Serafima (Sima)
Dubnov

Serafima (Sima) Dubnov is a PhD student in the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem under the collaborative supervision of Prof. Hermona Soreq and Azrieli Early Career Faculty Fellow Dr. Mor Nitzan.

Serafima research combines advanced computational and molecular tools to investigate RNA regulation in the human brain at the level of single cells and cell types.

RNA research has an invaluable clinical potential, offering an opportunity to develop methods for both diagnostics and therapeutics. Sima is constructing a unique short RNA-Seq dataset of neurons and microglia extracted from live human brain samples in an attempt to identify cell type specific regulation by microRNAs and tRNA fragments. She is also developing a novel RNA-Seq data analysis approach based on information theory and hopes that her research will contribute to the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.

Sima was born and raised in Moscow. She made aliyah after completing one year of a BSc in linguistics at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. After spending a year learning Hebrew, she started a BSc in psychobiology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and subsequently continued on the direct PhD track in neuroscience. In addition to her research, Sima also works as a teaching assistant at the Hebrew University and volunteers as a summer camp tutor in ALUT, the National Israeli Society for Children and Adults with Autism. Since the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine, Sima has been helping new immigrants from both countries integrate into Israel. In her free time, she enjoys travelling, especially visiting her family in Moscow.