16 Technion graduate students together with a similar number of German students from Aachen and Jülich research center participated in a series of lectures and seven different hands-on laboratory sessions. The lectures covered fundamental principles of electron microscopy, and applications in material science, life science and quantum physics. The experimental part introduced the students to some of the most advanced electron microscopy systems worldwide. Social events for the students and staff were also included in the program. The Technion delegation was headed by Professor Gadi Eisenstein, director of RBNI. Two Technion faculty members, Professor Yeshayahu (Ishi) Talmon and Professor Ido Kaminer were among the lecturers.
The school was a late follow up of a very successful RBNI winter school on the same topic held in 2018 in Kfar Bloom.
Prof. Michael (Miki) Elad received the prize for his research in engineering, which has led to practical developments, including reducing radiation levels in CT scans and shortening MRI scan times.
Prof. Michael (Miki) Elad received the prize
Distinguished Professor Mordechai (Moti) Segev received the prize for his pioneering contributions in photonics and nonlinear optics, and the innovative research paths he developed. His groundbreaking work in optical communications has had a global impact, advancing new technologies to improve wireless communication and the Internet.
Distinguished Professor Mordechai (Moti) Segev received the prize
The Rothschild Prize has been awarded by Yad Hanadiv, the Rothschild Family Foundation, in ten academic fields, since 1959. Yad Hanadiv also contributed to the construction of the Knesset, the Supreme Court, and the National Library.
The materials, which are expected to lead to significant improvements in the quality of Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and expand their usage, are presented in a newly published article by Prof. Aharon Blank and Dr. Itai Katz in Science Advances. The research, supported by the Technion Human Health Initiative (THHI) and the European Research Council (ERC), included contributions from Prof. Boaz Pokroy and Dr. Arad Lang from the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering at the Technion, who worked on preparing some of the unique nature-inspired materials, and Dr. Benno Meier from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
Prof. Aharon Blank (left) and Dr. Itai Katz
MRI is a non-invasive, radiation-free imaging technology used in diagnosing various clinical conditions. One of the limitations of conventional MRI devices is that they have trouble detecting metabolites, which have a very low concentration in tissues. Metabolites are small molecules involved in chemical process in the body, many of which serve as clinical markers indicating various health conditions, including malignant tumors, abnormal cell division, cell death, and cellular stress. This is the motivation for many research groups trying to find a solution that allows the identification of metabolites in non-invasive imaging scans.
In their article, the researchers present a new method enabling the identification of metabolites in MRI. The method, called MMV, is based on new composition of metabolites characterized by two significant advantages in this context: a dramatic enhancement (by about four orders of magnitude) of the magnetic resonance signal and the preservation of signal strength for a relatively long time compared to existing metabolites – about ten minutes versus one minute.
The practical implication of the findings is that the new materials will allow tracking metabolites in various tissues over time. Furthermore, due to the new qualities these materials provide to MRI scans, such tests could, in certain cases, replace expensive and radiation-intensive tests like PET-CT.
One of the stages in the preparation process of the unique materials. This stage includes high-voltage plasma disintegration passing through the material grains
According to Prof. Blank, “Our discovery is very exciting for us, as the new method will provide physicians with a broader time window to perform the scan, and we estimate it will expand the use of radiation-free MRI scans. These materials will improve the capabilities of medical and research teams in early disease diagnosis, tissue characterization, disease progression monitoring, surgery planning, optimal treatment selection, and informed decision-making.”
In 2017, the Technion awarded Dr. Ciechanover an honorary doctorate “in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the international standing of the State of Israel; in recognition of his many and varied achievements as a jurist, economist and statesman; and as a sign of gratitude for his longstanding support for the Technion and its students as chair of the Dr Jacob Isler Foundation”. Distinguished Professor Aaron Ciechanover spoke at the honorary doctorate ceremony and said, “Words cannot describe my brother’s work on behalf of the State of Israel, and I too owe him so much. We lost our parents when I was a young boy, and Yossi [Joseph], who was 14 years my senior, supported me along every step of the way ever since. He brought me to where I am today. Without him, I would not be standing here before you.”
Dr Ciechanover was a diplomat, businessman and entrepreneur. He served as director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was part of the team that negotiated the peace accord with Egypt, worked as the defense establishment legal advisor, and was chair of the board of directors of El Al. In 2021 he was awarded the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement — special contribution to the state and Israeli society — “for his significant contribution to the State over many years in numerous areas of public life, the economy, security, diplomacy and jurisprudence — both within the public service and outside of it.”
“We were between exams, and we had waited a long time for this party,” says Tal. “For these types of events, the location is only announced a few hours before the party begins, and we received the information at 7 p.m. We packed camping equipment and left Haifa in Omer’s father’s car.”
They recall that at the entrance to the party there was heavy security. At first, they sat outside a bit, chatting and drinking, and then, at around 3 a.m., they went inside. The three students describe the few hours they spent at the party as lots of fun and full of young, happy people. The rocket barrage at 6:30 a.m. caught them by complete surprise. “From the moment it started, there was massive bombardment,” says Tal. “We understood that something unusual was happening and we prepared to leave without packing our tent and other equipment.” When they reached the parking lot, they hid between cars and waited about half an hour for a slight lull in the rockets in order to get to their car and leave the area.
“I drove because I was the most alert and clear-headed,” says Gal. “The road was a very crowded dirt path, one long traffic jam, but we succeeded in breaking away and reaching the main road. At that point, we had to decide whether to turn northwards towards Be’eri or southwards towards Re’im. Since there was a lot of traffic to go north, Tal suggested that we drive to Re’im, the closest place, because we felt like sitting ducks and we wanted to reach a safe area as quickly as possible. At this point, we started to hear machine gun fire, but we still didn’t understand what was going on around us.”
“While we were driving, the rocket fire didn’t stop,” recalls Tal. “We now know that the traffic jam heading north was caused by a roadblock set up by the terrorists, who shot indiscriminately, and if we would have driven in that direction, we would have encountered them and our situation would have been completely different.”
From left to right: Tal, Gal and Omer
Kibbutz Rei’m’s gate was open, and the students went in to look for a protected area. They hesitated whether to go to the small shelter at the entrance of the kibbutz, but decided to continue looking. Afterwards, they found out that many people were killed in that small shelter. As they were looking for a place to hide from the rockets between the houses, suddenly Tali, who lives on the kibbutz, heard them and opened her window. “We asked her for the key to the shelter near her house,” says Gal. “Her husband, Haim, opened the kibbutz’s synagogue for us, since it also serves as a fortified shelter. He even left us a bottle of water, so that we would have something to drink while we waited. We thought we would be there around 20 minutes and then we would be on our way.” Once they entered the synagogue at 7:20 a.m., the three would be forced to stay there for the next 13 hours.
“When we went inside the synagogue, we received notifications about terrorists infiltrating the area,” Omer recounts, “but we still didn’t understand the magnitude of what was happening. When you hear ‘terrorist infiltration,’ nobody imagines such an enormous scope. We expected five, ten, maybe 20 terrorists. It was only when we started to receive videos of events in the area, and we started to hear massive shooting near us, that we understood that this was something completely different.”
They quickly turned off the lights in the synagogue and guarded the door and window. “Tal and Gal held the door and I was ready to jump on anyone who would try opening the door. I figured that either I would succeed in neutralizing them or else we were doomed.”
Throughout the day, the three friends heard the terrorists patrolling outside the synagogue. “At around 10 a.m., they drank from the sink that was right outside the door,” Tal describes. “We heard them speaking to each other in Arabic, and we heard their footsteps on the other side of the synagogue’s door.”
Much to their surprise, the terrorists didn’t try to enter the synagogue. While the three were inside, terrorists shot at the building numerous times, but luckily none of the bullets penetrated the walls. At around 5 p.m., the cellular networks fell and for approximately two hours they were out of contact with the outside world. They only used their phones once an hour to send their families a sign of life. After 13 hours in the synagogue, during which they heard non-stop shooting and explosions and each moment could have been their last, the kibbutz’s emergency response squad came and moved them to Tali and Haim’s house.
When contact with the three young men was cut off, Gal’s father, who is a police volunteer, decided to drive south to Rei’m. When he managed to get there, they were already in Tali and Haim’s house. “He really lifted our spirits,” recalls Omer. “He came with a handgun, which we could use for guarding. We felt a bit safer.”
At 3 a.m., an IDF unit from the Kfir Brigade that had been combing the houses in the kibbutz reached the group. However, they only received permission to leave on Sunday morning at 9 a.m.
“The drive out from the kibbutz was completely surreal,” Omer reveals. “Shell casings on the ground, burnt vehicles, RPG rockets on the road, bodies strewn on the side of the road, destroyed houses – a real war zone. My car was damaged by shrapnel.”
Even before they reached their homes, Gal and Omer received emergency call-up notices from the army. Gal is an officer in the Givati Brigade and Omer is an officer in the Combat Engineering Corps. Since his friends had been called up to reserve duty, Tal decided to volunteer to join the reserves, and on Sunday he also enlisted in the army. He serves in the unit that coordinates the government’s activities in the West Bank. “My job entails preserving the IDF’s international legitimacy in combat. I serve as a population officer of a maneuvering brigade, and mostly deal with events involving encounters with the Gazan population in the battlefield.”
All three students are still in reserve duty. “We are focused on helping and supporting the country however we can,” says Omer. “If there is something that I take with me from this experience, it’s a renewed appreciation for life. It’s impossible not to understand how fragile life is, and I feel lucky that if I already passed these events and these are the people I was with.”
From left to right: Tal, Gal and Omer on reserve duty
Haim and Tali
Tali was born on Kibbutz Rei’m and Haim has lived with her there for nearly 50 years. Until recently, she worked in the kibbutz’s main office, and he was Re’im’s electrician. Two of their daughters live on Re’im and the third is a student in Be’er Sheva. Only Haim and Tali are left in the house, along with their cats.
“During one of the lulls between rocket barrages, I went outside,” says Haim, “and suddenly I saw three guys. I asked them: ‘What are you doing here?’ They explained that they had escaped from the party. I gave them water and chocolate and accompanied them to the shelter. I told them not to open the door for anybody. We exchanged phone numbers so that we could be in contact while they were there. In the morning, Tali prepared schnitzels for everyone, and I asked our security officer to help them escape. For me, during those hours, they were like my children.”
Tali and Haim are now in a hotel in Eilat, together with most of the other residents of their kibbutz. “When we were told to evacuate, we thought they meant for a few days, so we just took a few pairs of underwear and socks. That was over two months ago, and we are soon supposed to move into buildings in Tel Aviv, which a high-tech company vacated for us for an entire year.”
The prestigious Rothschild Prize was established by Yad Hanadiv (The Rothschild Foundation) in 1959 to support, encourage, and advance the sciences and humanities in Israel. Each year, it is awarded in recognition of outstanding research in seven disciplines. The festive prize ceremony will take place at the National Library in Jerusalem on September 18, 2024. The following day, there will be a scientific conference during which the laureates will present their achievements and explain their impact.
Professor Michael (Miki) Elad of the Henry and Marilyn Taub Faculty of Computer Science and the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering will receive the Rothschild Prize in the Engineering category, in recognition of his pioneering contributions to the fields of signal and image processing and machine learning. Prof. Elad’s research has revolutionized the way digital data is treated, through groundbreaking tools and algorithms based on “sparsity” and advanced AI-based techniques. Over the years, his work introduced innovative machine-learning based models that offer dimensionality reduction for data sources and signals, which allows for their efficient processing for tasks such as compression, solving inverse-problems, and more. A unique characteristic of his work is the continuous bridge between deep theoretical and mathematical analysis on the one hand, and real world applications that benefit directly from these contributions on the other hand. Prof. Elad’s work led to the establishment of a new and rich research field that changed the way data is processed and treated, and his contributions inspire numerous researchers all over the world.
Prof. Michael (Miki) Elad
Distinguished Professor Mordechai (Moti) Segev of the Faculty of Physics and the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering will be awarded the Rothschild Prize in the Physics category in recognition of his pioneering contributions to the field of photonics that led to numerous important discoveries. Prof. Segev studies the interaction between light and matter l, focusing on understanding the change that the material undergoes when traversed by light. Prof. Segev, who also received the Israel Prize in 2014 and the EMET Prize in 2019, founded several research fields, which are currently being actively explored by hundreds of worldwide. About 10 years ago, Prof. Segev and his research group pioneered the field of topological photonics, which explores the phenomenon of light that is able to bypass defects and flaws, which it encounters while propagating in a photonic circuit . Later, the team invented the topological insulator laser – a system that enables numerous laser sources on a chip to function as a single powerful source. More recently, Prof. Segev’s group has been exploring light-matter interactions in time-varying materials and Photonic Time-Crystals, launching yet another new research area. Professor Segev is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of the United States. However, above his personal achievements, Prof. Segev is committed to nurturing the next generation of researchers. Among the many students he mentored over the years, 25 are professors in both Israel and around the world, and many more working in the high-tech and defense industries.
The field of photonic integrated circuits focuses on the miniaturization of photonic elements and their integration in photonic chips – circuits that carry out a range of calculations using photons, rather than electrons as are used in electronic circuits.
Silicon-based photonics is a developing field that is relevant for data centers, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and more. It enables an enormous improvement in the chips’ performance, and in their cost-benefit ratio as it is based on the very same prevalent raw material from chips in the world of electronics.
Prof. Guy Bartal
However, despite benefiting from the well-developed lithography production process, which enables precise production of the desired devices, the instruments don’t yet enable accurate mapping of the chip’s optic characteristics. This includes its internal light motion – a crucial capacity given the difficulty to model the effect of fabrication flaws and inaccuracies – due to the devices’ tiny dimensions.
Matan Iluz
A new article by researchers from Technion’s Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering tackles this challenge, showing advanced light imaging in photonic circuits on chips. The research, which was published in the journal Optica, was led by Professor Guy Bartal, head of the Laboratory for Advanced Photonic Research, and doctoral student Matan Iluz, in collaboration with Professor Amir Rosenthal’s research group. Graduate students Kobi Cohen, Jacob Kheireddine, Yoav Hazan and Shai Tsesses also took part in the research. The researchers harnessed the optical characteristics of silicon to map the light’s propagation without requiring an invasive action of any sort, which perturbs or alters the chip. This process includes mapping the light waves’ electric field and defining the elements that affect the light’s movement – waveguides and beam splitters.
Illustration of the optimal experiment and an actual photograph showing the light within an MMI device – a wave conductor that splits the beam into two inside the optic chip.
The process developed by the Technion researchers provides real-time images and video recordings of the light inside the photonic chip, without having to damage the chip and without losing any data. This new process is expected to improve the design, production, and optimization processes of photonic chips in a variety of fields, including telecommunications, high-performance computing, machine learning, measuring distances, medical imaging, sensing, and quantum computing.
The research is supported by the Helen Diller Quantum Center at the Technion, the Microelectronics and Nanoelectronics Research Center at the Technion, and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
Prof. Keren Yizhak and Ofir Shorer, Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and The Rappaport Family Institute for Research in the Medical Sciences at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
A study done at the Technion shows that cell typing based on the expression of the metabolic genes enables prediction of the patient’s response to immunotherapy. Based on this discovery, the researchers created a tool to predict which patients will respond to this therapy, emphasizing the importance of metabolism in the tumor microenvironment.
The introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) anti-cancer drugs is one of the most important revolutions in cancer medicine. These drugs are designed to deactivate a natural immune mechanism that can work against patients in the case of a cancerous tumor.
Prof. Keren Yizhak
The immune mechanism in question is a network of “immune checkpoints.” Its role, under normal conditions, is to prevent the immune system from reacting with excessive force that could damage healthy cells. In other words, it is a mechanism that regulates the immune system.
However, when faced with a cancerous tumor, that same mechanism may prevent the immune system from attacking the cancer cells. This is the background against which ICI drugs were developed: these drugs deactivate this mechanism, thereby “freeing” the immune system to attack the cancer cells. These drugs have caused a revolution in cancer medicine, leading to inhibition of tumor growth in many kinds of cancer.
Still, these drugs are effective in less than 40% of patients. The rest of the patients suffer from side effects of the drug without enjoying any benefit. While there have been efforts to determine in advance whether or not the drugs will be effective for specific patients, current tools for doing so – for example, based on a genetic signature or the amount of different cells, – are not accurate.
Ofir Shorer
Researchers at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology have developed a new tool for this type of assessment, based on the metabolism of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. Since cancer cells and the immune system cells are found in the same environment, they are fighting for resources. Quantifying their metabolic demands enables successful prediction of the effect of ICI drugs on the individual patient. To accomplish that they analyzed single-cell RNA-sequencing of 1,700 metabolic genes, taken from more than one million immune cells of cancer patients treated with ICI. . .
The study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) and The Bruce & Ruth Rappaport Cancer Research Center.
Prof. Keren Yizhak is a faculty member at the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and at the Henry and Marilyn Taub Faculty of Computer Science. Ofir Shorer is a graduate of the Technion’s Excellence Program and is currently a doctoral student in the prestigious M.D./Ph.D. track, which combines a research doctorate with clinical studies, under the guidance of Prof. Yizhak.
Technion Update Concerning the Recent Events in the South
Saturday, 7th October 2023, 18:00
Dear Members of the Technion Community,
Early this morning, Israel entered a state of conflict. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims’ families, the inhabitants of southern Israel, and our defense forces.
The Technion administration is vigilantly monitoring the evolving situation and preparing for multiple contingencies. Campus shelters are now accessible, and a situation room has been established to oversee developments.
As of now, the Home Front Command has issued no specific directives for the Haifa region. We continue our operations as usual, exercising appropriate caution.
Please note the following crucial announcements:
• Based on the Home Front Command’s guidance, activities at the Technion campuses in Haifa will resume as usual tomorrow. However, the Sarona campus in Tel Aviv will remain closed.
• The second period (Moed B) exams of the spring semester and the first period (Moed A) exams of the summer semester, originally scheduled from Sunday, 8th October 2023, through Friday, 13th October 2023, will be postponed. An updated exam timetable will be released by the Office of Undergraduate Studies. Rescheduled dates will fall within the initial two weeks of the semester, set for afternoons and Fridays.
• A significant number of students have been mobilized for reserve duty. We stand ready to provide them with all necessary support.
• In light of a marked uptick in cyber-attack warnings, and in collaboration with the National Cyber Directorate and peer academic institutions, the security of the Technion’s systems has been enhanced. Users outside Israel may encounter intermittent disruptions.
• The Security Unit’s hotline operates around the clock at 04-8292222. More details can be found at https://bitahon.technion.ac.il.
• The Dean of Students Office remains available to assist. For any concerns, please reach out to:
Adih@technion.ac.il
counseling-director@technion.ac.il
We urge everyone to closely follow and adhere to updates and guidelines disseminated via email, WhatsApp, the Technion website, and our social media platforms.
Leading the center are Dr. Gal Oren and Prof. Hagit Attiya from the Henry and Marilyn Taub Faculty of Computer Science at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, in collaboration with Prof. Danny Hendler from the Computer Science Department of Ben-Gurion University.
Using Intel’s oneAPI developer cloud, the center will offer a comprehensive course covering the fundamental and advanced possibilities of using oneAPI and OpenMP* for shared-memory parallelism, especially with accelerators. The center will lead in training the next generation of developers by promoting projects that will identify key open source HPC/AI applications and port them via oneAPI with OpenMP/SYCL. The center will open source the curriculum, offer train-the-trainer activities, localize efforts with other Israeli universities (such as Ben-Gurion university), and provide an online presence.
“We are excited to establish the new oneAPI Center of Excellence with Intel,” says Dr. Oren, who leads the venture. “As heterogeneous supercomputers worldwide are on the rise, and diverse high-performance computing is practically ubiquitous, there is a need to raise a new generation of developers who can push legacy and new-generation applications performance to the limit. With oneAPI, we can close the gap between software and hardware and exploit the full potential of both. The future, in this regard, is here, and we are planning to seize the moment.”
“Technion’s oneAPI Center of Excellence, the first in Israel, is an exciting step forward preparing students for a multi-architecture computing world by teaching them SYCL and oneAPI”, says Scott Apeland, senior director of Intel Developer Ecosystem Programs. “This oneAPI Center brings open, standards-based programming skills to students to innovate, drive research, and advance science and industry.”
