January 2026: Sheinin awarded the Rappaport prize for outstanding students in biomedical research

Congratulations to Ron Sheinin, Edmond J. Safra PhD student fellow (Sharan lab, Computer Science & AI, and Madi lab, Medical & Health Sciences), who was awarded the Rappaport Prize for Outstanding Doctoral Student for Excellence in the field of Biomedical Research. The prize is awarded each year to scientists and to PhD students for groundbreaking or innovative research which has the potential to advance the health of mankind.

Ron Sheinin’s research focuses on developing advanced computational and machine learning tools for analyzing gene expression at the single cell level. His work aims to uncover biological and immune processes that drive complex diseases, particularly within the tumor microenvironment, where many different cell types interact in dynamic and poorly understood ways. Specifically, Ron has developed AI based methods to identify changes in biological pathways. These pathways are groups of genes that work together to carry out essential cellular functions such as cell division, cellular signaling, and immune responses. His tools enable the study of how these pathways change across different cell types and disease conditions. In addition, his research provides a systematic method for analyzing interactions between distinct cell populations within tumors, allowing direct comparison of how these interactions differ between healthy and diseased tissue. In collaboration with the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), this method was applied to an aggressive brain cancer model, glioma, uncovering regulatory mechanisms that may help improve the effectiveness of biological therapies.