Osnat Penn
Osnat Penn | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1981 Israel |
| Occupation | Computational biologist |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Known for | Research on molecular evolution, cellular biology, immunoinformatics, genetic investigations into autism |
Osnat Penn (; born 1981) is an Israeli expert in computational biology, with a focus on molecular evolution, cellular biology, and immunoinformatics. In 2013, she was honored with the UNESCO-L’Oréal fellowship for her genetic investigations into autism, marking her as the third Israeli scientist to receive this distinction within a span of three years. Since 2012, Penn has held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle.[1]
Life and work
Penn completed three academic degrees at Tel Aviv University: a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Computer Science emphasizing bioinformatics, a Master of Science in Molecular Biology, and a Doctorate in Computational Biology from the Department of Cell Research and Immunology. Her Ph.D. dissertation, guided by Professor Tal Pupko, was entitled "Computational methods for sequence analysis of HIV evolutionary dynamics."[2] Between 2006 and 2011, she also contributed as a teaching assistant and instructor for bioinformatics classes at Tel Aviv University.[3]
Career
During her tenure at Tel Aviv University, Penn created multiple computational platforms to facilitate biological studies. Among these are GUIDANCE, an online tool that evaluates alignment confidence scores; RASER (RAte Shift EstimatoR), designed to identify evolutionary rate changes at specific sites; and the Pepitope Server, which maps epitopes using affinity-selected peptides.[4][5][6]
Her pioneering research on genetic sequencing related to autism revealed unique genetic variations in children with autism compared to their non-autistic parents’ genomes. This contribution enhances the comprehension of sporadic autism’s intricate genetics and offers promising avenues for prenatal screening, early detection, and potential gene therapy.[7]
Publications
Penn’s scientific findings have been featured in prestigious journals such as Cell, Genome Research, Molecular Biology and Evolution, Nucleic Acids Research, and Systematic Biology. Additional significant publications include appearances in BMC Evolutionary Biology, PLoS Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Proteins, and Genome Medicine. Her research is also present in influential journals like Nature, Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, Nature Ecology and Evolution, Genome Biology, and the American Journal of Human Genetics. Furthermore, she has contributed to specialized publications such as Protein Engineering, Design and Selection.
External links
- ↑ Penn, Osnat Zomer. "Osnat Penn (Osnat Zomer) Homepage". Retrieved 2022-11-24.
- ↑ "Eichler Lab". 2016-06-16. Retrieved 2022-11-24.
- ↑ "Osnat Penn". Retrieved 2022-11-24.
- ↑ "GUIDANCE Server". Retrieved 2022-11-24.
- ↑ "RASER - The RAte Shift EstimatoR". Retrieved 2022-11-24.
- ↑ "Pepitope Server". Retrieved 2022-11-24.
- ↑ "Osnat Zomer-Penn". Retrieved 2022-11-24.