Yehuda Ben-Shahar
Biology, Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
ORCID 0000-0002-2956-2926
POSITIONS HELD
Postdoctoral fellow
HHMI, University of Iowa College of Medicine
Assistant Professor of Biology
Washinghton University in St. Louis
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Washington University School of Medicine
Associate Professor of Biology
Washington University in St. Louis
AWARDS
2015
Young Scientist Award, International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society
2011
Kavli Fellow, U.S. National Academy of Sciences
2013
Fourth Annual Sony Inc. Junior Faculty Award, Cornerstone: The Center for Advanced Learning, Washing
2010
The Klingenstein Foundation Fellowship Award in the Neurosciences
2004
International Society for Neuroethology, Young Investigator Award
Education
2002
PhD
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
1996
BSc
Tel-Aviv University, Israel
Publications
Drosophila divalent metal ion transporter Malvolio is required in dopaminergic neurons for feeding d
Søvik E, Seehra G, LaMora A, Barron AB, Duncan JG and Ben-Shahar Y
2/11/2020
Leitner and Ben-Shahar Y
2/10/2020
Kapheim KM, Jones BM, Søvik E, Stolle E, Waterhouse RM, Bloch G and Ben-Shahar Y
11/25/2019
Hill A, Jain P, Folan NE, and Ben-Shahar Y
8/30/2019
Porath HT, Hazan E, Cohen M, Shpigler H, Band M, Ben Shahar Y, Levanon EY, Eisenberg E and Bloch G
4/8/2019
Visual recognition of the female body axis drives spatial elements of male courtship in Drosophila m
McKinney RM, Iris Chin, and Ben-Shahar Y
3/12/2019
The cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of honey bee workers develop via a socially-modulated innate proc
Vernier CL, Krupp J, Marcus K, Hefetz A, Levine J and Ben-Shahar Y
2/5/2019
Chemoreceptor pleiotropy facilitates the functional coupling of the synthesis and sensory perception
Zelle KM, Vernier CL, Leitner N, Liang X, Halloran S, Millar J and Ben-Shahar Y
1/14/2019
Hill A, Zheng X, Li X, McKinney R, Dickman D and Ben-Shahar Y
3/7/2017
Dr. Yehuda Ben-Shahar attended Tel-Aviv University in Israel for his undergraduate studies in Life Sciences. For his PhD thesis work, he joined the laboratory of Dr. Gene Robinson at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he developed a program that focused on molecular genetics and the genomic analyses of social behaviors by using the honey bee as a model. While working on his PhD, he was fortunate to be introduced to the world of Drosophila neurogenetics via a long-term collaboration with Dr. Marla Sokolowski from the University of Toronto, Canada. For his postdoctoral training, Dr. Ben-Shahar joined the HHMI laboratory of Dr. Michael Welsh at the University of Iowa College of medicine where he established the fruit fly as a model for studying the molecular signaling pathways that underlie the role of ligand-gated ion channels in sensory-driven innate decision-making behaviors. Yehuda joined the Biology faculty at Washington University in St. Louis in 2008 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2015, with a joint appointment in the Department of Medicine. By using forward and reverse genetics, optogenetics, and transgenic approaches, members of the Ben-Shahar research group investigate various questions related to innate decision making behaviors, the genetics of the intrinsic neuronal homeostatic response to stress, the impact of trace metals on the development and physiology of dopaminergic circuits, and the roles of non-coding RNAs in neural development and behavior. Yehuda teaches an annual upper level undergraduate course in behavioral genetics, and a behavioral genetics laboratory. Yehuda received several awards, including the IBANGS Young Investigator Award in 2015.