The Declarations of Independence of the United States of America and the State of Israel, inscribed on a silicon chip affixed to a Jerusalem Stone dating to the Second Temple Period

As requested by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, scientists of the Technion’s Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute inscribed replicas of the Declarations of Independence of the United States of America and the State of Israel side-by-side on a gold-coated silicon chip, using a focused beam of high energy gallium ions. The area of the etched inscription is 0.04 square mm, and it is 20 nanometer, or 0.00002 mm, deep. The chip was affixed to a Jerusalem Stone dating to the Second Temple Period (1^st century BCE to 1^st century CE), such as the stones used to seal clay vessels. .

The etching was done by accelerating charged atoms, called ions, and bombarding them at various points on the surface of the chip. When an ion beam hits the chip it creates a tiny recess, in this case 20 nanometers deep. This is similar to digging tiny holes in the ground using a water jet out of an irrigation hose, except that the holes formed this way are a million times bigger than the holes created by the beam of ions.

The silicon chip is coated with a 20 nanometer thick gold film.  When the ion beam forms a hole 20 nanometers deep at a certain point on the surface of the chip, it sputters away the gold film, revealing the silicon beneath it. Scanning the chip with an electron microscope shows that the regions where the silicon was exposed are darker than the surrounding gold coated areas. Thus, any image can be transferred to the chip.

The preparation work for the etching took about a week. The image etched on the chip contains over two million dots. The ion beam was aimed at the required dots on the chip using a computer, so that the entire engraving process took less than an hour.

During the engraving the chip was part of a round silicon slice 5 centimeters in diameter and 0.13 millimeters thick. The chip was detached from the slice by chemically corroding the silicon slice around it with an advanced plasma tool.

The original image was translated into etching instructions using a special program developed for this purpose by Dr. Ohad Zohar, who conducted his Ph.D. under Prof. Uri Sivan of the Physics Department. The engraving was done by Dr. Tzipi Cohen-Hyams, in charge of the Focused Ion Beam lab in the Russel Berrie Nanotechnology Institute. The large team that took part in the work comprised Prof. Wayne D. Kaplan, Dean of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering; Prof. Nir Tessler, Head of the Center for Mircoelectronics and Nanoelectronics;  Mr. Yaacov Shneider, Chief Engineer in the Center of Mircoelectronics and Nanoelectronics; Dr. Orna Ternyak, Plasma Senior Engineer in the  Micro and Nanofabrication Unit and Ms. Svetlana Yoffis, process engineer in  the  Micro and Nanofabrication Unit.

Three projects by Technion Researchers and graduates to be presented to President Barack Obama during his visit to Israel.

Snake Robot

The robot was developed by Prof. Alon Wolf of the Faculty for Mechanical Engineering at the Technion. It is designed to enter spaces in areas prone to earthquakes and the collapse of buildings and to assist in location and rescue activities, by transmitting pictures and voices of trapped people. The robot is unique due to its crawling capabilities and is very flexible thanks to large number of links. Each link comprises engines, computer, sensors, wireless communication and batteries. The robot carries a camera in its head. Thanks to the snake’s flexible structure, it is capable of squeezing through the ruins without causing additional collapse of the structure, and is able to provide vital information from inaccessible areas about the condition of trapped people, the existence of hazardous  materials, etc.

ReWalk

Technion graduate Dr. Amit Goffer, founder of “Argo Medical Technologies”, will present the ReWalk, a powered external skeleton that enables  paraplegics to walk and perform other daily functions (sitting, standing,  and climbing/going down the stairs). The ReWalk is the first system of its kind. It is designed  to change the life of paraplegics, and Stephen Hawking  has defined it as one of the five most important machines for humanity. The device has already given almost 200  paraplegics the ability to walk , and  is used in the USA, Europe and Israel, including for partaking in Marathons. Amit will present the ReWalk, and Raddi Kaiuf,  paraplegic as a result of war injury, will demonstrate the system.

The system allows paraplegics to restore lower body function through a designated device that is harnessed to the body. The device is activated by a chargeable battery that lasts the entire day. The system uses motion sensors to identify the user’s movements and translate them to joint movements.

The users no longer need to use a wheelchair and they can move and stand upright. The ReWalk allows the user to walk on planes and slopes.

Generation of future scientists

Yarin Frenkel, Omer Zamir and Omer Shoshan, students at the Haifa Municipal High School C are the winners of an international robotics contest held in Connecticut, USA, in 2012. The students, guided by Prof. Igor Verner and his doctoral candidate Dan Cooperman, of the Department of Education in  Technology and Science at the Technion, have won for their development of a waiter robot that is aimed at demonstrating the ability to serve the  handicapped in their home. They  developed a “human” waiter  robot, which is better accepted by the user. The robot has 18 engines, sensors, a compass and a camera.

From right to left: Yarin Frenkel, Omer Shuham and Omer Zamir

Photos: Technion Spokesman

We conceive the Sun as bright-white source of radiation and only the rainbow, is an everyday indication of the colors its light contains. A quantitative description of the colors emitted by a body held at a given temperature  was first developed by Max Planck in the early days of the previous century, relating the intensity of each color (wavelength) to the temperature of the body – provided the typical dimension of the body is significantly larger than the radiation’s wavelength.  Since inherently Planck’s formula is independent of the characteristics of the material, it is conceived to describe the upper limit to what a body can emit at a given temperature.  In the framework of an article published in PRA we have demonstrated that if the characteristic length of the emitting body is of the order of the wavelength, the intensity it emits, in a narrow range of wavelengths, may exceed significantly the prediction of Planck’s theory.  Such an enhancement may be designed to overlap the spectral region where a photo-voltaic cell performs the best, improving in the process its theoretical efficiency dramatically.

Winning project of the 2012 Amdocs Best Project Contest in collaboration with Qualcomm experts, this indoor navigation system helps you find your way within any large building using your “Smartphone”

Technion students from the Faculty of Computer Science developed a new indoor navigation approach, which enables you to locate your position and find your way around a large building with the help of your “Smartphone.” It was the winning project of the 2012 Amdocs Best Project Contest.

Students Alex Portnov and Dror Baum, supervised by Itai Dabran, Chief Engineer of Technion’s Laboratory of Computer Communication and Networking, and Constantine Elster from Qualcomm, built an indoor map screening and route finding system on a Smartphone that lets the user locate a store in a huge mall, find an office in a large office building, or get to a specific gate at an airport. The mobile system automatically sketches an efficient route to follow, to reach your destination point.

The application operates through multiple pathfinding stages:

1. With the assistance of a Smartphone’s camera, the user photographs a printed or hand-written floor plan, area or maze.
2. The phone sends the diagram to a server, which stores the picture together with additional parameters.
3. The user indicates with his/her finger both the starting and destination points, and the phone sends a request to the server. The server initiates graphic algorithms and displays on the screen a drawing of the shortest distance between the two points that are obstacle free.
4. The picture becomes stored in the server, and is given a QR Code so that it may be reused multiple times.

The algorithms are calculated very fast, and the map and route are drawn in under a minute.

“In effect, we built a framework for indoor map making and navigation, based on a building’s architectural plan,” explain Dror and Alex. “If a shopping mall’s floor plan will be featured in the form of a barcode at the entrance, shoppers will be able to scan it on their Smartphone and within seconds, get the shortest route to their desired store location.”

During the process, distractions such as colors are automatically eliminated from the scanned diagram, so that a clear navigational map can be achieved, upon which routes can be found and drawn.

Above: Dror (on the right) and Alex, with a poster describing their work. Photographed by: Itai Dovran, from the Technion

Method is based on optogenetics – a newly developing area in neuroscience, and is a first step towards non-invasive sight restoration in cases of degenerative retinal diseases

“Degenerative diseases of the outer retina are one of the major causes of blindness in the Western world,” says Professor Shy Shoham. “These diseases are characterized by degeneration of the photoreceptors, which serve as light sensors, while downstream cellular levels in the retina, and specifically the retinal ganglion cells, are relatively well preserved. Artificial stimulation of these neurons constitutes a potential strategy for getting around the damaged retinal nerve cells.  Restoring lost vision to basic functionality levels has become possible recently through invasive surgical insertion of artificial electronic implants that electrically stimulate surviving retina cells, similar to the snail-shaped cochlear implants used to treat the hearing impaired. Our approach is different and attempts to stimulate the surviving retinal cells without the need for direct implants onto the retina, and may eventually make surgery and implants redundant.”

“Our optogenetic approach relies on genetic expression of ion channels that are light sensitive (proteins derived from algae) in the ganglion cells of the retina,” explains Dr. Inna Reutsky-Gefen, who studied the combination of holography and optogenetics and its application to blind retinas during her doctoral thesis under the mentoring of Professor Shoham, and with assistance from additional study co-authors Lior Golan, Dr. Nairouz Farah, Adi Schejter, Limor Tsur, and Dr. Inbar Brosh. “The ganglion cells are natively transparent and not light-responsive, but after expressing the channel, transform into light-sensors and may be capable of substituting the function of the photoreceptors. In order to create a coherent visual perception in the brain, we have to be able to activate a large number of neurons simultaneously, just as it works in normal visual processing. In addition, this needs to be achieved with high temporal and spatial precision in order to imitate normal retinal information processing. Our study findings demonstrate that optical stimulation of these cells, with the use of a unique holographic projector, enables simultaneous stimulation of a large group of cells with spatial precision at the level of single retinal cells, which is not possible with electrical stimulation. In this manner we demonstrated, in principle, the first ever holographic photo-stimulation capable of restoring cellular activity similar to intact retinal behavior, as a basis for sight rehabilitation developments.”

The holographic projection method developed in the study uses diffractive spatial light modulation to generate images at the focal plane. This approach is light-efficient and does not ”throw away” much of the light energy. The researchers emphasize that this efficiency will be particularly useful in more advanced phases, where it will be required to miniaturize the system into a portable component of a retinal “prosthetic” system.

“Applications of this approach are not limited to vision restoration,” stresses Professor Shoham. “holographic stimulation strategies can permit flexible control of the activity of large cellular networks which artificially express light-sensitive channels, and pave the way towards new medical devices and scientific tools that can help “break” the brain’s neural code.”

The research was funded by a European Research Council Starting Grant to Prof. Shoham.

Illustration: Conceptual design of a future holographic retinal prosthesis mounted on a pair of glasses. Visual input from miniature video camera/s is converted in real-time into activation laser holograms projected onto genetically photo-sensitized retinal cells (in the back of the eye. Credit: Inna Gefen, Roman Kanevsky and Shy Shoham

“Ectodermal dysplasia” causes deficiency in skin, hair, and nails, cleft lip and palate, and cloudy corneas that can lead to blindness; seven out of every 10,000 births suffer from one form of this syndrome

Scientists from the Technion and the Paris Descartes University in France, developed an innovative approach to healing “Ectodermal Dysplasia Syndromes,” caused by a genetic mutation in the p63 gene.

“Ectodermal Dysplasia” is a group of rare syndromes that affect different areas in the body. This genetic disease causes congenital deficiencies in the skin, hair and nails, cleft lip and palate, and cloudy corneas that could lead to blindness.

In the current research, a unique cellular model was created that summarizes the major fetal deficiencies associated with this disease.

The Israeli scientist (Dr. Ruby Shalom-Feuerstein from the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine) and his French colleagues (Professor Daniel Aberdam and Dr. Isabelle Petit from the Paris Descartes University), generated a new cellular models for the disease. They have reprogrammed cells collected from patients with these syndromes, in order to transform them into fetal stem cells carrying the mutation. In the second stage of the research, the scientists proved that as opposed to normal fetal stem cells, the fetal cells provided by patients were unable to complete fetal maturation processing of skin tissue and corneal development. Finally, due to a small chemical compound known as PRIMA-APR246, a test tube experiment showed a significant improvement in the functioning of the deficient cells.

“The research shows that the PRIMA-APR246 molecule may be able to advance the renewal of skin and corneal development in patients,” said the scientists. “This chemical compound was recently discovered as a potential drug to treat cancer and even successfully passed phases one and two of clinical testing in Sweden without anticipating adverse affects. This will make it all the more simpler for examining its effects on patients with ectodermal dysplasia.”

“Nonetheless, it is important to take precautions and wait for clinical trials that will at the first stage, check the potential effects of the drug on corneal functioning. These tests will take place in the Hopital St. Louis in Paris,” added the research team.

This study demonstrates the relevancy of the fetal stem cells in the research of genetic diseases in general, and disorders that are related to p63 in particular, and paves the way for future treatments.

“According to our assessments, seven babies from every 10,000 births are born with ectodermal dysplasia, and from these cases, the mutant gene is sometimes undetectable while in others it is the p63 gene, the very gene our research is focused on.”

Two renowned universities, the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, inked an agreement on 10 February 2013 to set up a collaborative program in satellite and space research.

The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding will allow for the sharing of resources and enhance opportunities for student and faculty exchange. It also comes at a time where both NTU and the Technion have embarked on plans to launch a Nano satellite over the next five years. Both universities have identified potential areas of research, including the study of electric propulsion systems that maintain the orbit control of a Nano satellite.

The two universities will also participate in each other’s satellite programs – namely the Technion IIT’s Space Autonomous Mission for Swarming and Geolocation Nano satellites (SAMSON) program and NTU’s VELOX program. A student exchange program for undergraduates and postgraduates from both institutions is also in the works.

The Agreement was signed by NTU President, Professor Bertil Andersson, and Technion IIT President, Professor Peretz Lavie at the Technion campus in Haifa, Israel.

“This MoU brings together two established technological universities with similar goals in space and satellite research,” says Professor Andersson.

“The agreement will increase contact and mutual support between students and researchers of Technion and NTU, as well as strengthen exchange opportunities at the two universities”.

“The Technion is delighted to explore yet another collaboration with NTU, one of the leading technological universities in the world, ” says the Technion president, Professor Peretz Lavie.

“Combining the knowledge and talents of our institutes will ensure the high quality and excellence of the scientific and technological leaders in Singapore and Israel”.

Both universities have established programs in space research, with NTU having launched the X-SAT microsatellite in 2011 and the Technion launching its Gurwin-II TechSat microsatellite in 1998.

Above (left to right): Prof’ Bertil Andersson, Prof’ Peretz Lavie, and Prof’ Oded Shmueli, executive vice president for research (Technion)

A joint multidisciplinary study conducted by researchers from the University of Haifa (Dr. Moshe Gish and Professor Moshe Inbar from the Department of Evolutionary & Environmental Biology) and the Technion  (Dr. Gal Ribak and Research Professor Daniel Weihs from the Faculty of Aerospace, and the Technion Autonomous Systems Program (TASP)), found that  aphids (known as plant lice), which drop from the host plant as a defensive response to danger, are capable of turning themselves over in mid air to almost always land on their feet. The study, which describes the aerodynamic mechanism and the ecological significance of this phenomenon, was recently published in the Current Biology Journal.

Aphids are tiny sap-sucking insects that dwell on plants. The aphids are nourished by plant sap, feeding on several species of legumes, and many species are known to be among the most destructive insect pests on cultivated plants. When aphids sense danger, most often they choose to escape from the host plant by dropping to the ground. Researchers found that immediately after an aphid abandons its host plant, it carries-out a rotational maneuver in mid-air (similar to that done by cats), so that it lands almost always on the ventral side (i.e. right side up, as oppose to landing on its back), not dependant on the starting orientation from which it fell.  The study showed that Aphids dropping from their host plant in an attempt to escape one of its most deadly predators, the seven-spotted ladybug (Coccinella septempunctata), landed on their ventral side in 95% of cases when the drop was made from the height of 20 centimeters, whereas in cases where the drop was made from heights lower than this, its ability to rotate in mid-air was only slightly affected. A fraction of aphids were capable of pulling off the rotational maneuver in mid-air from heights of only a few centimeters. The researchers used special high-speed digital cameras to document the falling process on speeds above 1,000 frames per second, in order to identify the mechanisms used by the aphids in carrying-out the mid-air rotation. It has become clear that already from the beginning of the drop, aphids raise their back legs (in relation to their bodies) and tilt their long antennas forward, to get into a distinct and stable falling position. The researchers built a mathematical model based on air resistance, which demonstrated that during the fall, when the aphid is in its distinct falling position, aerodynamic forces on its body parts (caused by air resistance) cause the aphid to rotate to the point at which an aerodynamic stability is reached that locks the duration of the fall at a fixed angle, whereby its ventral side and legs are pointed in the direction of the ground. In essence, when the aphid’s body is in its distinct falling position, it forms a type of aerodynamic “roly-poly” stance, whereby every deviation from its being stable (during the fall) is automatically and immediately corrected by air resistance, devoid of any action required by the aphid.

The scientists made additional experiments in order to clarify the benefits of an aphid’s ability to land on its ventral side.  Their finding showed that by landing on the ventral side, aphids will have a better chance of being able to cling onto the lower leaves of its host that they collide with on their fall to the ground. For the aphid, the ground is an extremely dangerous place, as it makes them susceptible to surface predators (such as ants), or death of starvation and dehydration. Although the aphid drops from its host plant to escape from dangers, it deliberately tries to do everything in its power to cling to the lower leaves of its host in order to avoid reaching the ground. A theory proposed by researchers, based on the video coverage, and from conclusions drawn by other experiments, suggests that when an aphid lands on its ventral side, sticky pads on the ends of their feet come in contact with the surface of leaves and consequently allows it to cling tightly onto the leaf and stop it from falling. Nonetheless, if an aphid lands on its side or backside, the sticky pads at the ends of their feet do not come in contact with the surface leaves and consequently, the aphid is spewed from the leaf and continues to fall towards the ground.

The mid-air rotational mechanism is very impressive in its simplicity and efficiency, because it doesn’t require from the aphid to act in any way, apart from moving its legs and antennas to the distinctive falling position. The aphid completes its rotation in a very short period of time – in less than two tenths of a second, a phenomenon that is made possible due to its small size (only a few millimeters). In such small masses, the falling speed of an aphid is relatively very low, while the viscosity of the air highly influences the aerodynamic forces on the body. In such instances, quick body rotation ensues, already at the early stages of falling. In contrast to cats, who, owing to their size are forced into making complex maneuvers to ensure they turn over in time before they land, aphids let air resistance and gravity  do the work for them.

The study highlights the significance of the host plant for the aphids that live off them: even upon being forced to escape for fear of becoming instant prey, its adapted mechanism enables the aphid to cling onto the lower leaves of its host and hold onto them for dear life.

Above: The free falling position of aphids. Aphids raise their back legs up and their antennas forward and up to form a stable aerodynamic falling position ensuring a good landing (on their feet). Illustration by Nick W. Sloff

Following their first year of study participants will continue their academic education in Hebrew

The Technion will be rolling out a special new Russian Freshman Year Program in September. The goal of the program is to attract outstanding high-school graduates from the former Soviet Union, and provide them with an opportunity to study first year engineering and science in the Russian language at the Technion. While the freshman curriculum will be taught in Russian, students will be enrolled in an intensive Hebrew language program, so that they will be able to integrate to the regular Technion faculties (taught in Hebrew with Israeli students) in their second year of study.

Ariel Geva, the Director of the Technion International School of Engineering (ISE), said that this type of program is in fact a model of an academic “base year,” which prepares students for full integration to the mainstream study programs at the Technion following their first academic year. ISE has, up till now, only offered a Bachelor’s Degree Program (B.Sc. of Civil & Environmental Engineering) and Freshman Year of Engineering Program in the English language.

This unique new program will be launched in partnership with “Path” (“Nativ” in Hebrew), a government organization strengthening ties of Soviet Jewry to Israel, with offices in Russia, the Ukraine, Moldova, the Baltic states, Asia and the Caucasus. The organization runs Israeli Cultural Centers in 11 major cities. It will be supported by the “Masa Israel Journey” Organization, a joint project of the Israeli government and the Jewish agency to strengthen the connection of young Jewish adults living in the Diaspora to Israel, through programs that let them experience life in Israel. These programs typically last between six months to a year and include up to 200 different courses of study, volunteering or professional training opportunities.

In accordance with the admission terms of ISE, students will be required to complete the Technion’s pre-academic “Mechina” preparatory study program, over a 16 week period, administered by the university’s Center for Pre-University Studies. Professor Amnon Katz, Academic Director of ISE, emphasized that the experience students’ gain during their pre-academic studies has been proven to improve a student’s later academic achievements, helping them attain excellence in their studies and ultimately complete their engineering degrees. According to Professor Katz, this preparatory period promises an “easy landing” for students continuing their education at the Technion, and acts as an excellent filtering mechanism as well.

Upon completing this preparatory period, students will go on to study two Technion level semesters, which will include four basic science courses common to all Technion faculties. In addition, students will take a history course on the Middle-East, to gain more insight about Israel and its neighbors, and participate in a Hebrew Ulpan. The Hebrew Ulpan Program was designed in cooperation with the Technion’s Department of Humanities & Art, and is under its supervision.

Professor Arnon Bentur, Program Head of ISE, added that, “The Russian Freshman Program is based on the success of the comparable English Freshman Year of Engineering Program successfully administered by the Technion for a number of years. The English program attracts the best and brightest students from around the world, of which half of them come from developed countries and the other half from developing nations such as China and India.”

People who suffer from breathing disorders such as sleep apnea are usually at higher risk for cardiovascular disease. But an intriguing new study from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology scientists suggests that some heart attack patients with these conditions may actually benefit from mild to moderate sleep-disordered breathing.

Apnea and other types of sleep-disordered breathing can boost the numbers and functions of rare cells that help to repair and build new blood vessels, according to the Technion’s Dr. Lena Lavie and her colleagues. They say the findings could help predict which patients are at a greater health risk after a heart attack, and may even suggest ways to rebuild damaged heart tissue.

Sleep-disordered breathing is characterized by cycles of apnea-induced hypoxia, where the sleeper experiences a temporary drop in oxygen levels. It occurs in about 5 to 10% of the general adult population, but is extremely common in patients with cardiovascular diseases— somewhere between 40-60%. Many studies have shown that sleep apnea is a risk factor for everything from high blood pressure to chronic heart failure, Lavie noted. Earlier studies by the Technion scientists suggest apnea increases oxygen-related stress and inflammation in the heart and blood vessels.

The scientists’ study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine could help resolve a puzzling medical issue. If sleep disordered breathing is associated with cardiovascular disease, why is it that people who suffer from breathing disorders in sleep seem to do as well as healthy sleepers after a heart attack?

Lavie, along with researchers Dr. Slava Berger, Prof. Doron Aronson and Prof. Peretz Lavie, looked for clues to this puzzle in 40 male patients—a mix of healthy sleepers and those with sleep disordered breathing—who had had a heart attack just a few days earlier.

Blood samples drawn from these patients revealed that the sleep disordered breathing patients had markedly higher levels of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), which give rise to new blood vessels and repair the injured heart, than the healthy sleepers. They also had higher levels of other growth-promoting proteins and immune cells that stimulate blood vessel production.

The Technion researchers were able to trigger a similar increase in vessel-building activity in vascular cells taken from a second set of twelve healthy men and women, by withholding oxygen from the cells for short periods. “Indeed, our results point at the possibility that inducing mild-moderate intermittent hypoxia may have beneficial effects,” Lena Lavie said.

In an accompanying editorial in the journal, Dr. Leila Kheirandish-Gozal of the University of Chicago and Prof. Ramon Farré of the Universidad de Barcelona said the Technion study moves toward reconciling the ideas that apnea can stress the heart but also “pre-condition” it for repair.

Patients with sleep-disordered breathing, they noted “are essentially better prepared to harness the recruitment of EPCs when [a heart attack] comes knock at the door.”

“Heart attack is a potent stimulus for EPC mobilization,” said Aronson, who is also affiliated with RAMBAM Medical Center.  He also explained that the cells move from bone marrow to the heart to repair damaged tissue after a heart attack.

“The field of cell-based cardiac repair has struggled to find the best approach to enhance recruitment of EPCs to the heart following myocardial infarction,” said Aronson. The Technion findings, he said, suggest that intermittent periods of oxygen deprivation in heart attack patients “provides a simple and powerful means to boost EPC mobilization.”

“It should be further investigated if inducing intermittent hypoxia immediately after a heart attack, in patients without sleep disordered breathing, will also have such an effect,” Lena Lavie said.

The researchers would like to test this possibility in animal studies, as well as expand their studies of the underlying mechanisms that activate EPCs and other vessel-building factors.

The Council of the Technion, chaired by Danny Yamin, CEO of Microsoft Israel, appointed three new members from the public sector to the Committee.

Dana Maor, CEO of McKinsey & Co. Tel-Aviv Office, holding an MBA from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and graduate of Technion’s Faculty of Computer Science. Between the years 1998-2008, Maor worked at the McKinsey New York offices as a consultant for giant American conglomerates, and in 2006, became a partner in the Consulting Group.

Pinhas Buchris, CEO of Oil Refineries Ltd. (ORL) – in Hebrew Bazan, served as commanding officer for the 8200 Unit holding the position of Brigadier General, and as the General Manager of the Israeli Ministry of Defense. When he was relieved of his duties in the IDF, Buchris became a partner in the APEX Investment Fund in Israel and held the position of Director of various public companies. Buchris completed the Advanced Management Program (AMP) at the Harvard University Business School, graduated from the MBA program of the Israel Branch of the University of Derby Business School, and received his B.Sc. from Technion’s Faculty of Computer Science.

Itzik Torgeman, CEO/Executive Vice President and General Director of the Rashi Foundation, Colonel in the IDF Reserves Corps, served as electronic engineer in a number of technology and administrative roles in the Research and Development Unit of the Intelligence Corps. For his many initiatives and achievments Torgeman was awarded the Israel Security Award in 1988 and the Head of IDF Intelligence Prize for Creative Thinking in 1999, and in 2003 he was awarded an honorary fellowship from the Technion. Torgeman holds a B.Sc. in electrical and electronics engineering, an MBA from the Ben-Gurion University of Beer Sheva/ the Negev, and holds an M.Sc. in Quality Assurance and Reliability from Technion’s Department of Nuclear Engineering.

Danny Yamin, CEO of Microsoft Israel and Chairperson of the Steering Committee of the Technion: “We are filling Technion’s Steering Committee with well-known champions in the Israeli public sector. The future of the country is increasingly hinged on quality technological education, and there is no doubt in my mind that the experience, knowledge and skills of our three new members will contribute greatly to the influence and future of the Technion, and to the scope and quality of its graduates. I congratulate Dana Maor, Pinhas Buchris, and Itzik Torgeman on their appointment to the Committee, and wish them all the best in their new roles they have agreed to take on.”

The Technion and AMIT (Alfred Mann Institute at the Technion) have established a new company for commercialization of stem cell technologies developed for over  a  decade at the stem cell research center headed by Professor Joseph Itskovitz-Eldor from the Bruce and Ruth Rappaport Faculty of Medicine. Professor Itskovitz-Eldor is a pioneer and a world leader in the field of stem cell research.

The company, Accellta, will market technologies  that will enable commercial companies and research laboratories to culture masses of homogenous stem cell lines in a fast and cost-effective manner. The innovative technologies, developed by Professor Itskovitz-Eldor and Dr. Michal Amit, a senior researcher at the stem cell research center, address the need for employing genetic manipulation of the cells; although a highly desirable procedure, the latter is currently associated with poor outcomes. The revolutionary technologies introduced by Accellta enable to successfully manipulate the cells and thus enhance the development of prospective stem cell-based therapies and disease models. In the future the company will also focus on regenerative medicine solutions and stem cell-based therapeutics for currently incurable diseases.

Professor Itskovitz-Eldor, Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Rambam Health Care Campus and Director of the Stem Cell Center at the Technion, is internationally recognized as one of the founders of the field of stem cell research. In 1998, in collaboration with Professor James Thomson from the University of Wisconsin, he isolated the first human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), which is considered one of the most important scientific breakthroughs in medical history. In the same year, he established the first stem cell research laboratory in Israel, and currently holds the largest number of scientific publications in the field of hESCs.

Since 1998, Professor Itskovitz-Eldor and Dr. Michal Amit have developed advanced stem cell technologies,  including xeno-free and defined growth media, cell culturing scale-up methods,  genetic manipulation techniques and protocols for induced differentiation of the cells into desired cell types; All of which fundamental to screening and testing of new therapeutic compounds. The Technion invested in a broad portfolio of patents to protect these promising inventions .

Accellta will operate in the global stem cell market, estimated at 2 billion dollars and double-digit annual growth. The market comprises mostly of products and services for stem cell research and development, as most stem cell technologies are still in development and have not yet been authorized for clinical use in humans. The stem cell market is expected to skyrocket in the coming years, once treatments currently under clinical evaluation receive approval from health authorities.

The Alfred Mann Institute at the Technion – AMIT, has been operating since 2006 to accelerate the development and commercialization of selected biomedical technologies invented by Technion scientists. The institute was founded by the initiative of American billionaire, Dr. Alfred Mann, who funds its activities and serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors. In addition to Accellta, AMIT also manages four other ventures, three of which have become start-up companies.

According to Professor Itskovitz-Eldor, “The Company’s activities will facilitate the adoption by industrial and clinical entities of some of the world’s most innovative and advanced technologies for culturing pluripotent stem cells (both embryonic and induced). These unique cells have the ability to generate any cell type of the human body.  Our novel methods can also be used as a platform for the production of proteins and antibodies as well as for screening of novel therapeutics across a wide range of  diseases. Accellta has already started establishing collaborations with a number of international companies.”