Itzik Cooper, PhD
Email: Itzik.Cooper@sheba.health.gov.il
Phone: +972-52-4714574
Position: Director, Joseph Sagol Neuroscience Center (JSNC)
My lab site:
https://eng.sheba.co.il/BBB
https://eng.sheba.co.il/Research_and_Development-JSNC
The BBB Group operates within the Joseph Sagol Neuroscience Center, part of the Sheba Medical Center, the largest hospital in Israel.
The Joseph Sagol Neuroscience Center is dedicated to advancing neuroscience research, serving as a hub for groundbreaking, clinically significant studies in the field. Its team of researchers and clinicians integrates basic and clinical research on brain diseases to drive applied science and innovation.
Since its establishment in 2004, the center has conducted numerous scientific studies, generated new knowledge, and trained a significant number of MSc and PhD graduates in neuroscience. Its research is supported by various funding sources, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR), The American Department of Defense (DoD), the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology, The Israel Science Foundation (ISF), and the Alzheimer's Association.
The center also serves as an academic platform, attracting graduate students from universities across Israel and offering opportunities for undergraduate internships. Additionally, it welcomes international students seeking practical research experience.
Education
2011 - 2012 Postdoctoral, Protein Chemistry-Drug Delivery, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
2007 - 2011 PhD, Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
2005 - 2007 M.Sc. Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
1999 - 2003 B.Sc Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Technion, Haifa, Israel
Affiliations
2012 - Present Assistant Professor, School of Psychology, The Reichman University, Herzylia, Israel.
2012 - Present Scientific Advisor, Biomolecular Sci. Department, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel.
2012 - Present Principal investigator, Blood-Brain Barrier Group, The Joseph Sagol Neuroscience Research Center, Sheba Medical Center, Israel.
2023 - Present Assistant Professor (Senior Lecturer), School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
2023 - Present Director, The Joseph Sagol Neuroscience Research Center, Sheba Medical Center.
Professional memberships
2006 The Israel Society for Neuroscience (ISfN).
2010 International Brain Barriers Society (IBBS).
2013 The Gerontological Society of America (GSA).
Research Interests
The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a sophisticated defense mechanism evolved to shield the brain from harmful substances while ensuring it receives only the essential elements required for its function. However, when the brain sustains damage, overcoming the BBB becomes critical to facilitate drug delivery.
Our research focuses on the following areas:
1. Investigating BBB dysfunction as a potential mechanism underlying neurodegenerative diseases.
2. Exploring the cellular responses of various components within the neurovascular unit (NVU) to different stimuli.
3. Developing innovative compounds and technologies to enable precise and effective BBB opening, allowing the delivery of otherwise impermeable substances (e.g., drugs) into the brain.
Research Grants & Awards
2024 - 2026 Israel Innovation Authority- Kamin (PI: Cooper with Mardor and Sharabi)
Transient blood arachnoid barrier disruption to improve drug delivery to the CSF.
An in-vivo study investigating the use of barrier disrupting fields for enhanced drug delivery to the CSF.
2021 - 2023 Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) (PI: Cooper with Mardor and Sharabi). BBB disruption by low pulsed electric fields for antibodies delivery to brain metastases.
This is an in-vivo study investigating the use of pulsed electrical fields as a possible BBB bypass mechanism to improve high MW drugs to brain tumors.
2022 - 2025 US-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) (Role: PI) Targeting Alzheimer’s disease (AD) with multimodal/multi- cellular new chemical entities using AD-on-Chip.
This is an international collaboration in which we will investigate new chemical entities for the treatment of
Alzheimer’s disease using a state-of-the-art Brain-on-Chip.
2023 - 2027 Israel Science Foundation (ISF) (Role: PI) Combination treatment of systemic α1 anti-trypsin and blood-brain barrier disruption induced by non-invasive low pulsed electrical fields (L-PEFs) for Alzheimer's disease.
The novel drug delivery system L-PEFs will be used to deliver the biologic drug AAT to the brains of AD mouse models. Feasibility and mode of action will be investigated.
2023 - 2025 Joint Sheba -Bar Ilan Research Grant (Role: PI)
The role of blood-brain barrier dysfunction on depression in diabetes: a study of mechanisms and translation to older human adults with diabetes.
2023 - 2028 Israel Science Foundation (ISF) (Role: Co-I) TBI-induced blood-brain barrier disruption as an underlying mechanism for development of AD/ADRD and CCR5/CXCR4 antagonists as potential treatments.
2023 – 2025 Innovation Research Center (ARC, Sheba) (Role: PI) Biochemical study of Δ6 desaturase activity, substrate regulation by ALA and tissue specific destination of the DHA product: a possible paradigm shift in perinatal maternal diet.
2018 - 2022 Israel Science Foundation (ISF) (Role: PI) The effects of pulsed electrical fields (PEFs) on the neurovascular unit: mechanism and physiological effects.
This is an in-vitro/in-vivo study investigating the use of pulsed electrical fields as a possible BBB bypass mechanism to improve drug delivery to the brain focusing on molecular and cellular mechanisms.
2017 - 2022 Ministry of science, technology and space (MOST) (Role: PI) Blood-Brain Barrier Function in TiO2 Nano-Particles-Induced Neurological deficits: Basic and Clinical Study.
This study aims to investigate the influence that TiO2 Nano-Particles might have on the BBB and its clinical outcomes.
2017 - 2020 Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA, US DoD) (Role: PI Together with Peter Wipf from Pittsburgh University) Development of new chemical entities to countermeasure PX-induced BBB damage.
The goal of this study is to find and evaluate new chemical entities (NCE) to act as potential countermeasures against damage induced to brain endothelial cells and/or to BBB function by paraoxon (PX), and, by extension, other organophosphates (OPs) agents.
2017 - 2019 Israel Innovation Authority (Kamin) (Role: PI) Novel BBB disrupting platform with chemoimmunotherapy against glioma.
This in-vivo study explores the use of a newly developed chemical entity as a possible BBB disrupting agent that will be administrated together with chemoimmunothrapy to improve drug delivery and treatment for glioma.
2015 - 2017 Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA, US DoD) (Role: PI) Paraoxon-Induced BBB Dysfunction: A Triple Arm Mechanism Investigation.
The goal of this study is to investigate cellular mechanisms involved in paraoxon damage to the blood-brain barrier and possible therapeutics.
2015 - 2018 Israel Science Foundation (ISF) (Role: PI) Point source electroporation for the treatment of brain tumors: mechanism and physiological effects.
This is an in-silico/in-vitro/in-vivo study investigating the use of point source electroporation as a possible BBB bypass mechanism to improve drug delivery to the brain to treat cancer.
2013 - 2016 New Investigator Research Grant- Alzheimer’s Association (AA) (Role: PI)
Blood-brain barrier and insulin signaling disruption at the Neuro-Vascular Unit as mechanisms for cognitive impairment in diabetes. The goal of this study is to investigate insulin signaling involved in BBB dysfunction that might lead to dementia in mice fed with high fat diet
2013 - 2016 New Investigator Research Grant- American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) (Role: PI) The contribution of long term instability of glycemic control to hippocampal structure, function, and BBB disruption.
The goal of this study is to use MRI novel technique for detection of BBB leakage and over hippocampal functions in diabetic patients in the context of glycemic control.
2012 - 2013 Sheba Medical Center- Weizmann Institute of Science Collaborative Grant Proposal in Biomedical Research (Role: PI) Enhanced blood-brain barrier penetration of high and low molecular weight therapeutic agents, following intratumoral delivery of a peptide derived from HIV-1 Tat protein: A combined approach for the treatment of brain tumors.
Publications
Here is a link to the publications of Dr. Itzik Cooper in PubMed.
