Prof. Zvi Hayouka obtained his PhD in Chemistry in 2011 (Summa cum laude) at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. In 2012 as a Fulbright scholar, he moved to the chemistry department at the University of Wisconsin-Madiosn to Prof. Samuel Gellman’s lab, where he designed and characterized novel antimicrobial copolymers and peptides. In 2014 he joined the Institute of Biochemistry Food science and Nutrition at the Hebrew University as a faculty member and established his own research lab that focuses on the development of novel antimicrobial agents to tackle pathogenic bacteria.
His research group combines the fields of organic chemistry, peptide chemistry, food microbiology and biochemistry to design and evaluate novel peptide-based antimicrobial agents for food and clinical applications. His laboratory is currently investigating three unique classes of compounds: antimicrobial random peptide mixtures, bacterial toxin-antitoxin protein-protein interaction inhibitors and quorum-sensing quenchers (to disrupt bacterial cell-to-cell communication). These anti-infective strategies have immense potential as treatments to combat pathogenic bacteria, which will improve human health and food safety.
Zvi is a member of several scientific committees and was awarded several prestigious prizes. Zvi has published 77 peer reviewed publications and 10 patents applications. In the last three years he has established two startup companies in the area of food safety Prevera and Bountica.