Rate My Professor Nitzan Gonen

Dr. Nitzan Gonen is a Senior Lecturer in the Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences at Bar-Ilan University and heads the Mammalian Sex Determination Laboratory, with additional affiliation to the Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials. Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of mammalian sex determination during embryonic development, including the roles of key transcription factors, the non-coding genome, and disorders of sex development (DSD). The lab employs techniques such as CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, transgenic mouse models, advanced sequencing, and stem cell differentiation to study gonad development and create in vitro models of gonads using mouse and human embryonic stem cells as well as induced pluripotent stem cells.

Dr. Gonen has received the Krill Prize for excellence in scientific research in 2023 and an European Research Council grant in 2025 supporting work on fertility preservation through testis organoids. Notable publications include a 2018 paper in Science on sex reversal following deletion of a single distal enhancer of Sox9 and a 2017 paper in PLoS Genetics on Sox9 expression in the developing mouse testis. She maintains an active research program investigating non-coding genomic elements in sex determination and developing 3D culture systems for modeling spermatogenesis and DSD.