Shay Stern

Research

Animals generate complex patterns of behavior across life that can be modified over days, months, or years. Across these long timescales, individuals within the same population may show stereotyped behaviors, but also unique behaviors that distinguish them from each other, a property called individuality. While individuality in behavior is widespread across species, including humans, the underlying mechanisms that generate individual-to-individual behavioral variation remain largely unknown. We examine individual variation in behavior by using a new multi-camera imaging system to monitor the behavior of multiple individual C. elegans animals across development. We are integrating these cutting edge imaging methods with state-of-the-art neuronal and genetic tools. These studies open a new window for studying how inter-individual neuronal and behavioral diversity emerges across developmental timescales.

Education:

Ph.D. The Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel 2012
Department of Biomolecular Sciences

M.Sc. Technion- Israel Institute of Technology, Israel 2007
Departments of Chemical Engineering and Physics (Summa Cum Laude)

B.Sc. Bar-Ilan University, Israel 2004
Biology and Computer Science