Debbie Lindell

Debbie Lindell is the Dresner Chair in life sciences and medicine at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and a Simons Foundation SCOPE Investigator. Dr. Lindell explores the interactions between viruses and their hosts in marine environments – from the Red Sea to the North Pacific Ocean. Her research uses a combination of laboratory experimentation, oceanographic fieldwork, and molecular biology to investigate the ecology, physiology and evolution of host-virus interactions, with the goal of understanding how these interactions impact the ecological roles of both cyanobacteria and cyanophages in ocean ecosystems. The Lindell lab focuses primarily on the marine cyanobacteria, Synechococcus, and Prochlorococcus, abundant primary producers of global importance, and the viruses that infect them.

Dr. Lindell holds a M.S. and Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Interuniversity Institute of Marine Sciences. She completed postdoctoral research training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology studying the physiological and evolutionary implications of photosynthesis genes in phages that infect Prochlorococcus. Dr. Lindell received the Yigal Alon Fellowship from the Israel Council for Higher Education (2007-2010), the Robert J. Shillman Career Advancement Chair from the Technion (2007-2012) and the Krill prize for scientific excellence from the Wolf Foundation (2009). Recently, Dr. Lindell received the 2022 “Morton and Beverley Rechler” Prize for Excellence in Research at the Technion.

Visit the Lindell Lab website for more information about their work.

“I am excited to be part of Schmidt Sciences’ OBVI to help shape the program. I am particularly looking forward to working with innovative scientists to gain a fundamental understanding of ocean biogeochemistry and the ability to accurately model and predict ocean carbon cycling.”