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Tsafrir Mor, PhD

Associate Professor

The Biodesign Institute, Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology

Associate Professor

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, School of Life Sciences

Bio

Visit the Mor Lab Website

Dr. Tsafrir Mor, assistant professor, received a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1997. Dr. Mor was a BARD Postdoctoral Associate in the Plants and Human Health Program at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Biology at Cornell University.

Currently, the major thrust areas in Dr. Mor’s laboratory are 1) with the sponsorship of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the evaluation of transgenic plants as a source for recombinant human acetylcholinesterase to provide protection from nonconventional warfare agents - both chemical (organphosphate intoxication) and biological (as an immunomodulator) 2) with NIH support, develop plant-derived vaccines against sexually-transmitted diseases with a special focus on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

The availability of plants overexpressing acetylcholinesterase prompted us to investigate the intriguing possibility of the presence in plants of the signaling molecule acetylcholine and the enzymes involved in its metabolism.

Selected Publications

2008

  • Mor, I., Sklan, E. H., Podoly, E., Pick, M., Kirschner, M., Yogev, L., Itach, S. B., Schreiber, L., Geyer, B., Mor, Tsafrir S, Grisaru, D., Soreq, H.. Acetylcholinesterase-R increases germ cell apoptosis but enhances sperm motility. J Cell Mol Med (2008).

2007

  • Berson, A., Knobloch, M., Hanan, M., Diamant, S., Sharoni, M., Schuppli, D., Geyer, B. C., Ravid, R., Mor, Tsafrir S, Nitsch, R. M., Soreq, H.. Changes in readthrough acetylcholinesterase expression modulate amyloid-beta pathology. Brain (2007).
  • Geyer, B. C., Fletcher, S. P., Griffin, T. A., Lopker, M. J., Soreq, H., Mor, Tsafrir S. Translational control of recombinant human acetylcholinesterase accumulation in plants. BMC Biotechnol (2007).

2006

  • Evron, T, Greenberg, D, Mor, Tsafrir S, ?Soreq, H. Adaptive changes in acetylcholinesterase gene expression as mediators of recovery from chemical and biological insults. Toxicology (2006).
  • Fletcher, S P, Soreq, H, Mor, Tsafrir S, Geyer, B C, Evron, E, Cherni, I, Muralidharan, M, Kilbourne, J. Plant-Derived Human Acetylcholinesterase-R provides protection from lethal organophosphate poisoning and its chronic aftermath: The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense. Bioscience Medical Defense Review 2006 (2006).
  • Matoba, N, Geyer, B C, Kilbourne, J, Alfsen, A, Bomsel, M, Mor, Tsafrir S. Humoral immune responses by prime-boost heterologous route immunizations with CTB-MPR649-684, a mucosal subunit HIV/AIDS vaccine candidate. Vaccine (2006).
  • Matoba, Nobuyuki, Geyer, B C, Kilbourne, J, Alfsen, A, Bomsel, M, Mor, Tsafrir S. Humoral immune responses by prime-boost heterologous route immunizations with CTB-MPR649-684, a mucosal subunit HIV/AIDS vaccine candidate. Vaccine (2006).
  • MATOBA, NOBUYUKI, Mor, Tsafrir S. PLANT-DERIVED SUBUNIT VACCINES. Plant Genetic Engineering Vol. 8: Metabolic Engineering & Molecular Farming II (2006).
  • Saldaña, S, Guadarrama, F E, de Jesús Olivera Flores, T Flores, Arias, N, López, S, Arias, C, Ruiz, R, Mason, H, Mor, Tsafrir S, Richter, L, Arntzen, C J, Gomez, Lim Ma. Production of rotavirus-like-particles in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) fruit by expression of capsid proteins VP2 and VP6 and immunological studies. Viral Immunol (2006).
  • Saldaña, S, Guadarrama, F E, de Jesús Olivera Flores, T, Arias, N, López, S, Arias, C, Ruiz, R, Mason, H, Mor, Tsafrir S, Richter, L, Arntzen, C J, Gómez Lim, M A. Production of rotavirus-like-particles in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) fruit by expression of capsid proteins VP2 and VP6 and immunological studies. Viral Immunol (2006).

2005

  • Geyer, B C, Evron, T, Cherni, I, Muralidharan, M, Patel, A, Fletcher, S, Soreq, H, Mor, Tsafrir S. N. benthamiana Produced Human Acetylcholinesterase Completely Protects Mice from Lethal Doses of Organophosphate Toxins. Annual Meeting of the American Society of Plant Biologists (2005).
  • Geyer, B C, Muralidharan, M, Cherni, I, Doran, J, Fletcher, S P, Evron, T, Soreq, H, Mor, Tsafrir S. Purification of Transgenic Plant-Derived Recombinant Human Acetylcholinesterase-R. Chemico-Biological Interactions (2005).
  • Matoba, M, Magerus, A, Geyer, B C, Zhang, Y, Alfsen, A, Arntzen, C J, Bomsel, M, Mor, Tsafrir S. Towards an oral plant-derived HIV-1 subunit vaccine. HIV Vaccine Development: Progress and ProspectsKeystone Symposium (2005).
  • Matoba, M, Magerus, A, Geyer, B C, Zhang, Y, Alfsen, A, Arntzen, C J, Bomsel, M, Mor, Tsafrir S. Humoral immunity induced by CTB-P1 for the Prevention of HIV-1 Mucosal Transmission/infection. HIV Vaccine Development: Progress and Prospects, Keystone Symposium (2005).
  • Matoba, N, Magérus, A, Geyer, B C, Alfsen, A, Hanson, C V, Arntzen, C J, Bomsel, M, Mor, Tsafrir S. Humoral immunity induced by CTB-MPR649-684 towards the prevention of HIV-1 mucosal transmission/infection. 12th International Congress of Mucosal Immunology (2005).
  • Muralidharan, M, Soreq, H, Mor, Tsafrir S. Characterizing pea acetylcholinesterase. Chemico-Biological Interactions (2005).

2004

  • Fletcher, S P, Geyer, B C, Smith, A, Evron, T, Joshi, L, Soreq, H, Mor, Tsafrir S. Tissue Distribution of Cholinesterases and Anticholinesterases in Native and Transgenic Tomato Plants. Plant Mol. Biol (2004).
  • Fletcher, S P, Geyer, B, Muralidharan, M, Arntzen, C J, Soreq, H, Mor, Tsafrir S. Chemical warfare countermeasures: Expression of human acetylcholinesterase in plants. Gordon Research Conference in Plant Molecular Biology (2004).
  • Matoba, M, Magerus, A, Geyer, B C, Zhang, Y, Alfsen, A, Arntzen, C J, Bomsel, M, Mor, Tsafrir S. A subunit vaccine candidate to prevent HIV-1 transmission. HIV Vaccine Development. Progress and Prospects, Keystone Symposium (2004).
  • Matoba, N, Magérus, A, Geyer, B C, Zhang, Y, Muralidharan, M, Alfsen, A, Arntzen, C J, Bomsel, M, Mor, Tsafrir S. Mucosally-Targeted Subunit Vaccine Candidate Eliciting HIV-1 Transcytosis-blocking Antibodies. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (2004).
  • Mor, Tsafrir S, Mason, H S. Transgenic plants as a source for subunit vaccines. Handbook of Plant Biotechnology (2004).
  • Mor, Tsafrir S, Mason, H S, Kirk, D D, Arntzen, C J, Cardineau, G A. Plants as a production and delivery vehicle for orally delivered subunit vaccines. Current Vaccines (2004).
  • Mor, Tsafrir S, Mason, H S, Kirk, D, Arntzen, C J, Cardineau, G A. Plants as a delivery vehicle for orally delivered subunit vaccines. In: New Generation Vaccines. (2004).
  • Mor, Tsafrir S, Soreq, H. Encyclopedia of Plant & Crop Science, R.M. Goodman, ed. Human cholinesterases from Plants for detoxification (2004).
  • Muralidharan, M, Fletcher, S P, Geyer, B C, Soreq, H, Mor, Tsafrir S. Characterizing pea acetylcholinesterase. VIIIth International Meeting on Cholinesterases (2004).

2003

  • Fletcher, S P, Geyer, B, Muralidharan, M, Joshi, L, Soreq, H, Mor, Tsafrir S. Transgenic plants expressing human acetylcholinesterase: what they may do for us and what we may learn from them. ISPMB Congress 2003:S26-20 (2003).
  • Mor, Tsafrir S, Arntzen, C J. Plants and Human Health: Delivery of vaccines via transgenic plants. Plant Biotechnology 2002 and Beyond (2003).
  • Mor, Tsafrir S, Mason, H S. Plants as a source for subunit vaccines. In: Handbook of Plant Physiology. (2003).
  • Mor, Tsafrir S, Moon, Y S, Palmer, K E, Mason, H S. Geminivirus Vectors for High Level Expression of Foreign Proteins in Plant Cells. Biotechnol. Bioeng (2003).
  • Mor, Tsafrir S, Soreq, H. Transgenic plants expressing human acetylcholinesterase: What they can do for us and what we may learn from them. In Encyclopedia of Plant & Crop Science. (2003).

2002

  • Mason, Hugh S, Warzecha, H, Mor, Tsafrir S, Arntzen, C J. Edible plant vaccines: applications for prophylactic and therapeutic molecular medicine. Trends Mol. Med (2002).

2001

  • Mor, Tsafrir S, Sternfeld, M, Arntzen, C J, Soreq, H, Mason, H S. Expression of recombinant human acetylcholinesterase in transgenic tomato plants. Biotechnol Bioeng (2001).