Tel-Hai University · Galilee

Biology that reports back from the field

We engineer living systems to sense the world around them – then read what they report, optically, from a distance, where the decision actually has to be made.

Live readout · demo

SPECTRAL RESPONSE

509nm0.84

540nm0.61

560nm0.38

● TARGET DETECTED · 1.2 km

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01 — The Lab

From living systems to measurable signals

The Engelberg Lab explores how engineered biological systems can sense, respond to, and communicate with the physical world. We combine synthetic biology, bioengineering, material science and optical sensing to understand how biological activity becomes measurable information.

Every reliable biological readout we have was built for a bench. Our work is getting it outside.

Research directions

2025

Established · Tel-Hai

1.2km

Target read range

Open

M.Sc & Ph.D positions

02 — The Challenge

The signal is there. We need to find it, read it, and act on it.

Three things break the moment you step outside the laboratory.

PROBLEM 01

We can't act on what we can't see.

Biological responses are often hidden at the molecular or cellular level.

We turn them into signals that can be detected fast; with optical and engineered outputs

PROBLEM 02

Lab performance often fails in the field.

Real environments are messy and hold background signals which interfere.

We build systems that still work when conditions are no longer controlled

PROBLEM 03

Information that stays in the sample is not enough.

Detection only matters if the information gets out and reaches the operator, scientist, farmer, clinician, or decision-maker.

We connect biology to cameras, sensors, computation, and remote platforms; creating biological intelligence

03 — The Chain

From microscale to mission impact

A measurement survives five handovers before it becomes a decision. We work on all of them.

Bio-Sensing Tools

Engineered cells that respond to a defined target.

Optical Readout

Hyperspectral and laser-speckle imaging turn that response into data.

Wireless Link

The reading leaves the sample with nobody standing next to it.

Edge Analytics

On-site processing separates real signal from environmental noise.

Decision

A result that reaches whoever must act, in time to matter.

04 — Research

Four directions, one question

How do you get a living system to tell you something true about the world – remotely, reliably, and outside a controlled environment?

01Biological Sensing Systems→ 02Bacterial Biosensors→ 03Living & Hybrid Materials→ 04Advanced Optical Readouts→

Illustration: an engineered bacterium on a microchip, its biological signal read by electronics and an optical fiber

Biological Sensing Systems

Deployable, modular platforms that turn biology into actionable data — built to be carried, mounted and left in place.

Illustration: a target molecule binds a receptor on an engineered bacterium, switching on a genetic circuit that makes the cell glow green and sends a signal to a data panel

Bacterial Biosensors

Engineered microbes with responsive sensing circuits that detect targets and report with precision.

Illustration: a living material in which bacteria are embedded in a fiber mesh, with one region glowing green and another orange in response

Living & Hybrid Materials

Biology–material interfaces and living materials for sensing and response in dynamic environments.

Illustration: an optical sensor images glowing bacteria on a chip and turns the light into a spectrum and data readout

Advanced Optical Readouts

Hyperspectral and laser-speckle imaging for spectral, dynamic and quantitative biological sensing.

05 — Join Us

So, what do you want to work on?

We are looking for

Why join us

Let's build sensing solutions that matter.

Send us your CV and a short note about what you would like to work on.