Staple crop seeds, which are a major source of amino acids (AA) for both food and feed, are deficient in several essential amino acids. Attempts to use classical breeding or transgenic approaches to increase their levels often resulted in poor seed quality and germination vigor. This might be due to the fact that despite having well characterized biochemical pathways little is known about the AA network developmental constraints, interactions, response to environmental change, and the overall contribution to plant fitness and adaptation. Hence, my primary research aims are to uncover the metabolic and genetic mechanisms driving the AA network's response to multiple cellular demands and to environmental changes as well as to understand the evolutionary forces and developmental constraints that shaped them. To this end, my lab is focused on dissection of the genetic architecture that underlies the natural variation of seed AA related traits across multiple species under various environmental conditions and to evaluate their evolutionary context. To achieve these goals we employ GWAS and classical linkage mapping combined with molecular and genetic approaches, functional genomics, and bioinformatics. My lab's long term goals are to be able to model the genetic and metabolic response of the AA network to different abiotic stresses. This information will provide the basis for genetic improvement through both transgenic approaches and classical breeding programs to ensure sustainable high quality seed.

• Distinction scholarship for teaching assistance during M.Sc. studies. Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv Israel (1999)
• M.Sc. summa cum laude. Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel (2001)
• Discussion leader, Plant Metabolic Engineering. Gordon Research Seminar (GRS), Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, USA (2011)
• Postdoctoral fellowship award - Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (BARD), USA-Israel (2010 - 2012)
• Elected chair of the Plant Metabolic Engineering. Gordon Research Seminar (GRS), Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, USA (2013)
• Postdoctoral Independent Career Potential Award. Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA (2015)

Cohen L, Karbat I, Gilles N, Froy O, Corzo G, Angelovici R, Gordon D, Gurevitz M. Dissection of the functional surface of an anti-insect excitatory toxin illuminates a putative "hot spot" common to all scorpion beta-toxins affecting Na+ channels. J Biol Chem. 2004 Feb; 279:8206-11.

Bracha-Drori K, Shichrur K, Katz A, Oliva M, Angelovici R, Yalovsky S, Ohad N. Detection of protein-protein interactions in plants using bimolecular fluorescence complementation. Plant J. 2004 Nov; 40(3):419-27.

Stepansky A, Less H, Angelovici R, Aharon R, Zhu X, Galili G. Lysine catabolism, an effective versatile regulator of lysine level in plants. Amino Acids. 2006 Mar; 30(2):121-125 (Review).

Fait A*, Angelovici R*, Less H, Ohad I, Urbanczyk-Wochniak E, Fernie AR, Galili G. Arabidopsis seed development and germination is associated with temporally distinct metabolic switches. Plant Physiol. 2006 Nov; 142(3):839-54.

Angelovici R*, Fait A*, Zhu X, Szymanski J, Feldmesser J, Fernie AR, and Galili G. Deciphering transcriptional and metabolic networks associated with lysine metabolism during Arabidopsis seed development. Plant Physiol. 2009 Dec; 151(4):2058-2072.

Angelovici R, Galili G, Fernie A, and Fait A. Seed desiccation: a bridge between maturation and germination. Trends In Plant Sci. 2010 Apr; 15(4):211-8 (Review).

Less H, Angelovici R*, Tzin V, Galili G. Principal transcriptional regulation and genome-wide system interactions of the Asp-family and aromatic amino acid networks of amino acid metabolism in plants. Amino Acids. 2010 Oct; 39(4):1023-8 (Review).

AAngelovici R, Fait A, Fernie AR, Galili G. A seed high-lysine trait is negatively associated with the TCA cycle and slows down Arabidopsis seed germination. New Phytol. 2011 Jan; 189(1): 148–159.

Less H*, Angelovici R*, Tzin V*, Galili G. Coordinated gene networks regulating Arabidopsis plant metabolism in response to various stresses and nutritional cues. Plant Cell. 2011 Apr; 23(4):1264-71.

Avin-Wittenberg T, Tzin V, Less H, Angelovici R, Galili G. A friend in need is a friend indeed: Understanding stress-associated transcriptional networks of plant metabolism using cliques of coordinately expressed genes. Plant Signal Behav. 2011 Sep; 6(9): 1294-6.

Fait A, Nunes Nesi A, Angelovici R, Lehmann M, Pham PA, Song L, Haslam RP, Napier JA, Galili G, Fernie AR. Targeted enhancement of glutamate to gamma-aminobutyrate conversion in Arabidopsis seeds affects C-N balance and storage reserves in a development-dependent manner. Plant Physiol. 2011 Nov; 157(3):1026-42.

Avin-Wittenberg T, Tzin V, Angelovici R, Less H, Galili G. Deciphering energy-associated gene networks operating in the response of Arabidopsis plants to stress and nutritional cues. Plant J. 2012 Jun; 70(6):954-66.

Osorio S, Vallarino J, Szecowka M, Ufaz S, Tzin V, Angelovici R, Galili G, Fernie AR. Alteration of the interconversion of pyruvate and malate in the plastid or cytosol of ripening tomato fruit invoke diverse consequences on sugar, yet similar effects on cellular organic acid, metabolism and transitory starch accumulation. Plant Physiol. 2013 Feb; 161(2): 628-643.

Angelovici R , Lipka A.E, Deason N, Gonzales–Jorge S, Lin H, Cepela J, Buell R, Gore M and DellaPenna D. Genome-wide analysis of branched-chain amino acid levels in Arabidopsis seed. Plant Cell. 2013 Dec; 25(12):4827-43.

Gonzalez-Jorge S, Ha SH, Magallanes-Lundback M, Gilliland LU, Zhou A, Lipka AE, Nguyen YN, Angelovici R, Lin H, Cepela J, Little H, Buell CR, Gore MA, Dellapenna D. Carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase4 is a negative regulator of beta-carotene content in Arabidopsis seeds. Plant Cell. 2013. Dec; 25(12):4812-26.

Galili G, Avin-Wittenberg T, Angelovici R, Fernie AR. The role of photosynthesis and amino acid metabolism in the energy status during seed development. Frontier In Plant Science. 2014 Sep; 5(447).