Prof. Borenstein’s work focuses on computational study of the human microbiome, spearheading research in microbiome computational systems biology. World-wide research initiatives and multi-omic studies now provide detailed, multi-faceted, and large-scale data about the microbiome, calling for the development of new methods for integrating and analyzing such complex data and for obtaining insights into the role of the microbiome in health and disease. Prof. Borenstein’s lab has extensive experience in developing such methods, using techniques inspired by metabolic modeling, data science, machine learning, and network theory. Over the past years, Prof Borentein’s lab has introduced novel frameworks for processing, annotating, and normalizing metagenomic data, for model-based integration of multi-omic microbiome data (and specifically for characterizing, modeling, and predicting the link between microbiome and metabolome profiles), for inferring species interactions, and for modeling and designing microbiome activity. Current research further aims to understand the link between the microbiome and diet, focusing specifically on dietary fibers. Combined, this research aims to provide a systems-based understanding of the microbiome, and ultimately to inform microbiome-based diagnosis and therapy. 

Prof. Borenstein is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and at the Blavatnik School of Computer Science at Tel Aviv University. He is also an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute, an affiliate professor at the University of Washington, and the new head of TAU’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Bioinformatics. Prof. Borenstein received his BSc in physics and computer science and his PhD in computer science from Tel-Aviv University, and held a joint postdoctoral position at Stanford University and the Santa Fe Institute. In 2010, he joined the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington as a faculty member, and in 2018, moved to Tel Aviv University with a joint appointment in Medicine and in Computer Science. Prof. Borenstein is the recipient of various prestigious awards including the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship and the NIH New Innovator Award.