPFSstudentsConf

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Simon Michaeli @michaelilab.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Tarte au citron made by my 13 years old daughter. I think she's ready for some lab bench work...

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