Doron Pinko was born and raised in Kibbutz Neve Harif in the southern Arava desert. Growing up in the Arava allowed her to observe nature closely, shaping her curiosity and passion to understand the natural world. This curiosity led her to choose the unique double major program in natural sciences at Ben-Gurion University, studying earth and life sciences. During her bachelor’s degree, she met her husband, Amit.

As an undergrad, Doron was fascinated by biogeoscience, specifically by rock-building organisms such as foraminifera. Similarly to corals, some foraminifera species host microalgal symbionts and undergo bleaching under thermal stress. Her undergraduate research project focused on the effect of thermal stress on foraminifera and their microalgal symbionts, and the results were summarized in her first published paper. Early observation in this project led to her MSc research, which discovered ‘chloroplasts symbiosis’ (kleptoplasty) in foraminiferal species that were considered non-symbiotic. This discovery has great evolutionary significance for the understanding of symbiosis in foraminifera.

Currently, Doron is continuing her work on symbiosis in foraminifera under the joint supervision of Prof. Sigal Abramovich and Prof. Uri Abdu in the combined PhD track at Ben-Gurion University.