Author: shlomi ben-oz

Can stem cells be identified and monitored in mature tissue? How do our organs cope with both the need for frequent renewal of tissue cells and the need to protect stem cell health in tissue that is exposed to environmental hazards?

Collaboration between two research laboratories in the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion has recently yielded a pair of groundbreaking articles focused on the renewal and morbidity mechanisms in the cornea – the transparent tissue that is essential for vision and which serves as the “skin” of the eye. In a similar fashion to the skin, the cornea cells are constantly shedding and are replenished by new cells originating from stem cells.

Unlike skin, the clear cornea lacks the pigments that protect our skin. As such, it is highly exposed to harmful radiation. This is one of the reasons that corneal stem cells are localized in the limbus, the narrow zone between the transparent cornea and opaque sclera (the white part of the eye). Many properties of these limbal stem cells (LSCs) such as their, prevalence, heterogeneity and molecular signature are largely unknown. This gap of knowledge halts the development of LSC-based therapies to cure blindness. Furthermore, the topic of how stem cells cope with different physiological constraints is a key unanswered question in stem cell biology.

In the first article, published in Cell Stem Cell, two previously unknown stem cell niches were discovered in the cornea. Each niche was found to contain unique stem cell populations that ensure its renewal. The second article, published in eLife, presents the sophisticated control mechanism that protects the cornea by maintaining a balance between cell death and self-renewal in the tissue. The article discusses how the basic properties of stem cells and differentiated cells affect the maintenance of stem cells in a remote, protected area and the cell turnover rate, their “freshness,” and aging. These breakthroughs, which emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary research, were achieved thanks to the collaboration between the research lab of Professor Ruby Shalom-Feuerstein, who specializes in stem cell research, and the lab of Professor Yonatan Savir, who specializes in quantitative biology and biophysics.

Trace and identify

The study published in Cell Stem Cell was headed by Dr. Anna Altshuler and Dr. Aya Amitai-Lange, of Prof. Shalom-Feuerstein’s lab. They integrated innovative technologies, including RNA sequencing on a single-cell level, and advanced clonal lineage tracing – identification of all “descendants” of a specific cell. The product is an unprecedented atlas that describes the gene signature of limbal stem cells and their complete lineage.

The findings in this atlas show that the limbus accommodates two stem cell populations located in two distinct niches that have not been previously described, and which were coined “outer” and “inner” limbus. The inner limbus contains a population of active LSCs, which divide frequently and routinely renew the cornea. The outer limbus contains a population of quiescent, or dormant, LSCs that rarely divide, whose function is to protect the borders of the cornea, and that serve as an emergency reservoir of stem cells aroused upon injury. Mathematical analysis of clonal growth dynamics in vivo suggested that LSC populations are abundant equipotent cells that follow stochastic rules that fit with neutral competition on a niche that dictates survival or extinction. Finally, the study also discovered a new function of the immune system’s T cells that serve as outer limbus niche cells and control the division frequency and healing process of outer LSCs. 

According to Prof. Shalom-Feuerstein, “The traditional dogma did not entail zonation or heterogeneity in the limbus, and viewed LSC as rare cells that are surrounded by abundant short-lived progenitors. The hypothetic scarce entities were never found despite decades of research. This study proposes a new dogma that describes two discrete LSC populations that are widespread in their niche, and it reveals their signature, dynamics, and function. We hope that it will pave the way for a better understanding of the involvement of LSC in corneal blinding pathologies. The atlas of LSC genetic signature and niche components may be translated into optimized LSC purification and growth in our culture dish that is currently quite limited.”

Between mortality and renewal

A key question in stem cell biology is how stem cells can accurately balance cell loss and perfectly tune the development of the tissue and maintain its size and integrity.  The second study, which was published in eLife and headed by medical student Lior Strinkovsky and PhD student Evgeny Havkin (both of the Savir lab), focused on this topic. The researchers developed a mathematical model that describes the dynamics of cell renewal in the cornea, and tested various hypotheses and defined the control mechanism that creates a balance between cell renewal in corneal tissue and the death of aging cells. The researchers evaluated different hypotheses by which stem cells could sustain tissue homeostasis and tested their feasibility. The analysis revealed an inherent relation between the lifespan of the corneal cell (the number of times they can divide) and the length at which cells affect each other as they replicate (does a dividing cell out-compete only its nearest neighbor cells or does it affect a larger neighborhood?). One of the implications of these relations is that “short-lived” progenitor cells believed to possess a lifespan of 3-4 divisions might have a 10-20 times larger lifespan than previously believed.

“Many of the tissues in our bodies (such as the cornea and skin) are in a perpetual state of cell death and renewal, and stem cells play a crucial part in the tissues’ capacity to regenerate,” said Prof. Savir. “However, we still do not fully understand how stem cells control the ability to generate new cells so that the tissue retains the right size. Also, the lifespan of ordinary cells has a significant role in maintaining the balance between the number of new cells that are generated and the number of cells that die. Our work paves the way to hypotheses that can easily be tested experimentally”.

A new perspective of stem cells

The researchers estimate their findings support the understanding that the traditional model of rare stem cells is not valid. The present research findings are of great significance to the understanding of the basic properties of stem cells in different tissues such as skin, muscle, hair follicles, and bone marrow. The researchers hope the revelation of the identity and genetic signature of the limbal stem cells in this study will pave the way to the understanding of development processes of corneal disease and others, in which stem cells in various tissues are damaged, and will also lead to the development of innovative treatments and new technology to repair damaged organs such as the cornea, among other things through the use of drugs that target damaged genetic pathways in stem cells and their interaction with the niche cells that support them. 

Click here for the paper in Cell Stem Cell

Click here for the paper in eLife

 

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The ambassador of the UAE to Israel, H.E. Mohamed Al Khaja, visited the Technion last week, expressing interest in joint research, particularly on water and food security. “Shared science and research will bring our countries and people closer,” he said during the historic visit.

The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology announced today that the Master of Business Administration program has been named The William Davidson Master of Business Administration Program in honor of American business leader and philanthropist William “Bill” Davidson (1922-2009). The announcement was made by Technion President, Professor Uri Sivan, during a joint meeting between Technion leadership and the Board of Directors of the William Davidson Foundation. 

“William Davidson’s outstanding achievements and legacy have made him a source of inspiration for those seeking to become entrepreneurs and innovators themselves,” said President Sivan. “I cannot think of a better program to bear his name than the one for the Technion MBA,” he concluded. 

An outstanding industrialist and innovator who transformed a small, family company into a leading worldwide glass and plastics manufacturing enterprise, Mr. Davidson was a life-long supporter of the  State of Israel and a Technion Guardian, a designation reserved for those who have reached the highest level of support of the institution.  As a proponent of experiential business education, Mr. Davidson viewed the Technion’s role in training future leaders as important to securing Israel’s economic future.  In a particularly visionary statement in 1997, he said “Israel has a critical need to equip its technological ‘pioneers’ with the skills necessary to translate successes in the lab into an edge in the global competition for markets, customers, and capital.”

“We are honored that the Technion is naming their MBA program after Bill Davidson, who believed that for Israel and its economy to remain strong and dynamic, the country needed bright, entrepreneurial business leaders with an understanding of global trends and markets,” said Darin McKeever, President, and CEO of the William Davidson Foundation. “The Technion’s approach of integrating training in engineering, science, and technology with a strong business education can help to create the kind of leaders Israeli businesses need today,” he added.

The Technion MBA program is unique in its focus on entrepreneurship, innovation, and technological management.  The prestigious program enjoys several unique advantages, including the Technion’s rich ecosystem of faculty and applied research centers, as well as a network of international partnerships with leading management institutions.  The program offers four specialization tracks, which allow students to deepen their knowledge and expertise in key aspects of technology business and management: big data and business intelligence; innovation and entrepreneurship; the “Azrieli start-up” track, which combines MBA studies with a supportive environment for establishing and developing technology ventures; and a new Life Sciences MBA track, which will allow students from life sciences fields to specialize in managing and leading life science organizations and ventures.

Students in the Technion MBA program have strong academic backgrounds and rich and diverse professional experiences, working in technology and knowledge-driven companies. This diversity and excellence play an important role in the program, which fosters mutual learning and collaboration. Among the MBA program’s alumni are Moovit founders Yaron Evron and Roy Bick and Alcobra founder Dr. Yaron Danieli.

The William Davidson Foundation is a private family foundation, established in 2005, that honors its founder and continues his lifelong commitment to philanthropy, advancing for future generations the economic, cultural, and civic vitality of Southeast Michigan, the State of Israel, and the Jewish community. For more information, visit williamdavidson.org

In a new article, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology scientists document findings that could significantly improve the resolution of telescopes. The research, which was performed by Ph. D. student Gal Gumpel and supervised by Dr. Erez Ribak from the Technion Department of Physics, was published in the Journal of the Optical Society of America B, in a feature issue on Astrophotonics.

The resolution of a telescope – how sharp its images are – is the smallest angle between two observed objects, where they can still be visibly separated. The resolution limit is set by diffraction: light rays diffract and scatter around objects in their path, in this case, the telescope mirror, as they travel to the focal plane, where the detector (camera) is.  The original angle of the light is blurred, causing the observed object, in this case, a star, to look like a fuzzy spot. Thus, two nearby stars will look like overlapping fuzzy spots, which we cannot distinguish anymore. 

There are two basic ways to reduce diffraction and improve resolution, as set by the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics. One is the reduction of the wavelength, for example by illuminating the object with blue light, instead of red; the other is to increase the telescope aperture. Since in astronomy we observe natural light that is out of our control, we cannot reduce the wavelength, but we can increase the telescope aperture. Indeed, the giant telescopes being built in recent decades provide very high resolution. In mid-sized telescopes or space telescopes, limited by launcher volume, the resolution is still an issue.

The experiment performed at the Technion is based on the amplification of photons (light particles). When a photon, arriving from a star, crosses the telescope aperture, it reaches a light amplifier, a medium of atoms, which responds by stimulating the emission of many additional photons. These stimulated photons are identical to the original photon, both in direction and in wavelength. These daughter photons also obey the initial diffraction limit, but by their mere number, they allow for a better measurement of the angle at which the original, astronomical photon has crossed the telescope aperture. This is an improvement on direct detection, which is based only on the original photon (without an amplifier), improves the resolution of the telescope without increasing its size.

Such light amplification has been disfavored because the stimulated emission is also accompanied by constant spontaneous emission by the same atoms. The copious spontaneous photons are emitted in all directions, unlike the stimulated ones, creating a bright background, and reducing the achieved increase in resolution. As a result, Gumpel and Ribak had to separately measure also the spontaneous photons. In the lab experiment, they blocked the “star” light part of the time, thus measuring only the background, while the rest of the time served to measure both stimulated and spontaneous photons. The image of the object was obtained by subtraction of the background image from the combined image, leaving only the clean image of the source. This is the first time such an experiment is performed with white light since most light amplifiers (such as those in lasers) operate only at one wavelength. 

According to the researchers, “one of the possible drawbacks of the method is the loss of sensitivity in the final images, but this is a worthy price to pay for the increased resolution. Moreover, the loss of sensitivity can be overcome partially by increasing the exposure times, namely the observation period.” 

Click here for the paper in Journal of the Optical Society of America B 

 

 

 

A singular, heartwarming visit took place at the Technion on Sunday, May 30, 2021 – a first visit of the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Israel, H.E Mohamed Al Khaja. The Ambassador’s entourage met with Technion President Professor Uri Sivan, Executive Vice President for Research, Professor Koby Rubinstein, and Vice President for External Relations and Resource Development, Professor Alon Wolf. 

UAE’s Ambassador, H.E Mohamed Al Khaja holds a degree in political science from Northeastern University in Boston and an MBA from Vienna University of Economics and Business. For the past decade, H.E served as Chief of Staff to the UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs. Ambassador Al Khaja, 41, was sworn into his position in February 2021.

Technion President Sivan said at his meeting with the Ambassador: “The Technion is one of the few universities in the world that have had a significant impact and have transformed the economy of an entire country. It is thanks to Technion alumni that Israel established a highly developed, knowledge-intensive industry. The Abraham Accords with the UAE have opened up extensive opportunities for regional collaboration. Medicine, health, and science are subjects that connect people, and are delighted to be a party to research and academic collaborations with universities in the Emirates.”

The visit began with a tour of the David and Janet Polak Visitors Center, led by Technion Vice President for External Relations and Resource Development, Prof. Wolf, who presented to the Ambassador the research and technology discoveries and breakthroughs achieved by Technion researchers, including the discoveries of the Technion’s Nobel Laureates, which led to the establishment of groundbreaking tech companies. Two of these companies are Mazor Robotics, which was founded on the basis of technology developed by Professor Emeritus Moshe Shoham of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, and Novocure, founded by Professor Emeritus Yoram Palti of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine on the basis of his technology.

Executive Vice President for Research, Prof. Rubinstein, presented the Technion’s diverse research to the Ambassador, as well as its numerous successful technology transfers. “In the past year alone,” he said, “the Technion founded 15 new startups – a huge increase compared to prior years.”

He also presented the Innovation Center for the Medicine of Tomorrow initiative to the Ambassador – a joint venture between the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, run by the Continuing Education and External Studies Division. “The Technion is unique in its many years of experience in training doctors and engineers,” continued Prof. Rubinstein. “The concept of engineering in service of medicine will greatly benefit the advancement of human health.”

“I am very honored to be the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Israel, and consider myself as an ambassador of peace and cooperation,” Ambassador Al Khaja said. “We must work together to change the perception of people in the Middle East. The Abraham Accords have brought us all closer and have led us to work together for a better future. The Technion is an esteemed research center with a world reputation, and we will be delighted to collaborate on any research that will contribute to the wellbeing of the residents of the region. We will work together for the progression and success of research collaborations and student exchanges between our countries. Shared science and research will bring our countries and people closer.”

Ambassador Al Khaja said that in his previous position as Chief of Staff to the UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs he was engaged in innovation, technology entrepreneurship, and R&D. “This subject is close to my heart, and I will be happy to further encourage innovation and joint research between the Technion and our country, especially on issues associated with water and food security.”

Architects Prof. Bracha Chyutin and Prof. Shamay Assif have won the EMET prize for architecture for 2020. Known as Israel’s Nobel Prize, the EMET Prize is awarded for excellence in academic and professional achievements that have had far-reaching influence and have made a significant contribution to Israeli society.

The prestigious awards, to the amount of $1 million, were awarded on Thursday 27th May to eight new laureates, two of whom are Technion faculty members: Prof Shamay Assif and Prof. Bracha Chyutin.

This is the 19th year of the EMET Prize, which is given under the auspices of the Prime Minister’s Office. The award committee is headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Yaakov Turkel.

Architect Prof. Shamay Assif completed a bachelor’s degree at the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Technion and a master’s degree in architecture and urban design at Harvard University. He is a pioneer of the “Israel 100 – Strategic Spatial Planning for Israel in 2048” initiative. The firm of architects he established in the 1990s was involved in, among other things, the master plan for Be’er Sheva, the master plan for Modi’in-Maccabim-Re’ut, and the architectural and scenic development of the Trans-Israel Highway. He was the Tel Aviv-Yafo City Engineer and headed the planning team of the National Outline Plan TMA 35. In 2010 he left his position as head of the Planning Administration at the Ministry of the Interior and was appointed Visiting Professor at the Technion where he is now a faculty member.

Architect Prof. Bracha Chyutin,  graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Technion, and co-founded the office of Hayut Architects with her husband, the late Dr. Michael Hayutin, who was a leading Israeli architect in recent decades. Hayutin focused on public construction and was responsible for some of the most prominent buildings in the Israeli urban landscape, including the Polonsky Academy at the Van Leer Institute, the Haifa Court, and the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem. She has won many awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Architects and City Builders in Israel, the Design Award for the Haifa Courthouse, and the Architects Association Award. She also won the Rechter Prize for Architecture three times. She served as a consultant for the master plan of the Technion and a judge in the entrance gate design competition for Technion City. Today, she is a Technion Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning.

Congratulations!

Daniel (Dani) Karavan was born in Tel Aviv in 1930. His father Abraham was the chief landscape architect of Tel Aviv from the 1940s to the 1960s. Karavan’s many architectural innovations include wall reliefs in Israeli courts and research institutions, including the 1966 Jerusalem City of Peace wall relief in the Knesset assembly hall and the environmental sculptures comprising 35 wall reliefs & iron sculptures at the Court of Justice in Tel Aviv. 

In 2009, the Technion awarded Karavan an honorary doctorate. The citation read: “In appreciation for your pioneering achievements and brilliance in the realm of art and environmental sculpture that has brought a heightened awareness of natural and built surroundings to the millions worldwide who have been privileged to view your artistic creations; in recognition of the enhancement of Israel’s prestige on the international scene generated by your art and the understanding, promoted by the many works in which Jewish and Israeli themes and the yearning for peace predominate; in acknowledgment of the importance of art to scientific and technological endeavors; and in gratitude for the hand of friendship you have always extended toward the Technion.”

At the graduation ceremony, Karavan said that: “Among all the scientists and engineers at the Technion, I feel a little unusual, even though I did my first work in cement and concrete and was greatly helped by the advice of Technion staff.”

May he rest in peace.

 

Researchers at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine have deciphered a mechanism that plays a key role in control of the immune system, preventing it from “going haywire” following a false alarm. The study was published in the Journal of Immunology and was recommended by the editorial board as a top read.

Authors Assistant Professor Debbie Yablonski and doctoral student Enas Hallumi focused on the role of the adaptor protein Gads in controlling the activity of T cells, which are an essential part of the immune system. Their main finding was that this protein serves as a kind of gate or barrier that prevents the immune system from launching an unnecessary attack. T cells are the “foot soldiers of the immune system.” When the body is attacked by an infection, tumor, etc., these cells multiply rapidly, attack the invader, and even mobilize other cells in the body to help them in the attack.

T cell function can be impaired in two main ways: as a result of hypoactivity or hyperactivity. As the term implies, hypoactivity causes a situation in which the body fails to attack the invader, and thus, the development of disease will not be prevented. By contrast, hyperactivity is liable to lead to a chain reaction that is harmful to the body, for example by creating an autoimmune disease or a cytokine storm – a term that rose to prominence during the current pandemic.

The researchers found evidence that an adaptor protein called Gads may be able to prevent a chain reaction of this kind from being initiated. In this sense, Gads serves as a gate that prevents an immune response for as long as the T cells have not been activated. The researchers also found that when the cells are activated by an invader – a virus, tumor, etc. – Gads is “tagged” by the addition of a certain chemical group. This occurs only when two other proteins (LAT and SLP-76) bind to Gads simultaneously to form a multimolecular complex. This binding action opens the gate and activates a T cell so that it may attack the invader. If, on the other hand, only one of the two proteins binds with Gads, the attack will not be launched. According to Prof. Yablonski, “In the present study, we discovered a mechanism that developed in the course of evolution to prevent false alarms, meaning a situation in which the body’s immune response spirals out of control and is liable to harm the organism itself by creating inflammation and other disorders.”

About the Authors

Dr. Debbie Yablonski is a faculty member at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine (preclinical staff) and a member of the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute at the Technion. She was born in the U.S. and completed her bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California at San Francisco.

Enas Hallumi grew up in Kafr Manda, completed her bachelor’s degree at Ben-Gurion University and her master’s degree at the Technion, under Dr. Yablonski’s supervision. Dr. Yablonski is also Enas’s supervisor as a Ph.D. student.

The research was sponsored by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF), the Colleck Research Fund, the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute at the Technion, the Volkswagen Foundation, and the United States – Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF).

Click here for the paper in Journal of Immunology

During the ceremony, Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan said that “leadership and personal accountability are the most effective and important responses to the challenges and difficulties that the events of recent days have repeatedly highlighted.”

On May 24th, the Technion awarded Ph.D. diplomas to 199 graduate students in a festive and moving ceremony at the Kellner Amphitheater. The ceremony was attended by the new graduates, their families, Technion management, Faculty deans, and staff.

Approximately 43% of new Ph.D. graduates are women, a new record, and a significant increase over previous years. Most of the graduates (124) are native Israeli, and the rest are from all over the world, including the U.S., Canada, France, Austria, Ukraine, Uruguay, Italy, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, India, and China. 

The faculties with the highest number of graduates are the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine (27), Civil and Environmental Engineering (19), and Physics (16); 205 supervisors oversaw the doctoral candidates throughout their studies. Overseeing the supervisors is Head of the Faculty and Dean of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Prof. Marcelle Machluf whose five students were among those receiving a Ph.D. degree during the ceremony.

Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan: “This is a celebration for all of you, who today can add ‘Dr.’ to your name, a celebration for your families who have accompanied you along the way, and a celebration for us, your teachers. We’ve accompanied you on the long road, taught you what we know, and just as importantly, we’ve learned from you. We have no doubt that you have acquired the best professional tools here. If you also know how to deal with the professional dilemmas you come across in social, environmental, and ethical contexts if you are a beacon of tolerance, equality, and empathy, and if you continue to ask questions – then we have done our job.”

Dean of the Graduate School Prof. Dan Givoli: “I have always believed that the two most important factors that impact the Technion’s prosperity are faculty members and doctoral students. You and your supervisors are the research foundations of the Technion.” 

In addition, Prof. Givoli presented some data related to the current cohort: “One-third of the graduates took the direct Ph.D. track; three of the graduates are new immigrants, who immediately began their Ph.D. research at the Technion, in 2016; two graduates are a married couple – Dr. Ekhlas Homede Abo Jabal and Dr. Mohammad Abo Jabal, who completed their studies at the Technion and now teach at the Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) in China. The ratio of supervisors to students was very high because many of them had more than one supervisor – a result of blurring boundaries between the disciplines and strengthening the interdisciplinary nature of scientific research.”

This trend is reflected in the research of Dr. Gil Wang of the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who gave the valedictory speech on behalf of the new graduates. Dr. Wang completed his Ph.D. under the supervision of three Technion faculty members: Prof. Yiska Goldfeld, Prof. Nitai Drimer, and Prof. Yehiel Rosenfeld. “At the Technion, I was exposed to the heterogeneous, diverse, Israeli society, rich in colors and beliefs,” he said at the ceremony. “I look at the Technion – at us – and it gives me hope and fills me with optimism. The Technion model, which emphasizes perseverance, hard work, and the constant pursuit of excellence, makes any polarization in Israeli society irrelevant.”

Dr. Wang added that some of his peers “will continue their research here and overseas, some will go into the industry, others will go into teaching, and others to consulting, management and startups; but all fellow graduates will continue to lead and excel because this is their way, this is the Technion way.”

“Leadership and personal accountability are the most effective response”

Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan said: “In recent weeks, we’ve learned that the Technion plays a major role in dealing with both external and internal threats. The external crisis highlighted the extensive technological role Technion graduates played, and still play. But I want to focus on the other role of the Technion, as a factor in the healing of society’s divisions. Since its inception, the Technion has championed equality and tolerance. For 100 years, it has maintained an apolitical identity and has given male and female students the opportunity to live and learn in an atmosphere of tolerance, equality, and mutual respect, as part of our social commitment. We expect you to continue in this way. Leadership and personal accountability are the most effective and important response to the challenges and difficulties that the events of recent days have repeatedly highlighted.”

Technion’s youngest new Doctor is Arik Girsault, who completed his Ph.D. at the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering under the supervision of Prof. Amit Meller. Arik, 28, holds dual French and Swiss citizenship and is likely to soon be granted Israeli citizenship as well. 

He was born in Paris, the son of a Swiss businessman and a French lawyer, and spent a large part of his childhood and youth moving from city to city due to his parents’ work. He studied at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, from which he received his BSc and MSc in Life Sciences and Bioengineering. As he neared the end of his MSc program, “some of my professors recommended that I continue studying toward a Ph.D. at the Technion, which fitted in perfectly with my Zionist sentiments,” he says. “I wanted to spend time in Israel.”

Arik arrived at the Technion and met with some of the staff members at the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering. He based his decision on his impression of the supervisor and the students in the lab. For four and a half years, he worked on his major project, under Prof. Amit Meller’s supervision: the development of an advanced microscope for monitoring intracellular biomolecular processes at high temporal resolution. According to Prof. Meller, “Arik was an outstanding multidisciplinary student. He developed high skills in building a STED (Stimulated Emission Depletion) optical microscope, in preparing complex biological samples, and in computerized information processing using software that he himself developed.”

Arik devoted the little free time he had during his research to playing on the Technion tennis team and to reading books on Jewish thought. After completing his degree, he returned to visit his parents in Switzerland, but this is by no means his final destination. Arik decided to make Aliya and has already completed most of the formal arrangements. And what will he be doing here? “For the time being, all options are open – academia, industry, everything – but I have a feeling that I will be deciding in favor of the startup world, which seems challenging and interesting, and there is nowhere better than Israel to do this.”

The oldest new Doctor is Dr. Tirza Lauterman, 58, who completed her thesis under the supervision of Prof. Rakefet Ackerman of the Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management. Dr. Lauterman first came to the Technion as a soldier-student in 1981, and after completing a BSc in Information Systems Engineering at the Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, she enlisted in the Navy, where she served for many years. Over the years, she advanced through the ranks, and her last position was Head of the Information Systems Branch of the Navy. In 2007, she retired with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. 

In 2010, nearly 30 years after she began her undergraduate studies, she began studying toward her master’s degree that continued into a Ph.D. Her research was in the field of problem-solving, and specifically the first impressions of people on encountering a problem and the consequences of this impression on coping with the problem. “After much research, we have come to the conclusion that first impressions determine a lot, just as they do with meeting people, and it significantly affects the time and effort that they will invest in solving the problem, as well as the final answer that comes after deep thought,” she says. “Acknowledging the existence of primary judgment is important for understanding engineering problems, and it also affects how tests and challenges are designed. If we design them in a way that will create confidence in the person’s ability to solve the problem, we will improve the person’s chances of solving it, and on the other hand, if we transmit an exaggerated impression of ease, the person might waste time trying in vain.”

Dr. Lauterman currently teaches at the Technion and at the Open University, and in the coming academic year, she will also begin teaching at Bar Ilan University. She is married, a mother of three, and a grandmother.

 

In a recent breakthrough, scientists from the Technion Faculty of Biomedical Engineering were able to achieve recognition of specific geometric patterns – for example, letters – by engineered microbe colonies imitating an artificial neural network. The scientists’ method relies on a modification of the way communication occurs within microbe colonies in nature. The study, led by Dr. Ximing Li and Assistant Professor Ramez Daniel, was published in Nature Communications.

The interest of Prof. Daniel’s lab lies in synthetic biology, specifically in generating biological circuits, in essence combining the principles of biology and electronics. Like electronic switches that can be turned on and off, cells are engineered to “turn on” and perform a function, for example, fluorescence, in response to a particular stimulus. Using this technique, the group has already engineered biological sensors that recognize the presence of arsenic and other poisons in water or the presence of blood in urine.

But cells are capable of more complex functions than a simple yes/no switch. Microbial colonies in nature are capable of communication within the colony. For example, they may respond differently when they are alone and when there are many of them together. This phenomenon, called “quorum sensing,” is also at play for example when our immune system mobilizes against an infection – information is passed regarding what the pathogen is, how much of a response is required, and more. One cell alone might be “dumb,” but the colony is “smart.” It is this phenomenon that Prof. Daniel’s group utilized in order to increase the algorithmic complexity of the task by a factor, and, for the first time, generate a biological circuit acting as an artificial neural network, capable of performing the relatively complex task of pattern recognition. Its building blocks: engineered E. coli bacteria.

Geometric patterns are a proof of concept of what biological circuits acting as an artificial neural network can do. In the future, we might see bioengineered systems monitoring toxins, diagnosing cancer, and being used in tissue regeneration. We might even have biological computers. It is interesting to observe how synthetic biology, seeking to imitate electronics in biological systems, has come a full circle, creating a likeness of an artificial neural network, which is of course inspired by the human brain – itself a biological system.

Prof. Daniel started working on biological computing during his postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), initially on analog computation. Biological circuits acting as an artificial neural network are a novel development and a conceptual advancement in the same field. It was made possible with the assistance of Associate Professor Netanel Korin, also from the Technion Faculty of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Li is a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Daniel’s laboratory. She completed her Ph.D. in computational neuroscience at the University of Ohio.

Click here for the paper in Nature Communications 

 

 

 

Technion and Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, one of Latin America’s largest hospitals, sign MOU to support student exchange, collaborative research, and clinical trials

The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in Sao Paulo, Brazil, establishing a three-year collaboration between the Technion’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and the Brazilian hospital, one of Latin America’s largest. The MOU will support student exchange, clinical trials, and collaborative research projects between the two institutions. 

The ceremony took place via video conferencing on May 6, and the MOU was signed by Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan and President of the Albert Einstein Hospital, Dr. Sidney Klajner. 

Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein specializes in cardiology, oncology, orthopedics, surgery, and neurology. The hospital, which was founded by the Jewish community of Brazil 66 years ago, was named as the best hospital in Brazil in 2020 by Newsweek. As part of the collaboration, students studying at the Technion’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine will go to the hospital each year for clinical rounds – which most students typically do in hospitals in Israel; similarly, students studying at the hospital in Brazil will be able to do the clinical rotation in the affiliated hospitals of the Technion Faculty of Medicine. In some cases, graduate students studying at the Albert Einstein Hospital will be allowed to spend an extended period at the Technion Faculty of Medicine and its affiliated hospitals.

The connection between the Technion and the hospital was made through Shaul Shashoua, a member of the Friends of the Technion in Brazil. The ceremony was also attended by Technion Vice President for External Relations and Resource Development Prof. Alon Wolf; President of the Friends of the Technion Society in Brazil Salomao Ioschpe; Prof. Dr. Luiz Vicente Rizzo, VP of R&D at the Albert Einstein Hospital; and Prof. Alexandre Holthausen Campos. From the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion attended: The Dean, Prof. Elon Eisenberg; Prof. Yaron Har-Shai, Vice Dean for Strategic Development; Prof. Simone Engelender, senior researcher; and others. 

“The Technion and Albert Einstein are two institutions focused on the betterment of people’s lives, no matter where they live, no matter which language they speak, and no matter what their beliefs are,” Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan said at the signing ceremony. “The essence of our collaboration agreement is bettering the lives of people by promoting and disseminating knowledge.” 

President of the Albert Einstein Hospital, Dr. Sidney Klajner: “Our hospital symbolizes the value of saving lives, which is so important in Jewish tradition. Albert Einstein was founded on four Jewish precepts: mitzvah, refuah, chinuch, and tzedakah (good deeds, healing, education, charity). It is very exciting to be here at this moment of signing an agreement between two institutions that share a common aspiration to improve human life in Brazil and Israel.” 

Dean of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Prof. Elon Eisenberg: “The hospital fully understands the importance of inter-institutional cooperation in promoting science and education in medicine. I look to the future with hope and am confident that this is the beginning of an important scientific and educational relationship.”

Prof. Yaron Har-Shai, Deputy Dean of Strategic Development at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine: “In science, it is impossible to move forward without cooperation, including international cooperation. Therefore, we established an international center in the faculty a few years ago that deals with the faculty’s global relations. Over time, thanks to the support of the deans and the hard work of Matan Raz and Stephanie Schneor, we have partnered with more than 10 leading university hospitals in the U.S., Germany and Australia, mainly for student exchange.  I have no doubt that the exposure of our students to hospitals abroad gives them not only a great deal of knowledge but also a richer view of health systems overseas and makes them better doctors. In addition, the professional relationships that are forged with the medical staff abroad will accompany them during their medical careers.”

Prof. Simone Englander, a faculty member originally from Brazil, played an important role in creating the collaboration with the hospital. “Shortly before the outbreak of coronavirus, a large team of doctors from the hospital in Brazil came here and introduced us to each other… paving the way for future scientific research and collaboration,” she said. 

“There is nothing more satisfying in a president’s post than unleashing the creativity of young people. I look forward to seeing the fruits of your innovation and free spirit,” said Prof. Uri Sivan, President of the Technion, at the opening of the EuroTech Innovation day, hosted by the Technion on April 28, 2021. 

Indeed, Innovation Day was all about creativity and entrepreneurship. Students from the six universities that constitute the EuroTech Alliance enjoyed a rich program jampacked with informative talks, a biomedical engineering hackathon, and a startup competition. Some 850 students from all six participating universities joined the lectures online; 3,000 people were present to vote on the winners of the startup competition; and 49 students were selected out of numerous applicants to participate in the BioMed hackathon.

The full-day online event program was clustered into 30 short lectures, spanning five different themes: Boosting Entrepreneurship, Students on the Forefront of Academia Innovation, From Product to Market, On the Critical Role of Supporting Environments, and Startups & Ventures – with representatives of all universities speaking on each subject. Keynote Speaker Gilad Japhet, Founder & CEO of MyHeritage, shared practical tips for beginning entrepreneurs from his own experience in establishing and expanding Genetic Ancestry Research company MyHeritage.

Startup competition features wearable device, robotic catheter

The day culminated with a startup competition, presenting budding startups (founded in 2020) born in each of the six institutions. The audience could cast a vote to pick their favorite project. The winner of this popular vote was Technion startup Harmony, a FemTech initiative developing a wearable, continuous, and non-invasive tracker to monitor women’s hormonal levels, aiming to ease the process of IVF, but also relevant for avoiding pregnancy, or alternatively for increasing the chances of getting pregnant. Second place was taken by another Technion startup – Robotip Medical, developing a flexible steerable robotic catheter for vascular catherization. Third place went to the Technical University of Denmark startup USOR Design, which is developing a harvest fire prevention system. 

Parallel to the Innovation Day, Technion’s Faculty of Biomedical Engineering hosted the “BME-HACK,” an online hackathon. Approximately 50 students from participating universities and from different scientific fields got a taste of establishing a biomedical startup: they chose medical challenges to focus on, examined what already exists to tackle those challenges, consulted physicians, proposed novel solutions, and worked with mentors from the scientific and the commercial fields to design a product and plan a business model. 

In the end of a long day of ideation and development, after each team presented its solution in a Facebook Live event, four winning teams were chosen to receive a total prize of 2,800 Euros, sponsored by NGT3-VC, Philips and Biosense Webster (J&J). The winning team proposed a solution for the topic of at-home dental caries detection, two teams shared the second place, proposing solutions for the prevention of pressure ulcers and for drug repurposing, and the audience favorite was a proposed treatment for Multiple Sclerosis. The hackathon was organized and supervised by Dr. Yael Rozen, applied research consultant, and Lilach Lorber, Director of External Affairs at the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering.

Celebrating the alliance’s 10th anniversary 

The EuroTech Innovation Day hosted by the Technion marks an important part of EuroTech’s 10th anniversary events. The EuroTech Universities Alliance is a partnership of leading European universities of science and technology, which includes the Technical University of Denmark, the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, the École Polytechnique, the Eindhoven University of Technology, the Technical University of Munich, and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. It aims to foster both research and entrepreneurship, combining the complementary strengths of its partner universities to jointly achieve multilayered, large-scale initiatives, as well as raising awareness of the opportunities offered by science and technology.

The Innovation Day was organized and managed on behalf of the Technion by Gady Paran, Director of Marketing at t-hub, the Technion’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, and produced by Meital Gotfrid, Head of the Conferences Department at the Technion’s Unit for Continuing Studies.