Dr Sivan Nir

BSc (HUJI), MSc (HUJI), PhD (HUJI)

Postdoctoral Affiliate

College Roles

Postdoctoral Affiliate

Contact

Biography

Dr. Sivan Nir is a chemist specialising in biointerfaces and materials design. She obtained her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, under the guidance of Prof. Meital Reches, where she designed and fabricated nanomaterials with biological functions. Her research focused on developing peptide-based materials, that prevented biofouling, the establishment of biomass on surfaces. Her work was patented and she was awarded with several prizes including the Association of Women in Science scholarship and the prestigious Kaye Innovation Award.

After earning her Ph.D., Dr. Nir continued for a short postdoctoral position where she developed antiviral plastic sheets that inactivated coronaviruses.

Then, she moved to the industry, where she developed bioink formulations for 3D-printed tissues and organs (Collplant Ltd.).

Recently, Dr. Nir was awarded the Blavatnik Family Postdoctoral Fellowship by the British Council and moved to Cambridge to join Dr. Jenny Zhang’s group at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry. Here, she is realizing novel bio-inspired electrochemical antifouling approaches.

Research Interests

Dr. Sivan Nir is mainly interested in studying the mechanical and physical properties of biointerfaces and biofilms. In her current position, she aims to enhance electrochemistry as a tool to study biofilms and control their growth and pathogenicity. Particularly, her research work focuses on coupling electrochemistry with surface characterisation methods while developing innovative electrochemical-responsive coatings that imitate natural mechanisms that arrest and prevent biofouling.