Itai Yanai (; born 6 February 1975) is an American-Israeli biomedical scientist and Founding Director of the Institute for Computational Medicine at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He is also a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at NYU.

Early life and education

Yanai was born in Haifa, Israel, and moved with his family to Boston in his early teens, when his father

Moshe Yanai Moshe Yanai (; born 1949) is an Israeli electrical engineer. He is an inventor, businessman, entrepreneur, aviator, investor,

was appointed Chief Engineer at EMC. He graduated from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

in 1998 with degrees in

computer engineering Computer engineering (CE, CoE, or CpE) is a branch of engineering specialized in developing computer hardware and software. It integrates several fields of electrical engineering, electronics engineering and computer science. Computer engi ...

and philosophy, both summa cum laude. In 2002 he became the first person in the nation to receive a Ph.D. in, what was at the time, the fledgling field of

Bioinformatics Bioinformatics () is an interdisciplinary field of science that develops methods and Bioinformatics software, software tools for understanding biological data, especially when the data sets are large and complex. Bioinformatics uses biology, ...

. After several years at the

Weizmann Institute The Weizmann Institute of Science ( ''Machon Weizmann LeMada'') is a Public university, public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, fourteen years before the State of Israel was founded. Unlike other List of Israeli uni ...

and

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, he returned to Israel in 2008 as a faculty member at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. He moved to the United States in 2016, when he assumed his current position.

Research

Yanai has published extensively in bioinformatics and theory. He has also done seminal experimental research in cell biology. In 2016 Yanai co-authored a popular book for the general public. Together with Martin J. Lercher, Yanai has written a series of editorials on the creative side of the scientific process, which he called "Night Science" in reference to

François Jacob François Jacob (; 17 June 1920 – 19 April 2013) was a French biologist who, together with Jacques Monod, originated the idea that control of enzyme levels in all cells occurs through regulation of transcription. He shared the 1965 Nobel ...

. He also co-hosts a popular podcast with the same name.The Night Science Podcast. https://nightscience.buzzsprout.com/

References

1975 births Living people 21st-century American academics 21st-century American biologists Academic staff of Technion – Israel Institute of Technology Academics from Boston Boston University alumni Educators from Haifa Harvard University people New York University Grossman School of Medicine faculty Scientists from Boston Scientists from Haifa {{Biochemist-stub