Prof. Tal Mass

Department of Marine Biology
Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences

Field of Research: Coral Physiology, Biomineralization, Biomaterials

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From Coral Skeletons to Ocean Survival

“Most of the world is asking how to help the 50 percent of corals that are dying. In our lab, we ask a different question: What can we learn about the architecture of resilience from the 50 percent surviving extreme environments?”

– Prof. Tali Mass

The Project 

Research initiatives at the University of Haifa are exploring how corals adapt and endure under extreme environments – revealing biological and structural “toolkits of survival” that could help safeguard marine ecosystems. By learning from the world’s toughest corals, we are uncovering design principles of resilience that could also guide how we build and adapt.

 

The Interdisciplinary Center for Material Micro-Characterization, now being established, and the Closed-Circuit Seawater Aquaria Environment Simulator, established in 2015 with the support of the Council of Higher Education, are designed to:

  • Recreate future ocean conditions to study how resilient corals survive.
  • Provide advanced platforms for analyzing organic and inorganic materials at 2D and 3D scales.
  • Train young scientists in applying these insights and technologies across marine and materials sciences.

Fundraising Goals

Your support will help expand the capabilities and impact of these facilities, advancing coral resilience research while equipping the next generation of marine scientists with the skills and tools they need. This includes:

  • Providing scholarships for students conducting advanced research.
  • Acquiring state-of-the-art equipment.
  • Covering essential operational costs.

Meet Tali Mass

I am a marine biologist specializing in coral physiology and biomineralization. I earned my MSc at Bar-Ilan University and my PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I completed my postdoctoral research at Rutgers University, USA, with Prof. Paul Falkowski. 

 

My lab focuses on uncovering the molecular and mineral pathways that drive skeleton formation in calcifying organisms, particularly corals. We concentrate on corals with specific traits and tolerances to environmental conditions, such as those living across wide temperature or depth ranges and those with high tolerance to changes in seawater pH.

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