Author: shlomi ben-oz

“The world is changing before our eyes”

Mechanical Engineering in the Internet of Things and Big Data Era, the 34th Israeli Conference on Mechanical Engineering, was held at the Technion. At the conference, awards were given to three individuals who have made significant contributions in the field of mechanical engineering.

The 34th Israeli Conference on Mechanical Engineering (ICME 2016) was held recently at the Technion Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. This interdisciplinary event, which included 234 lectures, is intended to foster innovation and promote the translation of basic research into beneficial engineering applications. The conference focused on two main areas: the Internet of Things – a combination of electro-mechanical systems that make it possible to collect information and store it in a cloud; and Big Data – the use of machine learning technologies for extracting the relevant information in order to improve the performance, control, design and production of such systems.

Breaking down the barriers

The four keynote lectures at the conference were delivered by Technion alumnus Prof. Hod Lipson from Columbia University, on the subject of evolutionary development of robots, three-dimensional printing and the future generation of robots; Technion alumnus Ziv Belfer, head of PTC’s development center in Israel, on manufacturing and service in the Internet of Things era; Eran Shlomo, head of Intel’s startup program in Israel, on the impact of the Internet of Things on the relationship between man and machine and on daily life; and Technion alumna Prof. Galit Shmueli from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan, on the use of Big Data in behavioral studies.

“In the past, behavioral studies were conducted based on information provided by the subjects,” said Professor Shmueli, “but today there is a vast spectrum of information collected from us without our knowledge, based on phone calls, driving, account balance and internet browsing. All this information is collected not by the government, like in Orwell’s book 1984, but by private entities. This trend, which of course raises many ethical issues, provides an opportunity to carry out innovative research while breaking down the barriers between engineering, entrepreneurship, science and the study of behavior.”

Conference Chair Prof. Alon Wolf from the Technion Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, said: “The presentations, designed to take us out of our comfort zone and open new horizons of thought, did so with great success. The speakers showed how all the standard mechanical systems that we’re familiar with are turning into computerized systems based on sensing and information. Along with their great promise, they emphasized the deep problems accompanying this development: entering an era where privacy is virtually meaningless. An era when car insurers, for example, will know exactly who drives carefully and who drives recklessly. By and large, this was a very impressive conference with 900 participants on the two days of the conference, and very high level innovative research.”

The Fourth Industrial Revolution

The conference opened with words of welcome by Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie, Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Prof. Yoram Halevi, Chairman of the Israeli Mechanical Engineering Association at the Association of Engineers Mr. Emanuel Zvi Liban, Conference Chair Prof. Alon Wolf, and Academic Program Chairman Prof. Eran Sher.

“The Internet of Things and Big Data are not the future – they are the present,” said Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie. “Both of these fields are part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, part of a world that is changing before our eyes. The technological revolution will change the industrial world and we must be prepared for it.”

Prof. Yoram Halevi, Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, said: “The annual conference is a very important professional and collegial opportunity, and it reflects the strength of the omnipresent community of mechanical engineers. On this occasion I am pleased to announce that efforts to increase the number of female students at the Faculty are bearing fruit, and 20% of the new students at the Faculty are women.”

Awards for contribution to the field

At the conference, three men received awards for their significant contribution in the field of mechanical engineering: Mr. Gideon Frank, former chairman of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission and now chairman of the board of the Technion; Mr. Emanuel Zvi Liban, former senior executive at Israel Aerospace Industries and now Chairman of the Israeli Mechanical Engineering Association; and Dr. Rafi Wertheim, former senior executive at Iscar and President of CIRP (the International Academy for Production Engineering) and now senior adviser at the Fraunhofer Institute.

“I have come full circle, because I studied at the Technion Faculty of Mechanical Engineering years ago,” said Emanuel Zvi Liban. “Unfortunately, production and development are moving from Israel to China, a dangerous situation that is causing unemployment, inequality and social gaps. That’s why we established the Institute for the Industrialization of Ideas, in order to participate in the revolution that is now taking place, inter alia in the field of autonomous vehicles, in order to keep production in Israel and put an end to the brain drain.”

Student Excellence Awards

At the conference, awards were given to undergraduate and graduate students. Awards for graduate students, under the auspices of the Association of Engineers, went to doctoral students Hadas Zissu (supervised by Prof. Moshe Shoham and Prof. Menashe Zaaroor, both from the Technion), Dana Solav (supervised by Prof. Alon Wolf from the Technion) and Nir Degani (supervised by Prof. David Zarrouk from Ben Gurion University of the Negev). The Prof. Gad Hetsroni Award for undergraduate students went to Michael Laufer, for his study under the supervision of Technion professors Steven Frankel and David Greenblatt, and to Ofir Dahan and Idan Daya for their study under the supervision of Prof. Idit Avrahami from Ariel University.

How the moons that came before collided to form The Moon

HAIFA, ISRAEL (January 9, 2017) – The Moon, and the question of how it was formed, has long been a source of fascination and wonder. Now, a team of Israeli researchers suggests that the Moon we see every night is not Earth’s first moon, but rather the last in a series of moons that orbited the Earth in the past. The findings by the team of researchers from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and the Weizmann Institute of Science are published today in Nature Geoscience.

The newly proposed theory by researchers Assistant Prof. Hagai Perets, of the Technion, and Weizmann Institute Raluca Rufu (lead author) and Prof. Oded Aharonson, runs counter to the commonly held “giant impact” paradigm that the moon is a single object that was formed following a single giant collision between a small Mars-like planet and the ancient Earth.

“Our model suggests that the ancient Earth once hosted a series of moons, each one formed from a different collision with the proto-Earth,” said co-author Assistant Prof. Perets. “It’s likely that such moonlets were later ejected, or collided with the Earth or with each other to form bigger moons.” To check the conditions for the formation of such mini-moons or moonlets the researchers ran 800 simulations of impacts with the Earth.

The new model is consistent with science’s current understanding of the formation of the Earth. In its last stages of the growth, the Earth experienced many giant impacts with other bodies. Each of these impacts contributed more material to the proto-Earth, until it reached its current size.

“We believe the Earth had many previous moons,” said Assistant Prof. Perets, who added that, “a previously formed moon could therefore already exist when another moon-forming giant impact occurs.”

The tidal forces from the Earth could cause moons to slowly migrate outwards (the current Moon is slowly doing that at a pace of about 1 cm a year). A pre-existing moon would slowly move out by the time another moon forms. However, their mutual gravitational attraction would eventually cause the moons to affect each other, and change their orbits.

”It’s likely that small moons formed through the process could cross orbits, collide and merge”, said Rufu, and Perets summarizes “A long series of such moon-moon collisions could gradually build-up a bigger moon – the Moon we see today.”

The Paper in Nature Geoscience

Moon Formation:

Orientation day for new faculty members at Technion.

Technion President: “Excellence is our sole criterion for accepting students and faculty”

On December 13th, the Technion held an orientation day for new faculty members, attended by the Technion board and veteran faculty members. The new faculty members are engaged in an exciting variety of fields, including: industrial design; protein decomposition in the living cell; mechanisms of cancer; neuroscience; decomposition of soil pollutants; eating disorders and their implications; semiconductors; quantum gravity; precise microscopy and the effect of sleep on the development of cancer.

The event was opened by Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie. “The institution that you have joined is a new Technion, since more than half of the faculty has been replaced with new people over the past decade. You have been selected carefully, as the Technion does not compromise on excellence, neither when it comes to student admissions or when it comes to hiring faculty. Student admission at the Technion is based on a single criterion: excellence. There is no affirmative action at the Technion, only accelerated education frameworks that offer an equal opportunity for populations and individuals who did not receive the basic education at school required for admission to the Technion. This also applies to the faculty that we recruit. Excellence on the part of each of you in your field has been the sole criterion for your being hired by the Technion.”

The event opened with icebreakers led by Associate Prof. Ayelet Baram-Tsabari from Faculty of Education in Science and Technology. Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Prof. Hagit Attiya presented the key aspects of the academic promotion process. Faculty members received additional information from: Executive Vice President for Research Prof. Wayne D. Kaplan; Prof. Ben-Zion Levi – Dean of the Graduate School; Dr. Abigail Barzilai – Head of the Center for the Promotion of Learning and Teaching; Technion Executive Vice President and Director General Matanyahu Englman; Research Prof. Moti Segev; Prof. Marcelle Machluf; and Prof. Avinoam Kolodny.

The new faculty members are: Assistant Prof. Semion Zhutovsky and Assistant Prof. Adi (Ish Am) Radian (Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering); Prof. Ezri Tarazi, Associate Prof Aaron Sprecher, Assistant Prof. Ruth Liberty-Shalev, Assistant Prof. Danny Broitman and Assistant Prof. Ram Eisenberg (Architecture); Associate Prof. Anat Levin, Assistant Prof. Ariel Epstein, Assistant Prof. Lior Kornblum, Assistant Prof. Omer Bobrowski and  Assistant Prof. Yuval E. Yaish (Electrical Engineering); Assistant Prof. Nadav Amdursky (Chemistry); Assistant Prof. Tamar Segal-Peretz (Chemical Engineering); Associate Prof. Ari Turner, Assistant Prof. Vincent Desjacques, Assistant Prof. Guy Bonin and Assistant Prof. Itai Arad (Physics); Assistant Prof. Ron Rosenthal and Assistant Prof. Michael Khanevsky (Mathematics); Associate Prof. Alexander Bronstein (Computer Science); Dr. Dan Michaels and Assistant Prof. Oksana Stalnov (Aerospace Engineering); Dr. Kinneret Teodorescu (Industrial Engineering and Management); Assistant Prof. Oded Kleifeld (Biology); Assistant Prof. Yoav Shechtman (Biomedical Engineering); Prof. Ze’ev Ronai, Prof. Eyal Gottlieb, Assistant Prof. Hagai Wolfensohn, Assistant Prof. Noam Kaplan; Assistant Prof. Raz Palty and Assistant Prof. Shai Berlin (Medicine).

The following researchers joined the Technion in the hospital staff track: Clinical Assistant Prof. Dean Keren, Dr. Ruth Perets Dr. Emily Avitan-Hersh, Assistant Professor Ilan Bruchim, Dr. Yaniv Zohar, Clinical Assistant Prof. Oren Tomkins-Netzer, Dr. Irena Kessel, Dr. Gabriel Nierenberg, Dr. Michal Cohen, Dr. Noga Kerem, Dr. Omri Emodi, Clinical Assistant Prof. Fahad Hakim, Clinical Associate Prof. Tzvi Dwolatzky, Dr. Tzofnat Weiner, Dr. Ran Kramer, Clinical Assistant Prof. Shaul Lin and Dr. Gidon Berger.

An all-time record: five outstanding female researchers have been appointed deans at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

The appointment of five outstanding female researcher as Deans of their departments at Technion is an all-time record among academic institutes in Israel. 

By Tamar Trabelsi (YNET)

At the Technion, an impressive women’s leadership revolution based on excellence is in full swing. Indeed, the Technion leadership has set a target for the number of Technion female students to be in direct proportion to the population: fifty percent in every faculty.

The five newly appointed deans are world-renowned researchers in their fields. They are: Technion Prof. Shulamit Levenberg – Dean of the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering; Prof. Marcelle Machluf – Dean of the Faculty of Food Engineering and Biotechnology; Prof. Iris Aravot – Dean of the Faculty of Architecture & Town Planning;  Prof. Orit Hazzan – Dean of Graduate Studies; and Prof. Yehudit Dori – Dean of the Faculty of Education in Science & Technology.

The Technion administration has restated its goal to nurture excellence among students of both sexes at Technion. It is noted that as far back as 1913, (when leading universities in the United States still did not admit women), the Technion’s founders and directors decided that the institute would be open to all, regardless of religion, race or gender. The first graduating class, comprised 16 male students and one female student.

Today, the percentage of women among undergraduate students at the Technion is 37%; graduate students 32%; and doctoral students 44%.

“I see these five female faculty members as deans as role models for both female students and young female faculty members,” said Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie, adding that the Technion is making tremendous efforts to increase both the number of female students and the number of female faculty members.

The appointment of the female deans is particularly noteworthy in view of the low percentage of women in engineering and the exact sciences which engage just 25-30% of all students in Israel, although women account for over 50% of all Israeli undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees.

The academic environment cultivated at the Technion promotes the exact message that excellence does not depend on membership of one group or another.

Prof. Orit Hazzan  says that the low representation of women in science and engineering is only low due to cultural reasons. “Therefore, the fact that there are five female deans shows that the Technion is an environment that enables anyone who excels to maximize his or her potential,” she said. Until recently, Hazzan was Dean of the Faculty of Education in Science & Technology and now she becomes Dean of Graduate Studies,  “These cultural conventions are not reflected at the Technion,” she continues, “In general, it is desirable for organizations to moderate a culture in which excellence can find unconditional expression. The academic environment cultivated at the Technion promotes the exact message that excellence does not depend on membership of one group or another.”

Dean of the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering Prof. Shulamit Levenberg – is a world-renowned expert in stem cells and tissue engineering. Levenberg refers to the increase in the number of female faculty members that have been promoted to full professor as an explanation for the women’s leadership revolution.

“Go with your heart, with your inner voice, with what you love,” she tells female college and high school students. “People will say that you chose a difficult program and that it’ll be too much for you. But don’t be afraid, be daring and listen to yourselves. For she who goes her own way, will enjoy what she does and will overcome all the obstacles.”

Prof. Yehudit Dori, Dean of the Faculty of Education in Science & Technology, says that the appointment of five female deans is a highly significant breakthrough because: “We are a role model for female undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students and for female high school students. ”This indicates that women, like men, can reach senior positions and fill them successfully. For both Yehudit Dori and Orit Hazzan, this is their second appointment as dean at the Technion. The choice of these women to lead faculty members, researchers, administrative staff and thousands of students is proof that the sky’s the limit. All of them have families, children, and I even have grandchildren, and this is proof for girls who wonder whether it’s possible to combine a successful career with raising a family.”

Go with your heart, with your inner voice, with what you love.

Prof. Marcelle Machluf, Dean of the Faculty of Food Engineering and Biotechnology, says that excellence, investment and perseverance are what lead every woman to success in any field, particularly in academia. “Unfortunately, too few women choose a career in the difficult world of academia, not because they’re not talented, but because the remote environment, and especially the immediate environment, is still not supportive enough.

“If there were more women in academia, this article would not have been written, because women are competitive and would undoubtedly have attained this position and even more senior positions, and these positions would not have been referred to as ‘masculine’,” she says.

The Technion notes that the percentage of female undergraduate students at the various faculties of Engineering at the Technion is steadily increasing, partly due to various activities at the faculties and at the Technion as a whole. These activities are designed to encourage female high school students throughout Israel, who excel in mathematics and the exact sciences, to choose to study these fields and engineering.  They include conferences and one-day events attended by hundreds of female high school students who come to the Technion and meet with women faculty members and graduate students. They tour the campus and the labs in various faculties and receive information about research topics and courses of study at the Technion.

This article was first published in Hebrew on Ynet.

The 2016 Isaiah Shavitt lectureship award was received by Prof. Laura Gagliardi from the University of Minnesota. This is the third annual event in memory of Isaiah Shavitt.

Isaiah Shavitt was a pioneer in the field of theoretical chemistry and widely regarded as one of the founders of computational chemistry. He developed efficient methods to treat electron correlation and applied these methods to a broad range of chemistry problems. He also developed one of the first software packages for quantum chemistry, named COLUMBUS, that involved many millions of terms in the Configuration Interaction expansion. In 2009, together with his coauthor, Prof. Rodney Bartlett, Prof. Shavitt published a definitive reference book, “Many-Body Methods in Chemistry and Physics. Isaiah (Shi) Shavitt left a legacy of theoretical chemists.

Each year, there is a workshop series on quantum mechanics in chemistry: from structure to dynamics. This year’s events were organized by Prof. Maytal Caspary Toroker from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Prof. Laura Gagliardi delivered a mini-course for graduate students on correlation theory with hands-on experience in state of the art computational methods. The week ended with a one day symposium hosting theoretical or computational chemists and materials scientists from other universities in Israel, and a colloquium by the I. Shavitt lecturer.

Professor Adam Shwartz has been appointed Senior Executive Vice President of the Technion. Professor Shwartz earned his undergraduate degree at Ben Gurion University and his master’s and doctorate from Brown University in the US. His research focuses on stochastic processes and their applications to the optimization of computer networks. He has been a member of the Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Technion since 1984, and holds the The Julius M. and Bernice Naiman Chair in Engineering. In 2010-2013, Professor Shwartz was Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Technion.

As Dean, Professor Shwartz founded the Technion Computer Engineering Center (TCE), together with Professor Eli Biham, then Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science.
Professor Shwartz was a member of several editorial boards of scientific journals and participated in the Technion committee of the project with Cornell University in New York City. In 2012-2013, he served on the board of the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute in New York, and recently completed a three-year term as Director of the Institute. In his capacity as Senior Executive Vice President, Professor Shwartz will serve as Chairman of the Board of the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute.

Professor Adam Shwartz succeeded Professor Moshe Sidi, who has served as Senior Executive Vice President since October 2013. Professor Sidi is completing nine (almost consecutive) years as a member of the Technion’s management and will resume his research while on sabbatical in the United States.

UK Minister Matt Hancock at Technion

UK – Technion alliances to counter Parkinson’s and heart disease

British Minister of State for Digital and Culture Policy visits the Technion: “The cooperation with your researchers is already bearing practical fruit”

“I was deeply impressed by the labs that I visited today at the Technion, labs that are cooperating with British scientists as part of BIRAX (the Britain Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership).” So said Matt Hancock, the British Minister of State for Digital and Culture Policy, on a visit to the Technion. Hancock visited the campus as head of a senior delegation from Britain, along with the British Ambassador to Israel, Mr. David Quarrey.

The British delegation met with Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie; Dr. Yoav Broza from the laboratory of Prof. Hossam Haick; and Prof. Lior Gepstein.

“Globalization is one of our main goals today,” Prof. Lavie told the delegation. “That’s why we have international programs in engineering and medicine, and that’s why we have established extensions branches in New York and Shantou, China. Cooperation with Britain is very important to us because Israel and Britain are two countries that excel in scientific research, and the connection between our researchers and yours has vast potential.”

BIRAX promotes joint studies by researchers from Israel and Britain in order to cope with serious and challenging diseases, including Parkinson’s, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Last year, the British Embassy and the British Council chose eight such joint studies, which will receive support totaling over £7 million. Researchers at the Technion are involved in three of the selected studies:

The first is a focus to establish the most suitable cells for rebuilding heart tissue, with Prof. Joseph Itzkowitz-Eldor of the Technion’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Prof. Bruno Pollet of the University of Edinburgh. The aim of the study is to develop an effective treatment for coronary heart disease (CAD), which is the main cause of heart attacks.

The second is the accelerated development of biological pacemakers, through a collaboration between Prof. Lior Gepstein of the Technion’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Prof. Chris Denning of the University of Nottingham. The researchers are developing biological pacemakers based on heart cells grown in the lab, leveraging the effect of light on the pulse rate. The goal: rehabilitation of patients with arrhythmia.

The third area is the development of a breath test for the early diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Prof. Hossam Haick of the Technion’s Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Prof. Roger Barker of the University of Cambridge are collaborating on the project. In this study, the unique technology developed by Prof. Haick for the rapid diagnosis of various diseases is being adapted to diagnose Parkinson’s. This is a non-invasive test, based on an analysis of the patient’s breath, and its effectiveness in diagnosing Parkinson’s disease has already been demonstrated in a preliminary study.

Hancock noted that he is: “Very excited to see how the Israeli-British cooperation is bearing practical fruit. The connection with the Technion researchers is very important to us, and its importance is only increasing in the wake of Brexit. The British Government intends to increase its investment in scientific research, including its investment in joint research with scientists from other countries.”

You Are What You Exhale: Different Diseases Have Distinct Chemical Signatures

HAIFA, ISRAEL (December 22, 2016) – An international team of 56 researchers in five countries has confirmed a hypothesis first proposed by the ancient Greeks – that different diseases are characterized by different “chemical signatures” identifiable in breath samples. The findings by the team led by Professor Hossam Haick of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology Department of Chemical Engineering and Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute at the Technion were published today in ACS Nano.

Diagnostic techniques based on breath samples have been demonstrated in the past, but until now, there has not been scientific proof of the hypothesis that different and unrelated diseases are characterized by distinct chemical breath signatures. And technologies developed to date for this type of diagnosis have been limited to detecting a small number of clinical disorders, without differentiation between unrelated diseases.

The study of more than 1,400 patients included 17 different and unrelated diseases: lung cancer, colorectal cancer, head and neck cancer, ovarian cancer, bladder cancer, prostate cancer, kidney cancer, stomach cancer, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, Parkinson’s disease (two types), multiple sclerosis, pulmonary hypertension, preeclampsia and chronic kidney disease. Samples were collected between January 2011 and June 2014 from in 14 departments at 9 medical centers in 5 countries: Israel, France, the USA, Latvia and China.

The researchers tested the chemical composition of the breath samples using an accepted analytical method (mass spectrometry), which enabled accurate quantitative detection of the chemical compounds they contained. 13 chemical components were identified, in different compositions, in all 17 of the diseases.  

According to Prof. Haick, “each of these diseases is characterized by a unique fingerprint, meaning a different composition of these 13 chemical components.  Just as each of us has a unique fingerprint that distinguishes us from others, each disease has a chemical signature that distinguishes it from other diseases and from a normal state of health. These odor signatures are what enables us to identify the diseases using the technology that we developed.”

With a new technology called “artificially intelligent nanoarray,” developed by Prof. Haick, the researchers were able to corroborate the clinical efficacy of the diagnostic technology. The array enables fast and inexpensive diagnosis and classification of diseases, based on “smelling” the patient’s breath, and using artificial intelligence to analyze the data obtained from the sensors. Some of the sensors are based on layers of gold nanoscale particles and others contain a random network of carbon nanotubes coated with an organic layer for sensing and identification purposes.

The study also assessed the efficiency of the artificially intelligent nanoarray in detecting and classifying various diseases using breath signatures. To verify the reliability of the system, the team also examined the effect of various factors (such as gender, age, smoking habits and geographic location) on the sample composition, and found their effect to be negligible, and without impairment on the array’s sensitivity.

“Each of the sensors responds to a wide range of exhalation components,” explain Prof. Haick and his previous Ph.D student, Dr. Morad Nakhleh, “and integration of the information provides detailed data about the unique breath signatures characteristic of the various diseases. Our system has detected and classified various diseases with an average accuracy of 86%.

This is a new and promising direction for diagnosis and classification of diseases, which is characterized not only by considerable accuracy but also by low cost, low electricity consumption, miniaturization, comfort and the possibility of repeating the test easily.”

“Breath is an excellent raw material for diagnosis,” said Prof. Haick. “It is available without the need for invasive and unpleasant procedures, it’s not dangerous, and you can sample it again and again if necessary.”

Prof. Haick, full professor at Technion and head of three major European consortia, has received numerous prestigious awards and grants, including the Marie Curie Excellence Award, the European Research Council grant, grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Hershel Rich Technion Innovation Award and the Humboldt Senior Research Award (Germany). He has been included in several important lists, including the list of the world’s 35 leading young scientists published by MIT’s Technology Review, the Nominet Trust 100 list (London), which includes the world’s 100 most influential inventors and digital developments, and the Los Angeles-based GOOD Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Prof. Haick also received the highest teaching award granted by the Technion – the Yanai Prize for Academic Excellence.

Link to the article in ACS Nano

Two researchers from the Technion will attend the first conference of the European Network of Bioadhesion Expertise.  The goal is to explore methods of adhesion in natural systems and develop innovative adhesive materials suitable for medical use inspired by these methods

Despite the obvious differences between algae, geckos and glowworms, these creatures have a common denominator that has a major effect on their ability to survive: the use of strong and particularly effective adhesion methods that have evolved during millions of years of evolution.

Algae are capable of holding onto rocks with strength that overcomes the enormous pressure exerted on it by the waves, and this in a particularly challenging environment of water, wind, sun and salt; geckos walk on smooth surfaces with their backs facing the floor; and glowworms from New Zealand produce sticky filaments in order to trap their prey.

A new network of international researchers was recently established to promote scientific knowledge pertaining to the function of such biological systems and translate it to the creation of new adhesives for various applications such as wound healing, tissue engineering, food, cosmetics and drug delivery. This is the European Network of Bioadhesion Expertise (ENBA)*, which is part of the COST program and that supports cooperation in the European Union. These unique network brings together scientists, engineers and business entrepreneurs who will spend the next four years exploring methods of adhesion in various natural systems and will develop new methods for producing strong and safe adhesive materials inspired by these methods.

The first public meeting of the network will be held at the Natural History Museum in Vienna, Austria, on March 6-7, 2017. At the conference, work in the field will be presented and discussions will be held that will enable a direct encounter between researchers in different disciplines.

Three Israeli researchers plan to attend the opening conference: Prof. Havazelet Bianco-Peled from the Technion Department of Chemical Engineering, Prof. Alejandro Sosnik from the Technion Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Technion alumnus Meir Haber, entrepreneur and CEO of Biota Ltd – a company established in 1999 at the Technion incubator.

Prof. Havazelet Bianco-Peled specializes in the development of polymeric biomaterials for medical applications. Her scientific activity in the field of bioadhesion focuses on tissue adhesives and mucoadhesive drug delivery. Previous studies by Prof. Bianco-Peled revealed mechanisms involved in the production of adhesives by brown seaweed. In follow-on studies, her group developed man-made biomimetic adhesives that mimic the adhesion mechanism of algae. The knowledge accumulated in her lab since 2007 led to the establishment of a project that began at the Amit Institute at the Technion (www.amitechnion.com) and later evolved into the startup Sealantis.

Today, the company is engaged in applying its adhesive technology in a variety of clinical applications. The company has developing a protein-free biomimetic tissue adhesive that is absorbed by the body and absorbs fluids. This is a friendly adhesive designed for a wide range of medical interventions such preventing bowel leaks and stopping bleeding from blood vessels. Prof. Bianco-Peled’s latest studies deal with muco-adhesive drug carriers. These carriers cling tightly to the mucosa coating various organs in the body such as the nasal and mouth cavity, enabling efficient non-invasive drug delivery.

Prof. Alejandro Sosnik investigates innovative amphiphilic polymers for the development of muco-adhesive nano-carriers through self-assembly. These devices are characterized by high physical stability, making them an effective platform for transporting drugs non-invasively.

At the conference, Meir Haber will present Biota’s technology for drug delivery through the oral mucosa using adhesive films (about the size of a postage stamp). The technology, protected by a US patent, was developed by Meir Haber and two Icelandic researchers after collaboration in a European research consortium studying adhesion in algae. It is based on a polymer from algae that is processed into films containing drugs, using a unique method, and used to transport drugs through the oral mucosa into the bloodstream.

* ENBA – European Network of Bioadhesion Expertise (Action CA15216)

 

Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China approves the formal establishment of the Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology

Israel’s Ambassador to China Matan Vilnai: “This is the most important project in Israel-China relations during my term in office”

An important milestone in the establishment of GTIIT – Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology – was recorded  with the official approval by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. The Ministry confirmed that cooperation with Technion is consistent with the strategic goal of the Chinese Government: the establishment of world-class research universities; as well as with the regional strategy of innovation-based development.

The Chinese National Program for Medium- and Long-Term Educational Reform and Development is intended, inter alia, to promote the establishment of superior foreign educational resources and to establish several model Chinese-foreign universities in China, based on cooperation with other countries.

Approval for GTIIT was given exactly one year after the cornerstone laying ceremony for the new campus: a ceremony which was attended by about 5,000 guests, including the late ninth President of the State of Israel, Shimon Peres z”l. At that event, Peres said that “the establishment of a Technion campus in China is one more proof that Israeli innovation is breaking down geographic borders.”

The establishment of Guangdong Technion – the first Israeli university in China – is a dramatic and unprecedented event in Israel-China relations.

According to Governor of Guangdong Zhu Xiaodan, the establishment of GTIIT is a milestone in the history of friendly relations between China and Israel, and this university represents the future of China-Israel cooperation. He said the Guangdong government will work closely with Technion to promote GTIIT’s development and strive to make it a world-leading university.

Israel’s Ambassador to China Matan Vilnai said: “The opening of the Technion branch in China is the most important project in Israel-China relations during my term in office. This project, which focuses on education, is an important asset to China and Israel and hence its great importance. We have worked hard to obtain approval and I am pleased that it has been granted.”

“This is a courageous and important partnership which represents a historic step in Israel-China relations,” said Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie. “This partnership, which combines the spirit of Israeli innovation with the power of China, will benefit all parties – the Technion and the University of Shantou, Israel and China – and will give a significant boost to the Chinese education system. The outcomes of this historic project will affect the whole of humanity.”

“I’m glad we did it,” said the Mayor of Shantou, Liu Xiaotao. “I would like to thank Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie and professors from the Technion for their efforts and dedication. On behalf of the 5.5 million residents of Shantou, I would like to thank you for this important project.”

Guangdong Technion, situated near the Shantou University campus, will be a high quality, innovative and research-oriented university. In the future, an innovation center will be built near it, and will serve as a foothold for Israeli companies to crack key markets in the U.S. and China. This project is made possible thanks to the cooperation between China’s Shantou University, Guangdong Provincial Government, Shantou Municipal Government and the Technion. The project leader on behalf of the Technion is Prof. Paul Feigin, Assistant to the President for Strategic Projects.

According to the letter of approval from the Government of China, “GTIIT is a beneficial attempt to build a high standard and exemplary Sino-foreign co-running university. Guangdong Government shall offer guidance and take advantages of subjects and research provided by both sides, integrate educational resources, innovate methods of cultivating talents, classifying subjects and courses, and managing schools. It will promote Sino-Israeli educational cooperation and exchange, and contribute to our educational reform. GTIIT shall progressively carry out the master and doctoral programs by learning from Technion’s advanced experience in the way of independent admission according to the Sino-Foreign Cooperative Education Provision and its concrete measures. Masters and PhD degree certificates will be issued by Technion. “GTIIT shall strive for economic growth and social development based on the areas where Technion excels and in accordance with the environmental challenges faced by China.

The new university is headed by GTIIT Chancellor Mr. Li Jiange and Vice Chancellor Research Professor Aaron Ciechanover from the Technion. “The Government’s approval of the establishment of GTIIT has brought us much joy and confidence,” said Chancellor Mr. Li Jiange. “As an ancient Chinese saying goes, ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’  Now we have achieved the first step of success, we still have a long way to go. To build GTIIT into a world-class university, we need to recruit the elite faculties, and we are willing to pay them with the most attractive salaries.”

“The granting of approval by the Government of China is a moment of great hope for all of us,” said Prof. Ciechanover, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2004. “This is an initiative that will combine the diligence and determination typical of China with the extensive experience of the Technion in training scientists and engineers, and in turning scientific discoveries into developments that are beneficial to mankind.”

According to the letter of approval from the Government of China, GTIIT will have 2,960 students in the initial stage (from 2017 to 2026), including 300 postgraduates, and 5,000 in the long term, including 1,000 postgraduates. Guangdong Technion’s first undergraduate programs are Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology and Food Engineering, and Materials Engineering. Its graduate programs are Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Food Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Its doctoral programs will also be in these disciplines .  

The cooperation between the Technion and Guangdong Province has already led to several other agreements, including a memorandum of understanding for scientific cooperation between the State of Israel and Guangdong Province, economic cooperation agreements and a twin city agreement between the cities of Haifa and Shantou. The first academic school year at Guangdong Technion is scheduled to begin in October 2017, with 300 students will first complete a preparatory period starting in August.

Canadian-Israeli Development: A New Biological Pacemaker

HAIFA, ISRAEL (December 19, 2016) – Using a type of cardiac cells known as sinotrial (SA) node pacemaker cells, a team of scientists from Israel and Canada have developed a biological pacemaker that overcomes many of the limitations of electrical pacemakers. The breakthrough findings could pave the way for an “assembly line” for an unlimited reservoir of pacemaker cells to treat patients with heart rhythm problems.

The findings by the research group that included Professor Lior Gepstein of the Technion Faculty of Medicine and Rambam Heath Care Campus, were published last week in Nature Biotechnology.

The sinotrial (SA) node is the natural pacemaker of the heart, and is comprised of a group of dedicated heart cells – SA node pacemaker cells – responsible for initiation of the electrical signal leading to the contraction of the heart. A dysfunction in their activity results in slow beating rate that could disrupt cardiac function and lead to weakness, dizziness, fainting, heart failure, and even death. Such dysfunction required the implantation of an artificial electronic pacemaker to correct the dysfunction of the natural pacemaker mechanism using electrodes inserted into various areas of the heart.

But such electrical pacemakers have a myriad of limitations, including an invasive surgical procedure, danger of infection, a lack of hormonal sensitivity and a limited duration of activity (due to limited battery life). And when it comes to treating children, whose hearts are still growing, an electrical pacemaker does not adapt itself to the gradual increase in cardiac volume.

One of the most promising future alternatives to electrical pacemakers is the biological pacemaker strategy, based on the use of cells that are functionally similar to natural pacemaker cells. The team from the Technion, Rambam, and the University Health Network’s McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine used knowledge learned in the field of developmental biology to develop a differentiation protocol for the creation of pacemaker cells from human embryonic stem cells.

“The pacemaker generated from embryonic stem cells exhibits the molecular, electrical and functional properties characteristic of human pacemaker cells,” said Prof. Gepstein. “It is an effective and promising alternative to natural pacemaker cells in the event of their dysfunction. This development is significant both in terms of research – because it will enable scientists to study the heart in new ways, and in practical terms – since we are presenting an ‘assembly line’ here for an unlimited reservoir of pacemaker cells to treat patients with heart rhythm problems.”

To demonstrate the potential future clinical use of the cells as biological pacemakers, experiments were conducted in the Gepstein laboratory on rats. Pacemaker cell transplants restored normal heart rhythm in 6 of the 7 rats that were tested.

“We have previously demonstrated the concept of biological pacemakers, but until now the cells we used contained a mixture of pacemaker cells with other heart cells,” said Prof. Gepstein. “Together with our Canadian partners, we present a method for producing a population of pure pacemaker cells and, and give proof that they work well as a substitute for natural pacemaker cells that have been damaged.”

The study was led by Prof. Gordon M. Keller from the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine and also included collaboration with Dr. Peter Backx, senior scientist at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, both from the University Health Network in Toronto.

Prof. Gepstein, faculty member at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion, is the Director of the Cardiology Department at Rambam Heath Care Campus. He is an internationally renowned expert in the field of stem cells, particularly the use of stem cells to repair heart defects. One of his latest studies, which presented a new approach to the treatment of abnormal heart rhythm by means of light, was published earlier this year in the same journal (Nature Biotechnology).

The study was conducted within the framework of cooperation between the Technion and the Canadian University Health Network (UHN), which is headquartered in Toronto. Some three years ago, the two bodies established an international center for innovation in cardiovascular research aimed at developing new ways to treat heart disease.  Prof. Lior Gepstein led the initiative for the Israeli side.

Link to the article in Nature Biotechnology

Click here for a video demonstrating the effectiveness of the biological pacemaker developed by the group

Research cooperation between the Technion and Shantou University opens a wide and significant channel for Technion researchers and a great hope for China, which faces severe ecological challenges. A recent workshop at Technion presented the thriving cooperation in the field of recycling of materials and environmental protection which today unites the two universities

For decades, sewage has been polluting the Lijiang River, which crosses Guangdong Province. Contamination from millions of residents and thousands of businesses includes domestic sewage, residual electronic waste and solid waste from small textile factories. Prof. Jie Zhang, Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Shantou University, is worried, and is seeking solutions through the Technion-Shantou cooperation. “In the next few years, our government will invest about USD 4.5 billion in environmental protection, and the relationship with the Technion will help us make the most out of this great investment,” he said.

Relations between Technion and Shantou University, supported by the Leona and Harry Helmsley Foundation, have intensified since the founding of the Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology (TGIT) in 2015. TGIT is currently under construction adjacent to Shantou University. The Technion’s role in the project is overseen by Prof. Paul Feigin, Assistant to the President for Strategic Projects. At the joint workshop held at the Technion Grand Water Research Institute, participants presented research proposals, advanced technology and cooperation in various environmental fields which included soil with air and water treatment and recycling of materials.

“This workshop is part of a strategic collaboration in which all parties benefit,” said Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie, who welcomed the participants. “China and Israel must take environmental protection seriously, he continued, highlighting the opportunity to bring about significant change in the area. This meeting between Israeli and Chinese researchers is the first step in a long and joint journey,” he said.

Use of Industrial Byproducts

Prof. Konstantin Kovler from the Technion Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who led the meeting, explained that one development presented at the workshop is a new method for the production of quality material for the construction industry, by recycling byproducts such as fly ash and phosphogypsum. “The method, which has been patented by the Technion, will enable the use of 95% of the phosphogypsum – a byproduct of fertilizer plants – for construction purposes, after the removal of radioactive and chemical pollutants,” he said.

Another development is the production of an absorbent material to absorb and remove fuel and oil from sites, such as the oil spill incident at the Evrona Nature Reserve in the Arava Desert, using recycled fly ash, (a byproduct from power plants.). Israel produces hundreds of thousands of tons of fly ash and China much more:  480 million tons per year. Israeli and Chinese researchers will work together to develop materials capable of absorbing organic pollution, heavy metals and radioactive metals.”

Prof. Ori Lahav, Head of the Technion Grand Water Research Institute (GWRI), also welcomes the opportunity to learn from the Chinese. “While Israel is a world leader in many areas, the partnership will enable us to jointly analyze data from a developing country. China is the biggest laboratory in the world, and there is no doubt that we have something to contribute to this huge country. To begin with, we will deal with river pollution, which comes from many sources, and we will offer effective solutions.” At the workshop, Prof. Lahav introduced a method for extracting magnesium from seawater – another Technion patent.

“The World’s Best Water Technologies”

Prof. Eran Friedler from the Technion Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering foresees deep cooperation in water science and technology. “The Chinese government has begun the establishment of a water-smart city, which receives water from various sources,” he noted, “And we have the relevant knowledge and experience in the areas of water treatment, sewage recycling and river restoration.” In this context, a method for removing textile dyes from industrial effluents was presented. The method was developed by Dr. Yuri Gendel in cooperation with Shantou University.

Prof. Friedler and Dr. Haihong Sung, former postdoc and now faculty member at Shantou University, are researching options for the treatment and utilization of urban runoff. Dr. Haihong Sung said, “Our goal is to prepare properly for 2050, when China will have a population of 1.4 billion people, 80% of whom will live in cities. We are seeing an increase in the demand for recycled water for household use, and the contribution of the Technion researchers in this field is tremendous. I knew that the world’s best water technology comes from Israel. In fact, I was the first bridge in the cooperation between the Technion and Shantou University. It was a great honor for me to study here under the supervision of Prof. Friedler and Prof. Yael Dubowski, both of whom had a significant influence on the way I will pass on the knowledge and teach my students in China.”

Smoking in the Oncology Department

Prof. Yael Dubowski relates that one of the projects in the program focuses on the problem of smoking in China. The study focuses primarily on the tertiary level of “smoking” – health damage caused by exposure to pollutants from smoking adsorbed by objects such as clothing, sheets, mattresses and walls. The study will combine lab experiments carried out at the Technion and measurements taken in a hospital in China.  Prof. Dubowski said, “In China, smoking is acceptable everywhere, even in hospitals. There’s no awareness and no enforcement of non-smoking areas, but a demand for enforcement is being made by people, such as hospital nurses. They support the patients and are searching for ways to persuade their families not to smoke. It will not be easy for them to cope with this.”

Prof. Dubowski notes the great potential of the joint study. “I and Prof. David Broday, Head of the Technion Center of Excellence in Exposure Science and Environmental Health (TCEEH) have been working on building a scientific cooperation program regarding air pollution research in China. This is done with the support of the Leona and Harry Helmsley Foundation,” she says.

Certificates of Excellence

At the end of the workshop, three certificates of merit for outstanding studies were awarded. The three certificates were awarded, the first to Micol Campagnano, a graduate student at the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who is studying the fate of micropollutants in the process of converting solid organic waste into coal, under the supervision of Prof. Eran Friedler. The second went to Oz Kira, for his doctoral study under the supervision of Professors Yael Dubowski and Rafi Linker. This study monitors pesticide drift during spraying, in order to examine the effect of the substances on nearby residents. The third was awarded to Prof. Hong Du from the Department of Biology at Shantou University, for her work on environmental protection and ecological restoration of coastal waters and the reaction of algae to environmental stress.