Ronen Gabizon is a chemist and postdoctoral fellow at the University of California at Berkeley. His research, conducted under the supervision of Professor Carlos J. Bustamante, uses single-molecule methods to study the activity of molecular motors such as RNA polymerase, with a focus on characterizing the transcription of nucleosomal DNA by RNA polymerase II at the single-molecule level.

Ronen received his PhD from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His dissertation, “Activating Proteins by Shifting Their Oligomerization Equilibrium: A New Approach to Drug Design,” was written under the supervision of Prof. Assaf Friedler. The work had two distinct focuses. The first was on the development of peptides that activate the tumor suppressor p53 by stabilizing its active tetrameric state, identification of p53-binding peptides via peptide array screening and characterization of that binding using quantitative biophysical techniques. The second focus was on using peptide array screening to improve anti-HIV peptides aimed at the viral protein HIV-1 integrase and developing of shorter and more stable peptides that retain the activity of the original peptide. Ronen received the Chorafas Foundation Award for this distinguished, innovative research.

As an undergraduate, Ronen participated in the Amirim program for outstanding students, completing his BSc with honors in the Chemistry Department of the Hebrew University. His BSc thesis, “Orientation of Semiconductor Nanorods,” was written under the supervision Prof. Uri Banin.

Ronen’s work has been published in Chemical Communications, Frontiers in Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry Communications and Biopolymers.