The Olympic Committee of Israel and Technion have established a joint research center to advance Olympic Sports in Israel to be headed by Prof. Alon Wolf, Technion Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

The Israeli Olympic Sports Research Center aims to encourage studies that will enhance Olympic sports in Israel in line with US and European models.

Yigal Carmi, Chairman of the Olympic Committee of Israel said, “The (joint) establishment of the center will position Israel in an advantageous position over our competitors in world sports with regards to scientific knowledge and technology. The fields of biomechanics, motion analysis, and technological development are areas of application that will now receive special attention so the performance of our athletes can be improved. The Olympic Committee of Israel welcomes and acknowledges this strategic cooperation with Technion, which involves the fusion of brilliant scientific minds for the benefit of Israeli Olympic sports. We are certain that this will push our sports performance forward.”

Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie welcomed the establishment of the new research center and said, “The cooperation between the Olympic Committee of Israel and the Technion is exceptional and very promising. This link between Technion scientists and leading Israeli athletes will upgrade human performance and ensure future achievements.”

The joint research activity has already begun. The center’s first research goal is related to windsurfing. Gur Steinberg, who coaches the Israeli windsurfing team, and Yair Talmon, Scientific and Technical Coordinator of the competitive sports unit, targeted as their first goal to research surfer/ surfboard compatibility in order to provide the athlete with best performance ability.

Steinberg explained that a certain surfboard model can have various types of fins and this can make a difference in the athlete’s performance. This difference requires each surfer to examine and test the selected fin over time, but this takes much effort and sometimes even causes the fins to break.

Steinberg and Talmon’s initiative led to a Technion study named, ‘The Mechanical Signature of Olympic Surfboard Fins,’ which makes it possible to differentiate accurately among the various fins and adapt them optimally to the surfer. The research was conducted at Technion’s Material Mechanics Center Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, headed by Prof. Daniel Rittel, and with the scientific support of Prof. Nitai Drimer and Prof. Alon Wolf who is also the Head of the Laboratory for Bio-Robotics and Biomechanics. Prof Wolf’s research encompasses many areas, including robots used for surgery, rehabilitation and rescue and recovery missions; the study of the mechanics of the body; and the development of technologies to improve the motor function of healthy and sick people.

“Very often we see that a fraction of a second or a few centimeters determine whether a competitor will win a gold medal. This kind of advantage is the result of scientific understanding and its implementation in training and equipment. We believe that if we implement the knowledge and capabilities that have made Israel the Start-Up Nation that it is today, into Olympic sports, we will be able to advance the achievements of our Olympic athletes and help them become role models whose achievements will infiltrate into Israel’s sports culture,” Prof. Wolf said.

The Olympic Committee in Israel is an umbrella organization for Israeli sports, one that brings together all the Olympic branches and represents Israel in the International Olympic Committee. Its main function is to ensure the optimal preparation of the athletes in Israel’s delegations to the Olympic Games and other competitions.

The new agreement was signed by the Olympic Committee in Israel, the Technion and the Technion Institute for Research and Development. The strategic agreement for the establishment of the new Israeli Olympic Sports Research Center was initiated following a seminar held at the Technion for Olympic sports coaches and in recognition of the need for extensive and in-depth research on various aspects of sports.

On behalf of the Olympic Committee of Israel, were: Chairman, Yigal Carmi; Director-General, Gili Lustig; Committee Board Member and Sports Committee Chairman, Yael Arad; Scientific Director and physiologist, Muli Epstein and European Championship silver medalist, Yoav Omer.

Technion representatives included President, Prof. Peretz Lavie; Technion Vice President for Research, Prof. Wayne D. Kaplan; Technion Vice President for External Relations and Resource Development, Prof. Boaz Golany; Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Prof. Yoram Halevi and Prof. Alon Wolf.

The world is literally hungry for new types of tasty, nutritious foods that are also inexpensive, can be produced rapidly in a relatively small space and don’t contribute to global warming or rob the Earth of its natural resources. It sounds like the protein gap is an impossible bill to fill with an expected 9.8 billion mouths to feed in 2050. Plant and algae-based – rather than animal-based – proteins provide a solution; today.

A team of graduate students at the Biotechnology and Food Engineering Faculty, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, have made an important contribution, winning first prize in the EIT Food Project (European Knowledge and Innovation Community) as part of an innovative microalgae product development competition, held in early December.

After a year’s work, the graduate students conceived, developed and produced ‘Algalafel’. The product is a novel falafel enriched with spirulina, with additional tahini enriched with astaxanthin, a health-promoting compound found naturally in certain algae and seafood. It is known for conferring salmon its reddish color, and flamingo feathers their pink hue.

Mentored by Prof. Maya Davidovich-Pinhas, Prof. Uri Lesmes, Prof. Avi Shpigelman and project leader Prof. Yoav D. Livney the Technion team consisted of Meital Kazir, Yarden Abuhassira-Cohen, Hani Shkolnikov, Hila Tarazi, and Ina Nephomnyshy.

The second prize was awarded to a team of students from the German University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart who developed ‘Algini’, a lentil-based vegan product enriched with spirulina. In the third place were students from Finland’s Helsinki University who created ‘Spurtti’, a vegan oatmeal dessert enriched with spirulina.

The two-day event, hosted by the Technion on its campus, included lectures on microalgae, a workshop on incorporating microalgae in Mediterranean food and finalized with the competition.

By connecting consumers with businesses, start-ups, researchers, and students from around Europe, EIT-Food supports creative and economically sustainable initiatives that promote health, access to quality food and the environment. The project included also three industrial partners: Israel’s Algatechnologies, which also supplied the raw microalgae materials used by the teams, Germany’s Doehler and Finland’s Fazer.

As an ecologically friendly, nutritious microalgae, spirulina has been suggested as a solution for food insecurity and malnutrition and even food for consumption during long-term space flights or Mars missions. Spirulina cultivation requires much less land and water to produce protein and energy than that needed by cattle or poultry.

Spirulina, the biomass of blue-green algae, produce their own food by photosynthesis without a living organic carbon. Dried spirulina contains 5% water, 24% carbohydrates, 8% fat, and about 60% protein.

Ironically, this natural product was utilized hundreds of years ago – it was a daily food source for the Aztecs and others in the Americas and in Africa until the 16th century, but it seemed to lose popularity when nearby lakes were drained for agriculture and urban development.

Back in 1974, the World Health Organization described spirulina as “interesting food for multiple reasons, rich in iron and protein” that can be and is able to be fed to children without any risk. Such innovative products and young entrepreneurs enable the utilization of spirulina and other algae to benefit the world’s future hungry mouths.

 

An Optics and Photonics News honorable mention for Technion graduate’s photographed experiment

Dr. Shai Maayani, a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who completed all three of his degrees at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, has just received honorable mention in the 2018 photography competition of the Optical Society of America (OSA).

All eight winners captured scientific images look like magnificent geometric works of art. Dr. Maayani’s award-winning entry shows three jewel-like spheres trapped in white light. He called the experiment he photographed “calculated intensity, as particles are added, reveals that each of the particles gives rise to a new power maximum near the place where the next particle settles.”

Her photograph appears in the special issue of the association Optics and Photonics News (OPN) journal devoted to “Optics in 2018.” He described the experiment in which three balls are trapped in a white beam of light that makes them float in the air. The balls break the light that captures them just like raindrops that break the white light to all the colors of the rainbow.

In addition, in the same issue of OPN, Dr. Maayani and Rafi Dahan conducted research on optical isolators (diodes) as one of the 30 most important optics experiments of the year. The experiment was reported in the prestigious journal Nature.

These studies were conducted in the laboratory of Prof. Tal Carmon in the Technion’s Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. It was the second consecutive year that the work of Dr. Maayani, Prof. Carmon and their partners had been selected by the OSA as one of the most important experiments. Shai is currently a postdoc scholar at MIT, where he is developing novel fiber-optics under the direction of Technion graduate Prof. Yoel Fink

Visit www.osa-opn.org/home/gallery/photo_contests/2018 for a gallery of all the submissions to this year After Image photo contest.

 

Japan’s NICHIA Joined the Industrial Liaison Program of the Technion

Japan’s NICHIA has joined the Technion Industry Liaison Program and will be part of a group of international companies already operating within it.

As part of the cooperation, NICHIA will receive access to the database of future Technion research interests, including emerging IP and other data that may assist the company in identifying opportunities to support novel research.

The purpose of the Technion Industry Liaison Program (TILP) is to connect academia and industry, in order to create research and business collaborations, and obtain international funding for the further advancement of research.

TILP was established in a response to the current accelerated pace of technological transformation. TILP enables a company to navigate the Technion’s resources and establish a direct line of communication with Technion researchers in relevant fields.

NICHIA is one of the world’s largest suppliers of LEDs and LDs, with nearly 9,000 employees globally and the company develops optoelectronic products: LEDs and LDs and fine materials: phosphors and battery materials. The company already started funded research with Technion.  

Professor Wayne D. Kaplan: “NICHIA’s participation in TILP will lead to interesting and challenging collaboration. Every day we work to blur the boundaries and become more global. There is no doubt that our connection to NICHIA will prove this more than anything else”.

 

Technion Mourns the Passing of Rona Ramon

On June 11^th 2018, Rona Ramon received an Honorary Fellowship from Technion at the Board of Governors Annual Event. The award was bestowed upon her by Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie, “In recognition of her public activity in the field of education and the promotion of youth and children in Israel; in acknowledgement of her significant contributions to the Israeli space industry and the encouragement of science and space studies; and in appreciation for her outstanding leadership and dedication to Israeli society and the State of Israel.”

“Rona Ramon was an exceptional woman who left a deep imprint on Israeli society. She founded the Ramon Foundation which aims to ignite the three essential values which Ilan and Asaf Ramon stood for – academic excellence, social leadership, and groundbreaking courage,” said Prof. Peretz Lavie.

Rona lost her beloved husband Colonel Ilan Ramon, a national hero, and first Israeli astronaut, and six years later also grieved the loss of their son, IDF Captain, Asaf Ramon who followed in his father’s footsteps and became a fighter pilot in the IDF.

Rona devoted her time to comforting others in Israel and across the globe, telling Ilan and Asaf’s story and reinforcing the ideals for which they stood.

 

It’s a Stretch: Giving Direction to Blood Vessels

Scientists from the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology and the Weizmann Institute of Science reveal the mechanical forces that influence the spatial organization of blood vessels

HAIFA, ISRAEL (December 16, 2018) – Israeli scientists from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and the Weizmann Institute of Science recently combined one group’s expertise in tissue engineering with the other’s expertise in the physics of complex systems to understand in detail how mechanical forces can direct the orientation of developing blood vessels. Their findings, which were published in the scientific journal Nano Letters, may advance methods of growing artificial tissue for transplant.

Cells, whether in the body or in lab-grown tissue, constantly interact with the extracellular matrix (ECM) – a highly complex molecular network that provides structural support for cells. Until recently, scientists had assumed these interactions were primarily biochemical. Researchers have now realized that mechanical interactions – for example, the ability of cells to sense various properties of the ECM and respond in kind – also play significant roles in cell development and function.

The present research was led by doctoral student Shira Landau and Prof. Shulamit Levenberg of the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering at the Technion, and doctoral student Avraham Moriel and Prof. Eran Bouchbinder of the Weizmann Institute’s Chemical and Biological Physics Department, in collaboration with Dr. Ariel Livne, a former postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Molecular Cell Biology at the Weizmann Institute.

One of the scientific challenges to producing artificial biological tissues for transplant is that – like the real thing – they must contain a network of blood vessels to ensure a steady supply of oxygen and nutrients. Highly essential to the implant’s integration and survival is the directional order of this network. In other words, the blood vessels must organize themselves in the same direction.

In Prof. Levenberg’s laboratory, a platform designed to improve tissue generation and self-organization for transplantation has been developed. The technology is based on three-dimensional scaffolds made of polymers. Biological cells that are essential for the development of blood vessels are seeded on these polymeric scaffolds; studies have proven this technology viable and robust. In a series of studies, she and her team had previously used this platform to examine the mechanical sensitivity of vascular networks. In particular, they noted that mechanical forces have a strong influence on the properties of these networks, especially in the directions in which they grow and develop.

In 2016, Prof. Levenberg and Dr. Dekel Rosenfeld, then a doctoral student in her lab, showed how an original stretching system, which applied tensile forces to the artificial tissue, affected biological processes in the cells, including differentiation, shape, migration, and organization in the structures – as well as the geometry of the emerging tissue, its maturity and stability. This earlier study also showed that tensile forces acting on the tissue during development promote the growth of blood vessels with well-defined directionality.

“We then wanted to understand how this process works and how to control it,” says Ms. Landau. “Prof. Bouchbinder and his colleagues at the Weizmann Institute of Science developed a theory that explains the effects of mechanical forces on individual cells; and together, we expanded this theory to include multicellular tissues.”

In the new study, the researchers considered two types of stretching forces that can affect the development of blood vessels. These two, known as dynamic-cyclic stretching and static stretching, can lead to the emergence of directional order in vascular networks. The researchers discovered that the biophysical mechanism behind each of these two processes is fundamentally different. “One significant challenge we faced was to understand the relationship between the complicated biological experiments and the physical theory,” says Mr. Moriel.

The study led to the establishment of a tensile stretching protocol – one that allows the controlled generation of optimal tissues, including stable, rich networks in which the blood vessels have a well-defined directional order.
The researchers believe that these results and insights they provide will advance the possibility of engineering blood vessels in tissue with structures and directionality that may enable their successful transplantation in patients.

Israeli startup Jet-Eat wins the European Institute of Innovation and Technology 2018 Food Accelerator Network Program

Haifa, Israel – Israeli startup Jet Eat, which is developing plant-based beef-like steaks using proprietary 3D printing technology, is the winner of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology 2018 Food Accelerator Network Program (EIT FAN).

Jet Eat was chosen out of dozens of successful food technology startups that participated in the initiative and was one of three final winners that received a €60,000 zero-equity prize.

This innovative Israeli startup is the first company in the world to develop 3D printing technology specifically to address major problems facing the food industry. Established in 2018 by Eshchar Ben-Shitrit, Jet-Eat aims to help reduce food waste, contribute to a more sustainable food production system, and provide vegan, vegetarians and flexitarians with healthy, natural and sustainable alternatives to meat, without comprising their culinary experience.

“We are thrilled to be selected from this impressive group of startups. Not only that the award money will help us take a major step accelerating our development, but the validation from major players in the food industry gives us back-wind in our efforts to build a new food printing ecosystem. The contribution of the EIT FAN program in general, and specifically our collaboration with the Technion, were dramatic to our efforts in the past four months. We see this collaboration as a long-term relationship combining Jet-Eat, the Technion and EIT,” says Jet-Eat founder Eshchar Ben-Shitrit.

According to Ben-Shitrit, the cattle beef industry is a major cause of adverse environmental impact and represents a massive economic potential for disruption. Incorporating 3D printing technology into the quest to find an alternative to meat, and especially beef, has the potential to fundamentally change this reality and help build a more sustainable future while opening new opportunities in high-end plant-based meat.

The Israeli startup was one of some 40 food startups, poised to change the world’s food system, taking part in the EIT Food Accelerator Network.  The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School ETH Zurich and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) were chosen to run the program.

At the Technion, 10 startups took part in the four-month accelerator, led by Professors Ester Segal and Uri Lesmes of the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering.  They received mentoring by leading academics at the university as well as food industry professionals from the Strauss Company.

Benoit Buntinx, Director of Business Creation for EIT Food, said: “Many congratulations to our winners from our EIT Food Accelerator Network Program. These start-ups aim to help tackle global food challenges and address the gap between innovation and the realization of genuine business opportunities.”

PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION AT THE MAIN GATE  

TRAFFIC CHANGES

On Thursday, 13.12.2018, from 20:00 until construction is complete, Yaakov Dori Road to the main gate will be closed from Roth Circle to the Main Gate.   

Vehicles will not be able to exit the Main Gate via Yaakov Dori Road.

Drivers who wish to exit the Technion from Thursday at 20:00 will be redirected to Nesher Gate, which will remain open continuously on Thursday and Friday.

Single lane vehicle entrance from Malal Street and through the main gate will be allowed during the entire period of construction.

 

• Traffic directions will be posted at the relevant sites.

 

• Please follow Security Guard instructions.

 

 

In case of an emergency, please contact security hotline:  2222.

Technion was honored to host a senior delegation from the French Academy of Sciences on Wednesday, November 28th, 2018. The delegation visited the Technion as part of a series of jointly sponsored academic events, marking the 70^th anniversary of the State of Israel.

On the French side, the respected delegation included, French Academy members: Prof. Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Harvey Prize winner (1996) and Nobel Laureate (1997) and his wife, Mrs. Jacqueline Veyrat Tannoudji; Prof. Odile Eisenstein, Technion Honorary Doctor and Emeritus Director of Research at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS); Prof. Pascale Cossart of the Pasteur Institute and Secretaire Perpetuelle of the French Academy of Sciences; Prof. Thibault Damour, Theoretical Physicist, CNRS Gold Medalist, (2017); Mr. Philippe Boncour, Advisor to the second Secretaire perpetuelle Prof. Catherine Brechignac; Mr. Sebastien Linden, Scientific and Academic Attaché to the French Embassy in Israel, and Mr. Patrice Servantir of the French Consulate in Haifa.

The delegation was received by Prof. Adam Shwartz, Senior Executive Vice President; Prof. Ilan Marek of the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry and member of the French Academy of Sciences, Prof. Eric Akkermans, Faculty of Physics; Prof. Emeritus Uri Shamir, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Prof. Shie Shamir of the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering.

During the open scientific roundtable discussions, Prof. Odile Eisenstein focused on defining specific fields of collaboration between Technion and other academic institutions in France. Prof. Eric Akkermans spoke of the high demand for collaboration, and that post-doctoral student would be a good avenue to strengthen this collaboration while Prof. Ilan Marek summarized all past efforts to strengthen the scientific relationships between Israel and France.

“There is a growing interest in France with regards to academic collaboration with Israel,” Mr. Linden said. Specifically, he mentioned the Maimonides-Israel research program, which aims to support the development of scientific and technological cooperation between French and Israeli researchers and to strengthen the scientific partnership between research groups from both countries by establishing bilateral research networks.

Technion Confers Honorary Doctorate on Madame Lily Safra

Technion conferred an honorary doctorate on Madame Lily Safra, Honorary Chair of the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation and of the Israel Scholarship Education Foundation (ISEF). The ceremony took place as part of the Technion France (ATF) Annual Gala Event in Paris.

The honor was bestowed upon Madam Safra, “In acknowledgment of her charitable donations for highly important causes and to many institutions in Israel and around the world; for her outstanding support of the ISEF program that helped thousands of students throughout Israel, including hundreds within the Technion; for her generous support of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technion; and for her great dedication that inspires others.”

Mrs. Lily Safra shared her commitment to caring for the less fortunate with her husband, Mr. Edmond J. Safra, one of the twentieth century’s most accomplished bankers and founder of the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation. Since 1999 she has chaired this Foundation, which supports projects related to education, science and medicine, religion, culture, and humanitarian relief in over 40 countries.

She has initiated many educational projects in memory of her husband, including endowing the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. A long and distinguished relationship with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem led to the naming of the Edmond J. Safra Campus. Mrs. Safra is Honorary Chairman of the Israel Scholarship Education Foundation, which she established with her husband in 1977, and which has become the largest non-profit organization promoting higher education for gifted Israelis from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Both personally and through the Foundation, she supports research into neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and the care of patients with those diseases, at dozens of hospitals and universities worldwide. Her awareness of the distress experienced by the families of those battling illnesses led her to construct the Family Lodge for patients and their families at the National Institutes of Health near Washington, DC.  She and her husband built a cutting-edge children’s hospital in Tel Hashomer, outside of Tel Aviv, which annually treats thousands of children from across the region.

In 2006 Mrs. Safra established the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute for Neuroscience in Natal, Brazil. With her leadership, the Edmond J. Safra Foundation endowed the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is a member of the Board of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health.

Recognizing the importance of world-class higher education, Mrs. Safra has supported faculty recruitment, research and scholarships at the Technion, in particular at its Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, which now hosts an annual Edmond J. Safra Distinguished Visiting Professor.

Mrs. Safra holds honorary doctorates from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, the University of Haifa, Brandeis University, and Imperial College London, and is an Honorary Fellow of King’s College London and the Courtauld Institute of Art. She was made Chevalier de l’Ordre de Léopold II by the King of Belgium, and Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Officier de la Légion d’honneur by the President of France.

Harvey Prize Predicts Two Nobel Prizes Awarded December 10th, 2018

Prof. James P. Allison and Dr. Arthur Ashkin joined the community of Harvey Prize Winners who went on to receive the Nobel Prize

Technion Harvey Prize winners, Prof. James P. Allison, and Dr. Arthur Ashkin proudly represented the Technion as they received the 2018 Nobel Prizes in Medicine and Physics respectively. Since 1986, 16 Harvey Prize Laureates (26%) of the total number have proceeded to win the Nobel Prize, thereby designating the Harvey Prize a ‘Nobel Predictor’

The Harvey Prize, first awarded by Technion in 1972, was established by the Leo Harvey Foundation recognizing men and women who have significantly contributed to the advancement of humankind in the fields of science and technology, health, and promoting peace in the Middle East. The recipients each receive $75,000       

Dr. Arthur Ashkin, 96, received the Nobel Prize in Physics. He won the Harvey Prize in 2004 for his research in generating high-intensity ultra-short optical pulses and for the invention of “optical tweezers” and their application to biological systems, at Bell Laboratories.   

Prof. James P. Allison, 70, received the Nobel Prize in medicine for the discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation. He received the Harvey Prize in 2014 for developing a new paradigm in the treatment of cancer. Prof. Allison’s research led to the development of FDA approved Yervoy (ipilimumab), for the treatment of late-stage, metastatic melanoma.   

Harvey Prize Winners who went on to receive the Nobel Prize

Prof. Ada E. Yonath, Harvey Prize 2002, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009

In recognition for her pioneering crystallographic studies on the ribosome, initiated more than a decade before other scientists were ready to tackle such a bold venture

Prof. Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Harvey Prize 1999, Nobel Prize in Medicine 2009

In recognition of her pioneering discoveries and leadership in the rapidly evolving field of research on telomeres, the ends of chromosomes

Prof. Rainer Weiss, and Prof. Kip Stephen Thorne, Harvey Prize 2016, Nobel Prize in Physics 2017

For the first direct detection of gravitational waves, confirming a central prediction of Einstein’s General Relativity

Prof. Bert Sakmann, Harvey Prize1991, Nobel Prize in Medicine 1991

In recognition of his breakthrough achievements in developing the patch clamp technique which revolutionized modern electrophysiology

Prof. Pierre-Gille de Gennes, Harvey Prize 1998, Nobel Prize in Physics 1991

In recognition of his contributions to condensed matter physics

Prof. Shuji Nakamura, Harvey Prize 2009, Nobel Prize in Physics 2014

In recognition of his seminal contribution to nitride containing white light LEDs which revolutionize energy efficient lighting system.

For the Complete list of Harvey Prize Winners, some of whom are also Nobel Prize Winners