Yaakov "Koby" Nahmias is an Israeli biomedical engineer and entrepreneur. Nahmias is a professor at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, 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. ...

and an affiliated member of the NIH-funded BioMEMS Resource Center at

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is a teaching hospital located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the original and largest clinical education and research facility of Harvard Medical School/Harvar ...

. Nahmias is the founding director of the Alexander Grass Center for

Bioengineering Biological engineering or bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number ...

. He is a co-founder of Israel’s BioDesign Medical Innovation program, recently listed as a major reason for Boston Scientific's continued investment in Israel. In 2014, he won the Rappaport Prize for Biomedical Sciences for his “groundbreaking work on liver tissue engineering” and the “development of nanotechnology therapies for the treatment of diabetes”. Nahmias edited a book titled ''Microdevices in Biology and Medicine'', and is currently serving as a technology consultant for L’Oreal, and a member of the

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

panel for applied life sciences and

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

. In 2018, Nahmias became the co-founder and chief scientific officer of Future Meat Technologies.

Career

Yaakov Nahmias received his B.Sc. in

Chemical Engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

and

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 the

Technion – Israel Institute of Technology The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is a public university, public research university located in Haifa, Israel. Established in 1912 by Jews under the dominion of the Ottoman Empire, the Technion is the oldest university in the coun ...

, graduating ''Magna Cum Laude''. He completed his PhD at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

with David Odde, and his postdoctoral training 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 ...

with

Martin Yarmush Martin (Maish) L. Yarmush (born October 8, 1952 in Brooklyn, New York) is an academic, American scientist, physician, and engineer known for his work in biotechnology and bioengineering. His faculty career began in 1984 at MIT in the Department of ...

. In 2006, he became an independent investigator at

, winning a NIH Research Scientist Development Award (K01). Nahmias moved to the

in 2009, where he won two major

(ERC) Starting and Consolidator Grants, and founded the Alexander Grass Center for Bioengineering. In 2010, Nahmias became a Golda Meir fellow and a member of the ERC Starting Grant panel on applied life sciences and

(LS9). In 2012, Nahmias together with Chaim Lotan, established BioDesign Israel, a multi-disciplinary program in medical innovation taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and its affiliated Hadassah Medical Center.

Research

Nahmias is a liver biologist and a biomedical engineer who took part in the development of Lodamin, the first oral, broad-spectrum angiogenesis inhibitor and the first decellularization of an intact liver for transplantation. His own work showed that the

Hepatitis C Virus The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a small (55–65 nm in size), enveloped, positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus of the family ''Flaviviridae''. The hepatitis C virus is the cause of hepatitis C and some cancers such as liver cancer ( hepatoc ...

(HCV) assembles on

VLDL Very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), density relative to extracellular water, is a type of lipoprotein made by the liver. VLDL is one of the five major groups of lipoproteins (chylomicrons, VLDL, intermediate-density lipoprotein, LDL, low-density ...

and that its production is blocked by the grapefruit flavonoid

naringenin Naringenin is a flavanone from the flavonoid group of polyphenols. It is commonly found in citrus fruits, especially as the predominant flavonone in grapefruit. The fate and biological functions of naringenin in vivo are unknown, remaining und ...

. Nahmias' work is leading to a growing understanding of the role of diet and nutrition on liver

metabolism Metabolism (, from ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cellular processes; the co ...

, including the first demonstration that gut bacteria affect liver development after birth, and explaining the toxic effects of acetaminophen using liver-on-chip technology.

Personal life

Nahmias is married to Michal Haimov, an attorney specializing in real estate and securities. The couple met at the

, are currently living in

Eden Prairie Eden Prairie is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. It had a population of 64,198 at the 2020 census, making it the 16th-largest city in Minnesota. The city is adjacent to the north bank of the Minnesota River, upstream from ...

and have three children.

References

External links

Nahmias Laboratory

PubMed citations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nahmias, Yaakov Living people University of Minnesota alumni Harvard Medical School faculty Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1974 births