Author: shlomi ben-oz

Inauguration of the Guangdong-Technion Israel Institute of Technology, in Shantou, China. Speech of Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie

 

שהחיינו וקיימנו והגיענו לזמן הזה

A special blessing is recited in Jewish tradition upon new things. It’s meaning is an expression of our gratitude for being kept alive and well, to be privileged to experience this moment. And indeed, I’m sure we all share this feeling of wonder and thankfulness today, as we inaugurate the Guangdong-Technion Israel Institute of Technology, here in the city of Shantou, in the province of Guangdong. This is happening two years after the cornerstone was laid, on December 16th, 2015. Already now, 216 students are in their first year and are enthusiastically studying in three fields, to become the first graduates of GTIIT in 2021

Together with the creation of this new academic facility, housing, teaching in chemical engineering, materials science and engineering and biotechnology and food engineering, we welcome a new era of cooperative research between Israel and China in science, engineering and the life sciences.

This amazing achievement – the establishment of this magnificent new campus – could never have been realized without the profound vision, legendary generosity and deep devotion of Mr Li Ka Shing; the provincial government of Guangdong; the city of Shantou; and our partner, the University of Shantou. Dear Mr. Li, you have stated that “you can use your skills to earn respect, but you will only touch others with your contributions.”
And in fact, you have done both like no other could – you have earned unparalleled respect for how you have used your diverse skills, and you have touched innumerous lives and countless more to come in the form of future generations of students – with your contributions. For these, on our behalf and theirs, we are forever grateful.

The notion of expressing gratitude is very deep in both Jewish and Chinese culture as well. And gratitude is far from being the only significant parallel between Jewish and Chinese traditions. The values we share make this partnership a very natural and warm collaboration. Let us look at a few additional beautiful values we share:

• Both Jewish and Chinese traditions emphasize ethics at the center of the tradition.
• Both Jewish and Chinese traditions place great importance on the relationship between parents and children and greatly value respect for parents and elders.
• Both Jewish and Chinese cultures have long histories of written tradition.
• Both Jewish and Chinese cultures have lunar calendars, and both add leap months in certain years so that the months are in tune with the agricultural season.
• And, perhaps most relevant to our celebration here today: both Jewish and Chinese traditions value learning as a core value.

The Analects of Confucius begin with these words: The Master said, “Is it not pleasant to learn with a constant perseverance and application? Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters? Is he not a man of complete virtue, who feels no discomposure though men may take no note of him?”

The initial passage of Analects, a book which many Chinese over the centuries learned by heart, focuses on learning, visiting of friends, and developing virtue. In Jewish tradition, these same values are known as Midot, the values people aspire to cultivate throughout their lives.

Another beautiful parallel can be found in the question asked by Zi Gong, one of the students of Confucius, and in Confucius’ response: Zi Gong asked, “Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one’s life?” The Master said, “Is not RECIPROCITY such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.” This is a Chinese parallel to the Jewish sage Hillel’s proverb: מה ששנוא עליך – אל תעשה לחברך . (That which you hate – do not do to your friend).

And of course, asking questions is both very Chinese and very Jewish. In the Analects of Confucius, the verb “to ask” appears over 100 times. Here at GTIIT we’ll all be encouraging much asking of inquisitive, curious, researching questions, leading today and tomorrow’s students and researchers on their quest to reveal and uncover the scientific wonders surrounding us, for the benefit of humanity.

In conclusion, allow me to express the wish that, day by day, the students will continue in excellence.

Congratulations!

Invitation to the Media

The Israel Physical Society’s annual conference will take place on December 17^th at the Technion with the participation of physicists from all over the world.

Among the subjects to be presented at the conference: the regional particle accelerator recently inaugurated in Jordan, the discovery of an enormous black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, and the theory of gravity as a power source

At 18:15, there will be a lecture open to the general public: Prof. Lisa Randall, a leading physicist from Harvard University and a popular science writer, will speak about the connection between dark matter and the extinction of dinosaurs

On Sunday, December 17^th, the Technion will host the Annual Conference of the Israel Physical Society, which was founded 63 years ago and is currently headed by Prof. Yossi Avron of the Technion’s Physics Faculty. Leading physicists from around the world will participate in the conference.

The conference’s main speakers will be:

Giorgio Paolucci, the Scientific Director of SESAME – the regional particle accelerator that was inaugurated in Jordan in June 2017 under the motto “Science for Peace.” The synchrotron is the fruit of rare cooperation between Israel, Jordan, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, Iran, Bahrain, Pakistan, Turkey and Cyprus. During his lecture, Paolucci is expected to announce a breakthrough that was achieved by SESAME.

Prof. Reinhard Genzel, who will tell about his discovery from 2002: an enormous black hole that was found at the center of the galaxy and whose mass is 3-4 million times larger than that of the Sun. Genzel received the Technion’s Harvey Prize in 2014 and is on the faculty of Berkeley University as well as serving as the head of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany.

Prof. Erik Verlinde from the University of Amsterdam, who will lecture on a new theory that explains the discrepancy between astronomic observations and Newton and Einstein’s theories of gravity. Earlier theories contended that dark matter explained the discrepancy, but Prof. Verlinde claims that it is due to another phenomenon – microscopic quantal interweaving. His theory enables a comprehensive understanding of the phenomena that take place in galaxies and galaxy clusters.

Prof. Lisa Randall, senior physicist at Harvard University. She will talk about the scientific effort to comprehend dark matter, as well as her most recent book “Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs.” Prof. Randall is the first female physicist to have received tenure at Princeton and the first woman to have received tenure at Harvard and MIT in the field of theoretical physics. In 2007, she was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, and in the years 1999-2004, she was the most cited theoretical physicist.

Prof. Randall’s lecture, which is open to the public start at 18:15.

A ceremony awarding prizes to outstanding physics students and researchers will take place before Prof. Randall’s lecture.

At 8:15, a shuttle service will be available for conference attendees from the Hof HaCarmel train station.

The conference is being held thanks to the support of the Technion and the City of Haifa. The KLA-Tencor company is sponsoring 80 students from all of Israel’s universities, who will participate free of charge.

For the full conference schedule, click here.

For additional information: Doron Shaham, Spokesperson of the Technion – 050-3109088.

The Israeli ambassador H.E. Mark Regev welcomed representatives of the Technion to the Grosvenor Hotel where they held a private briefing on the activities of the Technion.

London, 08.12.2017 – Israel’s Ambassador to the UK Mark Regev welcomed representatives from the Technion to an exclusive private breakfast briefing at the Grosvenor Hotel on the current activities at the Technion. A lively room of over one hundred people came to listen to top investors discuss the latest start up opportunities available from its cutting edge scientific and technological knowledge and capabilities, the Technion Research & Development Foundation (TRDF).

Ambassador Regev remarked that, “Israel is rapidly establishing itself as a key component for global development. Technology innovation is becoming a major export with much larger nations like the USA and China are capitalising on the 21st century technology, innovation and conceptual products produced in Israel. I am very pleased to be here supporting the Technion, an institution that is developing future technology that will change the world.”

Professor Wayne D. Kaplan, Executive Vice President for Research of the Technion and Director of the Technion Research & Development Foundation, speaking at the event said, “Technion is a research university effervescent with new technologies, all firmly based in fundamental science. The academic, intellectual, entrepreneurial and innovative spirit on campus is tangible – you can feel it. I welcome all those in the UK to come and see for yourselves how our people are disrupting this space for generations to come. Our research at the Technion is not carried out in a vacuum but with a reason and a vision for the future.”

An independent analysis commissioned by the Technion showed that in Israel alone, in less than 20 years Technion alumni have started more than 1600 companies that created 100,000 jobs, and have a combined revenue of nearly $30 billion.

Eddy Shalev, co-founder of Genesis Partners and one of first venture capital funds in Israel remarked: “Technion people have instilled two ingrained skill sets, financial and technical. There are a mix of disciplines where there is opportunity to invest, including chip design, hardware, software, cyber and med-tech. In 1996, direct foreign investment in Israel was around $5 billion a year. In 2016 it was $22 billion. Some three hundred multinationals now have big operations in Israel employing thousands of people and the Technion is a key contributor to this amazing growth.”

Jonathan Metliss, Governor of the Technion who chaired the event in his opening welcome said, “When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that ‘Israel had to innovate or perish’ it encapsulated the spirit of the ‘start-up nation.’ Israel in its isolation from mainstream commerce with its geographical neighbours linked with the discipline from military service were major contributors to developing a technology sector that now employs over 270,000 people. This innovation has allowed Israel to become a key player on the global technology stage.”

The conference will take place on December 13-14, and will be a meeting ground for experts in the fields of medicine, engineering, computer science and biomedicine. The aim is to promote the field of personalized medicine whereby treatments are precisely tailored to individual patients. The conference is headed by Prof. Roy Kishony and Dr. Kira Radinsky, of the Lorry Lokey Interdisciplinary Center for Life Sciences and Engineering at the Technion

On December 13-14, Technion will host an international conference on biomedical informatics. This field is expected to generate massive change in the world of medicine and is based on computerized analysis of the data amassed in academia, hospitals and health clinics, using deep learning and Big Data technologies. The goal is to precisely tailor medical treatments to individual patients.

“Biomedical informatics is the basis of the new paradigm that will create a direct bridge between basic research and the clinic,” explains Prof. Roy Kishony, head of the Lorry Lokey Interdisciplinary Center for Life Sciences and Engineering. “Imagine a future of ‘preventive medicine’ that will provide techniques for diagnosing diseases prior to their outbreak – a diagnosis that will make it possible to predict the future and create a treatment that is better suited to the patient.”

“In the past, scientists used to think in terms of a single hypothesis, which they would study for many years,” explains Dr. Kira Radinsky, acclaimed scientist and visiting professor at Technion. “We are working to create a completely new approach to the way the science works. My research focuses on the question of how we can take everything that is known to humanity, in text format, and create artificial intelligence systems that will read all of this information, identify recurring patterns in the past, and predict the future.”

Prominent researchers from a wide spectrum of fields will take part in the conference:

Jonathan Adiri will deliver the keynote lecture on “The Era of Permanent Revolution” – an era in which technology is developing rapidly and the prices of products are plunging. This combination presents a host of challenges that are economic, political, and security-related. Adiri, a serial entrepreneur who served as President Shimon Peres’s Chief Technology Officer, is the founder of Getaround and was the president of the inaugural class of Singularity University, which was founded by NASA, MIT and Google. Adiri was among the ‘100 Young Global Leaders’ at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. A recent Economist piece attributed to Yonatan the “Rise of Medical Selfies”, as his company (www.healthy.io) is the first to transform an embedded smartphone camera into a clinical grade medical device. He’s a frequent contributor to leading media outlets such as CNBC, BBC  Wired Magazine and the Financial Times and has recently debated (Davos, 2017) the macro trends of technology and economic inequality alongside Nobel Laureates Robert Shiller and Angus Deaton.

John Wilbanks of Sage Bionetworks, an NGO that promotes science, will speak about the ethical aspects of precision medicine. Wilbanks is the founder of Incellico, a bioinformatics company that developed technologies for research and development of medicine. ‘Seed’ magazine defined him as a game-changer, and ‘Utne Reader’ magazine named him one of the 50 people who are changing the world. At his TED talk in 2012, he spoke about the problems of providing access to extensive medical data for the benefit of medical breakthroughs while preserving patient privacy. (https://www.ted.com/talks/john_wilbanks_let_s_pool_our_medical_data)

Isaac Kohane of the Harvard Medical School will address the role of doctors in the age of AI. (TED talk: http://www.tedmed.com/talks/show?id=17961)

Additional lecturers include Prof. Ze’ev Ronai, head of the Technion’s Integrative Cancer Center; Prof. Shai Shen-Orr from the Technion’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine; Ran Balicer, Director of Health Policy Planning at the Clalit Health Fund; Varda Shalev, Director of the Institute of Research and Innovation Maccabitech; and researchers from academia, industry and the health system.

Conference Leaders

Dr. Kira Radinsky began studying Computer Science at Technion at the age of 15. She completed her three degrees in the Faculty of Computer Science: a BSc as part of the Rothschild Scholars Program for Excellence, and an MSc and PhD supervised by Prof. Shaul Markovitch. While pursuing her Masters, she developed a methodology for predicting future events based on Internet queries. She looked for peaks in the appearance of specific terms in these queries and used them to analyze causative patterns between different events. As a result, she successfully predicted such events as the rise in oil prices following hurricanes, unrest in Sudan after the cancellation of gas subsidies, a rise in iPad prices following a tsunami, and outbreaks of Ebola epidemics after earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Dr. Radinsky founded SalesPredict based on the technology developed during her Technion studies. The company was later acquired by eBay. Following the acquisition, Radinsky was appointed eBay’s Chief Scientist in Israel. Working in cooperation with health funds, she is developing methods to forecast medical problems based on the overall data available in personal medical files and in medical literature. Dr. Radinsky will lecture on “Predicting the Future in Medicine Using Data Science.”

Prof. Roy Kishony, a member of the Biology and Computer Science Faculties, joined the Technion in 2014 from the Harvard Medical School where he was a tenured professor. He is the head of the Lorry Lokey Interdisciplinary Center for Life Sciences and Engineering at Technion. Prof. Kishony’s wide-ranging research includes the spread of epidemics, evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and coexistence of different species in a given space. In 2016, Prof. Kishony’s article in ‘Science,’ presented an innovative platform that tracks real-time evolution of bacteria while they develop resistance to antibiotics. This platform was the first demonstration showing the link between genetic adaptation and spatial constraints: https://vimeo.com/180908160. The video was screened at the UN during an assembly on antibiotics resistance. At the conference, Prof. Kishony will lecture on “Predicting Antibiotic Resistance.”

Click here for full conference program.

Brittle Starfish Demonstrate How to Make Tough Ceramics

Researchers led by the Technion have discovered the process of creating “tempered-like optical lenses” underwater

HAIFA, ISRAEL  (December 7, 2017) An international research team led by the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology has discovered how a beautiful, brainless brittle star can create material similar to tempered glass underwater at ambient conditions. The findings, published in the December 8 issue of Science, may open new bio-inspired routes for toughening brittle ceramics in various applications.

The researchers uncovered the unique protective mechanism of highly resistant lenses located on the arms of Ophiocoma wendtii, a coral reef-dwelling brittle starfish. On the arms of this creature are hundreds of focal lenses that hold clues to making tough ceramics. Made of chalk, the lenses are powerful and accurate, and the deciphering of their crystalline and nanoscale structure has occupied lead researcher Professor Boaz Pokroy and his team for the past three years.

Prof. Pokroy researches materials created by living organisms, and produces analogous synthetic materials using methods inspired by nature. Mollusk shells, pearls, bones, and turtle shells are some examples of biominerals – minerals produced by the creature itself.

“What is impressive about biominerals is that they are made from materials available to the organism, for example, chalk,” said Prof. Pokroy. “Engineers would never choose chalk as a durable building material, but nature does, and successfully, using different toughening and strengthening strategies. Moreover, the creatures produce these biominerals under available conditions, without furnaces and pressure-generating devices available in research laboratories. It is therefore clear that, as scientists and engineers, there is much for us to learn from these processes.”

In a 2001 article in the Nature, a team led by Prof. Joanna Aizenberg (who later advised Prof. Pokroy during his postdoctoral research at Harvard University), first reported on Ophiocoma wendtii’s elaborate optical system made up of microscopic lenses made of a material called calcite. These lenses focus sunlight and project it on nerve centers that transfer the information to the rest of the body through the nervous system.

“Ophiocoma wendtii lenses are created in the open sea, not in a laboratory, and in effect we have discovered a strategy for making brittle material much more tough and durable under natural conditions,” said Prof. Pokroy. “It is ‘crystal engineering’ and tempering without heating and quenching – a process that could be very useful in materials science and engineering.”

For the sake of comparison, tempered glass and prestressed concrete are produced by exerting pressure that compresses the material and leaves it more compact than its natural state. Glass tempering, for example, is performed by heating and then rapidly cooling the material. In this process, the outside of the material cools more quickly than the inside and thereby compresses the inside.

The Technion researchers discovered that the crucial stage in the process of lens formation is the transition from the amorphous phase – the phase between liquid and solid – to the crystalline phase. At this stage calcite nanoparticles (which are richer in magnesium and characterized by being more compact on an atomic scale) separate from the rest of the material. The difference in concentration of magnesium in the calcite particles causes various degrees of hardness, density, and pressure in different regions of the material. Magnesium-rich particles press on the inner part of the lens as it crystallizes, and “temper” it into a clear and tougher crystalline material.

“Just as nature exhibits creativity in improving an organism’s abilities in various contexts such as strength, sensing, and self-defense, we see very high efficiency by the brittle star’s use of existing raw materials under natural conditions to create hardy and precise transparent lenses,” said Prof. Pokroy.

Scientists and engineers can now try to utilize this newly discovered biostrategy in toughening and strengthening synthetic ceramic materials utilized in various applications that span from optical lenses to automotive turbochargers and even biomaterial implants.

The formation of calcite lenses was discovered thanks to a long series of experiments at various facilities including the ESRF synchrotron in Grenoble, France and with the Titan microscope at the Technion. The coupled analytical and experimental mechanical analysis was conducted and led by Prof. Nicola Pugno of the University of Trento and part-time at Queen Mary University of London and Edoardi Amaldi Foundation of the Italian Space Agency. Prof. Pokroy and nine other Technion researchers are responsible for the article in Science: Dr. Iryna Polishchuk, Avigail Bracha, Yael Etinger-Geller, Stas Kozachevich, Dr. Alex Katsman, Dr. Yaron Kauffmann, Dr. Davide Levy, and Leonid Bloch. Their collaborators include Prof. Pupa Gilbert of the University of Wisconsin—Madison, Dr. Gordon Hendler of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Prof. Nicola Pugno of the University of Trento, Dr. Paul Zaslansky of Charité Hospital in Berlin, and scientists from the Synchrotron in Grenoble. The study was conducted with the support of the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute at the Technion, the Alon Fellowship, and the European Research Council.

Three outstanding faculty members win the inaugural Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel

Prestigious awards recognize innovation and excellence of early career scientists and engineers

Jerusalem, November 29, 2017 – The Blavatnik Family Foundation, the New York Academy of Sciences and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities (IASH) announced today the 2018 Laureates of the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel.

The Blavatnik Awards honor exceptional young scientists and engineers by highlighting their extraordinary achievements, recognizing remarkable promise for future discoveries, and accelerating innovation in their research.  Established in the United States in 2007, the Blavatnik Awards are a signature program of the Blavatnik Family Foundation that are administered by the New York Academy of Sciences.  Awarded in Israel for the first time – in collaboration with the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities – three of the country’s most outstanding young scientists and engineers will receive US$100,000 each, one of the largest unrestricted prizes ever created for early-career researchers in Israel.  

From 47 nominees, encompassing Israel’s most promising scientific researchers aged 42 years and younger and nominated by Israeli research universities, a distinguished national jury selected three outstanding laureates, one each from the disciplines of Life Sciences, Chemistry and Physical Sciences & Engineering.

Among the members of the Scientific Advisory Council for the awards are Professor Nili Cohen, President of IASH, and Co-Chairs Professor Aaron Ciechanover, IASH member and Nobel Prize Laureate, and Mr. Ellis Rubinstein, President and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences. The selection committee in each of the three prize areas included scientific leaders from Israel and abroad.

The 2018 Blavatnik Awards in Israel Laureates are:

Dr. Oded Rechavi, Senior Lecturer, Department of Neurobiology, Tel Aviv University (Age at nomination: 36)

Dr. Rechavi’s groundbreaking work uncovers novel mechanisms of inheritance – he has shown how acquired traits can be passed to the next generation without changes to the DNA code. His studies can help us to understand how complex traits and diseases are inherited – a first step towards treatments for many diseases where genetic causes have not been identified.

Dr. Charles Diesendruck, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Schulich Faculty of Chemistry, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (Age at nomination: 37)

Dr. Diesendruck shows exceptional promise in the growing field of “mechanochemistry”, where mechanical force is used to drive chemical reactions or changes. Through these reactions, materials’ properties can be altered, creating smart mechanoresponsive materials.

Prof. Anat Levin, Associate Professor, The Andrew & Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (Age at nomination: 39)

Professor Levin has made ground-breaking contributions to the emerging field of computational photography, which utilize computational techniques to develop novel imaging capabilities that overcome the limits of traditional optical (or other imaging) systems.

“These three exceptional young scientists and engineers exemplify the innovative spirit and remarkable scientific breadth of Israeli academic and research institutions,” said Len Blavatnik, Founder and Chairman of Access Industries and Head of the Blavatnik Family Foundation. “The work of these brilliant researchers will enhance science throughout the world for generations to come.”

Professor Nili Cohen, President of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, noted that, “the Blavatnik Awards fill the need for recognition and support of young scientists in Israel who demonstrate outstanding merit. The scientific evaluation committees had a challenging responsibility to identify the most exceptional scientific accomplishments among scores of outstanding young Israeli researchers.”

Mr. Ellis Rubinstein, President and Chief Executive Officer at the New York Academy of Sciences, said, “by identifying and supporting the most promising innovators in Israel, these Awards not only will inspire Israel’s children to choose science and technology careers but Israel’s best and brightest will join the Blavatnik Awards’ international community online and in person, forming global collaborations of unprecedented impact. Moreover, through the New York Academy of Sciences’ worldwide network, Israel’s scientific and engineering prowess will become even better known than it is today.”

The inaugural Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel will be honored at a formal ceremony in Jerusalem on February 4, 2018.  The Laureates will join a network of their peers as members of the Blavatnik Science Scholars community, currently comprising over 220 Blavatnik Award honorees from the decade-old U.S. program. Laureates will also be invited to attend the annual Blavatnik Science Symposium in New York City each summer, where the Scholars come together to exchange new ideas and build cross-disciplinary research collaborations.

About The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists

The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, established in 2007 by the Blavatnik Family Foundation and administered by the New York Academy of Sciences, honor exceptional young scientists and engineers by celebrating their extraordinary achievements, recognizing outstanding promise, and accelerating innovation through unrestricted funding.

The Awards were established in New York and began as regional awards for young scientists and engineers in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists were established in 2014 and are awarded to faculty-rank scientists annually across the United States. To date, there have been over 2,900 scientists nominated from over 280 institutions, with more than 220 recipients from both the Blavatnik Regional and Blavatnik National Awards. In 2017, the Awards were also launched in the United Kingdom, to recognize faculty-rank young scientists and engineers from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England.

About The Blavatnik Family Foundation

The Blavatnik Family Foundation is an active supporter of leading educational, scientific, cultural, and charitable institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, and throughout the world. The Foundation is headed by Len Blavatnik, an American industrialist and philanthropist. Mr. Blavatnik is the Founder and Chairman of Access Industries, a privately-held U.S. industrial group with global interests in natural resources and chemicals, media and telecommunications, venture capital, and real estate. Among other things, Access Industries owns the Israeli Clal Industries group. For more detailed information, please visit: www.accessindustries.com.

About the New York Academy of Sciences

The New York Academy of Sciences is an independent, not-for-profit organization that since 1817 has been driving innovative solutions to society’s challenges by advancing scientific research, education, and policy. With more than 20,000 Members in 100 countries, the Academy is creating a global community of science for the benefit of humanity. Please visit us online at www.nyas.org and follow us on Twitter at @NYASciences.

About the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities

The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities is the preeminent scientific institution in Israel. It was established by law in 1961, and acts as a national focal point for Israeli scholarship in all branches of the sciences, social sciences and humanities. The Academy comprises 125 of Israel’s most distinguished scientists and scholars who operate in two sections – the sciences section and the humanities section.

It is tasked with promoting Israeli scientific excellence; advising the government on scientific matters of national interest; publishing scholarly research of lasting merit; and maintaining active contact with the broader international scientific and scholarly community.

To learn more about this year’s Laureates, go to:

http://blavatnikawards.org/honorees/israel-laureates/anat-levin/
http://blavatnikawards.org/honorees/israel-laureates/charles-diesendruck/
http://blavatnikawards.org/honorees/israel-laureates/oded-rechavi/

Technion 1st Worldwide in Digital Education

Technion leads the world in providing students with digital skills, according to a Times Higher Education survey.

Technion is the world’s leading academic institution in preparing students to take top positions in the digital revolution.  In a recent survey published in Times Higher Education, representatives of global leading companies were questioned on required skills to succeed in today’s labor market. The survey compiled a list of top academic institutions for providing the best digital skills, ranking Technion first. The University College of London (UCL) ranked second; and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) ranked third. The only US academic institute in the top ten was Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in sixth place.

“This is a badge of honor for Technion,” says Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie. “In recent years, Technion has placed considerable emphasis on training its students to meet the changing needs of the digital revolution. As a result, Technion’s interdisciplinary research is expanding and advancing by leaps and bounds, in a process integrating life sciences and engineering. In addition, advanced learning technologies are being implemented, including the introduction of MOOCS courses – massive online open courses in various languages –  and the development of the flipped classroom approach. This approach emphasizes self-study by students using state-of-the-art technology, including augmented reality. In addition, the strengthening of Technion’s global standing, reflected by the Technion branches in New York and China and by strategic partnerships worldwide, helps us attend to the changing needs of global industries.”

The survey’s authors note that global academic institutions are increasingly evaluated according to the employability of their graduates, and that in some places around the world, government support for institutions is linked to graduate success in the labor market.

Hong Kong Salutes Technion

Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology to be inaugurated in Shantou next month

On Tuesday, November 21st, the “Technion, China and Israel – Partners in Innovation” gala event took place at the Hong Kong InterContinental Hotel attended by representatives of the Hong Kong SAR government, venture capitalists from Hong Kong and China, industrialists and academia.

The aim of the event was to showcase Israeli high-tech industry; Technion’s central role in its development; the new UG-Technion Technology Fund, L.P.; and Israeli, Hong Kong, Chinese technology transfer partnerships. A video was screened presenting the new UG-Technion Technology Fund as a bridge between academia and industry, an alliance that focuses on identifying and turning innovative ideas into commercial products, which can impact our lives.

Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie spoke about the Israeli high-tech world and Technion’s role as an engine driving Israeli and global innovation. Speakers included Nobel Laureate Aaron Ciechanover; Guangdong

Technion-Israel Institute of Technology President Li Jiange; Israel’s Consul General to Hong Kong, Ahuva Spieler; chairman of the Israel-Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Rafael Aharoni, BBS; General Partner of UG-Technion Partners, L.P. and co-founder of United Gain Capital, CY Lau, Technion’s partner in the new venture capital fund; and Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion, Invest Hong Kong, Charles Ng.

Ng spoke about the role of Hong Kong in the China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), aimed at connecting China to Europe, the Middle East and Israel. The Li Ka Shing Foundation was represented by Mr. Frank Sixt.

CY Lau said, “If it’s a good product, we think China is the best place to launch:  a single country, a single language, a single advertising campaign, with a market coverage of 1.4 billion people.”

Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) will be inaugurated next month in China in the city of Shantou. This is a historic partnership between Technion and the University of Shantou. The university was established with the support of the Guangdong Province, the Municipality of Shantou, the Chinese government, and the Li Ka Shing Foundation (LKSF). Nobel Laureate Aaron Ciechanover will lead the Institute as Vice Chancellor.

Technion Team Wins Discovery Award as Part of Nesta’s £10 Million Longitude Prize

Team Prismatix – a collaboration between Prof. Ester Segal’s research group at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology Department of Biotechnology and Food Engineering and clinicians from the Bnai Zion Medical Center – has been awarded with the Discovery Award for their promising developments in rapid diagnostics for antimicrobial resistance.

Team Prismatix developed a technology that provides a determination of antibiotic resistance in less than three hours. Using minimal volumes, bacteria are grown on small photonic silicon chips. Technion Ph.D. student Heidi Leonard, who leads the research effort, explains that “By measuring how light reflects off the surface of these “bio-chips”, we can determine whether bacteria are growing or dying in the presence of certain antibiotics and specific antibiotic concentrations. Importantly, our results are in excellent agreement with existing laboratory techniques.” The preliminary findings and concepts were recently published in the prestigious journal ACS Nano (“Unraveling Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Bacterial Networks on Micropillar Architectures Using Intrinsic Phase-Shift Spectroscopy.” ACS Nano, 2017, 11 (6), 6167-6177).

In Europe alone, it is estimated that more than four million people per year acquire hospital-associated infections. Determining the correct antibiotic for an infection in a timely manner is critical for both a patient and to prevent the spread of antimicrobial resistance; however, a typical laboratory workup procedure requires 24 hours to confirm the presence of bacteria, and another 24–36 hours to identify the correct antibiotic to use. In total, the routine hospital lab time can take 1–3 days, during which time incorrect antibiotics may be administered, which can facilitate the growth of resistant strains. It is estimated that by the year 2050, antimicrobial resistance will be the cause of 10 million deaths per year worldwide, surpassing cancer to become the leading cause of death.

In addition to Heidi Leonard, Team Prismatix is comprised of Liran Holtzman, a graduate of the Technion Department of Biotechnology and Food Engineering; Prof. Ofer Nativ, chairman of the Department of Urology at Bnai Zion Medical Center; Prof. Sarel Halachmi, vice chairman of the Department of Urology at Bnai Zion Medical Center; Prof. Ester Segal, professor in Biotechnology and Food Engineering at the Technion; and Prof. Leigh Canham, a UK representative from the University of Birmingham.

Governor Bruce Rauner and University of Illinois President Timothy L. Killeen signed a memorandum of understanding for academic research cooperation with the Technion

A memorandum of understanding for cooperation between the Technion and the University of Illinois was signed at Technion last week. The agreement was signed by Technion Executive Vice President for Research Prof. Wayne D. Kaplan, Governor of Illinois Bruce Rauner and President of the University of Illinois Timothy L. Killeen. “Just as you want to improve the lives of the residents of Israel, we want to improve the quality of life of our residents,” said the Governor of Illinois at the ceremony. “The new cooperation will serve all of us, and the whole will be greater than the sum of its parts. We have a very broad common denominator; a long history, an ambitious vision and a desire to advance humanity.”

Technion Executive Vice President for Research Prof. Wayne D. Kaplan said: “It is clear that the development of significant technologies is not possible without the broad foundation of basic science. The Technion’s goal is to maintain a balance between basic research and implementation, with the good of the State of Israel being a key component in our research and development strategy.” He presented Technion’s global strategy, centering on the establishment of the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute in New York and the Guangdong Technion Institute of Technology, which will be inaugurated in China next month.

After the ceremony, the Governor met with Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav and other senior Technion officials, including Senior Executive Vice President Professor Adam Shwartz, Dr. Gabriel Shemer of the Business Unit (T3), Prof. Carmel Domshlak of the William Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, and Prof. Eli Biham, Head of the Technion Hiroshi Fujiwara Cyber Security Research Center.

The University of Illinois System is actually a group of universities and institutes where some 700,000 graduates have studied and more than 80,000 students are currently enrolled. University President Timothy L. Killeen said during the visit: “This MOU pairs two giants of discovery. Like Technion, we strive for excellence. We enjoy economies of scale and you have other advantages, such as the speed at which you translate research into applications and bring products to the market. I have no doubt that all parties involved will benefit from our cooperation.”

 

Distinguished Prof. Jacob Ziv of the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering has been chosen as laureate for the 2017 EMET Prize in the category of ‘Exact Sciences: Computer & Electronic Engineering.’

The prize is awarded annually under the auspices of the Prime Minister of Israel, and consists of five categories of academic or professional achievements that have significantly benefited society. Prof. Ziv is being recognized for his game-changing contribution to the fields of information and communications.

Over the years, Prof. Ziv has won prestigious awards including the BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award, Israel Prize in the Exact Sciences, Israel Defense Prize (twice), Marconi International Award, IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal, and Claude E. Shannon Award. He has held positions including President of the Israel Academy of Sciences, Chair of the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Israeli Council for Higher Education, and has been a member of leading American and European societies.

The Lempel-Ziv algorithm, which Prof. Ziv developed together with Prof. Abraham Lempel of Technion’s Faculty of Computer Science, is an algorithm for compressing information that enables lossless compression regardless of the structure of the data and without prior knowledge of its statistical properties. Many of the compression technologies currently used in memory devices, computers, and smartphones were developed based on this algorithm.

The award ceremony is scheduled to take place on November 9, 2017.

Lessons from Marine Sponges Could Lead to Novel Glass Technology

HAIFA, ISRAEL (November 8, 2017) – The technology for glass forming and shaping requires heat treatment at high temperatures of about 1000o C. So it has long been a mystery how it is that certain marine organisms are able to form glass architectures (called spicules) in cold water.

Now, a paper published recently in Science Advances by Professor Emil Zolotoyabko, of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, and colleagues in Germany, headed by Dr. Igor Zlotnikov from TU Dresden, is helping to unravel that mystery. Using the most advanced X-ray methods, nano-tomography and focused X-ray diffraction, available at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF, Grenoble, France), the group uncovered the principles of spicule morphogenesis in certain kinds of marine sponges.

Marine sponges are one of the oldest multicellular organisms, with a fossil record that stretches back more than half a billion years. Demospongiae and Hexactinellida, two classes of sponges, synthesize mineralized silica-based skeletal elements, called glass spicules, which provide the animals with structural support and mechanical strength and help protect them from their environment. The spicules are microns to millimeters long and exhibit a diversity of highly regular three-dimensional branched morphologies that are an example of symmetry in biological systems (Fig. 1).

During spicule formation, the process of silica deposition is templated by an axial organic filament. The filament, up to 3 mm in diameter, is predominantly composed of enzymatically active proteins, silicatein and its derivatives, which catalyze bio-fabrication of silica, the process being genetically controlled by specialized cells, called sclerocytes.

According to the researchers, the most intriguing finding is that protein blocks in the axial filament are arranged in a crystal-like three-dimensional structure having hexagonal symmetry. The pores within this structure are filled by amorphous silica. This highly regular spatial arrangement of nano-metric amorphous blocks gives rise to very sharp spots in the X-ray diffraction pattern (Fig. 2), which bring comprehensive information on the spicule symmetry and the branching process.

For example, the researchers found that the main shaft of the spicule grows perpendicular to the base hexagon plane of the protein lattice. At some point, the branching of the shaft occurs, directed by pyramidal planes inclined by about 66o with respect to the hexagon plane. In that way, the tetrapod shape of the spicule (Fig. 1) is produced being guided by the symmetry properties of the protein crystal in the axial filament. Further splits (fork-like in Fig. 1) are also determined by particular planes in the hexagonal lattice.

“By using the crystalline axial filament, nature has mastered the fabrication of extremely complex glass structures at low temperatures that is far beyond the abilities of current human technology,” says Prof. Zolotoyabko. “Further understanding of how the organisms regulate the branching events in the filaments has the potential to be adopted in the production of technologically relevant nano-crystalline materials of complicated shapes for nano-electronics. Mimicking natural recipes in the lab will allow us to develop novel glass technology working at room temperature.”