the team

Segev received his Ph.D. in Psychology (Psychobiology) from Tel-Aviv University in 2009.
He then completed his postdoctoral training in the Gallo Research Center at the University
of California, San Francisco, and specialized in the research of drug and alcohol addiction.
Segev joined the School of Psychological Sciences and the Sagol School of Neuroscience
as a Faculty member in 2012.

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Short Bio

Nofar completed her M.Sc. in neuroscience in 2018 in Tel Aviv University. Her M.Sc. research project, conducted in the Barak lab, focused on the effect of nicotine-related memories from adolescence on alcohol drinking in adulthood. In her current project, as a PhD candidate, she aims to decipher the role of FKBP5, an important modulator of the HPA axis, in alcohol addiction and specifically in processes related to relapse and to the formation and reconsolidation of alcohol memories.

Mirit completed her B.Sc. in the interdisciplinary Biology and Philosophy study
of consciousness at TAU and proceeded to M.Sc. in Neurobiology and
Biotechnology, where she explored the field of antibodies engineering for
neurodegenerative diseases. Mirit joined the Barak lab as a Ph.D. candidate,
and currently, she is working on the molecular and cellular effects of
chronic alcohol consumption on myelin formation and oligodendrocytes
and their role in alcohol-drinking behaviors.

Rani is a PhD student in the Sagol School of Neuroscience. He obtained his B.A. in
behavioral sciences from The College of Management Academic Studies and his MS.c.
in neurobiology from Tel Aviv University. During his MS.c. Rani led a translational study
where we developed a human procedure to alter appetitive memories by employing
counterconditioning during memory reconsolidation. In his PhD Rani focuses on the
neurobehavioral formation and manifestation of habits in humans and in particular on
the transition from goal directed to habitual action control. He is using behavioral,
psychophysiological and multi modal neuroimaging methods to characterize habit
learning at both the group and individual levels.

Simona completed her BSc in Biology at the Tel Aviv university and later proceeded to MSc in Zoology which focused on three-dimensional exploration of various rodents. Simona joined the Barak lab as a PhD candidate and her research project focuses on the role of the growth factor FGF2 in alcohol addiction. She investigates the involvement of FGF2 and its receptor, FGFR1 in alcohol-related behaviors, and the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie their involvement.

Anat received her B.A. in Psychology from Tel-Aviv University in 2017.  After
graduation, she worked in a medical cannabis pharmaceutical companies in
Israel. Anat's research focuses on characterizing the role of the endo-
cannabinoids system in alcohol use disorder, and in the reconsolidation of alcohol-
associated memories.

Yael completed her B.Sc. in Psychobiology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and joined the Segev Barak lab in 2018, as an M.Sc. student.
Yael’s research is focused on identification of the neural networks related to alcohol relapse. In her work, Yael identifies and manipulates specific neural ensembles that are involved in alcohol-related memory reconsolidation in a rat model, as a part of an BSF-funded project in collaboration with Bruce Hope from NIDA-NIH.

Donia completed her B.A in Psychology and Biology in 2018 at Tel Aviv University, and proceeded to MA degree in Psychobiology. She is studying the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie the transition from goal-directed to habitual behavior in alcohol addiction.

Coral completed her BSc studies at the Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, in 2020. She is studying the molecular mechanisms of alcohol and drug-related memories in addiction.

Matar completed her BSc in Psychobiology at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and joined the Segev Barak lab as an MSc student in 2020. Her research focuses on the role of FGF2 in the neurobiological mechanisms of alcohol addiction, specifically at the transition from moderate (goal-directed) to compulsive (habitual) alcohol drinking.