Month: March 2018

HAIFA, ISRAEL (March 19, 2018) – Feline AIDS is caused by the Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV), which is very similar to the HIV-1 virus that continues to affect thousands of humans each year. While FIV does not infect humans, many groups research the virus to benefit cats, but perhaps more importantly, because of its many parallels with the AIDS virus.

Despite the use of dedicated drugs, HIV-1 manages to thrive and multiply within the cell and develop increasingly greater resistance. The power of the AIDS virus lies in the remarkable variability of its genome, which is driven by reverse transcriptase, one of the proteins it produces. Reverse transcriptase “copies” the viral RNA genome into DNA, which is the opposite molecule that typically occurs in nature. FIV and HIV-1 viruses, like other retroviruses, “implant” this DNA into the host genome, forcing the host cells to generate new copies of the virus. Because of its critical role in viral proliferation, the reverse transcriptase protein is a central target for new anti-AIDS drugs. Although FIV and HIV are highly similar, the FIV protein is resistant to drugs which can inhibit the same protein in HIV-1, a finding which has puzzled scientists until now.

Now, for the first time, Assistant Professor Akram Alian and Dr. Meytal Galilee from the Technion Faculty of Biology have shown the 3D structure of this protein in the FIV, and used it to uncover the mechanistic basis of viral resistance to anti-reverse transcriptase drugs. Their findings, published recently in PLOS Pathogens, show that the FIV protein forms a closed pocket that blocks the drugs from effective binding.

This structure emphasizes how these viral proteins can undergo minor modifications that enable them to develop resistance to drugs, while preserving protein function, a phenomenon which, to date, has not been observed in HIV-1. This structure will be of value in advancing the development of potent and specific anti-HIV drugs, and preempting future strains of AIDS viruses that rapidly develop resistance to current drugs.

Associate Professor Alian said “we hope that our discoveries will pave the way toward the development of drugs that will “break into” this pocket, thereby enabling the drugs to inhibit FIV from multiplying. Of course, due to the parallels between FIV and HIV, we assume that the discovery will also assist in combatting AIDS”.

The feline AIDS disease, which is transmitted between cats, primarily via saliva, involves impairment of the immune system and the inability failure to fight off infections, diseases and development of cancer. The disease typically affects male street cats, which tend to fight and bite one another.

The disease develops in three stages: the acute stage is characterized by fever and increased susceptibility to internal and external infections; a symptom-free latent stage, during which the immune system is gradually weakened and the immune-deficiency stage, which may only develop after many years, and is characterized by life-threatening weakening of the immune system. In the third stage, the cat may die from relatively mild infections, which would normally not cause infection in the case of a healthy immune system.

 

The exhibition “Technion Wisdom” at the main gallery of the central library at Technion merges art, science, technology and education, and opens a window to the enormous range of Technion activities, research projects and breakthroughs. The inspiration behind this exhibition is a passion to show that every subject, especially science, can be presented artistically and aesthetically, and can kindle curiosity in the observer.

The exhibition is designed so that viewers will first try to decipher the works on their own, and then curiosity will lead them to read the texts to find out more about the subject and people portrayed.

Anat Har-Gil, who designed the exhibition, is a multidisciplinary artist who has worked in the Division of Computing and Information Systems at Technion since 1992. Anat studied art, computer programming and curation and has designed and curated several exhibitions at Technion, including “Labscapes”, “Engineers Without Borders (EWB)  – Technion Chapter” and “Technion Then and Now“.

Download photos : https://www.technion.ac.il/en/technion-wisdom-for-download/

 

 

 

Technion Presents: “Science at the Bar” To Mark International Women’s Day

Eight Haifa bars will host leading Technion researchers on Tuesday, March 20, 2018 at 20:00

Flexible aircrafts, artificial intelligence, human-machine interfaces, computer vision, urban planning as an instrument for social change, communication between bacteria, innovative diagnostic methods, and a new look at chemistry studies: eight female researchers from Technion will hold scientific lectures on various topics at eight bars in Haifa, marking International Women’s Day. The lectures, all of which will begin at 20:00, will introduce their audiences to some of the research conducted by female researchers from various faculties at Technion.

Syncopa – Prof. Daniella Raveh of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering: “Flexible Planes.” Prof. Raveh studies aeroelasticity in aircrafts using advanced computational tools, and other topics related to aircraft design. In her lecture, she will talk about unmanned aircrafts cruising at the edge of the atmosphere; designing lighter, more flexible, and efficient planes; and engineering methods for coping with the challenges posed by elasticity.

Eli’s – Dr. Ofra Amir of the Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management: “People from Mars and Computers from Venus.” Dr. Amir focuses on the connection between artificial intelligence and human-computer interfaces and develops smart systems that support people, in fields including education and health. In her lecture, she will talk about misunderstandings between computers and people, the gap between the tremendous progress in artificial intelligence and Big Data and the fact that computers still do not understand basic human needs, and the possibility of developing computers that will understand us better.

Moonshiner’s – Dr. Meirav Aharon of the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning: “Urban Planning as an (Effective) Instrument for Social Change.” Dr. Aharon explores the connection between society and planning, and one of her recent studies dealt with the influence of the IDF’s “City of Training Bases” on the town of Yeruham and the surrounding area. In her lecture, she will discuss civil disobedience, expressed in economic journalist, on the subject of urban planning. She will present the background of that disobedience, the change she seeks to bring about, and what happens when burning social issues meet urban planning.

Nola Socks – Dr. Naama Geva-Zatorsky of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine: “Communication between Intestinal Bacteria and the Human Body.” Dr. Geva-Zatorsky will discuss the microbiome – the intestinal bacteria in a living organism – and talk about an innovative technology she developed, which enables real-time monitoring of the microbiome in order to better understand communication between these bacteria and the physiology of the host organism.

Brown – Dr. Shirly Avargil of the Faculty of Education in Science and Technology: “Thinking Chemistry and About Chemistry.” Dr. Avargil will talk about thinking and learning, meaningful learning in the sciences in general and chemistry in particular, and why we forget what we learned last year and even what we learned for the most recent exam.

Libira – Prof. Miriam Zacksenhouse of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering: “Machine-Brain Interfaces: The Brain behind the Interface.” Prof. Zacksenhouse deals with brain-computer interfaces that enable a direct communication channel between the brain and the external world, so that a cursor can be moved on the computer screen and a robot or prosthesis can be moved without engaging the body. Non-invasive commercial systems already enable communication for the disabled, interfaces for computer games, and remote control. What principles are they based on? Do they read thoughts?

Ha-Be’er – Prof. Esti Segal of the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering: “Bacteria, Microchips, and Everything In Between.” Prof. Segal is involved in several fields of research, including innovative cancer treatments, rapid and inexpensive methods for medical diagnosis, and the development of technologies that extend the shelf life of food products. In her lecture, she will talk about technologies she is developing for quick diagnosis of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, in light of the World Health Organization’s forecast that antibiotic resistance will claim about 10 million victims a year by 2050. The technologies developed by Prof. Segal are based on the growth of microbes on tiny silicon chips, which enable optimal adaptation of an antibiotic to a patient.

After Dark – Prof. Lihi Zelnik-Manor of the Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering: “How Do You Create Virtual Worlds that Feel Real?” The integration of virtual reality into our lives is around the corner, and Prof. Zelnik-Manor will discuss some of the technologies used to create virtual reality that feels real.

The event is sponsored by Prof. Ayellet Tal, Advisor to the Technion President on the Advancement of Women in Science and Engineering.

Reservations are recommended.

Click here for a list of lectures

 

Dr. Naama Geva-Zatorsky of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine is investigating intestinal bacteria and its effect on our bodies

Bacteria in the body plays a critical role in health. Called the microbiota, this ecological community affects us from birth. For example, the microbiota of babies born naturally through the birth canal differs from the microbiota of babies born via C-section.

The microbiota has many different and surprising functions in the animal world. Elephants, for example, eat their feces as it provides a wealth of bacteria not found elsewhere. Squids camouflage themselves using bacteria that produce light, thus concealing their shadow from predators. The microbiome also has a profound effect on us humans, as it’s involved both in maintaining our health as well as in a variety of diseases including diabetes, cancer, and obesity. They even affect our mood.

The microbiota’s effect on the immune system is the focus of Dr. Naama Geva-Zatorsky’s research.

Dr. Geva-Zatorsky, 39, is a new faculty member at the Technion’s Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and the Technion Integrated Cancer Center (TICC). She was born in Moshav Ometz in the Hefer Valley and grew up in “many places around the world.” As a child, even before she knew the meaning of the word biology, she liked to collect leaves and observe snails and other animals in nature. When she began studying biology she discovered that bacteria communicate with each other and the environment. This then became the focus of her scientific research.

“We all know that there are a lot of cells in our bodies, human and non-human in origin,” says Dr. Geva-Zatorsky, “but it is important to understand that the bacteria co-existing within us are very important to our health, and therefore we must learn to live with them in peace. The intestinal bacteria, which are the most abundant and diverse population of bacteria in our body, have a complex relationship with our bodies – a relationship that evolved over eons of co-evolution.”

Her academic career began with a B.Sc at Tel Aviv University and an M.Sc and Ph.D at the Weizmann Institute of Science. In her graduate degrees she studied cancer cell responses to chemotherapeutic drugs and the development of effective anti-cancer drug combinations. Later she entered her current field of study – the effects the microbiome in the digestive tract have on the host’s immune system. During her career path, she received several awards including the international 2012 L’Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science. Prior to joining the Technion, she worked at the Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology at Harvard Medical School. She recently received the Alon Scholarship – a prestigious scholarship designed to facilitate the incorporation of young researchers into Israeli universities. In addition, she was selected as a Horev Fellow in Technion’s Leaders in Science and Technology Program.

In her research, published in Cell, Science, and other leading journals, Dr. Geva-Zatorsky showed that the relationship between the microbiome and the immune system dramatically affects the functions of this system. While in the United States she developed, in her words, “a new method that allows tracking of the microbiota in real-time. This method allows us to ‘live broadcast’ the bacteria communicating amongst themselves and with our bodies.”

With this method, Dr. Geva-Zatorsky studies the communications between the gut bacteria and the cells of our immune system. In mouse model experiments, she demonstrated the importance of over 60 different human intestinal bacteria in the development of the host’s immune system. “When we add the appropriate bacteria to an organism its immune system develops and becomes stronger. This, of course, is reminiscent of the development of an infant’s immune system in response to the presence of bacteria. Our technology allows us to identify the role of each type of bacteria in this process, and the idea is that in the future we will use bacteria to create unique drugs for various types of disruptions in the immune system and for various diseases.”

Pictured: The mouse’s intestinal cells are shown in blue, and the intestinal bacteria are marked with different colors in order to learn about their location in the intestine and their interactions.

A lecture by Dr. Geva-Zatorsky on microbiology

In conjunction with International Women’s Day: 600 High School Students join Tech Women 2018

The event encourages outstanding female students to pursue academic studies in science and engineering.

Doctoral student Adi Hanuka of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering said at the conference: “In order to change the discourse and to encourage female students, I formulate the tests I write using female pronouns.”

From Kibbutz Na’an to Ramat Gan, from Ashdod to Nazareth Illit: Some 600 outstanding female high school students took part in Tech Women 2018 on March 7th, 2018. In it’s third consecutive year, the Technion-sponsored event encourages excellent female students to pursue academic studies in science and engineering. The event was held in conjunction with International Women’s Day, courtesy of the Rosalyn August Girls Empowerment Mission (GEM).

All the students attending the conference are studying for matriculation in five math units as well as science and technology. The students met with female researchers, faculty members, Technion alumnae, and graduate students. On tour of Technion laboratories, they were introduced to an array of inspiring topics of study and research.

In the Technion’s original class of 1924, the percentage of women was 0.06%: one of the 17 students was female. Over the years – and especially in the past decade – the number of female students at Technion has grown tremendously, reaching an all-time high this year at 40 percent. The rate of female doctoral students is even higher, at 42 percent.

The high school students heard scientific lectures and visited laboratories at eight engineering and scientific faculties at Technion: Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, and Industrial Engineering and Management (Data Science & Engineering track).

The day was opened by three Technion doctoral students, who shared their stories. “As a child I was curious – I was never satisfied with answers and always asked for detailed explanations. Thankfully, I felt that my curiosity was welcome at home and at school, but when I decided to be a physicist there were people who told me it was a profession for males,” said Efrat Sabach, a doctoral student in the Faculty of Physics. “Obviously this isn’t true, and I’m glad that I didn’t listen to them. After my Bachelor’s degree at Technion I continued to my Master’s and PhD studies, and today I am studying the process of the formation of stars such as our Sun, under the guidance of Prof. Noam Soker. At Technion I received tools and knowledge that will accompany me for the rest of my life. Believe me when I say that even if you are not sure what you want to be when you grow up, Technion is the right place to start.”

“When you think of electrical engineers someone like me probably doesn’t come to mind, but here I am – a woman  and a doctoral student at the Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering,” said Adi Hanuka. She told the students about two projects she has conducted in recent years: a tiny particle accelerator that can be used for x-ray and projection devices, and a system for monitoring diseases based on eyelid movements. “During my doctoral studies I spent time at Stanford University in the United States,” Hanuka said. “The people in my research group were surprised to find out that I’m a woman and not a man, and one of them added that girls are supposed to study economics and psychology, not electrical engineering. That’s why I believe it’s not only necessary to educate girls and tell them that they can make their dreams come true, but also to make the boys around us understand that we are not inferior to them in skills and abilities. I tutor students at the Faculty, and when I write tests I always word the questions using feminine pronouns, in order to encourage the students taking the exam – because why always write in the masculine?”

Nitzan Krinsky, a doctoral candidate at the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering at Technion, develops artificial cells that produce anti-cancer drugs within the cancerous tumor. She spoke about her studies in the academic reserve, her military service as a researcher at the Institute of Marine Medicine, about managing projects in the IDF food department, and the decision to leave the army for the sake of academic research at Technion. “At each of these stages I had to show initiative and make appeals in order to move on to the next stage. That’s why it’s important for me to tell you that in order to succeed in fulfilling your dreams you have to do what suits you: take initiative, overcome the challenges, and mostly – don’t be shy.”

 

The Technion congratulates Yehuda and Yehudit (Dita) Bronicki, founders of Ormat Technologies, visionaries, activists, and leaders of Israeli industry, on being named recipients of the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Industry. The Technion is proud of the Bronicki’s immense contribution to Israeli industry and society.

The Bronickis are longstanding supporters of Technion’s vision of education and entrepreneurship for the next generation of Israel’s technological innovators. In 2006, the couple donated the Bronica Entrepreneurship Center in the Technion’s Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management in order to enrich the Technion’s culture of entrepreneurship while supporting local industry. The center provides assistance to startup companies founded by Technion students and alumni. A unique combination of knowledge-based academic education, practical experience, and ties with industry leaders provides Technion students with the tools to develop their ideas, start their own companies, and promote innovative ideas within large, established corporations. The BizTEC program, operated by the Entrepreneurship Center, has backed more than 130 startups, which raised more than $300 million in investor funding. More recently, Yehuda and Dita Bronicki provided additional scholarships for students developing hardware-based ventures.

Yehuda Bronicki is a member of the Technion Board of Governors and both he and Dita have dedicated countless hours to helping students who are starting out as entrepreneurs.

In 2007, Yehuda and Dita Bronicki received honorary doctorates from the Technion for their contributions to “the development of the high-tech tech industry in Israel and the advancement of innovative technologies for energy production from using renewable resources — from solar power to agricultural waste.”

Yehuda Bronicki grew up in Drohobych, a city not far from Lviv in present-day Ukraine. He met Dita, a native of the Borochov neighborhood in Givatayim, in the early 1960s at the traditional Jerusalem March. Together they founded Ormat Technologies in 1965, which developed electricity generation turbines and other energy innovations. According to Yehuda, “at the time, everyone was talking about the fact that Israel had no oil and needed energy, so my wife Dita and I sold our apartment in Jerusalem and started Ormat.” The couple played a major role in nurturing the generations of technology entrepreneurs that helped Israel become the Startup Nation. They built Ormat into a global company that now employs 1,200 people and is valued at over $.5 billion.

 

Heba Abbud of Shefar’am began her studies at the Technion at the age of 16 because high school bored her.

In the middle of 9^th grade, Heba Abbud approached her math teacher to inform him that she had finished learning all of the material for the five-unit matriculation exam. After confirming that this was indeed the case, her teacher obtained special approval from the Ministry of Education for Heba to take the 5-unit math and physics matriculation exams at the end of 9^th grade. In 10^th grade, she completed the remaining matriculation exams in an external studies program, scored a 738 on her psychometric exam, and began studying at the Technion – not in a Youth Science program, but as a regular student in the Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering.

The Technion made no concessions in the acceptance process, but allowing her to begin her academic studies at such a young age (16) required special approvals, which Heba obtained with the personal help of Israel’s Minister of Education Naftali Bennett and Abdallah Hatib, Director of the Arab Sector Education. In a personal conversation, Mr. Bennett went so far as to call Heba “The next Einstein of Israel.”

Heba Abbud was born in Shefar’am in 2000 and studied at the El Oskofia Catholic school. When she was an eight grader, Heba was identified for outstanding capabilities by school Principal Farouk Farhud. In parallel to her junior high school and high school studies, she participated in Youth Science activities at the Technion and in the “Computational Science” Physics program at the Davidson Institute.

Even though her studies at the Technion aren’t overly difficult for her, after 7 consecutive years, she stopped learning ballet, because, she says, “the bottom line is that you have to put in many hours here.”

Last year, she was already awarded an “Excellence Award” by the president of the Technion, and this year, was accepted to the Excellence program at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering. The EMET Excellence Program (electronics, computers and communications) was designed to motivate excelling students to realize their capacities, to perform research during their undergraduate degree, and to nurture qualifications that will later service them in the academia and industry. Each student is accompanied by a personal advisor from the research staff and can, to a certain degree, tailor his/her own curriculum. In the framework of this program, Heba Abbud participates in the ongoing research in the laboratory of Associate Professor Shahar Kvatinsky. As far as she is concerned, the future is also in academia.

Prof. Hossam Haick delivers Technion UK’s Ron Arad lecture on Cancer Sniffing Nose

LONDON, 6 March 2018 – Technion UK is proud to host the Ron Arad lecture in London. Presenting at the Royal College of Physicians, Professor Hossam Haick from the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute at the Technion in Israel and an expert in the field of nanotechnology and non-invasive disease diagnosis, delivered a lecture on the developments into his pioneering research into nanoarrays that he is using to identify disease biomarkers as a novel diagnostic tool.

Every disease has a unique signature, known as what we call a ‘breath print’.

Prof. Haick is an Israeli-Christian Arab scientist and engineer and is the pioneer of the Electronic Nose – a medical device that can sniff out 17 specific diseases in a person’s breath, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Tuberculous, Diabetes and Lung Cancer. As an active innovative scientist, he has attracted the attentions of the world’s billionaires such as Bill Gates and he has been in collaboration with Bill and Melinda Gates foundation in the diagnostics of diseases.

At the lecture, Prof. Haick said, “Every disease has a unique signature, known as what we call a ‘breath print’. The challenge is to bring the best science we have proven into reality by developing a smaller device that captures all the components of a disease that appear in the breath.’

Prof. Haick continued to demonstrate how current advances in his research has the potential to identify diseases though sensors in mobile phones and wearable technology. From analysing 3700 volunteers, the technology under development at The Technion also has the potential to predict the occurrence of cancer in the future, based on results of healthy people that are currently under the diagnosis with the breath analysis.

He continued, “We cannot develop this technology in Israel without developing the best science. The integration between the software, machine learning and academic intelligence will make a critical change in the early detection and prevention of cancerous diseases.”

Daniel Peltz OBE, Chairman of Technion UK said, “We’re delighted to welcome Prof. Haick to London to showcase this latest progressive innovation in cancer research from The Technion.’

“Technion students undertake scientific research which is powering Israel’s rapid high-tech growth; our students are brilliant at challenging, creating and inventing – skills which the Prof. Haick exemplifies. The marvellous technology and advancement in non-invasive disease detection, discoveries in nanotechnology to help detect disease from someone’s breath is the future of disease detection.”

For more information about The Technion visit www.technionuk.org