Month: July 2021

Joint research by the Technion and KSM, Maccabi Health Services’ Research and Innovation Center, has demonstrated that the rapid and extensive vaccination of Israel’s adult population against COVID-19 provided highly substantial protection for the adolescent public – 16 year-olds and younger – who were not eligible to receive the shots until recently. The study, based on an analysis of 1.37 million vaccinated individuals from 246 different communities in Israel, has identified a significant negative association between the vaccination rate in a given area and infection among the unvaccinated (true infection rate) at those young ages, who were not eligible for the vaccination until recently.

The study, which was published in Nature Medicine, garnered worldwide attention, including coverage in the New York Times. The research project was headed by the Technion’s Prof. Roy Kishony, Dr. Idan Yelin, and student Oren Milman of the Faculty of Biology and the Lorry I. Lokey Interdisciplinary Center for Life Sciences and Engineering, in collaboration with experts from KSM (the Kahn-Sagol-Maccabi Research and Innovation Center) headed by Dr. Tal Patalon.

The present study continues and further strengthens the findings of a previous study by the Technion and KSM, which was also published in Nature Medicine. The earlier study demonstrated that the vaccination substantially decreases the viral load after inoculation, and therefore lowers the vaccinated individual’s “personal reproduction number,” i.e. his chances of infecting others. According to Prof. Kishony, “We have now found that those findings are correct, not only on the individual level, but also with regard to the population as a whole. The mass vaccination of the adult Israeli population lowered the reproduction number, and thus substantially protected the infant, child and up to 16-year-old adolescent population, who were not eligible for the vaccination until recently.”

The vaccination rollout in Israel began on December 19, 2020, and within nine weeks almost half the population had received the BNT162b vaccine from Pfizer–BioNTech. The rapid and extensive rollout, which was not uniform everywhere in the country, provided a rare opportunity to examine the effect of vaccination in each community on the community as a whole. The close collaboration between the Technion and Maccabi also enabled the researchers to perform an advanced statistical analysis of a large public – 1.37 million members of Maccabi Healthcare Services, who were vaccinated between December 6, 2020 and March 9, 2021. The data used by the Technion researchers were, of course, anonymous, meaning that they did not include any information on the patient’s identity.

The study was carried out on the basis of a geographic segmentation of the country, in which 246 communities from different geographic regions in Israel were defined. This segmentation was designed to test the association between the vaccination rate at the community level in a particular area and the level of infection among the young population (age 16 and less). As mentioned, the article identifies a robust negative association between the vaccination rate and the risk of infection for unvaccinated members of the community in question.

The study was sponsored by a grant from the KillCorona research grant program. Coordinated by the Israel Science Foundation, the program was established one year ago to encourage research to help flatten the COVID-19 curve.

A study conducted in the Technion Faculty of Biology sheds light on the structure and dynamics of chromatosomes. Published in the journal Molecular Cell, the study was conducted by Dr. Sergei Rudnizky under the supervision of Professors Ariel Kaplan and Philippa Melamed.

Each one of the cells in our body contains DNA, which provides the instructions required for our development and function. Astoundingly, a total of two meters of DNA is packaged in each cell’s nucleus, just tens of microns in size, a feat accomplished by packaging the DNA into a compact structure called chromatin. The basic level of chromatin organization is provided by wrapping the DNA around proteins called histones in a spool-like structure that resembles “beads on a string.” Then, more complex structures called chromatosomes are formed with the help of a special histone, known as a “linker histone,” which connects the “strings.”

Packaging of the genome is essential in order for it to fit into the cell, but it also reduces the accessibility to the cellular machines that read the DNA and transcribe the genes. Thus, the distinct packaging at a particular gene will have a huge impact on its expression, in ways that are only beginning to be unraveled. In particular, linker histones are known to play a key role in this organization of the genome, and their malfunctions can lead to serious diseases including cancer and autism, but the most basic questions of how they bind DNA are still unanswered.

The lack of understanding of these crucial processes stems from the dynamic nature of linker histones, which makes it challenging to investigate them using conventional methods based on sampling a huge number of molecules simultaneously. In order to overcome this problem, Prof. Kaplan’s lab developed a unique method based on “optical tweezers,” an approach that allows researchers to capture individual chromatin molecules and exert forces on them with the help of a focused laser beam. In these experiments, one strand of DNA is slowly detached from its complementary strand in a manner similar to a zipper being unzipped, through the entire structure of a chromatosome. The principle of the measurement is simple: at points where a histone makes contact with the DNA, even in the weakest way, the zipper gets stuck, and more force needs to be applied to overcome the histone-DNA contact and advance into the structure.

Using this approach, Dr. Rudnizky and his coworkers discovered that contacts between histones and DNA are far more extensive than previously known, and that chromatosomes are, in fact, much larger than previously thought. Moreover, they found a surprising flexibility in the structure of linker histones, as two different chromatosome shapes exist: one symmetric and compact, and the second asymmetric and more relaxed. Remarkably, transition between these shapes in an individual molecule can be externally controlled by the transcription machinery itself. This suggests that the cell utilizes the transition between stable and unstable forms of a chromatosome to regulate access to the DNA in a controlled manner. Given the key role played by chromatosomes in maintaining proper expression of our genome, these findings add an important layer to our understanding of the role of chromatin architecture in health and disease.

For the article in Molecular Cell, click here.

Over the years, the Technion has established itself as a leading academic institution in AI. It is currently ranked 15th in the world, with 100 faculty members engaged in areas across the AI spectrum.

The Technion’s efforts to advance the field of artificial intelligence have positioned it among the world’s leaders in AI research and development. CSRankings, the leading metrics-based ranking of top computer science institutions around the world, has ranked the Technion #1 in the field of artificial intelligence in Europe (and of course, in Israel), and 15th worldwide. In the subfield of machine learning, the Technion is ranked 11th worldwide. The data used to compile the rankings is from 2016 to 2021.

One of the innovations that is part of the framework of the Technion’s AI prowess is the Machine Learning and Intelligent Systems (MLIS) research center, which aggregates all AI-related activities.

Today, 46 Technion researchers are engaged in core AI research areas, and more than 100 researchers are in AI-related fields: health and medicine, autonomous vehicles, smart cities, industrial robotics, cybersecurity, natural language processing, FinTech, human-machine interaction, and others. Two leading AI researchers co-direct MLIS: Professor Shie Mannor of the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Professor Assaf Schuster of the Henry and Marilyn Taub Faculty of Computer Science.

According to Prof. Mannor, “for years, the Technion has maintained its position as the leading research institute in Israel and Europe in core AI areas. The Technion has a unique ecosystem that includes tens of researchers from various faculties, research centers, and a number of undergraduate and graduate programs in the field.”

“All fields of science, technology, and engineering at the Technion have been upgraded in recent years, applying Technion knowledge in AI fields,” said Prof. Schuster, “Most include components based on information processing and machine learning. Furthermore, the Technion views the dissemination of its acquired knowledge as a mission of national importance for commercial sector. In that regard, the Technion operates in close cooperation with the technology sector in Northern Israel and within its partnership with the prestigious EuroTech Universities Alliance. These partnerships in Israel and worldwide link AI research at the Technion to the vanguard of activity in this field.”

The MLIS center strives toward four main goals: (1) establishing the Technion as a top-5 university in the field of AI worldwide; (2) pooling resources, recruiting researchers, and students from all Technion departments to advance and conduct joint research in the field; (3) connecting Technion researchers with relevant parties in the industry, especially technology companies and other organizations that generate Big Data; (4) Establishing close research collaboration with other prominent research institutes in the AI field in Israel and worldwide.

In May 2021, the Technion entered a long-term collaboration with American software giant PTC, under which the company will transfer its Haifa research campus to the Technion, to advance joint research in AI and manufacturing technology. PTC joins several other organizations that collaborate with the Technion in these fields, among them the technological universities of Lausanne (Switzerland), Eindhoven (Netherlands), Munich (Germany), and the Paris Polytechnique (France) in Europe, as well as Cornell Tech, home of the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, Waterloo University, and Carnegie Mellon University, which operates the largest center for AI and robotics in the United States.

In what can be regarded as a significant breakthrough, researchers at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, together with their overseas partners, present novel technologies aimed at decoding the protein profile of single cells. A perspective paper, detailing the international group’s latest methods developments in the area, was recently published in the prestigious journal Nature Methods.

Identifying the genetic profile of single cells has important value to both research and practical application, and achievements in this field can help understand the great variability between different cells. However, unlike successes in studying the genetic profile of a single cell, decoding the protein profile of a single cell has yet to be realized. This would be a significant milestone, from both research and clinical perspectives, since an accurate sensing of proteins levels can help diagnosing diseases at an early stage when their levels are too low to be detected by current tests. For example, such mapping may help in distinguishing among different tumors and enable treatment to be optimally tailored to the specific case.

The collaborative manuscript presented here was led by Professor. Chirlmin Joo (Delft University), Dr. Javier Alfaro (University of Gdansk), and Professor. Amit Meller of the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering (Technion), after a successful international conference SMPS19 (Single-Molecule Proteins Sequencing), a successful international conference organized by Prof. Meller and held in Jerusalem in 2019.

In the paper, the researchers describe the future technologies of protein sequencing and identification on the individual molecular level, alongside innovations in existing methods such as mass spectrometry. One such example is technology developed in Prof. Meller’s laboratory at the Technion, involving nanometric sensors that include nano-channels and nano-pores to allow the direct sensing of individual proteins (see illustration).

The proteins are labelled with fluorescent dyes, and as they flow through the sensor, a sophisticated optical system can read the markers. The optical signal is processed and analyzed using a deep learning-based system – which has also been developed in the lab – enabling the protein to be identified. This, and other such technologies will lead to a deeper understanding of biological processes and the development of highly sensitive medical tests that will enable the early diagnosis of a variety of diseases.

The Technion study led by Prof. Amit Meller also included a postdoctoral fellow Dr. Xander van Kooten and a Ph.D. student Shilo Ohayon, in the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering. The study has been supported by the European Union (the ERC Grant from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program for EU research), the Israeli Science Foundation (ISF), and the Azrieli Fellowship Program.

Among the 241 new MDs who received their Technion diplomas this past June, visually impaired Dr. Keren Amiel stands out for overcoming unusual challenges.

“I’ve always wanted to be a doctor, ever since I was a child,” Dr. Amiel says. “I knew it was going to be a challenge, so initially I was apprehensive, but I decided to try.”

Amiel suffers from congenital nystagmus, a condition she inherited from her father which causes her eyes to “dance” uncontrollably, resulting in significant visual impairment.

Last month, 241 Technion graduates of the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine received their Doctor of Medicine diplomas. Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan spoke at the graduation ceremony; the daughters of Ruth and Bruce, Dr. Vered Drenger-Rappaport and Ms. Irith Rappaport, congratulated the new doctors. For half of them, the ceremony comes two years after their graduation, as no ceremonies were held at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For Dr. Amiel, the apprehensions were over when she finally held her MD diploma. Not only that, but over the past year, she completed her internship at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, and started residency in child and adolescent psychiatry at Schneider Children’s Medical Center.

Excelling while thinking outside the box 

The chief challenge, Amiel says, was being the first, blazing the trail. “The faculty was very supportive and willing to make the necessary adjustments,” she says. “But we had to figure out together what these adjustments were – identify the problems, and figure out how to overcome them. It took some out-of-the-box thinking.”

For example, in anatomy classes, where one has to recognize structures in the human body, she used surgical loupes like surgeons use when performing delicate operations. On one thing she agreed with the faculty from the start: in no way would her education be compromised; there would be no lowering the bar.

“The Technion encourages one to excel,” she says. “It poses a challenge, and an opportunity to learn from the very best. That’s why I wanted to study here.”

Currently, in her work with young patients, Dr. Amiel’s disability offers an unexpected advantage: it helps her to connect with patients. A doctor can be quite intimidating, but a doctor who is also a human being – less so. “I often ask children what they want to be when they grow up,” Dr. Amiel says. “If a child is afraid he or she won’t be able to achieve their dreams, I can encourage them through telling them about the challenges I’ve overcome.”

Paving the way for more people with disabilities 

Commenting on integration of people with disabilities, Dr. Amiel says: “I think visibility is important. The first time my colleagues in the hospital saw me with my nose glued to the computer screen, I suppose it looked weird. But the more common it is, the less weird it becomes, and that opens the way for more people with disabilities.”

While Dr. Amiel is the first visually impaired doctor in Israel, a few have passed this hurdle previously around the world. The first was Jacob Bolotin, who graduated from the Chicago Medical School in 1912. In more recent times, David Hartman earned his medical degree at Temple University in Philadelphia in 1975, followed by Tim Cordes graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2005. The knowledge that she might be the first in Israel, but others around the world have succeeded before her, helped Amiel persevere, and find the way to achieve the goal she has set for herself.

Story by Tatyana Haykin

Being afraid of math prevents people from engaging with it when they need it – even if they learned it at school, a new study claims.

Since COVID-19 emerged as a global crisis, the news has been dominated by graphs and terms like “R numbers” and “exponential growth,” referring to the rate of spread of the disease. To what extent does the average adult understand the quantitative information appearing in the news? The results of a new study paint a gloomy picture: When asked about “math in the news” items presented to them, even people who had taken advanced mathematics classes in high school did not typically figure everything out, but obtained only an average “grade” of 72/100. But these advanced learners make up a small minority of high school graduates. Those who took only the mandatory level of high school math – as over 50% of high school graduates with official Israeli matriculation certificates tend to do – correctly interpreted much fewer items on average (54/100).

Results were even more troubling for participants who had not passed all the examinations required for the official state certificate. Participants in this group obtained an average “grade” of 44/100 – suggesting they didn’t understand over half of the items in the questionnaire. This latter group represents about 45% of the total cohort of 17-year-olds in Israel in recent years. These findings raise concern about the relevance of school mathematics to the real-life needs of most learners and call attention to the importance of providing all learners with mathematics literacy.

The findings emerged from a new study on mathematical media literacy among a representative sample of 439 Israeli adults. The study was conducted by a team of researchers at the Faculty of Education in Science and Technology at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology during the first wave of COVID-19 cases in Israel (March-April 2020). The team was led by Profs. Einat Heyd-Metzuyanim, Ayelet Baram-Tsabari and Aviv J. Sharon.

The researchers were surprised to find a factor that appears to be even more strongly associated with the participants’ understanding of mathematical information in the news than the level of math they had taken at school: the participants’ self-perceptions as being “good at math” and the extent they find mathematics useful and interesting. This finding suggests that being afraid of math prevents people from engaging with it when they need it – even if they had learned it at school.

“These results seem to show that school mathematics, especially in its high levels, may prepare adults to understand critical information important for their well-being, such as at a time of global pandemic. However, they also indicate that negative attitudes towards math may significantly hinder adults’ engagement with such information,” said the study’s lead author, Prof. Heyd-Metzuyanim. “Our findings should trigger some soul-searching in the mathematics education field,” she added. “After all, the goal of learning mathematics, for most of the public, is to be able to deal with mathematical information in their daily lives. We should therefore make sure that high-school graduates leave school with both the cognitive tools for processing mathematical information around them, and the attitudes and dispositions that would allow them to do so.”

Click here for the paper in Educational Studies in Mathematics