Naor Granik

Biographical Details

Naor grew up in Haifa, Israel, and earned his BSc in Electrical Engineering from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in 2017. During his undergraduate studies, he participated in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) global synthetic biology competition, an experience that ignited his passion for synthetic biology and steered his transition into bioengineering. From 2017 to 2019, he pursued an MSc in biomedical engineering at the Technion, during which he pioneered a deep learning–based image analysis platform for advanced microscopy experiments. Naor then earned his PhD in applied mathematics with a specialization in synthetic biology from the Technion in 2024. His doctoral research centered on engineering synthetic RNA phase-separated organelles with dual applications: as therapeutic delivery vehicles for targeted treatment approaches and as tools for enhancing protein production efficiency in bacterial systems. For his contributions, he was awarded the Lior Merkin award for excellence in applied mathematics and the Gutwirth foundation fellowship.

Research Interests

Naor’s research interest lies at the intersection of biophysics and bioengineering. Bioengineering is an emerging field focused on designing and modifying biological systems to address challenges in medicine, agriculture, and environmental science. By combining engineering principles with biological insights, bioengineers aim to develop innovative solutions from targeted drug delivery systems to drought-resistant crops and novel environmental cleanup methods. Biophysics, on the other hand, applies the principles of physics to unravel the mechanisms that control biological processes, combining theoretical models with experimental techniques to explore the physical basis of life from molecules to whole organisms.

During his PhD, Naor focused on phase-separated biological systems, a growing research area that leverages concepts from polymer physics to explain how molecules spontaneously self-assemble into functional cellular structures. At MIT, his research now harnesses quantum physics to engineer new capabilities within biological systems, enhancing our ability to control biological functions for therapeutic applications.

Select Publications

Granik, N., Weiss, L. E., Nehme, E., Levin, M., Chein, M., Perlson, E., … & Shechtman, Y. (2019). Single-particle diffusion characterization by deep learning. Biophysical journal, 117(2), 185-192.

Granik, N., Katz, N., Willinger, O., Goldberg, S., & Amit, R. (2022). Formation of synthetic RNA protein granules using engineered phage-coat-protein-RNA complexes. Nature Communications, 13(1), 6811.

Kikuchi, N., Willinger, O., Granik, N., Gal, R., Navon, N., Ackerman, S., … & Amit, R. (2022). A Cell-Free Assay for Rapid Screening of Inhibitors of hACE2-Receptor–SARS-CoV-2-Spike Binding. ACS Synthetic Biology, 11(4), 1389-1396.

Katz, N., Tripto, E., Granik, N., Goldberg, S., Atar, O., Yakhini, Z., … & Amit, R. (2021). Overcoming the design, build, test bottleneck for synthesis of nonrepetitive protein-RNA cassettes. Nature communications, 12(1), 1576.