Daniel Chamovitz grew up in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, and studied at both Columbia University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he received his Ph.D. in Genetics. From 1993 to 1996 he carried out postdoctoral research at Yale University before accepting a faculty position at Tel Aviv University. In 2002, Prof. Chamovitz was a visiting scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. He founded the Manna Center Program in Food Safety and Security in 2013. He is currently the Dean of the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences.

Research Interests
My lab focuses on two distinct projects:

Understanding the role of the COP9 signalosome (CSN)  in regulating development. This is the oldest project in the lab, and probably what we’re most well known for. The CSN is a multi-subunit protein complex that I originally identified in Arabidopsis, but which we later showed to be essential for animal development as well. We are using a combination of genetic, molecular and genomic approaches to dissect the varied roles of the CSN in the development of plants and animals, using both Arabidopsis and Drosophila as model systems.
Recently we got interested in the question of what anti-cancer chemicals found in plants do for the plant. Particularly we’re studying indole-3-carbinol (I3C), a phytochemical found in vegetables like broccoli and mustard that has also been reported effective in killing breast and prostate cancer cells. We are working out the mechanisms by which these chemicals modulate plant biology.