Pro. Betty Schwartz

Head of the Department of Nutrition Science

Degree

Undergraduate degree in Nutrition Sciences [B.Sc.]

Areas of studies

Nutrition

Biography

I am a Full Professor. My main research interests include investigating the role of nutritional components in health and prevention of gastrointestinal (GIT) cancer, and characterization and evaluation of the immunological and biological role of natural immunomodulators, especially glucans. I specialize in areas including nutritional immunomodulators and their effects on GIT and liver function, impacts on cancer and gastrointestinal immunity.

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the Western world, including Israel. The role of diet in regulating cancer risk is a well-established concept, and natural compounds proven safe over time and easily accessible through diet represent ideal candidates as chemopreventive agents for effective reduction of cancer-related morbidity and mortality. In my laboratory, we investigate the role of many food-derived substances that can serve as chemical preventive agents and activate their activity on multiple signal transduction, transcriptional regulation, and activation of apoptotic processes in various tumor cells and different animal models of colon cancer or colitis-associated colon cancer. Natural substances such as lycopene, isoflavones, allicin, omega-3 fatty acids, glucans, specific proteins, etc., have been proven by us to have chemoprevention potential. We have used molecular and chemical biology approaches, including in vivo animal models and even human studies to also explore effective prevention strategies. We aim to investigate cancer biology, identify and validate new cancer targets, discover and develop chemical and molecular tools for identifying diet-derived substances.

Academic studies

A recombinant fungal compound induces anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects on colon cancer cells. Oncotarget, 8(17), 28854–28864.

Authors: , L., Spivak, O., Tal, D., Schälling, D., Peri, I., Graeve, L.,Tomer M. Salame, Oded Yarden,Yitzhak Hadar, Schwartz, B. (2017).

Ostreolysin induces browning of adipocytes and ameliorates hepatic steatosis. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2018 Dec;33(12):1990-2000.

Authors: Nimri, L., Staikin, K., Peri, I., Yehuda Shnaidman, E., and Schwartz, B.

Critical Sites on Ostreolysin Are Responsible for Interaction with Cytoskeletal Proteins. Biomedicines. 2022 Sep 30;10(10):2442.

Authors: Berke NA, Di Pizio A, Vaden TD, Shoval I, Gover O, Waiger D, Solomon G, Sepčić K, Schwartz B.

The relationship between nutrition and the immune system. Front Nutr. 2022 Dec 8;9:1082500.

Authors: Munteanu C, Schwartz B.

Gestational diabetes is driven by microbiota-induced inflammation months before diagnosis. Gut. 2023 Jan 10:gutjnl-2022-328406.

Authors: Pinto Y, Frishman S, Turjeman S, Eshel A, Nuriel-Ohayon M, Shrossel O, Ziv O, Walters W, Parsonnet J, Ley C, Johnson EL, Kumar K, Schweitzer R, Khatib S, Magzal F, Muller E, Tamir S, Tenenbaum-Gavish K, Rautava S, Salminen S, Isolauri E, Yariv O, Peled Y, Poran E, Pardo J, Chen R, Hod M, Borenstein E, Ley RE, Schwartz B, Louzoun Y, Hadar E, Koren O.

Phytocannabinoids Reduce Inflammation Of Primed Macrophages And Enteric Glial Cells: An In Vitro Study . International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2023, 24, 1422-0067.

Authors: Cohen, G. ; Gover, O. ; Schwartz, B

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