Scienceאלי קשת

Eli Keshet

Eli Keshet is an Israeli biochemist and professor of molecular biology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who studies how new blood vessels form, and he won the 2021 Israel Prize for Life Sciences.

born 1945Research on blood vessel formationThe role of VEGFChanging oxygen treatment of premature babies2021 Israel Prize for Life Sciences

Occupation: biochemist
Education: Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Eli Keshet was born in 1945 in Netanya

Eli Keshet was born in 1945 in Netanya to Leah and Akiva Bekesht. He attended Tchernichovsky High School in Netanya.

He joined the IDF in 1963 and served in the Nahal. At the Hebrew University of Jerusalem he earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry in 1968, a master's in 1969 and a doctorate in 1976. His doctoral work on protein biosynthesis was supervised by Nathan de Groot.

From 1975 to 1979 he did postdoctoral work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Howard Temin, studying the role of viruses in cancer. He was a senior scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1980 and 1981. In 1982 he joined the Hebrew University's medical faculty, became associate professor in 1986 and full professor in 1993.

In 1991 he turned to the study of how new blood vessels form when tissue lacks oxygen. His work identified the role of the factor VEGF in this process. His findings showed that excess oxygen given to premature babies can cause blindness, which changed how they are treated.

He was elected to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 2015. He has published more than 130 papers.