Professor, Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences
Professor, Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences
Prof. Salomon received his B.Sc. (suma cum laude) in Biology with an emphasis in biotechnology from the Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University in 2006. He then continued to his Ph.D. studies also at the Faculty of Life Sciences at TAU in the Dean's direct Ph.D. track under the supervision of Prof. Guido Sessa. In 2011, Prof. Salomon joined the laboratory of Prof. Kim Orth at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX, USA as a Postdoctoral Fellow. He joined the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at Tel Aviv University in 2016.
Prof. Salomon is a two-time recipient of the prestigious ERC grant and of the Alon Fellowship for Outstanding Young Investigators.
How do bacteria fight each other? How do they manipulate host cells to their advantage? How can we use bacterial toxins to develop novel antibacterial treatments? These are the questions we answer in the Salomon Lab.
We use a multi-disciplinary approach to study bacterial protein secretion systems and their toxins, focusing mainly on the Type VI Secretion System (T6SS). The T6SS is a unique machine that shoots a "poisoned arrow" at neighboring cells. It can deliver toxic effectors directly into eukaryotic host cells as well as into competing bacterial cells, therefore mediating both virulence and antibacterial activities to shape their environment.
We employ molecular microbiology, genetics, proteomics, microscopy, bioinformatics, and biochemical tools to identify activities and targets of T6SSs in pathogenic bacteria. We also work to discover new toxic effectors and determine their mechanism of action and dissemination, and we aim to develop novel T6SS-based platforms for antibacterial treatments.