Rotem Sorek

Professor Rotem Sorek is the recipient of the 2025 Gruber Genetics Prize

Rotem Sorek is a Professor of Molecular Genetics at the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he heads the laboratory of microbial genomics and systems biology. He is also a Visiting Professor at the LMU University, Munich. 

Sorek completed his B.Sc in Life Sciences, M.Sc. in Molecular Evolution, and a PhD in Human Genetics, all in Tel Aviv University. He joined the Weizmann Institute of Science in 2008 after completing post doctoral studies in Berkeley, California.

Prof. Sorek is known for his discoveries on the immune system of bacteria, which explained how the human innate immune system evolved. His studies opened a new field at the junction between immunology and microbiology, engaging numerous laboratories around the globe. Sorek is also known for his discovery that viruses can use small molecules to communicate and coordinate their infection dynamics.

Sorek holds over 45 patents and patent applications, many of which have been licensed to biotech companies. Technologies invented in the Sorek lab were the basis for the establishment of several start-up companies in the biotech and agrotech fields.

Sorek received many prestigious prizes including the Gruber Prize in Genetics (2025), the Robert Koch Prize (2025), the Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology from the National Academy of Sciences (2025), the Rothschild Prize (2024), the Max Planck-Humboldt award (2023), and the HFSP Nakasone award (2023). He is an elected member in the US National Academy of Sciences (2025), the German National German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (2022), and EMBO (2018).