Month: April 2016

Technion-Israel Institute of Technology tells the Passover story in a very new way.

Technion where miracles are brought to life!

Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology Officially Launch Global Cancer Research Initiative

Melanoma, Mesothelioma Are the Focus of First Joint Studies

Drug-carrying “nanoghosts” that battle melanoma and new treatments for malignant mesothelioma will be the focus of the first joint research projects led by NYU Langone Medical Center and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology under a groundbreaking research initiative supported by noted philanthropists and NYU Langone Trustees Laura and Isaac Perlmutter.

NYU Langone and its Perlmutter Cancer Center – which the Perlmutters named in 2014 with a separate gift of more than $50 million – and the Technion established the new partnership last year to advance global collaboration in cancer research and therapeutics. The joint program is positioned to attract additional, world-class support from institutions and individuals dedicated to eradicating cancer through focused and efficient research.

The first $3 million of the Perlmutters’ $9 million donation to the two institutions is earmarked to finance six joint research projects. Co-investigators on each project will receive a two-year, $500,000 grant—$250,000 for each site. The remaining $6 million is designated to establish a state-of-the-art research facility on the Technion campus in Israel to support these and other research projects, primarily in the emerging field of cancer metabolomics, the systematic study of the unique chemical fingerprints that cellular processes leave behind. These processes are both affected by, and can influence, a variety of human diseases, including cancer.

Examining a Novel Approach to Treat Metastatic Melanoma

In the first joint collaboration, NYU Langone and Technion researchers will test the ability of a nanotechnology based on stem cell “nanoghosts” to deliver to the brain a promising treatment for metastatic melanoma, skin cancer that has spread or metastasized, and is often incurable.

In earlier studies, researchers at the Technion took a stem cell, removed its contents, and then shaped a piece of the cell’s outer membrane into a vehicle to deliver treatments into the brain. The idea was to borrow the stem cell’s outer membrane ability to home in on cancer cells. As a fragment of the former stem cell’s membrane, the nanoghost encompasses particular mechanisms that slow it enough to traverse the barrier that filters blood flowing into the brain, and which keeps most drugs from entering.

The nanoghost’s cargo is a microRNA (miR), a stretch of genetic material that fine-tunes genetic messages by blocking the conversion of genes into proteins. First applied by NYU researchers to metastatic melanoma, miR-124a, in particular, blocks the expression of cancer-promoting genes. The joint team’s experiments will seek to determine the feasibility of encapsulating miR-124a in the nanoghost, and study how the vehicle reaches its target in mouse models of the disease.

“Our studies should provide important information on nanoghosts’ general value as drug and gene carriers to the brain, and create potential for new treatment approaches against brain tumors and metastases,” said Professor Marcelle Machluf, PhD, head of the Laboratory for Cancer Drug Delivery & Cell Based Technologies at the Technion, and inventor of the nanoghost with her colleagues there. “The difficulty of delivering agents to the brain represents a major impediment to improving outcomes in patients suffering from brain tumors. Our state-of-the-art nanovehicle promises safer, simpler and more clinically relevant treatments than existing vehicles, which are comprised of polymers or synthetic vesicles which largely lack the ability to enter the brain and to target evolving and changing pathologies.”

“It is much harder to secure funding for this type of high risk, high reward research,” said Eva Hernando-Monge, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Pathology at NYU Langone, a member of the Perlmutter Cancer Center, and leader of the NYU team that first identified miR-124 as a suppressor of the growth of brain metastases. “The Perlmutters’ generous gift gives us the ability to be bold.”

Like the stem cells they are based on, nanoghosts are invisible to the immune system, which means they could potentially be made from donated stem cells, expanded to large numbers in the lab, and not just from the patient’s own supply. In the future, this could enable the stockpiling of nanoghost treatments used off the shelf without fear of immune reactions to treatments based on “foreign” cells.

New Approach to Mesothelioma

The second joint project will investigate whether an enzyme called heparanase can be used to diagnose and treat mesothelioma, a rare cancer that develops in the mesothelium, the protective lining of the lungs and other internal organs of the body. Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), the most common form of the disease, often occurs after exposure to asbestos and is resistant to most therapies.

Heparanase was first identified as a treatment target in 2004 by a team led by Israel Vlodavsky, PhD, one of the project’s co-investigators and professor at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine. Past studies found that patients with high levels of this enzyme in their tumors have lower survival rates after surgery, and that related tumors in mice respond to treatment with heparanase-inhibiting compounds.

The enzyme breaks up molecular chains of heparan sulfate, a building block of the scaffolds that give organs shape and support. Cancer cells use the enzyme to break down tissue barriers around a growing tumor, providing new pathways for the cancer to spread and for the building of blood vessels that supply tumors. In addition, breaking up extracellular matrices releases pro-growth proteins stored there to further drive disease. Furthermore, the joint team has developed the novel theory that heparanase secreted by tumor cells primes local microenvironments in a “vicious” cycle where inflammation and tumor growth drive each other.

The co-investigators at NYU Langone — led by Harvey I. Pass, MD, the Stephen E. Banner Professor of Thoracic Surgery and vice chair for research, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, at NYU Langone, also a member of its Perlmutter Cancer Center — will use tissue samples from its Thoracic Oncology Archives to validate Dr. Vlodavsky’s findings in hopes of eventually evaluating the treatment potential of heparanase-inhibiting compounds in mesothelioma clinical trials. Dr. Pass has been collecting tissue samples from his surgical patients since 1989, when he was head of thoracic oncology at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The collection now houses frozen specimens from more than 350 mesothelioma patients.

“This project, supported through the generosity of the Perlmutters, enables us to collaborate with one of the world’s leading experts on the role of heparanase in cancer, and is crucial in developing new strategies,” Dr. Pass says. “We hope that these experiments can be translated into applications for ongoing funding from the NCI, and enable Phase I trials with new therapeutics that influence heparanase pathways.”

“Our collaboration represents the first attempt to focus on heparanase as a major risk factor in mesothelioma and a valid target for the development of heparanase-inhibiting drugs,” Dr. Vlodavsky says. “In fact, applying a potent inhibitor of the heparanase enzyme we have already demonstrated a most prominent inhibition of tumor progression in mouse models of human mesothelioma, resulting in a pronounced extension of mouse survival. This joint effort provides an opportunity to make important strides in both our fundamental understanding of mesothelioma and in translating this knowledge into therapeutics.”

Student-Built Machines Tell Passover Story (Inspired by Technion Rube Goldberg Video)

Four teams from schools around the world took high honors in the Technion Jewish Day School Challenge, created jointly by RAVSAK and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Their mission: to build a Rube Goldberg machine in the spirit of Pesach (and inspired by the intricate 2015 Technion Rube Goldberg machine). For the uninitiated, a Rube Goldberg machine is a contraption or device that is deliberately over-engineered to perform a simple task in a complicated fashion, generally including a chain reaction.

“The Technion is thrilled to have launched this new initiative together with RAVSAK,” said Technion President Professor Peretz Lavie. “In an ever-changing world we need to find new and relevant ways to connect younger generations of the Jewish people with Israel. What better way to do so than a thought-provoking, fun competition that has a strong STEM education focus? Congratulations to all who participated. I hope to see you all at the Technion – as students – in a few years,” he concluded.

“In partnership with Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, we were able to create an amazing new opportunity for students to blend their commitments to Jewish learning with the sciences, foster a connection to post-secondary education, and prompt them to apply their knowledge of Pesach traditions in a completely innovative way,” said Dr. Marc N. Kramer, RAVSAK’s Co-Executive Director.

More than 600 students from 41 Jewish day schools – located in Europe, North America, Australia, and Africa – participated in the Challenge. The judges marveled at the incredible entries received from around the world, noting with pride and appreciation the amount of time, energy and thought the students put into their creations.

Students followed a rigorous rubric, which called for the machines to ultimately reveal a Seder plate. In the weeks leading up to the Challenge deadline, students tinkered away, and got insider tips from world-renowned Technion Mechanical Engineering Professor Alon Wolf and other Technion faculty.

“I am delighted to see the Technion’s role in inspiring all of the participants to do such great work,” said Prof. Yoram Halevi, Dean of the Technion Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. “You have inspired us, as well, and we hope to see you grow and succeed in your science paths.”

In the closely contested High School category, first place went to the team from Abraham Joshua Heschel High School, in New York City. The judges cited their use of successful energy transfer elements and high creativity level as main reasons for their selection. Second place went to The Weber School in Atlanta, whose entry showed a true understanding for the mechanics involved to create a visually stunning display.

There was a tie for first place in the Middle School category. The entry from the 7th grade team from Bialik College, in Melbourne, Australia, was well-thought out, with many different types of energy transfers – some of which were very unusual for Rube Goldberg machines. The submission of the 6th grade team from Scheck Hillel Community School (North Miami Beach, Florida) was lauded for its creativity, and for energy transfer aspects that were executed properly and efficiently.

Photos/Videos: Videos of the winning Technion Challenge machines can be viewed on the Technion YouTube channel and you can follow all the conversations across social media via #TechnionChallenge.

Technion Cyber Security Research Center Inaugurated

“Technion will no doubt advance the field into new directions,” commented Head of the National Cyber Bureau.

Dr. Eviatar Matania, Head of Israel’s National Cyber Bureau, attended the inauguration ceremony at the Technion of the Cyber Security Research Center alongside Technion President Professor Peretz Lavie. At the ceremony, Dr. Matania said that the Technion was the first institute of higher learning that they approached about setting up the project; “We approached the Technion about establishing a center of this caliber because of its reputation for excellence, and especially the outstanding capabilities and knowledge power coming out of its Faculties of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Computer Engineering Center (TCE). “Its academic capabilities along with its technological prowess that has placed it among the top leading institutes of the world promise that the cyber field will advance into new directions.”

Professor Eli Biham, Head of the Cyber Security Research Center at the Technion (right) with Dr. Eviatar Matania, Head of Israel’s National Cyber Bureau, and Technion President Professor Peretz Lavie.

Professor Eli Biham from Technion’s Faculty of Computer Science will head the new center, which opened its doors last week. Prof. Biham explained that, “Today, Israel and the Technion in particular, are leaders in maintaining the country’s ability to withstand cyber threats. Yet to continue to do this we must promote interdisciplinary research that relies on the capabilities of the Technion. At the center, faculty members from various faculties will investigate the ‘lower layers of cyberspace.’ The study topics will focus on security and explore the weaknesses that endanger systems and methods of protection. The center will foster awareness of these issues and will hold seminars for engineers working in cyber security in order to broaden their knowledge and keep them abreast of the latest developments in the field. We invite industry collaboration and will be happy to host researchers and post-doctorate fellows from Israel and abroad.”

The new research center will focus on cyber security research such as software and hardware protection, operating systems security, cloud security, protection of IoT (Internet of Things) systems, verification of software and hardware, computer vision, safety of autonomous systems, cryptology and cryptanalysis, safety and privacy of medical and aeronautical systems, and many others. The center will manage research grants for researchers and graduate students (MSc and PhD), serve as a focal point for scholars, focus on disseminating innovative knowledge through conferences and international workshops, and deepen awareness of the field via courses, lectures and other outreach activities.

Technion President, Prof. Peretz Lavie, welcomed the establishment of the Cyber Security Research Center: “The State of Israel finally understands the importance of the field of cyber security, and the establishment of the center at the Technion is of great consequence. From my acquaintance with the brilliant minds that have come together to found this center I am certain that it will become a top leading cyber security research facility that will contribute greatly to the field.”

Mr. Gilad Erdan, the Minister of Public Security, sent his well wishes for the establishment of the center and wrote, “The Technion is a world leading institute and a source of great national pride. I am confident that the establishment of the center will contribute greatly to our national security and the Israeli economy.”

In his letter of congratulations to the Technion President, Mr. Ofir Akunis, Minister of Science, Technology and Space, wrote: “The combination of knowledge power and the brightest minds that distinguish the Technion, coupled with the keenness to lead and succeed and uncompromising determination, will empower us and make us into an unstoppable force against those who seek to harm us.”

As part of the inauguration festivities of the Technion Cyber Security Research Center, the following lectures by experts from the Technion’s Faculties of Computer Science and Engineering were held at the Technion:  Associate Professor Eran Yahav lectured on new tools to find similarities in computer programs with applications to locate malicious code (viruses); Assistant Professor Mark Silberstein gave a presentation on the use of graphic cards as a means through which to break into computerized systems; Daniel Genkin talked about side channel attacks on computers and mobile devices using external measurement of physical variables such as electrical power and acoustic measurement; and Professor Eli Ben-Sasson lectured on new technology to ensure the ‘computational integrity’ of financial processes and other practices.

Technion breakthrough improves chances tissue grafts will survive and thrive

A better understanding of the effect of mechanical forces on blood vessel assembly in engineered tissues aids optimal growth of new blood vessels after tissue transplantation

Researchers from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and colleagues in the U.S. have developed technology to tailor grafted tissues that can respond to certain natural forces affecting blood vessels. The researchers also found that matching the structure of the engineered vessels to the structure of the host tissues at the site of implantation helps the tissue implant integration, improving the chances that grafted tissues will survive better. The findings were published recently in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

“Developing functional and mature three-dimensional (3D) blood vessel networks in implantable tissues is critical when using these engineered tissues to treat a number of conditions, such as cardiovascular disease and trauma injuries,” said lead researcher Prof. Shulamit Levenberg of the Technion Department of Biomedical Engineering. “Matching the tissue structures will improve the long term viability and strength of tissue grafts when new blood vessel growth – called ‘angiogenesis’ – can be manipulated and exploited for the purpose of attaining optimal blood supply.”

The team’s laboratory studies were aimed at determining just how vascular networks are regulated by various kinds of “tensile forces”- by stretching the constructs (3D engineered tissues).

“Although mechanical forces play a central role in all biological processes as well as influence the shape and organization of cells, mechanical forces had not been previously investigated in relation to vascular networks in 3D,” explained Prof. Levenberg. “Our study used a number of techniques to monitor the impact of tensile forces on vascular network construction and properties.”

The researchers examined the effects of cell-induced forces on vascular networks by applying variety of stretching forces, both cyclic (on-and-off) and static (constant) forces.  The researchers found that the vessels aligned in response to the stretch.

To test the effects vessel alignments on tissue integration, the researchers grafted engineered tissues into mouse abdominal muscles with the vessel direction placed both parallel and vertically to the natural mouse muscle fibers (host tissues).  They found that tissues with vertically implanted blood vessels had greater stiffness and strength when they corresponded to the vertical direction of the host tissue fibers.

This study was conducted in collaboration with Professor Dave Mooney, of Harvard University, who hosted Prof. Levenberg during her sabbatical year. The project was carried out by Dr. Dekel Dado-Rosenfeld as part of her PhD thesis, under the mentorship of Prof. Levenberg. Dr. Dado-Rosenfeld is currently a postdoc at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, under the auspices of the MIT-Technion Post-Doctoral Fellowship

No. 1 2015 paper on solar fuels: A study by Technion Professor Yeshayahu Lifshitz

A paper by Technion Professor Yeshayahu Lifshitz and his Chinese colleagues received significant international praise. It was rated the top solar fuels paper of 2015 by the Solar Fuels Institute (SOFI) based on the number of citations it gained in scientific journals and on its usage (internet downloads). The study honored its authors with a prize from the Chinese Science and Technology Office as one of China’s top ten technological progresses of 2015. It is the most cited article (with about 195 citations in the Science Citation Index) out of all Israeli (about 20,000) and Chinese (about 300,000) articles printed in 2015.

The paper was published in the prestigious scientific journal Science on February 27, 2015 by Prof. Lifshitz and his colleagues including Profs. Zhenhui Kang and Shuit-Tong Lee from the Soochow University in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China. The article describes a breakthrough in the production of hydrogen through solar energy driven water splitting.

Hydrogen is considered a most promising future fuel source because of its potential use in powering motor vehicles and generating electricity without the involvement of unwelcomed by-products and greenhouse gas emissions. This is the reason for the worldwide effort to invest in the development of hydrogen producing technologies and usage. The U.S. alone invested billions of dollars in programs such as the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative, supporting research and development of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies capable of lowering America’s dependence on imported oil and reducing the environmental impacts of fossil fuel combustion.

According to Prof. Lifshitz, “Concentrated attempts over the past four decades to develop photocatalysts for splitting water into its constituent elements (hydrogen and oxygen) by solar light have failed for a number of reasons: (1) low solar to hydrogen energy conversion efficiency (2) poor catalytic stability, causing catalytic activity to end within a few hours of operation and (3) high cost of catalysts’ materials, which often contain rare and precious metals.”

Prof. Lifshitz and his colleagues were able to overcome these problems by developing a cheap, metal free, Earth-abundant and environmentally friendly catalyst made of a carbon nanodot–carbon nitride (C3N4) nanocomposite. Their findings showed a 2000% higher performance efficiency (20 times larger) as compared with other stable catalysts previously reported, working with unchanged hydrogen output for more than 200 days. “The novel nanocomposite allows for the first time the development of a simple (photocatalytic) system for hydrogen production using solar energy. This is the reason why this report has received such worldwide interest,” explains Prof. Lifshitz.

Professor Emeritus Yeshayahu Lifshitz is a faculty member at Technion’s Faculty of Materials Engineering. He holds three physics degrees (a Bachelor’s from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Master’s from Tel Aviv University, and a PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science). He served as a senior research associate at the Soreq Nuclear Research Center (SNRC), where he became the founding head of the space technology center. This is a national center of knowledge supporting the Israeli space industry in all aspects related to the compatibility of materials, electronic devices and systems to the space environments.  Prof. Lifshitz is the originator of the “subplantation model” describing modern film deposition techniques, and explained for the first time the nucleation mechanism of diamond crystals in laboratory settings at low pressures. In 2004 he joined the Technion’s Faculty of Materials Engineering, and since 2014 he has also served as a Chair Professor at Soochow University in Suzhou, China, where this study was carried out.

Prof. Lifshitz is listed as one of the world’s top 100 researchers in material science in 2000-2010 by Thomson Reuters and the Times Higher Education.

No. 1 Solar Fuel Article for 2015:

“Metal-free efficient photocatalyst for stable visible water splitting via a two-electron pathway,” Science, 347(6225), 970, February 27, 2015

Download the article.