Ronen Zaidel-BarManagement2019-01-11T09:48:41+08:00
Michael SHEETZ

Ronen ZAIDEL-BAR

Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel

zaidelbar@tauex.tau.ac.il

Laboratory website
Zaidel-Bar Cell Adhesion Lab

The Nano-Heartbuilder: BNIP-2 Influences Mechanosensing in Cardiomyoblast Differentiation

Researchers from the Low Lab at MBI discover a crucial role for the scaffold protein BNIP-2 in orchestrating focal adhesion dynamics during early heart development, offering new insights into heart regeneration strategies.

By Yee Shu Brenda|Aug 12th, 2025|Categories: Featured Research, Low BC Lab, MBInsights, Science Features|Comments Off on The Nano-Heartbuilder: BNIP-2 Influences Mechanosensing in Cardiomyoblast Differentiation

Shedding Light on Local Microtubule Regulation of Focal Adhesions

Researchers from the Bershadsky Lab at MBI utilized optogenetics to unlock the role of microtubules in regulating focal adhesion disassembly, an important step in cell migration. http://www.mbi.nus.edu.sg/featured-research/microtubules-and-cell-movement-a-closer-look-at-focal-adhesion-disassembly

By Andrew Wong|Aug 8th, 2025|Categories: Bershadsky Lab, Featured Research, MBInsights, Science Features|Comments Off on Shedding Light on Local Microtubule Regulation of Focal Adhesions

Ronen Zaidel-Bar

Visiting Faculty

Currently Visting

6-12 Nov 2018
Office: T-Lab, Level 5

Research Areas

Cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion, Regulation of actomyosin contractility and dynamics, C. elegans development, mechanics and molecular mechanisms of morphogenesis

Research Interests

  1. How do specific cytoskeletal proteins contribute to the organization and function of cell adhesion and actomyosin structures?
  2. How are signals processed within the “adhesome” and “contractome” to arrive at the appropriate cytoskeletal arrangement for a given cell state?
  3. How do adhesion sites and the cytoskeleton sense and respond to external mechanical forces?

Biography

Dr Zaidel-Bar obtained his Ph.D. working with Prof Benny Geiger (Weizmann Institute of Science) on the role of force in regulating cell-matrix adhesions. Their work first focused on single proteins and evolved to encompass the entire adhesome network. In his Postdoctoral training with Prof Jeff Hardin (University of Wisconsin – Madison) Dr Zaidel-Bar switched from studying cells in culture to employing the genetic model organism C. elegans for the study of cell-cell adhesions during development. Dr Zaidel-Bar was attracted to Singapore by the opening of MBI and was awarded the Singapore National Research Foundation Fellowship for promising young investigators.

Education

PhD Weizmann Institute of Science

Recent Publications

  1. Bertocchi C, Alegría JJ, Vásquez-Sepúlveda S, Ibanez-Prat R, Srinivasan A, Arrano-Valenzuela I, Castro-Pereira B, Soto-Montandon C, Trujillo-Espergel A, Montenegro-Rojas I, Deguchi S, Owen GI, Kanchanawong P, Cerda M, Motta G, Zaidel-Bar R, and Ravasio A. Systematic AI-assisted screening of the cadhesome to map epithelial monolayer mechanics. Cell Commun Signal 2026;. [PMID: 42399739]
  2. Ray S, Agarwal P, Nitzan A, Nédélec F, and Zaidel-Bar R. Actin capping protein regulates actomyosin contractility to maintain germline architecture in C. elegans. Development 2023;. [PMID: 36897576]
  3. Avivi Kela S, Sethi K, Tan PY, Suresh D, Ong HT, Castaneda PG, Amin MR, Laviv T, Cram EJ, Faix J, and Zaidel-Bar R. Tension-dependent RHGF-1 recruitment to stress fibers drives robust spermathecal tissue contraction. J Cell Biol 2022; 222(2). [PMID: 36574264]
  4. Chen Z, Oh D, Biswas KH, Zaidel-Bar R, and Groves JT. Probing the effect of clustering on EphA2 receptor signaling efficiency by subcellular control of ligand-receptor mobility. Elife 2021; 10. [PMID: 34414885]
  5. Hu S, Grobe H, Guo Z, Wang Y, Doss BL, Pan M, Ladoux B, Bershadsky AD, and Zaidel-Bar R. Reciprocal regulation of actomyosin organization and contractility in non-muscle cells by tropomyosins and alpha-actinins. Mol. Biol. Cell 2019;:mbcE19020082. [PMID: 31216217]
  6. Desai SK, Padmanabhan A, Harshe S, Zaidel-Bar R, and Kenney LJ. Salmonella biofilms program innate immunity for persistence in Caenorhabditis elegans. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2019;. [PMID: 31160462]
  7. Bouffard J, Cecchetelli AD, Clifford C, Sethi K, Zaidel-Bar R, and Cram EJ. The RhoGAP SPV-1 regulates calcium signaling to control the contractility of the C. elegans spermatheca during embryo transits. Mol. Biol. Cell 2019;:mbcE18100633. [PMID: 30726159]
  8. Priti A, Ong HT, Toyama Y, Padmanabhan A, Dasgupta S, Krajnc M, and Zaidel-Bar R. Syncytial germline architecture is actively maintained by contraction of an internal actomyosin corset. Nat Commun 2018; 9(1):4694. [PMID: 30410005]
  9. Agarwal P, and Zaidel-Bar R. Principles of Actomyosin Regulation In Vivo. Trends Cell Biol. 2018;. [PMID: 30385150]
  10. Chen Z, Oh D, Biswas KH, Yu C, Zaidel-Bar R, and Groves JT. Spatially modulated ephrinA1:EphA2 signaling increases local contractility and global focal adhesion dynamics to promote cell motility. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2018;. [PMID: 29866846]

Lab Members

Lingyu Sun

Apr 16th, 2024|Comments Off on Lingyu Sun

Research Fellow, Yu Group

Thanh Phuong Nguyen

Apr 1st, 2024|Comments Off on Thanh Phuong Nguyen

Research Fellow, Hirashima Group

Anwesha Guru

Apr 1st, 2024|Comments Off on Anwesha Guru

Research Fellow, Young Group

Yong Yuen Chee Carmen

Apr 1st, 2024|Comments Off on Yong Yuen Chee Carmen

Research Assistant, Low Group

Farewell to Lou Yuting!

Apr 1st, 2024|Comments Off on Farewell to Lou Yuting!

Farewell to Yuting - we will miss you dearly! All the best in your next endeavor as an independent researcher!

The Chan Lab heads MBI’s Outreach to Raffles Girls’ School!

Mar 13th, 2024|Comments Off on The Chan Lab heads MBI’s Outreach to Raffles Girls’ School!

Over the March school holidays, the Chan Lab headed MBI's Outreach to a group of students from Raffles Girls' School comprising talks and lab demonstrations by MBI's core staff, students and researchers.

Sriram Muthukumar

Mar 6th, 2024|Comments Off on Sriram Muthukumar

Research Fellow, Holle Group

Espérance Nku-Mokabo

Feb 27th, 2024|Comments Off on Espérance Nku-Mokabo

Research Associate, Grenci Group

Xiaohong Yao

Feb 16th, 2024|Comments Off on Xiaohong Yao

Research Fellow, Li Group

Seeking Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the research group of Dr. Tsuyoshi Hirashima at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS

Feb 6th, 2024|Comments Off on Seeking Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the research group of Dr. Tsuyoshi Hirashima at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS

We are seeking to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the research group of Dr. Tsuyoshi Hirashima at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS.

Liu Fan

Jan 30th, 2024|Comments Off on Liu Fan

Senior Research Fellow, Grenci Group

About the National University of Singapore

About NUSA leading global university centred in Asia, NUS is Singapore's flagship university, offering a global approach to education and research with a focus on Asian perspectives and expertise.

About the Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore

About MBIOne of four Research Centres of Excellence at NUS, MBI is working to identify, measure and describe how the forces for motility and morphogenesis are expressed at the molecular, cellular and tissue level.
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