Prof. Snait Tamir

Nutrition and Human Health

Professor

Managment

Research Group Leader

phD

Phone

972-4-6953561

972-4-6944980

snait@telhai.ac.il

Research Interests:

The microbial communities that colonize different regions of the human gut influence many aspects of health. Recent research has provided strong evidence for the role of the commensal gut microbiota in brain function and behavior. Bidirectional communication between gut microbiota and components of the gut–brain axis influence normal homeostasis and may contribute to risk of disease.

Diet is considered among the most crucial factors, which have an impact on microbial community composition from infancy to old age. Thus, dietary interventions may have the potential to modulate stress-response and overall behavior associated with gut–brain axis dysfunction and should open up new possibilities for health manipulation.

Among our main interests are:

Investigating the effects of personalized, diet-induced alterations in microbiota on sleep quality in older adults.
Exploring the associations between gut microbiota and geriatric depression, and the potential of a nutrition induced microbiota alterations diet, aimed to improve quality of life and wellbeing in older adults.
Studying the effect and\or involvement of microbial metabolites on sleep, depression and ADHD.
In addition, we are involved in two more studies dealing with microbiome. One, which deals with probiotic treatment for students with attention deficiency disorder, and the second, is concerned with the effect of probiotic supplementation on the ability to perform intense endurance exercises among master's runners and competitive cyclists.

Education
Ph.D. 1991, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Biochemistry and Human Nutrition, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Academic and research positions
1992 - 1995 Postdoctoral research at the Department of Chemistry, Division of Toxicology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. USA.
1998 - 2003 Research associate, Laboratory of Natural Medicinal Compounds, MIGAL.
2001 - 2002 Head of the Biotechnology and Enviromental Science Dept. Tel Hai College.
1999 - 2005 Head of the Nutrition Science Department, Tel Hai College.
Since 2005 Head of Human Health and Nutritional Science Laboratory, MIGAL- Galilee Research Institute.
2006 - 2010 Dean of Sciences and Technology Faculty, Tel Hai College.
2013-2015 M.Sc Program Director, Dept. of Nutrition Sciences of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Tel Hai College.

Since 2018 Vice President of Academic Affairs, Tel Hai College>

Other Activity and Service
Since 1996 Clinical dietitian.

Scientific Publications

Inhibition of serotonin re-uptake by licorice constituents

R. Ofir; S. Tamir; S. Khatib; J. Vaya

Scientific Publications

Inhibition of serotonin re-uptake by licorice constituents

Cholesterol, linoleic acid or/and tyrosine yield different spectra of products when oxidized alone or in a mixture: Studies in various oxidative systems

Glabrene and isoliquiritigenin as tyrosinase inhibitors from licorice roots

Inhibition of LDL oxidation by flavonoids in relation to their structure and calculated enthalpy

The effect of oxidative stress on ERÎ± and ERÎ² expression

Estrogen-like activity of glabrene and other constituents isolated from licorice root

Paradoxical interactions among estrogen receptors, estrogens and SERMS: Mutual annihilation and synergy

Estrogenic and antiproliferative properties of glabridin from licorice in human breast cancer cells

Etheno adducts in spleen DNA of SJL mice stimulated to overproduce nitric oxide

A mechanistic analysis of nitric oxide-induced cellular toxicity

Nitrotyrosine formation, apoptosis, and oxidative damage: Relationships to nitric oxide production in SJL mice bearing the RcsX tumor

Isolation, characterization, and properties of a trypsin-chymotrypsin inhibitor from amaranth seeds

Nitric oxide production in SJL mice bearing the RcsX lymphoma: A model for in vivo toxicological evaluation of NO

NO-induced oxidative stress and glutathione metabolism in rodent and human cells

The role of nitric oxide (NOÂ·) in the carcinogenic process

DNA damage by nitric oxide

Nitric oxide induces oxidative damage in addition to deamination in macrophage DNA

Nitric oxide production in relation to spontaneous B-cell lymphoma and myositis in SJL mice

Kinetic analysis of the fate of nitric oxide synthesized by macrophages in vitro

Erratum: Influence of delivery rate on the chemistry and biological effects of nitric oxide (Chemical Research in Toxicology (1993) 6, 6, (895-899)

Nitric oxide production is intensely and persistently increased in tissue by thermal injury

Î±1-antitrypsin- and anchorage-independent growth of MCF-7 breast cancer cells

Regulation of antitrypsin and antichymotrypsin synthesis by MCF-7 breast cancer cell sublines

Long-lived ?MUPA mice show reduced sexual dimorphism in lifespan, and in energy and circadian homeostasis related parameters