Elena Poverenov
Researcher A+ (Equivalent of Full Professor)
Head of Advanced Materials and Agro-nanotechnology Research Center
Volcani Institute, Agricultural Research Organization (ARO)
tel: +972-39683354 , +972-506220070, 
e-mail: elenap@volcani.agri.gov.il

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Elena Poverenov earned her B.Sc. (summa cum laude) in Medicinal Chemistry from Bar Ilan University in 2001. Elena Poverenov received her MS. and PhD in Organic Chemistry at Weizmann Institute of Science in Prof. David Milstein lab, the laureate of Prize Israel. Her MS. work was focused on the synthesis and reactivity of complexes based on PCN-type ligands and her PhD dissertation was titled "Reactive Species Stabilized by Complexation to Pt- group Metals".  In 2009, she was awarded the Clore Foundation's Post-Doctoral Fellowship and joined Prof. Michael Bendikov's group at Weizmann Institute, where she worked on conductive polymers. ​

     In 2011, Elena joined the Food Science department at Volcani Institute Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), focusing on the study and design of advanced nanostructures based on natural polymers. She focuses on the development of advanced systems for the rational delivery of active agents in food, medicine, and agriculture,  edible coatings for the enhancement of quality in agricultural products, bioactive gels, biodegradable films, and  "contact active" surfaces for the prevention of food cross-contamination. Her research lab developed several new concepts that made a high general impact on the material and agricultural sciences worldwide. In 2018, Elena, together with her colleagues established and currently serves as the Head of the Multidisciplinary Research Center for Advanced Materials and Agro-nanotechnology. Elena has published over 80 articles in leading international journals, among them the top scientific journals in her research fields and multidisciplinary journals such as Nature, JACS, ACS Nano, Green Chemistry, Chemistry of Materials, Carbohydrate Polymers, etc. Elena's team introduced new fundamental concepts in carbohydrate research that made a high scientific impact worldwide. These discoveries led to numerous applications, among them foliar plant treatment, "in-cell" editing of plants without integration into a host genome, eliciting natural plant defense mechanisms, using plants for biosynthesis of health-promoting compounds, improving food quality and safety, tissue engineering, transdermal drug delivery, and developing new medicines. Since 2011, Elena has mentored 16 MSc students (12 have already graduated), 9 PhD students (6 have graduated), and 16 postdoctoral fellows. She obtained 41 international and national grants (25 as a PI) with a total budget of ~11M$ from EU, BARD, BARD-NIFA, GFI, Israel-China, ICA, and Ministries of Health, Science, Innovation, and Agriculture. For introducing new research directions, Elena received numerous awards among them "Awardee for Research in Food and Agriculture" from International Agropolis and Olam Foundation (2017), the prestigious Yigal Alon Prize for contribution to the Israeli Society in the Field of Food and Agricultural Research (2020) and Researcher of the Year Prize (2022). Elena was recently selected as a national nominee for the International Frontiers Planet Prize (2024).

      Elena' s group is working on the edge of fields, Material Science and Biopolymers with Biology and Biochemistry. Her main expertise is polysaccharides and saccharide-bearing materials. Her research is built on a deep understanding of the fundamentals of glycochemistry and glycobiology that allows mechanistic insights and the design of advanced materials toward far-reaching scientific and applicative prospects. Elena introduced new fundamental concepts that made a high scientific impact worldwide. Her discovery of a non-classic "fully immersed" encapsulation mode evidenced the formation of previously unexploited complexes of cyclodextrins with entirely polar small molecules. Elena's team also developed a fundamental strategy for the rational modification of poly and oligosaccharides. This strategy offers a platform for the formation of diverse self-assembled materials with remarkable structural adaptation. Structural flexibility provides these materials with cross-phase transfer aptitude to bring active payload across biological barriers, such as plant epidermis, human skin, and cell membranes. Such capacities offer numerous applications, among them transdermal drug delivery, foliar plant treatment, "in-cell" editing without integration into a host genome, tissue engineering, and development of new medicines.