Foraminifera lab

Research Team

Dr. Sarit Ashckenazi-Polivoda’s research focuses on benthic foraminifera as sensitive bioindicators of environmental change in marine ecosystems. The research investigates modern and ancient foraminiferal communities to assess ecological responses to natural variability and anthropogenic stressors. By integrating fieldwork, taxonomy, geochemistry, molecular phylogeny, ecological modeling, and culturing experiments, the work aims to reconstruct past ocean conditions, monitor present-day ecosystem health, and contribute to the sustainable management of coastal and marine environments. Current projects focus on Mediterranean and Red Sea coastal habitats, including seagrass meadows and rocky shores, exploring their role in monitoring and biodiversity conservation.
Dr. Sarit Ashckenazi-Polivoda

Scientific Director & Chief Scientist

Yuli-Devin
Yuli Devin

Lab Manager

PhD Students

Lorenzo Martello pursued his Master's degree in Chemistry at University of Trieste (Italy), focusing on environmental analysis. He later worked as Early Stage Researcher within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), applying advanced mass spectrometry techniques to detect contaminants in food and environmental matrices. He is currently a PhD candidate at Ben-Gurion University (Be’er Sheva, Israel) investigating the presence of emerging contaminants in benthic foraminifera.
Lorenzo Martello
Ofir-Yehoshafat
Ofir Yehoshafat
Aishwarya-Ajmera
Aishwarya Ajmera
Ido-Beja
Ido Beja
Moran-Kaminer
Moran Kaminer

Undergraduate Students - Reasearch Project

ADI-LERER
Adi Lerer

Former Students

Sara Marconato

PhD, 2026

Yahel-Eshed
Yahel Eshed

MSc, 2024

Sneha Manda

PhD, 2024

Jenipher Masawa

MSc, 2021

Libby-Ron-Yankovich
Libby Ron Yankovich

MSc, 2014

Nitzan Mizrahi

MSc, 2017

Tamara Sosnitsky

MSc, 2024

Adi Avneri

MSc, 2022

What we do

From field sampling to microscopy and data analysis, we study foraminifera as powerful indicators of environmental conditions and human impact. Highlights: Fieldwork • Lab processing • Imaging • Species ID • Data workflows

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diving foraminifera lab