User:Ronavni/Amir Sagi

Amir Sagi (Hebrew: אמיר שגיא, born May 22, 1956) is a professor of life sciences at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, whose field of expertise is crustacean biology, physiology, endocrinology, and functional genomics. He contributed to the study of sexual differentiation, growth and aquaculture.

Early Life and Education
Sagi completed his M.Sc., in Oceanography, Marine Biology at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem which marked the start of his interest in crustacean reproduction strategies. and during his Ph.D he addressed anatomical and physiological aspects of differentiation in prawn with special attention to the androgenic gland.

Carrier
His postdoctoral training in comparative endocrinology was at the University of Connecticut and the Marine Biological laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass. under Prof. Hans Laufer. Sagi than moved to Ben Gurion University of the Negev (1992) in which he was promoted to the degree of Full professor of Life sciences (2005), and Distinguished professor (2018 - present).

He has also served, between 2011 - 2013, as president of the International Society for Invertebrate Reproduction and Development (ISIRD), and held various roles within academic and professional committees such as Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Ben Gurion University of the Negev (2008 - 2011) and as a board member of the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev.

Sagi’s group has discovered the IAG physiological sexual switch, and its associated signaling cascade in decapods with particular emphasis on investigating specific gene expression investigating multigenic functions through multigene function in crustacean reproduction and growth and the establishment of genome editing in prawns using application of CRISPR.

His group established novel monosex biotechnologies in crustacean culture including the first application of temporal RNA interference (RNAi) in the field of aquaculture for all-male culture. Crustacean monosex technologies are widely applied in Vietnam, Thailand, China, Malysia, Israel and further spreading. He is a co-founder of the all-female culture biotech company Enzootic Ltd.

Prawns are efficient predators thus might serve as sustainable and responsible biocontrol agents over various invasive and pest species. The Sagi lab development of monosex prawn biotechnologies enables the application of responsible, efficient, and non-invasive biocontrol agents in various parts of the world.

Crustaceans are experts in bio-mineralization, since shedding and hardening their exoskeleton occurs periodically in every molt cycle throughout their life. The studies of the Sagi group focused on the examination of protein s and their corresponding encoding genes in the context of biomineralization, including calcium mobilization, during the molt cycle in crustaceans.

Selected publications
The main contribution of Sagi is in the following fields:

Genetics and Sex Differentiation: From gene manipulations to establishment of monosex prawn biotechnologies

 * Levy, and Sagi, 2020. The “IAG-switch” – a key controlling element in decapod crustacean sex differentiation. Frontiers in Endocrinology 11: 651.
 * Levy, et al., 2019. Production of WW males lacking the masculine Z chromosome and mining the Macrobrachium rosenbergii genome for sex-chromosomes. Scientific Reports 9:12408.
 * Levy, et al., 2016. A single injection of hypertrophied androgenic gland cells produces all-female aquaculture. Marine Biotechnology., 18(5): 554-563.
 * Ventura, et al., 2012. Timing sexual differentiation: full functional sex reversal achieved in Macrobrachium rosenbergii through silencing of a single insulin-like gene. Biology of Reprod., 86(3): 90, 1-6.
 * Shpak et al., 2017. Three generations of cultured prawn without W chromosome. Aquaculture, 467(C):41-48.
 * Molcho et al., 2020. Three generations of prawns without the Z chromosome: Viable WW Macrobrachium rosenbergii all-female populations in polyculture with Oreochromis niloticus. Aquaculture 515:  734531.
 * Molcho et al., 2022. On genome editing in embryos and cells of the freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii. Aquaculture. 558: 738391.

Monosex prawns as biocontrol agents over damaging snails and other pests

 * Savaya et. Al., 2014. The Prawn Macrobrachium vollenhovenii in the Senegal River Basin: Towards sustainable restocking of all-male populations for biological control of schistosomiasis. PLoS Negl. Trop. Dis. 8(8): e3060.
 * Hoover et al., 2019. Modelled effects of prawn aquaculture on poverty alleviation and schistosomiasis control. Nature Sustainability 2: 611-620.
 * Savaya et al., 2020. Prawn monosex populations as biocontrol agents for snail vectors of fish parasites. Aquaculture 250:735016.

Molecular bio-mineralization in decapod crustaceans

 * Bentov, et al., 2012. Enamel-like apatite crown covering amorphous mineral in a crayfish mandible. Nature communications.
 * Abehsera, et al., 2015. Binary gene expression patterning of the molt cycle: The case of chitin metabolism. PLoS ONE, 10(4): e0122602.
 * Abehsera, et al., 2018. CPAP3 proteins in the mineralized cuticle of a decapod crustacean. Scientific Reports. 8(1):2430.
 * Abehsera et al., 2021. Genes encoding putative bicarbonate transporters as a missing molecular link between molt and mineralization in crustaceans. Scientific reports 11(1): 11722.
 * Bentov et al., 2021. Reinforcement of bio-apatite by zinc substitution in the incisor tooth of a prawn. Acta Biomaterialia 120: 116-123.

Awards and honor

 * Vice President and Dean of R&D Award for Breakthrough Research (2022)
 * ICA award for leading entrepreneurship in agriculture and biotechnology (2018)
 * The Crustacean Society Excellence in Research Award (2016)
 * The Landau Prize for Sciences and Arts (2014)
 * The Global Aquaculture Alliance’s inaugural Novus Global Aquaculture Innovation Award (2013)
 * Lily and Sidney Oelbaum Chair in Applied Biochemistry

Patents
Prof. Amir Sagi has obtained patents for his inventions including: Insulin-like gene of prawns and uses thereof ; Delivery peptides and methods of using the same ; Stable amorphous calcium carbonate comprising synthetic phosphorylated peptides ; Amorphous calcium carbonate for the treatment of calcium malabsorption and metabolic bone disorders ; Composition comprising crustacean gastrolith components and its use ; Orally administrable compositions comprising stable amorphous calcium carbonate ; Denitrification treatment system and method ; Sex-linked genomic marker for crayfish and uses thereof, Insulin-like gene in prawns and uses thereof , Functional sex-reversal of decapod crustacean females , WW homogametic male decapod crustacean and methods of using the same and Insulin-like gene in prawns and uses thereo.