I was born in Madrid, Spain. I completed my B.SC. in Chemistry and Biology Sciences at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel and now I am a current Ph.D. student (direct track). My hobbies include reading, playing the piano, boxing, padel (really cool sport played in Spain!) and cooking.

My reasearch goals are to determine the composition and structures present in biofilms as well as to better understand their formation process and mechanical stability. For that              purpose, I study both the biofilm components in vitro as well as the whole biofilm in vivo.                                                  In addition, I investigate the effect of different bacterial components in the formation of                                      different minerals.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Publications:

Azulay, D. N., Fraenkel, M., & Chai, L. (2023). A Bacterial Biofilm Polysaccharide Affects the Morphology and Structure of Calcium Oxalate Crystals. Crystal Growth & Design.

Hayet, S., Ghrayeb, M., Azulay, D. N., Shpilt, Z., Tshuva, E. Y., & Chai, L. (2023). Titanium complexes affect Bacillus subtilis biofilm formation. RSC Medicinal Chemistry.

Azulay DN, Chai L. Review of: Quantifying fish otolith mineralogy for trace-element chemistry studies. Qeios [Internet]. 2022.

Azulay DN, Späker O, Ghrayeb M, Wilsch-Bräuninger M, Scoppola E, Burghammer M, Zizak I, Bertinetti L, Politi Y, Chai L. Multiscale X-ray study of Bacillus subtilis biofilms reveals interlinked structural hierarchy and elemental heterogeneity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America [Internet]. 2022;119 (4).

Azulay DN, Ghrayeb M, Ktorza IBS, Nir I, Nasser R, Harel YS, Chai L. Colloidal-like aggregation of a functional amyloid protein. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics [Internet]. 2020;22 :23286-23294.

Nir I, Lybman A, Hayet S, Azulay DN, Ghrayeb M, Liddaweih S, Chai L. Bacillus subtilis biofilms characterized as hydrogels. Insights on water uptake and water binding in biofilms. Soft Matter [Internet]. 2020.

Azulay DN, Chai L. Calcium Carbonate Formation in the Presence of Biopolymeric Additives. Journal of Visualized Experiments [Internet]. 2019;(147).

Azulay DN, Abbasi R, Ktorza IBS, Remennik S, M AR, Chai L. Biopolymers from a Bacterial Extracellular Matrix Affect the Morphology and Structure of Calcium Carbonate Crystals. Crystal Growth and Design [Internet]. 2018;18 (9) :5582–5591.