The Technion opened for the 2021 spring semester on Sunday, using a model of hybrid teaching – a combination of online and frontal teaching – in accordance with the Ministry of Health’s restrictions and “green” guidelines. After a challenging year of online learning, students are returning to classrooms, campuses, and frontal learning after presenting a vaccine certificate and pre-registering.
2. Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan with students on campus tour
The Technion buildings and faculties were well prepared for the students’ return. The security unit has assigned bouncers, security guards, scouts, and certified COVID-19 inspectors on the contained campus to keep students and faculty members safe and to ensure that green regulations for COVID-19 are maintained. Only students with a vaccine certificate are able to study in classrooms, and class sizes are regulated.
Returning students were greeted by a banner that read, “We Came Back Green,” placed by the Office of the Dean of Students and the Student Union. The celebration also included eye-opening flags, placards, fortune cookies, and cards.
“This is a special day for all of us,” said Technion President, Professor Uri Sivan on a tour of the campus with Senior Vice President Professor Oded Rabinowitz and the Deans of the Technion. “The members of the academic and administrative staff have already gradually returned to campus in the past two weeks, in accordance with the Ministry of Health’s guidelines. Today, it is the turn of the students, who are the heartbeat of the Technion, to return to the classrooms. This spring semester comes after a long winter, and after the pandemic that lasted a whole year. Now we can finally go back and hear the academic hum in the classrooms, in the labs, in the hallways, and in the offices. With the return of the students, the campus will return to being a vibrant intellectual center.”
Hybrid class. In Dr. Aviv Censor’s class, students learn in class and online at the same time.
“I haven’t taught on campus in over a year and it’s definitely refreshing – a thousand times more comfortable than teaching on Zoom, which is sadly what we’ve become used to,” said Professor Eitan Yaakobi, researcher and lecturer in combinatorics in the Taub Faculty of Computer Science. “For the students here in class today, it’s the first time that they are studying live on campus. We now understand how important it is to have a personal relationship with the students, something I really missed this past year. Good luck to all the teachers, and especially to those learning, the students.”
“I’m really excited to be here, and I think the lecturer is more excited than anyone,” said Liad Pearl, a second-year student in computer engineering. “Suddenly, people are making jokes in class and laughing for real, not in front of a screen.”
“We’re very excited to be back in class,” said first-year biology students in Professor Meital Landau’s biochemistry and enzymology course, “just like on the first day of first grade.”
“Studying at home, on Zoom, was difficult for us,” said students in Dr. Nadav Amdursky’s analytical chemistry course, “both in terms of having technological issues as well as having distractions at home. We’re happy to be back in class.”
Students return to campus.
A year ago, on the eve of opening the spring semester 2020, Israel Council for Higher Education imposed a blanket ban on frontal teaching. Despite the short notice, the Technion managed to open the 2020 spring semester online on the scheduled date of March 18, with hardly any problems. It was the result of a conscious and ongoing effort to introduce digital teaching technologies in the years prior to the pandemic.
The two semesters since March 2020 have taken place online, thanks to the tireless work of Technion Senior Vice President Professor Oded Rabinowitz, Dean of Undergraduate Studies Professor Hossam Haick, and many others. This period has shown that while digital platforms allow for online learning and continued studies, they cannot completely replace frontal teaching. The interaction between students and lecturers is an essential component of campus life, learning, and student development. This is the background for the advancement of hybrid teaching, which combines online teaching with active classroom learning.
The launch of the Technion nanosatellites into orbit took place on Monday, March 22nd, from Kazakhstan. Mazal tov!
Human capital
The Adelis-SAMSON project will be launched into space this weekend after years of planning, development, construction, and improvements. The project was carried out by a committed and dedicated team at the Technion, led by Professor Pini Gurfil of the Asher Space Research Institute. The team members are Avner Keidar, Hovik Agalarian, Dr. Vladimir Balabanov, Eviatar Adlerman, Yaron Oz, Maxim Rubanovich, Margarita Shamis, Yulia Koneivsky, Tzachi Ezra, and Dr. Alex Frid.
Ground Control
Satellite tracking and data collection will take place at Technion’s mission control center, which was inaugurated in 2018. Built with the support of the Adelis Foundation, the center contains an array of Israeli-made antennae manufactured by “Orbit,” which will maintain continuous communication with the satellites. This is a huge challenge because of their proximity to each other.
Technological innovation
Being the first project of its kind, the Adelis-SAMSON project is a technological leap that is underway after years of interdisciplinary research and collaboration between the Technion and industry, including new and original developments. In order for the three satellites to travel in formation and fulfill their missions, each was each installed with sensors, antennae, computer systems, control systems, navigation devices, a unique and innovative propulsion system, and a mission receiver developed by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI).
Launch
The Adelis-SAMSON satellites will be launched over the weekend from the “Baikonur” Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan – the world’s first spaceport and the first site to launch people into space (April 1961, Yuri Gagarin). The three satellites will be launched along with dozens of satellites from 18 countries, including Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia.
The Adelis-SAMSON satellites will enter orbit 4 hours and 20 minutes after the launch. They will “wake up” 30 minutes later, and their systems will start operating. The first communication with the control center at the Technion is expected on Saturday afternoon.
The launch of the Technion nanosatellites into orbit took place on Monday, March 22nd, from Kazakhstan. Mazal tov!
The “Adelis-SAMSON” project, an autonomous group of three nanosatellites built and developed by the Technion – Israel institute of Technology, will be launched into orbit on March 20, 2021. The project is the passion of a research team led by Professor Pini Gurfil of the Asher Space Research Institute (ASRI), and the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, with the support of the Adelis Foundation, the Goldstein Foundation, and the Israel Space Agency in the Ministry of Science and Technology.
The nanosatellite
The satellites will piggyback on a Glavkosmos Soyuz rocket from a site in Kazakhstan, and once in orbit, will be used to calculate the location of people, planes, and ships. The cluster of satellites will fly in formation in space by utilizing autonomous communication and control, without needing guidance from the ground.
The Adelis-SAMSON formation includes three miniature satellites (CubeSats), each weighing about 8 kg (17 ½ lb). Each CubeSat includes sensors, antennae, computer systems, control systems, navigation devices, and a unique and innovative propulsion system. The satellites will travel at an altitude of 550 km (341 mi) above ground and will detect signals from Earth using a mission receiver developed by IAI. The CubeSats will then transmit these signals to a mission control center located at Technion’s Asher Space Research Institute.
“Basic research over the course of many years, combined with advanced Israeli technology, allows Israel to take an important step forward in the field of nanosatellites,” explained Prof. Gurfil.
Representatives of the Adelis Foundation with Prof. Boaz Golany and Prof. Pini Gurfil, 2018
“You could compare the innovation of nanosatellites to switching from the personal computer to the cellphone. The Adelis-Samson project demonstrates a new concept in nanosatellite design and will enable many operations to be carried out that have been reserved until now for large and expensive satellites,” he continued. “This is a leap in the field of miniature satellites, in the capabilities of the Technion, and for the entire State of Israel, and one which will make the Technion a global pioneer in the fields of geolocation and satellite communication, with diverse applications including search and rescue, remote sensing, and environmental monitoring.”
“The Adelis-SAMSON project is a wonderful and exciting example of the successful integration of science and technology and the transformation of innovative ideas into effective systems that contribute to humanity,” said Professor Uri Sivan, President of the Technion. “Scientific and technological breakthroughs require multidisciplinary research and close collaboration between academia and industry, and this is what has led the project to this important day.”
“The current project continues a Technion tradition that began in 1998 with the successful launch of the Gurwin-TechSat II,” added the Technion President. “That satellite operated in space for more than 11 years, a record time for academic activity in space. The launch of Adelis-SAMSON is a dramatic moment that we have been waiting nine years for and will follow closely. I sincerely thank our partners at the Adelis Foundation, the Goldstein Foundation, the Israel Space Agency, and Israel Aerospace Industries for helping us make this project a reality.”
Engineers & researchers from the Asher Space Research Institute at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology with the nanosatellites
In the words of Mrs. Rebecca Boukhris, ADELIS Foundation Trustee: “For many years, space and space technology have been considered the domain of superpowers; and too grand, expensive and complex for small countries. Israel has demonstrated that this is not the case, and it is vital that Israel is a member of the elite international space community. The rapid development of the space industry in Israel is essential. This project is unique for the ADELIS Foundation in that it symbolizes the spirit, genius, and strength of Israel. In effect, it highlights the technological and scientific brilliance of Israel and positions our country on the world map in the field of aerospace, and all this on a modest budget within the university setting of Technion. The Adelis Foundation considers itself as sowing the seeds of the future and hopes that this project will be the first of many more. We hope that many other small and brilliant projects will take the ADELIS-SAMSON mission as an example and develop a new ingenious space mission for the benefit of the State of Israel.”
The field of nano-satellites has been booming recently and the number of launches is increasing every year,” says Avi Blasberger, director of the Israeli Space Agency at the Ministry of Science and Technology. “The cost of developing and launching such satellites, capable of performing a variety of uses, is significantly lower than those of regular satellites. In the near future networks are expected to appear to include thousands of nanosatellites that will cover the Earth and enable high-speed internet communication at a significantly lower cost than is currently available, as well as having many other applications such as the one demonstrated in the Adelis-SAMSON satellites.”
The mission control center at Technion’s Asher Space Research Institute.
“We see great importance in our collaboration with the Technion to promote academic research and future technologies in the field of space,” says IAI President & CEO Boaz Levy. “IAI, Israel’s ‘National Space House’, sees high value in its connection to academia on the business and the technological levels to advance Israel’s continued innovation and leadership in the field of space. This partnership promotes the development of the entire ecosystem and IAI is proud to join forces in this innovative and groundbreaking project.” Israel’s next generation satellites resulted from exceptional collaboration between academia and industry. A special propulsion system, based on krypton gas, will be the first of its kind in the world to operate on a tiny satellite. The digital receiver and the attitude control system were developed by IAI in collaboration with Technion researchers. In addition to the propulsion system, the satellites will accumulate energy through solar panels that will be deployed next to each satellite and will serve as wings that will control, if necessary, the flight of the formation without the use of fuel, using air drag in the atmosphere. Each of the nanosatellites is fitted with a digital receiver, one of the most complex ever to fly on a nanosatellite. The system for processing the information on the satellite and the algorithms that will keep the formation flying will be among the first of their kind in the world, and will support the autonomous operation of several satellites simultaneously. The navigation system will include two GPS receivers that will be used for autonomous navigation. The communication system through which the three nanosatellites will communicate with each other as well as with the ground station will be operated at three different frequencies – a significant challenge that was resolved in the current project. A dedicated frequency will be used to transmit information to Earth through broadband.
There are many partners in Technion’s Adelis-SAMSON project, including the Adelis Foundation, the Goldstein Foundation, the Israeli Space Agency in the Ministry of Science and IAI. From the Technion, researchers from the Asher Space Research Institute included Avner Keidar, Hovik Agalarian, Dr. Vladimir Balabanov, Eviatar Edlerman, Yaron Oz, Maxim Rubanovich, Margarita Shamis, Yulia Koneivsky, Tzachi Ezra and Dr. Alex Fried, as well as many students over the years.
The “Adelis-SAMSON” project’s team with Prof. Pini Gurfil of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering (first from left)
Assistant Professor Arielle Fischer from the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering combines movement biomechanics,wearable technology, biological research, and artificial intelligence to accelerate and optimize the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders.
Assist. Prof. Arielle Fischer, who is currently establishing two innovative laboratories in the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, combines accumulated knowledge in a variety of fields to tackle orthopedic and neurological problems employing innovative technologies.
“These areas have been studied for many years, but what is needed to achieve a breakthrough is a multidisciplinary approach that analyzes the interactions between biomechanics, structure, and biology,” said Prof. Fischer.
Assistant Professor Arielle Fischer
Research is in Prof. Fischer’s DNA. Her mother, who was born in Egypt, holds two Ph.D.s, in philosophy and psychology, and her father who was born in the United States earned his Ph.D. in criminal justice. When Arielle was 11, her parents made Aliyah to Israel with their five children from Albany, New York to Yuvalim, a community village in the lower Galilee.
After serving in the Israeli Air Force, Dr. Fischer returned to the U.S., where she attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. She chose to go to MIT “because it was an opportunity to study at the world’s leading engineering university.“ In 2009 she returned to Israel and earned her degree in biomedical engineering at the Technion, where almost a decade later in 2020 she came full circle when she returned as a faculty member.
Dr. Fischer earned her Ph.D. in the Technion in Mechanical Engineering, in the Biorobotics and Biomechanics Laboratory. Under the supervision of Professor Alon Wolf, she developed a rehabilitation intervention that allowed patients with musculoskeletal disorders to train correct movement patterns.
“Among other things, we developed a device that allows the patient to practice walking correctly while removing a percentage of their body weight, which has important applications for people with neurological or muscle/skeletal impairments.”
Dr. Fischer was the recipient of the Switzerland Government Excellence Scholarship and conducted collaborative research, as part of her Ph.D., between the Technion and EPFL, the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne, where she had the opportunity to work in the development of advanced robotics in the field of orthopedics and rehabilitation.
After earning her doctorate, Dr. Fischer followed the well-trodden path from Israel to the USA. She conducted her postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University, where she “…worked in the rehabilitation of patients with joint problems, people with meniscus injuries or those after knee replacement surgery or anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.”
During this period, she focused on developing wearable devices for monitoring and stimulation during motion as part of restoring motor-neural skills. “Wearable monitoring provides us with extensive and continuous information about various physiological data,” she said. “And AI tools enable us to analyze this information efficiently and quickly and to extract in-depth conclusions about normal functioning as well as other injuries and disruptions.”
One of her greatest achievements at Stanford was the development of an innovative device that masks pain during the joint rehabilitation process and increases the patient’s mobility to facilitate the performance of an activity. This device, KneeMo®, is a wearable, non-invasive knee device that includes two elastic bands with stimulation models strategically located to elicit the strongest response based on anatomy and nerve locations.
According to Prof. Fischer, “The knee device bands are tightly attached around the lower part of the thigh and the top of the calf to generate static pressure and active vibration. The timing of the vibration is synchronized to the movement of the leg using sensory modules (accelerometer and gyroscope) that detect the movement of the limb and activate the stimulus at a specific point of the walking cycle where we want to increase muscle activity. Our vision is to develop a dedicated device for each joint, which will accelerate and improve rehabilitation processes and restore the ability to move for muscle-skeletal injuries.”
Prof. Fischer’s groundbreaking work at Stanford University earned her a postdoctoral excellence scholarship from VATAT – the Israeli Council for Higher Education. She returned as a faculty member to Israel in 2020 to establish her own lab: The Biomechanics and Wearable Tech Lab, in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. In doing so, she became the first undergraduate of the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering ever to return as a faculty member. Prof. Fischer’s worldview, characterized by her collaborations and multidisciplinary perspective, also earned her the prestigious Zuckerman Scholarship for Young Researchers.
Here at the Technion, Prof. Fischer is hard at work establishing a laboratory that will operate in three main disciplines:
Research and development in the context of rehabilitation and treatment of orthopedic problems (musculoskeletal disorders), through a combination of wearable devices, muscular stimulation, monitoring of motion and muscle activity, analysis of the biomechanics of movement, and more.
The development of a mobile laboratory that will be able to test people outside the Technion. This mobile laboratory will rely partly on wearable devices. Currently, she is collaborating with Rambam, Reut, and Beit Levinstein Medical Centers. She also works with the Wingate Institute and the IDF with the goal of reducing orthopedic injuries among athletes and soldiers and treating them at an early stage after injury. Prof. Fischer’s research also involves injury prevention.
Examining biomarkers reflecting biological processes. “This is a less developed field, that is, developing a biomarker-based assay for quantifying the dynamic cartilage response to diagnose joint distress through blood tests. It turns out that by comparing tests before and after exertion it is possible to monitor, for example, the breakdown of cartilage, which is a major clinical process in motor deterioration, she explained. “As we refine the technology of these tests, we will be able to identify problems in the initial stages of deterioration in which the treatment is much more effective.”
Prof. Fischer plans to analyze the information from her laboratories and wearable devices, using complex probability models, including artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, a field of research her husband, who is about to complete a doctorate at the Technion, is specializing in.
Professor Fischer explained that “Artificial intelligence allows us to analyze vast amounts of information and draw conclusions from it that cannot be reached in traditional ways. It is clear to me that such technologies will expand our knowledge of musculoskeletal injuries and enable us to develop new ways to prevent and treat such injuries.
“Since orthopedic problems are familiar to everybody, especially to older people, I am happy to be part of the efforts to reduce the burden these problems cause in daily living, and believe that in the coming years we will see numerous breakthroughs that will improve our lives in this area as well.”
With billions of mobile devices worldwide and the relatively low cost of connected medical sensors, recording and transmitting medical data has become easier and faster than ever. Continuous and long-term dynamic physiological data can now be easily obtained. However, this ‘wealth’ of physiological data has seen very limited successes in being harnessed to provide actionable clinical information.
The AIMLab is based at the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering and its new “digital space” was inaugurated November 2020
Part of the challenge is due to the high variability in data quality, the lack of standards for data representation (e.g., resolution, sampling frequency, and metadata), and the development, in many studies, of relatively small datasets which fail to capture the vast range of variability across patients and time.
Another part of the challenge is the lack of smart and robust algorithms that can decrypt the information contained in a large number of data points recorded over time, what is known as physiological time series. The development of machine learning algorithms combined with existing and novel wearable biosensors offers an unprecedented opportunity to improve the screening and tracking of an individual’s health, and support the management of patients’ conditions, particularly through remote health monitoring. Remote health monitoring relates to the monitoring of individuals outside the classical hospital environment, typically in their home.
The Technion Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Laboratory (AIMLab.) directed by Assistant Professor Joachim Behar develops innovative pattern recognition algorithms to exploit the information encrypted within large datasets of physiological time series. The AIMLab leverages these new data-drivenalgorithms toward the creation of novel intelligent remote patient monitoring systems.
Within its research scope, AIMLab recently published two innovative research works looking at continuous remote monitoring of heart and lung diseases:
y is a non-invasive method routinely used to monitor blood oxygen saturation levels. Low oxygen levels in the blood mean low oxygen in the tissues, which can ultimately lead to organ failure. Yet, unlike heart rate variability measures, a field that has seen the development of stable standards and advanced toolboxes and software, no such standards and open tools exist for continuous oxygen saturation analysis.
AIMLab offers, for the first time, such as standardization and an open-source toolbox for digital oximetry biomarkers. Using this new resource, the researchers demonstrated the value of such biomarkers for the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea – a common sleep-related breathing disorder, causing the upper airways to temporarily close off during sleep. The lab is now also applying this technology to the diagnosis and management of other respiratory diseases including COVID-19.
The figure depicts an example of oximetry time series (blue continuous line) recorded for 500 seconds as well as the detection of events (desaturations) highlighted in red and green on the figure.
In a second study, AIMLab. evaluated, for the first time, the ability to estimate the percentage of time a patient spends in atrial fibrillation over long-term continuous recordings, using a Deep Recurrent Neural Network (DRNN) approach. This serves to better diagnose atrial fibrillation – a highly prevalent arrhythmia. The DRNN significantly outperformed traditional algorithms. Using continuous recordings for a 24-hour window versus one that Is just a few seconds long, which is the current standard method of operation, improved the diagnosis performance of the system by 16%.
an example of ECG Holter device that can be worn for 24 hours or more
The work described in this research is performed within Asst. Prof. Behar’s laboratory by students Armand Chocron (M.Sc. candidate, EE), Shany Biton (MSc candidate, BME), Jeremy Levy (M.Sc. candidate, EE), and Jonathan Sobel (Postdoctoral fellow, BME).
“Electrical engineering is a fascinating profession, don’t let prejudice deter you”.
Dr. Dana Drachsler Cohen, new faculty member of the Andrew and Erena Viterby Faculty of Electrical Engineering, inspires female students in the field to believe in themselves.
Dr. Dana Drachsler Cohen
The Faculty of Electrical Engineering’s website, named after Andrew and Erna Viterbi, features almost sixty active faculty members, only five of whom are women. This is low even when compared to the proportion of women in non-technical faculties in Israeli universities, which in 2016 stood at 32 percent. This gap raises a basic question: why?
In today’s world, research in electrical engineering does not involve carrying generators or lifting large cables, which would also be challenging for many male faculty members. In other words, the gap is not due to skills or abilities. Dr. Dana Drachsler Cohen, a new faculty member, thinks the gap may be due to prejudice.
“It is important to make these subjects – electrical engineering and STEM subjects in general – accessible to students early on in school. I believe that this exposure will lead many students to become more interested in these topics.” To strengthen her claim, she cites an extensive study from 2018, which found that girls’ grades are higher on average than boys’ grades, including in math and science and regardless of age – in both primary and high schools as well as at university.
Dr. Drachsler Cohen, who began her academic career at the age of 15 as an undergraduate at the Open University, arrived at the Technion after a postdoctoral fellowship at ETH – the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. For most of her time there, she was the only woman in the lab.
Dr. Drachsler Cohen’s field of research deals with guaranteeing the correctness and safety of software, primarily in the context of deep learning, computer networks, and blockchain. Simply put, it uses mathematical models to guarantee that computer software will run as expected, even during long development processes. “If Zoom crashes, it is annoying, but there are systems where bugs can lead to fatal malfunctions – for example, medical devices, autonomous cars, or cooling systems for Corona vaccines. Such systems must be very reliable, otherwise, the relevant industries will not adopt them.”
She began her academic career at the Technion at the Taub Faculty of Computer Science, where she completed her undergraduate degree in two years as part of the Rothschild Technion Program for Excellence. She continued on in the same faculty to a direct doctoral program under the supervision of Prof. Eran Yahav. During her doctorate, she won the Zeff and Jacobs Fellowships as well as the Muriel and David Jacknow Prize for Excellence in Teaching.
Drachsler Cohen then traveled to Switzerland for a two-year postdoctoral research period, where she won an ETH postdoctoral fellowship. In August 2019, she joined the Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Last year, she was awarded the prestigious Alon Scholarship for theRecognition of Outstanding Young Scientists by the Council for Higher Education (MLAG).
Over the years, Dr. Drachsler Cohen has seen many female electrical engineering students and STEM professionals who doubted their abilities, so she set up a special faculty program to encourage them. As part of the program, the students meet successful women in the field, raise issues that they face, receive tips, and create a professional toolbox for themselves.
“I want to tell female students that they need to believe in themselves and engage in what interests them – and that they will succeed. Sometimes you need someone external to dispel the self-doubt, so it is important to make sure there is someone like this around you. If you do not have anyone, feel free to contact me. If you are a student in the faculty and see this post – you are welcome to join our program.”
On the Cutting Edge: The Fastest, Most Complex, and Most Advanced Physical Research
Tasneem Watad, a doctoral student in the Technion Faculty of Physics, uses the complexity of quantum computers as an advantage for research.
Tasneem Watad
Completing a bachelor’s and master’s degree in physics, and working towards a Ph.D. at the Technion is not a task for the faint-hearted, regardless of gender. But imagine this pursuit being undertaken when Hebrew is not your native language, and when (most of the time) you are the only woman in the room. In such a case, it ought to be called a special endurance mission.
That’s why it is surprising to hear that Tasneem Watad, a Ph.D. student in the Faculty of Physics, does not remember her undergraduate degree done in the framework of the Rothschild-Technion Program for Excellence being particularly scary or difficult. “Since then, the number of women in the faculty has increased, but the gap is still significant, which is surprising because it is a field suitable for everyone, and men have no advantage.”
Watad’s doctoral research, led by Professor Netanel Lindner, focuses on quantum computing, a hot topic today, and one that will change our perception regarding the capabilities of computers. Quantum computers perform computations in a completely different way from traditional computers. They are based on quantum mechanics, which simulates nature’s behavior on an atomic scale, sub-atomic scale, or at very low temperatures. Unlike traditional computers, the information in quantum computers is encoded in a physical system or a physical particle called a qubit.
Classical computers use binary codes of zero and one to represent information, where the value of one is represented by a higher electrical voltage relative to that of zero. Quantum computing, on the other hand, is based on the mind-bending concept that atomic particles can be in multiple states at the same time. Instead of analyzing one and zero sequentially, quantum computing uses ones, zeros, and “superpositions,” or overlaps of ones and zeros, to look at all the different combinations of data simultaneously. This feature, along with other quantum features, such as entanglement, give these computers the ability to perform calculations and solve certain problems more effectively.
As a result, quantum computing can deal with larger sets of variables while crunching the data exponentially quicker. Scientists believe quantum computing will revolutionize computation and have a significant impact on every field. Specifically, it will make communications more secure, and lead to revolutionary developments in biomedicine, defense, and energy-saving devices.
The desire to keep learning and researching is the main motivation for Watad’s choice in the field. “My parents always encouraged me to do what I love. Of course, there were other voices asking me what I would do with a physics degree. Would I, for instance, teach in high school? But I love physics and despite the general lack of respect for pure science as a profession, it is for me a way to gain meaningful and influential knowledge as well as a lot of potential in career development.” Today, at the age of 25, Watad does not know what the next stage will be for her. As far as she is concerned, though, she will at every stage of her life, “do the best I can and get tools for the next level.”
How many types of mushrooms are there in the world? Thousands? Tens of thousands? Millions? Surprisingly, there is no clear answer, as entire portions of the mushroom kingdom have yet to be studied. However, in recent years, this lapse is being reversed. Because of their potential usefulness, especially in fields related to the environment and combating the climate crisis, mushrooms are now being analyzed under the microscope more than ever.
Noam Attias
Mushrooms are now at the forefront of scientific research and are being studied for treating industrial waste, dissolving plastic residue that floats on water, and contending with gas leaks from old-fashioned energy companies. In addition, research being carried out in the Technion’s Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning is evaluating the potential of using materials based on mushroom mycelium – the mass of thread-like filaments that make up the mushroom – as an environmentally friendly alternative to polluting raw materials such as plastics and Styrofoam.
Technion doctoral student Noam Attias is researching the subject under the supervision of the Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Professor Yasha (Jacob) Grobman, and the Chair of the Faculty’s Industrial Design program, Professor Ezri Tarazi. According to Ms. Attias, her research combines design concepts with aspects of biotechnology for the purpose of developing new materials and innovative outcomes that take advantage of the material’s attributes.
Ms. Attias, who has a B.A. in Industrial Design and a Master’s in Biotechnology, believes combining these two fields of knowledge paves the way to innovative applications. Because her research is groundbreaking, she must create new knowledge practically from scratch. “There is almost no research being conducted in Israel related to producing materials from mushroom mycelium,” she noted. “It is difficult for materials engineers to compare the traits of these materials with those of existing industrial materials because these behave differently. There is no standard to which they can be compared. Even the correct sample size is not known in advance.”
Ms. Attias’ research began as an attempt to create a new material from mushroom mycelium by growing them on various wood fiber media from local green waste. She studied the results from the perspective of their chemical composition, resistance to compression, weight, and water absorption, and was surprised to discover that they resemble … Styrofoam. As a result, she designed a jerrycan – a water container that looks like Styrofoam – that does not harm the environment like Styrofoam does. The innovation and creativity that Ms. Attias demonstrated in this process led the product to be displayed at the Rishon Lezion Museum for two years as part of an exhibition in which Prof. Tarazi participated with the Design-Tech lab he heads. At the same time, the research generated ideas for other sustainable substitutes: seedling protectors, packaging for plant seedlings, and even women’s hygiene products.
Convinced of the enormous advantages of using mushroom mycelium, Ms. Attias started developing nano-biological materials that combine mycelium with nanocellulose fibers, which are essential to the food packaging industry. Here too, the material developed by Ms. Attias has a huge advantage as far as reducing environmental damage is concerned. “During the joint development of the nanocellulose and the mycelium, we discovered that the nanocellulose becomes an integral part of the mushroom, thereby producing strong and durable material. We found out that the mushroom contributes to the nanocellulose’s resilience to humidity, thereby expanding its potential uses. As a result of the global environmental crisis, and certainly in the past year during which the use of disposable food packaging grew, the environmental value of packaging made from biodegradable materials is obvious.”
Ms. Attias considers herself to be a researcher in the unique niche that melds industrial design with environmental awareness. “There is a significant difference between materials developers and designers; while many researchers develop innovative materials but have difficulty finding efficient and significant applications for them, designers look for new materials suitable for sustainable products,” she said. “My goal is to bridge these two worlds, using knowledge and tools from my biotechnology studies and combining them with the way I think as a designer.”
Recently, Ms. Attias won the Jacobs Prize for an outstanding article. The prize is awarded by the Irwin and Joan Jacobs Graduate School, and she received it for the article published in the journal Advanced Sustainable Systems. Her article was also selected for the cover of that issue.
DNA can be seen as a cookbook, containing all the recipes needed by the human body. But how is a particular “recipe” picked out? How is it bookmarked? What decides how many portions are cooked? How do some recipes have variants, like a ravioli recipe might have alternative fillings? How are comments written on the margins, such as a good housewife might add: “for green apples, add more sugar”? All these functions are performed on the DNA by regulatory proteins.
Associate Professor Tali Haran
But how do the regulatory proteins recognize the precise place on the DNA they are supposed to bind? That is the focus of the research of Associate Professor Tali Haran from the Department of Biology at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.
In recent years, Prof. Haran’s laboratory has focused on one regulatory protein in particular: p53. Known as the “Guardian of the Genome”, p53 is capable of recognizing multiple types of cellular stress. After doing so, it can then activate DNA repair mechanisms, arrest the cell cycle, or even send the cell into a regulated death process. It thus acts as a tumor suppressor. Indeed, in more than 50% of cancers, p53 is damaged, and its function impaired, so understanding how p53 works is of particular importance.
The functional form of p53 is constructed from four subunits arranged in two pairs. Its activation depends on the binding of the two pairs together while attached to the DNA. There are, therefore, specific binding sites for them on the DNA strands – at each location, there is one binding site composed of two half sites, one for each pair. But there are great variations among these sites. Why this variation? What effect, if any, does it have? This is the question Prof. Haran’s team attempt to answer in their most recent study. (link)
As it turns out, each pair of p53 subunits is semi-attached right from the start – like two cherries joint by a twig. Attaching to their binding site on the DNA brings this pair close together, allowing them to form a more stable attachment. Next comes the joining of the second p53 pair. The DNA is more flexible in some parts, and more rigid in others. (That occurs because of the different building blocks it is made of.) A DNA region that is more flexible can swivel a bit, helping the two p53 subunits within one pair come together and stabilize their attachment to the DNA. A DNA region that is more rigid, by contrast, would not facilitate optimal contacts between the two p53 subunits of one pair and so need the help of the nearby pair residing on a flexible region, or just need more protein to come quickly together to the DNA and form fast a tetramer. An interesting finding of the research is that for most p53 binding sites in the human genome one half site is flexible, whereas the other is more rigid.
The group then proceeded to switch around the two p53 half sites of one specific p53 binding site. They were surprised to find that even such minute changes immediately affected p53 binding. This proves that the differences in the binding sites are not random, but instead allow great precision and nuance in p53’s activity. As for the rigidity/flexibility, this mechanism protects the binding area from being influenced by the sequences flanking the DNA from either side. If for some reason, due to some mutation, the DNA chain is changed and made more rigid or more flexible in the general area where p53 is supposed to get attached to the DNA, the individual binding sites, with their varied rigidity and flexibility, are able to compensate, holding the DNA in just the right shape for everything to come together.
The research team also included Dr. Alon Senitzki, Jessy Safieh, and Dr. Yael Danin-Poleg from the Department of Biology, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology; and Vasundhara Sharma and Professor Alberto Inga from the Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology (CIBIO), University of Trento.
3 March 2021 – The Peres Center for Peace and Innovation today granted eleven women from a diverse range of backgrounds and communities with its inaugural Medal of Distinction, ahead of International Women’s Day on 8 March. The award, which will be granted annually to mark International Women’s Day, honors the outstanding contributions of women in key positions and in a variety of fields.
The Medal of Distinction recognizes women who are breaking glass ceilings in their fields and serving as role models for women and girls in Israel and around the world. The citation for the award harnesses the words of Israel’s former President Shimon Peres, “You are as great as the cause you serve,” and honors leaders who “open doors” and create new opportunities for other women, contribute to gender equality and diversity in the workplace, and work tirelessly for a better world.
At the ceremony at the Peres Center, the Medal of Distinction was presented to recipients in the presence of Efrat Duvdevani (Director General of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation), Professor Tsvia Walden (Board Member, Peres Center for Peace and Innovation and daughter of Shimon Peres) and Chemi Peres (Chairman, Peres Center for Peace and Innovation and son of Shimon Peres).
Efrat Duvdevani said, “During the past year, humanity has had to face complex challenges in which we have been privileged to see many brave, talented and creative women bring about significant change in key positions and roles in leadership, medicine, science, education, economics, and a variety of other areas.
“Ahead of International Women’s Day, the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation is proud and excited to establish a new tradition, in which we will bestow an annual award, the Medal of Distinction, to women who break new ground, who open doors and create opportunities for other women and contribute to gender equality. They are role models who are working towards creating a better world.”
Prof. Tsvia Walden said, “We join the women and men of the world who understand what our father said for many years, that as long as women are not an active and equal part in everything that happens in society and indeed the world, then our world will be worth only half.”
Chemi Peres said, “I grew up in an extraordinary home, where both my mother and sister were exemplary women with many accomplishments. Growing up in a house with two such women prepared me better for life. I welcome this new initiative and the tradition we have started here today.”
The following women became the first recipients of the Peres Center’s Medal of Distinction: Baroness Ariane de Rothschild,Dr. Orna Berry, Julia Zaher, Lili Ben Ami, Maysa Halabi, Hana Rado, Ruth Polczak, Yuvi Tashome-Katz, Professor Shulamit Levenberg, Shirin Natour-Hafi and Dr. Yael Gold-Zamir.
Baroness Ariane de Rothschild is a French banker and philanthropist. She is responsible for the Edmond de Rothschild Foundation’s support for projects dedicated to supporting art and culture, health and research, environment, social entrepreneurship and intercultural dialogue, directing funds annually for such initiatives. She said, “I loved Shimon Peres very much, he made sure to empower women from all walks of life, always made sure to promote diversity and acceptance of the other. I shall always remain grateful to him for the guidance he provided in asserting my own stance, not only as a wife and a mother, but also as a female banker in a business environment that all too often goes on stigmatizing women.”
Dr. Orna Berry is known as the “first lady” of Israeli high-tech. She is a scientist, high-tech entrepreneur, and senior executive in Israel’s science and technology sectors. She was the first woman to make an exit when she sold her company Ornet, which she founded for the European Siemens Corporation in 1995. Berry was also the first woman to serve as chief scientist in the Ministry of Economy, and one of the first women to run a huge multinational R&D center when she headed EMC-DELL. She said, “The range of women who are here today cover all the areas in need in the country today. With the right commitment and skills we can do it.”
Julia Zaher is an Arab-Israeli, Christian entrepreneur, as well as the owner and CEO of the Al-Arz factory. She is the first Arab woman to run a factory and serves as chair of the JDC’s ‘delivery’ fund. In 2019, Globes Magazine named her one of the 50 most influential women in Israel. In June 2020, Zahra announced that Al-Arz would donate funds to an NGO focused on supporting the LGBT community, with the aim of establishing an Arabic outreach program. This is the first time that an Arab-owned, Israeli food company has expressed public support for the LGBT community – an act which sparked controversy but was also undoubtedly groundbreaking.
She said, “My life was not easy, but I set a goal and used all my might to break the glass ceiling. Every obstacle gave me tremendous strength. Throw your fears into the sea. Believe it is your time and do it.”
Lili Ben Ami is the sister of the late Michal Sala, a woman who fell victim to domestic violence and was murdered by her partner. Following the tragedy, Ben Ami founded the Michal Sala Forum and began working to shift the discourse around domestic violence from a discussion of victimhood, to a discussion of solutions. Through her work at the Forum, Ben Ami aims to harness the technology and capabilities of the “Startup Nation” to fulfill her vision of putting an end to violence against women. She said, “Shimon Peres said that International Women’s Day should be called Humanity Day because a society that harms women is a society without humanity. A man who harms a woman harms and destroys the future of his children.”
Maysa Halabi is a Druze entrepreneur who founded the Lotus project, which trains religious Druze women in software development and assists them in joining global high-tech companies. The program is carried out in a dedicated center in the northern town of Isfiya, enabling the women to work remotely. The first 14 graduates of this program have been recruited and are currently working in leading companies such as Amdocs, Broadcom and Orbit.
She said, “I am proud of what I represent and I am even more proud of the women who believed in a small dream three years ago, despite the difficulty we religious Druze women face, and believed that the impossible can be possible.”
Shirin Natour-Hafi is the Principal of the first Arab public high school in the city of Lod. The school is located in the “Railway” neighborhood, known for its low socio-economic profile and high crime rates. When she entered her position in 2009, the school had 150 students, and today there are 7,711 students enrolled in grades 7-12. In 2013, Shirin was chosen as a member of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders, a selective cohort of young professionals from all over the world. In 2020, she received an honorary PhD in philosophy from the prestigious Weizmann Institute.
She said, “In this country I have always been exceptional and the message at home was that I am special and not exceptional. I think that if we raise children to feel special and not exceptional, combined with people who will open doors for us, the sky is the limit.”
Yuvi Tashome-Katz is an Ethiopian-Israeli entrepreneur and social activist, with extensive experience in training and community work. She worked as an instructor at the Mandel Institute for Leadership and also worked with the Green Network, an organization that strives for environmental and social change. In 2005, she co-founded the Friends in Nature Association, which aims to form tight-knit communities of young adults, led by successful Israelis of Ethiopian descent, serving as role models to their peers. In light of her activism, in 2011, Yuvi was selected to light a torch in Israel’s Independence Day state ceremony on Mount Herzl. In the same year she also received the Prime Minister’s Award for Entrepreneurship and Nonprofit Innovation. She said, “When I think of innovation and initiative, I think of how all the women in the villages in Ethiopia were entrepreneurs. They all knew how to do a lot of things. From a place of difficulty, they brought wisdom and created opportunities.”
Hana Rado is a leading businesswoman and social entrepreneur. In 2012 she founded “McCann Valley”, a digital media agency in Mitzpe Ramon with the aim of creating attractive jobs in Israel’s remote periphery. In 2017, Rado led the establishment of “Spring Valley”, a digital solutions hub in northern Israel. She said, “We have excellent professional women who are hidden from view because they live in the geographical periphery. They are part of the future of our country, yet we rarely think of them and that is a loss for us all.”
Ruth Polczak is a high-tech entrepreneur, as well as the founder and CEO of “Fincheck”, a fin-tech company that enables users to make informed decisions about their expenses, loans and finances. She is also the founder and chairwoman of the board of “She Codes”, an Israeli community of over 20,000 female programmers, engineers, and entrepreneurs. The organization has set the goal of integrating as many women as possible in the high-tech industry, ultimately aiming to reach 50% female representation in high-tech within a decade. She said, “Perseverance, faith and community are important. You can do everything if you just believe and persevere. 100 years ago we could not vote but we have come a long way. You can look to the future and be optimistic.”
Professor Shulamit Levenberg
Professor Shulamit Levenberg is an Israeli scientist and Dean of the Technion’s Faculty of Biomedical Engineering. She is the head of the university’s stem cell and tissue engineering lab as well as a wife and mother of six. Her areas of work include stem cell differentiation toward tissue vascularization, stem cell 3D organization into composite tissues, use of degradable polymers as scaffolding for cell organization, and 3D tissue bioprinting. She developed a groundbreaking network of blood vessels in muscle, heart, pancreas, and spine tissues, which improves tissue function after transplants. The development is expected to allow, for the first time, a paralyzed body to regain the ability to walk. The development also serves as the basis for Aleph Farms, a startup that “grows” steak using cow cells without harming animals or using meat products.
She said, “This is very moving. I would like to mention a saying of Rabbi Kook, which has always accompanied me – ‘Rise up. Rise up, for you have the strength to do so. You have wings of the spirit.’”
Dr. Yael Gold-Zamir is the first Israeli, ultra-Orthodox woman to graduate from medical school and one of the few tech entrepreneurs in her community. She is the founder of “Embryonics,” a startup that harnesses AI technology to improve the chances of success of in vitro fertilization. Her data-driven solution is 20% more accurate in predicting successful fertility treatments (positive prediction), compared to dozens of senior embryologists. At the same time, the company’s model was able to achieve 30% better results in predicting which fetus would not lead to a successful pregnancy (negative prediction). This company revolutionizes fertility treatments, assisting families in both the emotional and financial aspects of these difficult processes. She said, “The message of this ceremony is a message of empowerment and female leadership and it is a great privilege to be a part of this voice and message.” ————— ENDS————
The American National Academy of Engineering (NAE) announced the admission this month of 106 new members and 23 international (non-American) members, including Dr. Yoelle Maarek, a graduate of the Taub Faculty of Computer Science at the Technion, who is now Vice President of Research at Alexa Shopping at Amazon
Dr. Yoelle Maarek
Technion alumnus Dr. Yoelle Maarek grew up in France, and after gaining an engineering degree from the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris, she went on to earn her Ph.D. in computer science from the Technion in Israel. Since then, she has maintained strong connections with the Technion, and today, she is an ACM Fellow, as well as a member of the Technion Board of Governors and management council.
At Amazon, Maarek leads teams across the US, UK, and Israel in advancing voice search, question answering, and conversational Artificial Intelligence (AI). In particular, she focuses on the shopping domain and is investigating new research areas such as computational humor, which she sees as one of the hardest existing AI challenges. Dr. Maarek has regularly served as program committee (PC) chair and senior PC committee member at leading academic research conferences such as SIGIR, The Web Conference, and Web Search and Data Mining (WSDM).
Maarek, who currently lives in Haifa, is being recognized by the NAE for her: “Contributions to online information retrieval and data management, and leadership in applied industrial research.”
“I am honored and humbled to be recognized by the NAE and to join such a prestigious community,” said Maarek. “I look forward to collaborating with other engineers and scientists in order to continue doing what I’ve loved doing throughout my career – leveraging science and technology to facilitate the lives of people across the world and hopefully delight them.”
“The appointment of Dr. Maarek to the NAE shows important international recognition and an outstanding personal achievement,” said Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan. “As a member of the Technion management council and Board of Governors, she contributes a lot of time and energy to the Faculty of Computer Science and to the Technion and is an important ambassador in strengthening ties between academia and hi-tech industry in Israel and worldwide. As one of the leading Israeli women in the hi-tech world, she encourages male and female students to commit themselves to study and to gain advanced degrees that will give them added value in the industry. Dr. Maarek is an example and a source of inspiration to young female students who take an interest in science and technology, and with her words and deeds, she proves there is no ceiling they cannot break. We congratulate Dr. Maarek and are blessed by her accomplishments.”
