Keren Nir

Prof. Keren Nir holds the Bernice and Aaron Beare Professorship in Environmental Plant Physiology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences. Her research focuses on the interaction of photosynthetic organisms with environmental conditions, particularly metal transport in photosynthetic catalysts and energy/electron transport mechanisms in photosystems. She leads a multidisciplinary team exploring biophysical principles in photosynthetic systems, with recent work on quantum effects in biological systems and adaptation strategies in marine and desert organisms.

Education details are not explicitly provided in the text, but her extensive publications indicate advanced research in plant physiology and biophysics. Her group's research spans cyanobacteria, phytoplankton, and desert plants, addressing light acclimation, metal homeostasis, and structural biology of light-harvesting complexes.

Recent publications highlight discoveries in spin-proton coupling in biological crystals, acclimation mechanisms in ivy plants, and novel methods for monitoring phytoplankton heterogeneity. While no personal awards are listed, her group members have received recognition such as the SMART excelling article award (Leeat Bar-Eyal, 2018).

Labs/Teams: Her lab investigates photosynthetic systems using advanced biophysical and biochemical tools, collaborating with institutions in quantum physics and nanotechnology. Key projects include studies on phycobilisome structure-function relationships and environmental stress responses in cyanobacteria.