Marcelle Machluf (; born May 24, 1963) is an

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i biologist.

Biography

Machluf was born in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

and moved to Israel with her mother and grandmother when she was one year old. She grew up in

Ashdod Ashdod (, ; , , or ; Philistine language, Philistine: , romanized: *''ʾašdūd'') is the List of Israeli cities, sixth-largest city in Israel. Located in the country's Southern District (Israel), Southern District, it lies on the Mediterranean ...

. Her mother supported the family as a seamstress and a cleaning lady.

Career

After completing high school and her army service, Machluf applied to medical school, but was not accepted. Instead she decided to study Biology and received a

B.Sc. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

from

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...

. She went on to receive her

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in biotechnology engineering from

Ben-Gurion University Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) (, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Named after Israeli national founder David Ben-Gurion, the university was founded in 1969 and currently has f ...

of the

Negev The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...

. She conducted her postdoctoral research as a fellow at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

, and focused on

gene therapy Gene therapy is Health technology, medical technology that aims to produce a therapeutic effect through the manipulation of gene expression or through altering the biological properties of living cells. The first attempt at modifying human DNA ...

tissue engineering Tissue engineering is a biomedical engineering discipline that uses a combination of cells, engineering, materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physicochemical factors to restore, maintain, improve, or replace different types of biolo ...

and the control of drug delivery in

cancer therapy Cancer treatments are a wide range of treatments available for the many different types of cancer, with each cancer type needing its own specific treatment. Treatments can include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormonal therapy, targe ...

. Currently, Machluf is a full professor and the Dean of the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering at the Technion in Israel, as well as the director of the Laboratory for Cancer Drug Delivery & Cell-Based Technologies, where the Nanoghost, a modified

stem cell In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can change into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of cell ...

to treat

metastatic melanoma Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer; it develops from the melanin-producing cells known as melanocytes. It typically occurs in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye (uveal melanoma). In very rare case ...

and

mesothelioma Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops from the thin layer of tissue that covers many of the internal organs (known as the mesothelium). The area most commonly affected is the lining of the lungs and chest wall. Less commonly the lini ...

, has been developed jointly with the New York University Langone Medical Center. Her research interests include: Developing nano-particles for the delivery of anticancer drugs to the brain and other organs; developing nano-delivery system for DNA vaccination; and tissue engineering of heart and its blood vessels using pig heart tissue, under the auspices of Technion's

Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI) The Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI) was established in January 2005 as a joint endeavour of the Russell Berrie Foundation, the government of Israel and the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. It is one of the largest academ ...

.Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute profile
of Marcelle Machluf.

Awards and recognitions

*2004: Alon Award for excellence in science, *2006: Gutwirth Award for achievements in the gene therapy field, *2010: Hershel Rich Technion Innovation Award, *2014: Juludan Research Prize For outstanding innovative research, *2018: Selected as one of the 14 torchbearers for the Israeli 70th Independence day ceremony representing national recognition for her contribution to science and education

Personal life

Machluf is married to Yigal and has three children.

References

External links

The Lab for Cancer Drug Delivery & Cell Based Technologies - Technion
Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni 20th-century Moroccan Jews Israeli people of Moroccan-Jewish descent Scientists from Haifa Harvard Medical School people Academic staff of Technion – Israel Institute of Technology Living people Israeli biochemists Israeli women chemists Ben-Gurion University of the Negev alumni 1963 births Israeli Mizrahi Jews {{Biochemist-stub