Research Interests:

Cuticular mechano sensors in spiders. The spider cuticle is covered by hundreds of thousands of cuticular-sensory structures. These react to a wide range of mechanical stimuli with remarkable sensitivity and specificity. They also preferentially transfer only biologically relevant information to the central nervous system (CNS) and filter out the background noise, thus allowing interpretation of complex signals with relatively little processing by the CNS. These properties are determined by the chemistry and structure of the cuticle, and thus represent a form of ‘intelligent’ material design. We study the relation between the structure and the mechanical properties of the cuticle in the sensors with correlation to their biological functions. The research is performed in collaboration with Prof. Friedrich Barth, from the University of Vienna.

Ph.D. in Chemistry under the mentorship of Prof. Lia Addadi and Prof. Steve Weiner, Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. Thesis topic: “The formation of transient amorphous calcium carbonate in biomineralization and its transformation into calcite”

MSc in Chemistry under the mentorship of Prof. Lia Addadi and Prof. Steve Weiner, Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. Thesis topic: “Transient amorphous calcium carbonate in sea urchin skeleton”

2010

E. Zolotoyabko, E. N. Caspi, J. S. Fieramosca, R. B. Von Dreele, F. Marin, G. Mor, Y. Politi, L. Addadi, S. Weiner (2010).
The differences between bond lengths in biogenic and geological calcite.
Crystal Growth and Design. DOI: 10.1021/cg901195t

Y. Politi, D. Bachelor, P. Zaslansky, B. Chmelka, J. Weaver, Sagi, S. Weiner and L. Addadi (2010).
The role of the magnesium ion in the stabilization of biogenic amorphous calcium carbonate: A structure-function investigation
Chemistry of Materials, 22 (1), 161–166

2009

C. E. Killian, R. A. Metzler, Y. Gong, I. C. Olson, J. Aizenberg, Y. Politi, F. H. Wilt, A. Scholl, A.Young, S. N. Coppersmith, and P.U.P.A. Gilbert (2009).
The mechanism of calcite co-orientation in the sea urchin tooth
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 131 (51), pp 18404–18409

S. Weiner, J. Mahamid, Y. Politi, Y. Ma and L. Addadi (2009).
Overview of the Amorphous Precursor Phase Strategy in Biomineralization.
Frontiers Materials Science in China. 3, 104-108.

Y. Ma, B. Aichmayer, O. Paris, P. Fratzl, R. Metzler, Y. Politi, L. Addadi, PUPA Gilbert and S. Weiner (2009).
The Grinding Tip of the Sea Urchin Tooth: Exquisite Control over Calcite Crystal Orientation and Mg Distribution.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 106, 6048-6053

2008

Y. Politi, R. A. Metzler, M. Abrecht, B. Gilbert, F.H. Wilt, I. Sagi, L. Addadi, S. Weiner, and P. U. P. A. Gilbert (2008).
Transformation mechanism of amorphous calcium carbonate into calcite in the sea urchin larval spicule.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 105, 17362-17366.

L. Addadi, Y. Politi, F. Nudelman and S. Weiner (2008).
Biomineralization Design Strategies and Mechanisms of Mineral Formation: Operating at the Edge of Instability.
In: Engineering of Crystalline Materials Properties State-of-the-Art in Modeling, Design and Applications. Eds. Juan J. Novoa, Dario Braga and Lia Addadi, NATO Science for Peace and Security Series B: Physics and Biophysics, pages 1-15.

2007

Y. Politi, J. Mahamid, H. Goldberg, S. Weiner and L. Addadi (2007).
Asprich mollusk shell protein: in vitro experiments aimed at elucidating function in CaCO3 crystallization.
Crystal Engineering Communications 9, 1171-1177.

2006

Y. Politi, Y. Levi-Kalisman, S. Raz, F. Wilt, L. Addadi, S. Weiner and I. Sagi (2006).
Structural Characterization of the Transient Amorphous Calcium Carbonate Precursor Phase in Sea Urchin Embryos.
Advanced Functional Materials 16, 1289-1298.

2004

Y. Politi, T. Arad, E. Klein, S. Weiner and L. Addadi (2004).
Sea Urchin Spine Calcite Forms via a Transient Amorphous Calcium Carbonate Phase.
Science 306, 1161-1164.