Professor David Wallach
Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Chair, Department of Biological Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

Born in Israel, David Wallach obtained his B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Biological Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. After completing his doctoral studies in 1974, Prof. Wallach spent three years as a Visiting Fellow at the National Cancer Institute (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA). While there, he performed postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Ira Pastan, studying the regulation of cytoskeletal functions by hormonal signaling mechanisms. In 1977, Prof. Wallach returned to Israel, where he was appointed Fellow in the Department of Virology of the Weizmann Institute of Science. In 1983, he was appointed Associate Professor and in 1995, Full Professor. Presently working in the Institute's Department of Biological Chemistry, Prof. Wallach and his colleagues are engaged in elucidating the mode of action of tumor necrosis factor (TNF), a multi-functional cytokine which plays a major role in inflammatory processes and in the regulation of cell death (apoptosis). For the last 28 years, his work has focused on the proteins and molecular mechanisms that are involved in the signaling activity of the TNF receptors and of several other, related receptors.