Iftach was born on a farm in Israel, growing Mangos and Avocados. He completed his B.Sc., M.Sc. in Biology and Biotechnology in 2001 and 2003. He received his PhD in Microbiology and Biotechnology from Tel Aviv University (TAU) in 2007. As a doctoral student with Itai Benhar he developed a means of immune-targeting photogenic bactria and cancer using filamentous phages. As a postdoctoral fellow with Shuguang Zhang (2008-2011) at MIT he worked on the development of fusion proteins of hydrogenase. Back at TAU, Iftach is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Life Sciences, School of Plant Sciences, and Food Security. He teaches undergraduate students the beauty of photosynthesis and metabolic diversity in microbes. In the lab, Iftach enjoys fixing broken equipment that the students constantly provide and helping a bit with every project.