Month: January 2015

Technion and Microsoft launch Internet of Things joint venture, which simulates a startup work environment

Among the first developments: Smartphone control using hand gestures during driving; a guide application for the visually impaired; a musical glove that responds to colors

Today the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, together with Microsoft Israel R&D center, launched a special initiative in a lab for developing software and systems at the Technion’s computer science faculty. The initiative will focus on the field of Internet of Things and will be used by students for developing innovative technologies during their computer science studies.

The physical appearance and technology infrastructure at the lab are designed to resemble the work environment of a startup company, with all the latest computer equipment, including smartphones and tablets for running applications during their development. The clean design lines of lab simulate those of a real high-tech company, and give the students the feel of an authentic development environment of an R&D center or a startup company.

The first course held at the lab was on programming systems in an Arduino environment, under the guidance of Prof. Yossi Gil with support from Microsoft experts. As part of the course, which was designed to challenge the students with independent product building projects, the students designed smart systems combining hardware and software based on Arduino controls, connected to Azure – Microsoft’s cloud. The projects exhibited at the launching of the lab included: a musical glove that responds to color and plays sounds that correspond to various colors; a sensor for using hand gestures to control a telephone during driving; a smartphone application for guiding the visually impaired, and more.

The university is developing the most important resource for Israeli industry,” says Yoram Yaacovi, General Manager of Microsoft R&D Center,

“Highly qualified computer engineers. For this reason it’s important for us to continue initiating projects with Israeli universities, in order to support innovation in academia and to increase the number of graduates who complete their studies each year at the computer science and engineering faculties. Strengthening the ties between academia and industry is vital not only to the universities, but also to industry, which is nurtured by the originality and sharp-mindedness created by Israeli universities year after year. These are the properties that are the growth engine for the Israeli high-tech sector.”

“The course is an incubator for initiative and originality,” says Prof. Yossi Gil, who heads the course. “We give the students the equipment, guidance and tools, in order for them to take the next step. We tell them, ‘You’re talented – surprise us.’”

This endeavor at the computer science faculty is part of the ongoing collaboration between Microsoft’s R&D center and the Technion. In the framework of this collaboration, Microsoft and the Technion have opened an academic research center for ecommerce studies. The lab and the research center are part of U.next – a comprehensive program run by Microsoft’s R&D center, focusing on Israeli academic institutions, students, and researchers. The program includes support for the students, educational programs, research grants, access to Microsoft tools and resources and the hosting of workshops and conferences. The program’s goal is to encourage academic excellence in research and study through leverage of the company’s abilities and resources.

Technion-Israel Institute of Technology research shows for first time inhaled nanoparticles of silicon dioxide increase risk of atherosclerosis; laboratory, manufacturing workers may be at greatest risk.

Nanoparticles, extremely tiny particles measured in billionths of a meter, are increasingly everywhere, and especially in biomedical products. Their toxicity has been researched in general terms, but now a team of Israeli scientists has for the first time found that exposure nanoparticles (NPs) of silicon dioxide (SiO2) can play a major role in the development of cardiovascular diseases when the NP cross tissue and cellular barriers and also find their way into the circulatory system.Their study, published in the December issue of Environmental Toxicology, can be found on-line at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tox.22084/abstract.

The research team was comprised of scientists from the Technion Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Rambam Medical Center, and the Center of Excellence in Exposure Science and Environmental Health (TCEEH).

“Environmental exposure to nanoparticles is becoming unavoidable due to the rapid expansion of nanotechnology,” says the study’s lead author, Prof. Michael Aviram, of the Technion Faculty of Medicine, “This exposure may be especially chronic for those employed in research laboratories and in high tech industry where workers handle, manufacture, use and dispose of nanoparticles. Products that use silica-based nanoparticles for biomedical uses, such as various chips, drug or gene delivery and tracking, imaging, ultrasound therapy, and diagnostics, may also pose an increased cardiovascular risk for consumers as well.”

In this study, researchers exposed cultured laboratory mouse cells resembling the arterial wall cells to NPs of silicon dioxide and investigated the effects. SiO2 NPs are toxic to and have significant adverse effects on macrophages. a type of white blood cell that take up lipids, leading to atherosclerotic lesion development and its consequent cardiovascular events, such as heart attack or  stroke. Macrophages accumulation in the arterial wall under atherogenic conditions such as high cholesterol, triglycerides, oxidative stress – are converted into lipids, or laden “foam cells” which, in turn, accelerate atherosclerosis development.

“Macrophage foam cells accumulation in the arterial wall are a key cell type in the development of atherosclerosis, which is an inflammatory disease” says co-author Dr. Lauren Petrick. “The aims of our study were to gain additional insight into the cardiovascular risk associated with silicon dioxide nanoparticle exposure and discover the mechanisms behind Si02’s induced atherogenic effects on macrophages. We also wanted to use nanoparticles as a model for ultrafine particle (UFP) exposure as cardiovascular disease risk factors.”

Both NPs and UFPs can be inhaled and induce negative biological effects. However, until this study, their effect on the development of atherosclerosis has been largely unknown.  Here, researchers have discovered for the first time that the toxicity of silicon dioxide nanoparticles has a “significant and substantial effect on the accumulation of triglycerides in the macrophages,” at all exposure concentrations analyzed, and that they also “increase oxidative stress and toxicity.”

A recent update from the American Heart Association also suggested that “fine particles” in air pollution leads to elevated risk for cardiovascular diseases. However, more research was needed to examine the role of “ultrafine particles” (which are much smaller than “fine particles”) on atherosclerosis development and cardiovascular risk.

“The number of nano-based consumer products has risen a thousand fold in recent years, with an estimated world market of $3 trillion by the year 2020,” conclude the researchers. “This reality leads to increased human exposure and interaction of silica-based nanoparticles with biological systems. Because our research demonstrates a clear cardiovascular health risk associated with this trend, steps need to be taken to help ensure that potential health and environmental hazards are being addressed at the same time as the nanotechnology is being developed.