Neuroscience · Memory · Synaptic Plasticity
Decoding the molecules
that make memory.
Prof. Shira Knafo (MD / PhD) runs the Molecular Cognition Lab: a working group hunting the proteins, peptides and synaptic switches behind learning and memory — and turning those discoveries into a new generation of drugs for cognitive decline.
Work published in Nature Neuroscience, Brain, EMBO Journal, PLoS Biology, Nature Communications and Cerebral Cortex.
- Peer-reviewed papers
- 26
- International honors
- 4
- Lab techniques
- 12
Featured research
Synaptic plasticity at single-spine resolution
About
One question. One lab. One PI who started in medicine.
Why does memory fail — and can we fix it at the synapse? That is the whole brief. Below: the lab, the person behind it, and the shared facility she helped build.
Approaches
12 techniques. One question.
Patch-clamp at a single synapse. Whole-brain imaging at cellular resolution. Viral-vector gene transfer in vivo. Live-cell receptor assays. Behavioral testing across seven paradigms. The toolkit is wide on purpose — memory does not live in one layer.
Selected publications
Peer-reviewed work, 2009 – present.
26 papers across Nature Neuroscience, Brain, EMBO Journal, PLoS Biology, Nature Communications, Cerebral Cortex, Translational Psychiatry, Hippocampus and more. Filter by year:
Awards & honors
The Sieratzki Prize. The CSIC tribute. Twice.
Selected by Tel Aviv University, the Spanish National Research Council, and Women Magazine.
News
What's new from the lab.
Paper drops, press, and the occasional surprise — like the time we found associative learning in single-celled amoebae.
Gallery
Life at the lab.
Lab meetings, conferences, teaching, and a few moments in between. Click any photo to enlarge.
On our work
When other scientists wrote about ours.
Coverage in Nature Neuroscience, Science Signaling, AlzForum, the Springer Nature blog and more.
Videos
Talks, interviews, and a tour of the lab.
English and Hebrew. From conference keynotes to morning radio.
בעברית
כיסוי תקשורתי בעברית
Get in touch
Work with the lab.
Open to research collaborations across neuroscience, biotech and pharma · PhD and postdoc applications · press, podcast and speaking invitations. Send a paragraph — what you're working on, and what you'd like to do together. Prof. Knafo replies directly.
Open contact formNo newsletters. No autoresponders.