Born in Tel Aviv in 1975, Prof. Rotem Sorek conducted his undergraduate and graduate studies at Tel Aviv University, earning a PhD with distinction in human genetics in 2006. After conducting postdoctoral studies in the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in Berkeley, CA, he joined the Weizmann Institute in 2008. He was promoted to Associate Professor on 2014 and to Full Professor on 2018, and became the director of the Knell Family Center for Microbiology in October 2019. 

Prof. Sorek investigates the molecular mechanisms providing bacteria with protection against phages, collectively known as the "immune system" of bacteria. He is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, the European Academy of Microbiology, EMBO, and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. He received multiple awards to acknowledge his work, including most recently the Humboldt Award (2023) and the HFSP Nakasone award (2023).