Yuval ESHDAT  Ph.D.

Education

• Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry (from the Department of Biophysics, the  Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, 1973). B.Sc. & M.Sc. in Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Former Positions and Experience

Governmental Key Position in R&D:

• The Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (2007-12).

  Science & Research Management: 
    at the Agricultural Research Organization (ARO, the Volcani Center).

• Director, Institute of Horticulture and Floriculture (1998-2002).
• Head, Center of Biotechnology (1991-95).
• Head, Dept. of Fruit-Tree Breeding and Molecular Genetics (1990-98).
• Director, Division of Research Projects and Budgets (1981-90).

   Scientific Research:

• Principal research director ("Research Professor"), an established senior scientist in Horticulture Molecular Genetics and Agricultural Biotechnology in the ARO (1981-2013).
• Senior scientist, Department of Biophysics, the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel (1973-81).
• Research Associate, Yale University Medical School (1974-6).
• Visiting scientist/professor at top research centers worldwide (such as:  Max-Planck-Institut fur Immonbiologie, Institut Pasteur, Tel-Aviv Univ. Medical School, Institut Cochin & Univ. Paris VII).

  International and National R&D mediation and policy:

• Co-Chairperson of BARD (USA-Israel Bi-national Agricultural R & D Fund, 2007-12).
• General Secretary and Treasurer of 5 international scientific conferences (500-2000 participants).
• Co Chairperson of the Egypt-Israel bi-lateral committee for agriculture (2007-11).
• Member, the Governing Boards of 8 European Research Area Networks (ERA-Nets) dealing with: plant genomics,  plant science, agricultural ICT, veterinary diseases, Mediterranean agriculture, rural agriculture, industrial biotechnology (2007-18).
• Member, the Governing Board of the European joint initiative on Food Crisis and Climate Change (JPI-FACCE) (2009-13).
• Scientific expert of the European Program Committee of the Seventh Framework Program (FP7) on Food, Agriculture, Fishery and Biotechnology (2007-13).
• Israel delegate and member of SCAR (the EU Standing Committee for Agricultural Research) (2007-13).
• Member, Euro-Mediterranean Expert Group (EMEG) in the frame of the EU project MEDSPRING (Mediterranean Science, Policy, Research and Innovation Gateway in: Resource Efficiency, High Quality Affordable Food and Energy (2012-2017).
• Team Member, Shirat Enterprises Ltd. (2013). 
• Member, Board of Directors, Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institution (IOLR, a non-profit governmental corporation) (2012-2015).
• Chief Scientific Advisor, Israel Wine Grape Board (2012-15).
• Consultant to the Chief Scientist of Israel Ministry of Agriculture (2016-2019).
• Chairman, Scientific Evaluation Committe, The National Center for Gene Editing in Agricultural Research (2018-2020)

  Previous Tasks:

• Team Member, Shirat Enterprises Ltd project with Tianjin Academy of Agriculture Science (2013).
• Expert-Specialist, Demeter-AWE Holdings Ltd, consulting services, IL (2015).
  
  

 Current Professional Activity

• Emeritus Principal Researcher ("Research Professor"), the ARO - Volcani Center.
• Consultant, BioHarvest Ltd.
• Scientific expert of the European Program Committee of Horizon 2020 Framework Program - Societal Challenge 2, Bioeconomy [Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine and Maritime and Inland Water Research and the Bioeconomy, European Commission - DG Research & Innovation] (2014-20); on behalf of Israel Government & ISERD.
• Chairman, Scientific Advisory and Policy Board, New Reality Solution (Impact NRS), Israel.
  
  

 List of Selected Publications

• Mayer, I., and Eshdat, Y.  (1968).  MSixGe 2-x ternary phases of rare earth metals.  Inorganic Chem.  7, 1904-1908.
• Mayer, I., and Fromerman-Eshdat, Y.  (1968).  The YbSixGe2-x system.  J. Less-Common Metals  15, 355-356.
• Eshdat, Y., and Mirelman, D.  (1972).  An improved method for the recovery of compounds from paper chromatograms.  J. Chromat.  65, 458-459.
• Maron, E., Eshdat, Y., and Sharon, N.  (1972).  Immunological studies of affinity labelled hen egg-white lysozyme and of the active site region of related lysozymes.  Biochim. Biophys. Acta  278, 243-249.
• Moult, J., Eshdat, Y., and Sharon, N.  (1973).  The identification by X-ray crystallography of the site of attachment of an affinity label to hen egg-white lysozyme.  J. Mol. Biol.  75, 1-4.
• Eshdat, Y., McKelvy, J.F., and Sharon, N.  (1973).  Identification of Asp 52 as a point of attachment of an affinity label in hen egg-white lysozyme.  J. Biol. Chem.  248, 5892-5898.
• Eshdat, Y., and Sharon, N.  (1973).  Lysozyme, an enzyme which dissolves bacteria.  Mada,  18, 76-84 (in Hebrew).
• Sharon, N., and Eshdat, Y.  (1974).  Affinity labeling of lysozymes.  In E.F. Osserman, R.E. Canfield and S. Beychok (Eds.), Lysozyme (pp.  195-218). New York: Academic Press.
• Sharon, N., Eshdat, Y., Maoz, I., Bernstein, Y., Prager, E.M., and Wilson, A.C.  (1974).  Comparative studies of the active site region of lysozymes from eleven different sources.  Israel J. Chem.  12, 591-603.
• Eshdat, Y., Dunn, A., and Sharon, N.  (1974).  Chemical conversion of aspartic acid 52, a catalytic residue in hen egg-white lysozyme, to homoserine.  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.  71, 1658-1662.
• Eshdat, Y., and Sharon, N.  (1977).  Affinity labeling of lysozyme.  Methods Enzymol.  46, 403-414.
• Leung, J.P., Plow, E.P., Eshdat, Y., Marchesi, V.T., and Edgington, T.S.  (1977).  Delineation of three classes of CEA antigenic determinants: Identification of membrane-associated CEA as an independent species of CEA.  J. Immunol.  119, 271-276.
• Leung, J.P., Eshdat, Y., and Marchesi, V.T.  (1977).  Colonic tumor membrane-associated glycoprotein: Isolation of antigenically-active peptides after chemical cleavage.  J. Immunol.  119, 664-670.
• Fukuda, M., Eshdat, Y., Tarone, G., and Marchesi, V.T.  (1978).  Isolation and characterization of peptides derived from the cytoplasmic segment of Band 3, the predominant intrinsic membrane protein of the human erythrocyte.  J. Biol. Chem.  253, 2419-2428.
• Eshdat, Y., Ofek, I., Yashouv-Gan, Y., Sharon, N., and Mirelman, D.  (1978).  Isolation of a mannose-specific lectin from Escherichia coli and its role in the adherence of the bacteria to epithelial cells.  Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun.  85, 1551-1559.
• Eshdat, Y., and Lemay, A.  (1979).  Specific fragmentation of human erythrocyte spectrin by chemical cleavage at cysteine residues.  Biochim. Biophys. Acta  577, 360-370.
• Eshdat, Y., and Prujansky-Jakobovits, A.  (1979).  Isolation of human erythrocyte membranes and their outer surface proteins by covalent fractionation on solid support.  FEBS Lett.  101, 43-46.
• Hsu, C.J., Lemay, A., Eshdat, Y., and Marchesi, V.T.  (1979).  Substructure of human erythrocyte spectrin.  J. Supramol. Struct.  10, 227-239.
• Mirelman, D., Altman, G., and Eshdat, Y.  (1980).  Screening of bacterial isolates for mannose-specific activity by agglutination of yeasts.  J. Clin. Microbiol.  11, 328-331.
• Eshdat, Y., Silverblatt, F.J., and Sharon, N.  (1981).  Dissociation and reassembly of Escherichia coli type 1 pili.  J. Bacteriol.  148, 308-314.
• Jakobovits, A., Eshdat, Y., and Sharon, N.  (1981).  Receptor isolation without the use of detergents by plucking from cell surfaces.  Proceedings of the 9th Aharon Katzir-Katchalsky Conference on "Carbohydrate-Protein Interactions", Israel.
• Sharon, N., Eshdat, Y., and Ofek, I.  (1981).  Bacterial adherence to cell surface sugars.  Proceedings of the 9th Aharon Katzir-Katchalsky Conference on "Carbohydrate-Protein Interactions", Israel.
• Eshdat, Y., Speth, V., and Jann, K.  (1981).  Participation of pili and cell wall adhesin in the yeast cell agglutination activity of Escherichia coli.  Infect. Immun.  34, 980-986.
• Sharon, N., Silverblatt, F.J., Ofek, I., Goldhar, J., and Eshdat, Y.  (1981).  Studies on the structure and phenotypic expression of mannose-specific lectins that  mediate bacterial  adherence to surface sugars of mammalian cells.  Proceedings of the 6th. International Symposium on Glycoconjugates,  pp.  389-390.
• Sharon, N., Eshdat, Y., Silverblatt, F.J., and Ofek, I.  (1981).  Bacterial adherence to cell surface sugars.  In K. Elliot, M. O'Connor and J. Whelan (Eds.), Adhesion and Micro-Organism Pathogenicity (pp.  119-135).London: Pitman Medical Ltd.
• Jakobovits, A., Eshdat, Y., and Sharon, N.  (1981).  Plucking of lectin receptors from erythrocytes: isolation of cell surface compounds without the use of detergents.  Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun.  100, 1484-1490.
• Ofek, I., Goldhar, J., Eshdat, Y., and Sharon, N.  (1982).  The importance of mannose specific adhesins (lectins) in infections caused by Escherichia coli.  Scand. J. Infect. Dis.  33, S61-67.
• Eshdat, Y., and Sharon, N.  (1982).  Escherichia coli surface lectins.  Methods Enzymol.  83, 386-391.
• Mirelman, D., Izhar, M., and Eshdat, Y.  (1982).  Carbohydrate recognition mechanisms which mediate microbial adherence to mammalian mucosal surfaces.  Tokai J. Exp. Clin. Med.  7, 177-183.
• Eshdat, Y., and Sharon, N.  (1983).  The molecular basis of bacterial adherence to epithelial cells.  In:  T.C. Bog-Hansen and G.A. Spengler (Eds.), Lectins Vol. 3 (pp. 667-675). Berlin & New York: Walter de Gruyter & Co.
• Eshdat, Y., and Sharon, N.  (1984).  Recognitory bacterial surface lectins which mediate its mannose-specific adherence to eukaryotic cells.  Biol. Cell  51, 259-266.
• Marullo, S., Delavier-Klutchko, C., Eshdat, Y., Strosberg, A.D., and Emorine, L.  (1988).  Human ß2-adrenergic receptors expressed in Escherichia coli membranes retain their pharmacological properties.  Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.  85, 7551-7555.
• Emorine, L.J., Marullo, S., Briend-Sutren, M., Delavier, C., Eshdat, Y., Guillet , J.-G., Patey, G., and Strosberg, A.D.  (1989).  Molecular physiology of adrenergic receptors.  In P. Vermeire, M. Demedts and J.-C. Yernault (Eds.), Progress in Astma and COPD (pp. 113-121). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers BV.
• Eshdat, Y., Chapot, M.-P., and Strosberg, A.D.  (1989).  Chemical characterization of ligand binding site fragments from turkey ß-adrenergic receptor.  FEBS Letters  246, 166-170.
• Emorine, L.J., Marullo, S., Sutren, M., Delavier, C., Eshdat, Y., Raposo, G., and Strosberg, A.D.  (1989).  Common properties of receptors coupled to GTP binding regulatory proteins.  In A. Maelicke (Ed.), NATO ASI Series, Vol. H32. Molecular biology of neuroreceptors and ion channels (pp. 245-257).  Berlin.Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
• Chapot, M.-P., Eshdat, Y., Marullo, S., Guillet, J.-G., Charbit, A., Strosberg, A.D., and Delavier-Klutchko, C.  (1990).  Localization and characterization of three different ß-adrenergic receptors expressed in  Escherichia coli.  Eur. J. Biochem.  187, 137-144.
• Holland, D., Ben-Hayyim, G., Faltin, Z., Camoin, L., Strosberg, A.D., and Eshdat, Y.  (1993).  Gene (csa) for salt stress protein (Cit-SAP) from Citrus sinensis homologous to mammalian glutathione peroxidase; sequence of two clones: R10-C7 and R10-C16 (Sequence announcement).  Plant Mol. Biol.  21, 738.
• Holland, D., Eshdat, Y., Faltin, Z., and Ben-Hayyim, G.  (1993).  Molecular cloning of csa, a gene from citrus encoding a protein potentially involved in the defence against oxidative stress.  Acta Hort.  329, 228-230.
• Ben-Hayyim, G., Faltin, Z., Gepstein, S., Camoin, L., Strosberg, A.D., and Eshdat, Y.  (1993).  Isolation and  characterization of  salt-associated protein in Citrus.  Plant Sci.  88, 129-140.
• Holland, D., Ben-Hayyim, G., Faltin, Z., Camoin, L., Strosberg, A.D., and Eshdat, Y.  (1993).  Molecular characterization of salt-stress associated protein in citrus: protein and cDNA sequence homology to mammalian glutathione peroxidases.  Plant Mol. Biol.  21, 923-927.
• Holland, D., Faltin, Z., Perl, A., Ben-Hayyim, G., and Eshdat, Y.  (1994).  A novel plant glutathione peroxidase like protein provides tolerance to oxygen radicals generated by paraquat in E. coli.  FEBS Letters  337, 52-55.
• Guillaume, J.-L., Petitjean, F., Haasemann, M., Bianchi, C., Eshdat, Y., and Strosberg, A.D.  (1994).  Antibodies for the immunochemistry of the human ß3-adrenergic receptor.  Eur. J. Biochem.  224, 761-770.
• Naot, D., Ben-Hayyim, G., Eshdat, Y., and Holland, D.  (1995).  Drought, heat and salt stress induce the expression of a citrus homologue of an atypical late-embryogenesis Lea5 gene.  Plant Mol. Biol.  27, 619-622.
• Beeor-Tzahar, T., Ben-Hayyim, G., Holland, D., Faltin Z., and Eshdat, Y.  (1995).  A stress-associated citrus protein is a distinct plant phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase.  FEBS Letters  366, 151-155.
• Naot, D., Holland, D., Avsian-Krechmer, O., Eshdat, Y., and Ben-Hayyim, G.  (1995).  Induction of a gene encoding an oleosin homologue in cultured citrus cells exposed to salt-stress.  Gene  161, 171-173.
• Eshdat, Y., Holland, D., Faltin, Z., and Ben-Hayyim, G.  (1997).  Plant glutathione peroxidases.  Physiol. Plant.  100, 234-240.
• Perl, A., and Eshdat, Y.  (1998).  DNA transfer and gene expression in transgenic grapes.  Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Reviews  15, 365-386.
• Faltin, Z., Camoin L., Ben-Hayyim G., Perl A., Beeor-Tzahar T., Strosberg A.D., Holland D., and Eshdat Y.  (1998).  Cysteine is the presumed catalytic residue of Citrus sinensis phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase over-expressed under salt stress.  Physiol. Plant.  104, 741-746.
• Avsian-Kretchmer, O., Gueta-Dahan, Y., Eshdat, Y., and Ben-Hayyim, G.  (1999).  Salt tolerance and oxidative stress as studied by the regulation of phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase in salt-sensitive and salt-tolerant citrus cells. In A. Altman, M. Ziv and S. Izhar (Eds.), Proceedings of the IX International IAPTC Congress on Plant Tissue and Cell Culture - Plant Biotechnology and In Vitro Biology in the 21st Century (pp. 457-460).  Dordrecht/Boston/London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
• Federici, C., Eshdat, Y., Richard, I., Bertin, B., Guillaume, J.-L., Hattab, M., Beckmann J.S.,  Strosberg, A.D., and Camoin, L.  (1999).  Purification and identification of two putative autolytic sites in human calpain 3  expressed in heterologous systems.  Arch. Biochem. Biophys.  363, 237-245.
• Ben-Hayyim, G., Holland, D., and Eshdat, Y.  (1999).  Salt induced proteins related to oxidative stress: PHGPX and other proteins of the Asada-Halliwell cycle.  In C. Calvert, M. Smallwood and D. Bowles (Eds.) Plant Responses to Environmental Stress (pp. 173-177). Oxford, UK: BIOS Scientific Publishers Ltd.
• Avsian-Kretchmer, O., Eshdat, Y., Gueta-Dahan, Y., and Ben-Hayyim, G.  (1999).  Regulation of stress-induced phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase expression in citrus. Planta  209, 469-477.
• Ye, B., Faltin, Z., Ben-Hayyim, G., Eshdat, Y., and Gressel, J.  (2000).  Correlation of glutathione peroxidase to paraquat/oxidative stress resistance in Conyza determined by direct fluorometric assay. Pestic. Biochem. Phys.  66, 182-194.
• Horev, G., Einat, P., Aharoni, T., Eshdat, Y., and Friedman-Einat, M.  (2000).  Molecular cloning and prperties of the chicken leptin-receptor (CLEPR) gene.  Mol. Cell. Endo.  163, 95-106.
• Gollop, R., Eshdat, Y., Perl, A., and Tsolova, V.  (2000).  Proanthocyanidins production in tissue culture: regulation of dihydroflavonol reductase promoter-GUS-intron fusions in grapes.  Acta Hort.  528, 395-400.
• Dunn, I.C., Boswell, T., Friedman-Einat, M., Eshdat, Y., Burt, D.W., and Paton, I.R.  (2000).  Mapping of the leptin receptor gene to chicken chromosome 8. Anim. Genet.  31, 290.
• Hazebrouck, S., Camoin, L., Faltin, Z., Strosberg, A.D., and Eshdat, Y.  (2000).  Substituting selenocysteine for catalytic cysteine 41 enhances enzymatic activity of plant phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase expressed in E. coli.  J. Biol. Chem.  275, 28715-28721.
• Friedman-Einat, M., Camoin, L., Faltin, Z., Rosenblum, C.I., Kaliouta, V., Eshdat, Y., and Strosberg, A.D.  (2002).  Serum leptin activity in obese and lean patients. Regul. Peptides 11, 77-82.
• Perl, A., Colova-Tsolova, V., and Eshdat, Y.  (2004).  Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of grape embryogenic calli. In: I.S. Curtis (Ed.) Transgenic Crops of the World (pp. 229-242). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
• Velcheva, M., Faltin, Z., Flaishman, M., Eshdat, Y. and Perl, A.  (2005).  A liquid culture system for  Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of tomato (Licopersicion esculentum, L. Mill). Plant Sci. 168, 121-130.
• Herbette, S., Le Menn, A., Patrick Rousselle, P., Ameglio, T., Faltin, Z., Branlard, G., Eshdat, Y., Julien, J-L., Drevet JR. and Roeckel-Drevet P.  (2005).  Modification of photosynthetic regulation in tomato overexpressing glutathione peroxidase.  Bioch. Biophys. Acta  1724:108-18.
• Velcheva, M., Faltin, Z., Vardi A., Eshdat,Y. and Perl, A.  (2005).  Regeneration of Aloe arborescens via somatic organogenesis from young inflorescences. Plant Cell Tiss. Org. 83:293-301.
• Perl, A., and Eshdat, Y. (2007).  Grapes. In: Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry - Transgenic Crops V. Vol. 60. (E.C. Pua and M.R. Davey, eds.) Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 189-208.
• Faltin Z., Holland D., Margarita Velcheva², Marina Tsapovetsky M., Roeckel-Drevet P., Handa A.K., Abu-Abied M., Friedman-Einat M.,  Eshdat Y. and  Perl A. (2010).  Glutathione Peroxidase Regulation of Reactive Oxygen Species Level is Crucial for In Vitro Plant Differentiation. Plant Cell Physiol. 51:1151-1162.
• Velcheva, M., Faltin, Z., Vardi, A., Hanania, U., Eshdat Y. and Perl, A. (2010).  Amberite XAD-4 beads and antioxidants enhance transformation and regeneration of Aloe Vera in suspension cultures.  In Vitro Plant Cell Dev.Biol. - Plant. 46: 477-484.
• Leibowitz, A., Faltin, Z., Perl, A., Eshdat, Y., Hagay, Y., Peleg, E. and Grossman, E. (2014).  Red grape berry-cultured cells reduce blood pressure in rats with metabolic-like syndrome. Euro. J. Nutr. 53:973-980.