Dafna Bar-Sagi

Early life

Education Dafna Bar-Sagi was born and raised in Israel. She attended Bar-Ilan University where she earned her undergraduate and master's degrees in neurobiology. She received her PhD in neurobiology in the United States from the State University of New York at Stony Brook (SUNY).

In 1995, Bar-Sagi became faculty at the department of molecular genetics and microbiology at State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook and served as the department chair from 2003 to 2006.

Bar-Sagi transitioned to NYU Langone Medical Center in 2006 as chair of the department of biochemistry.

Research Dafna Bar-Sagi's research began in 1986, while completing her postdoctoral work with Dr. James Feramisco in Cold Spring Harbor. Bar-Sagi and Feramisco were the first to observe how Ras protein facilitates cellular uptake of nutrients through macropinocytosis. Her research on interleukin-1β suggests that to fully understand the interactions between tumors, their environment, and immune system, researchers will have to find new methods of studying tumors in vivo. 2018 Handler, Jesse; Cullis, Jane; Avanzi, Antonina; Vucic, Emily A; Bar-Sagi, Dafna. Pre-Neoplastic Pancreas Cells Enter a Partially Mesenchymal State Following Transient TGF-î² Exposure. Oncogene. 2018 Aug 02; 37(31):4334-4342 2019, Fellow, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2018, AACR-Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Memorial Lectureship, AACR 2016, Outstanding Investigator Award, National Cancer Institute for cancer research in RAS mutations 2014, Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Grant Recipient 2008, Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Grant Recipient