Prof. Benjamin Dekel

Prof. Benjamin Dekel is an Endowed Professor of Pediatrics, Incumbent of the Klayman Chair in Nephro-Urology, a member of the Department of Human Molecular Genetics & Biochemistry, Vice-Dean for Research and Innovation and Director of the Sagol Center for Regenerative Medicine at the School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University. Prof. Dekel is Head of the Pediatric Stem Cell Research Institute and Chief of Pediatric Nephrology at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer. He served as a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Stem Cell Biology, Stanford University. Prof. Dekel received a bachelor's degree in Medical Sciences and an MD from the Technion and a PhD and post-Doc from the Weizmann Institute of Science, all with honors. His research focuses on human kidney stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, to cast light on fundamental problems of developmental biology, tissue regeneration, and cancer, holding promise for novel disease therapies.

Prof. Dekel is known internationally as one of the most innovative and highly recognized investigators in the field of human renal stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. He has pioneered the identification of human stem/progenitor cells and their use in tissue repair and regeneration as well as targeted therapy in pediatric cancer.  

Prof. Dekel established laboratory for Regenerative and Developmental Nephrology and founded the Pediatric Stem Cell Research Institute at the Sheba Medical Center.  His team was the first to prospectively isolate expandable human nephron progenitor cells from fetal kidneys and showed their beneficial effects in treating chronic renal injury. Moreover, his research group discovered the mechanism of action responsible for cell renewal and local regeneration in the adult mammalian kidney. This discovery led to development of novel methodologies allowing for 3D growth of multiple lineage-restricted renal progenitors as human kidney spheroids and organoids, which generate different parts of the kidney after being transplanted into pre-clinical murine hosts. Accordingly, the Dekel lab invented a novel form of renal regenerative therapy.

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