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Autonomous Traffic

Hundreds of students from the US, Russia, Ukraine, Argentina and Israel participated in the international “RoboTraffic” competition at the Technion

Hundreds of students from some 50 schools in Israel, USA, Argentina, Russia and Ukraine participated in the 2015 RoboTraffic competition held at the Technion last Thursday, March 12. The competition, held consecutively for six years, started out as a national contest that grew to become international.

The RoboTraffic competition is organized by the Leumi Robotics Center at the Technion’s Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, World ORT organization, and the World Zionist Organization in cooperation with the YTEK Foundation and Eytam Robotics Ltd. The overall goal is to provide students with the knowledge and skills of Robotics along with facts and awareness necessary for safe driving, in an attempt to minimize the involvement of young drivers in road accidents. The competition involved small mobile robots, shaped like miniature cars, to simulate road conditions.

“In preparation of the competition, the Leumi Robotics Center developed a ‘safe roads’ route course containing sensors that make contact with the car robots, and provide the vehicle with an automatic response to signaled obstacles as well as traffic lights and road signs,” explained Dr. Evgeny Korchnoy, the director of the Leumi Robotics Center at the Technion. “During the competition, the robots move along the track autonomously, in a manner ensuring the prevention of road accidents and in keeping with traffic rules. As part of the preparation for the contest, students learned about mechanics, programming, control and electronics as well as road safety skills.”

This year, over one thousand students from elementary schools, middle schools and high schools participated in the competition. High school students competed in six different categories: safe driving, racing, knowledge of driving rules, road safety ideas, innovations in robotic car structure, and knowledge acquisition of vehicle structure using the Solidworks drawing software.

Rachel Lubarsky (14 years old) and Leah Baram (aged 15) along with their team Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, achieved the best and fastest results and won first place for high school students in the race category and in the use of the drawing software. They came to the competition at the Technion along with two more representatives from their team. The team’s accomplishments throughout the competition were very impressive. “My connection to technology is limited,” confesses Leah, “we study in a Jewish school, part of the Chabad network of schools, and it doesn’t offer any subjects in technology.”

“I take supplementary studies after school at the religious seminary for girls,” added Rachel. “This is where we were first introduced to robotics, and how we became involved in the competition.”

“We feel very comfortable here at the Technion,” they both agreed. “Israelis are very helpful. We’re not sure if we would like to live here in the future, but we’d be very happy to study at the Technion.”

“As part of the exposure of the younger generation to science and technology, the Technion attaches great importance to investing in young students,” said Prof. Moshe Sidi, Vice President of the Technion. “It is heart warming to see such a great number of students from Israel and abroad partaking in this competition here at the Technion – all of whom share a common pursuit – a curiosity and interest in robotics and road safety.”

“Six years ago we held this competition for the first time with only five Israeli schools,” related Prof. Moshe Shoham, Head of the Leumi Robotics Center at the Technion. “Today, dozens of schools from Israel and abroad are competing in this competition. You are the next generation and you will be the ones that will bring Israel to the forefront of international robotics. Your generation will witness the revolution of autonomous transport vehicles and the roads of the future, and it will happen sooner than we think.”

“We are very pleased to bring our schools to Israel to compete in this advanced robotics competition that also teaches safe driving,” said Avi Ganon, the CEO of World ORT KADIMAMADA-ISRAEL. “Technology studies is an effective tool in strengthening the ties between the Diaspora and Israel, and important to Israel’s future.”

The team that won first place in the elementary school competition is from the ‘Future’ program of the Karnei Shomron education district. “We programmed the action of the robot, and added sensors so that it could navigate along the route and adhere to traffic lights,” explained Jonathan Makayten, a sixth grade student. “We take robotics lessons as part of the ‘Future’ excellence program during school hours.”

“This is a very interesting field,” added his fellow team member, Noam Cohen, a fifth grader.

In the various categories of the competition for secondary schools, the students from ORT Binyamina (Israel) and ORT Chernovtsi, ORT Odessa, and ORT Kiev (Ukraine) won first place.

The following schools won various categories in the ‘Mama-Robot’ competition for elementary and middle schools – Ga’ash, Ashalim Rishon Lezion, Misgav elementary school and Yavne group. In the ‘RoboTraffic-Junior’ category, the winning team was from the Amit-Amital School in Netanya.

Photography by: Shiatzo Photography Services, Technion’s Spokesperson’s Office

For more information: Gil Liner, Technion Spokesperson, 058-688-2208,

Doron Shoham – 050-310-9088

 

Florida native Dr. Beth Schoen, is part of a team developing a novel platform for delivering anti-cancerous drugs directly to its mark as part of her postdoctoral research at the Technion

Beth Schoen, born in Hollywood Florida, came to the Technion to conduct her postdoctoral research at age 26. In her very limited spare time she plays soccer for the leading all women’s soccer team – Maccabi Hadera – and studies Hebrew. “The Hebrew thing is no simple matter,” she confesses, “but I’m willing to make the effort, because it’s clear to me that Israel is where I want to live.”

Dr. Beth Schoen completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Florida, and her doctorate at Michigan State University in chemical engineering. “My doctoral studies focused on synthetic organic chemistry, particularly on the development of polymers with unique thermodynamic attributes especially resistant to high temperatures. These types of materials are used in part for the production of jet engine parts, body armor and Nomex (used for making fire-resistant gloves and overalls). One of our tasks was to create soft sheets that were not brittle, to be worn to be both bulletproof and fire resistant. It was a theoretical study, but as part of the process I also produced some of these polymers and tested them.”

Dr. Schoen planned to come to the Technion as part of her doctoral studies, but, she adds, “It didn’t work out, so I started to check where I could best fit in here in my future studies.” She decided to join Prof. Marcelle Machluf’s laboratory, at the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, “I was eager to move from chemistry to biology and pursue cancer research in particular. I was very glad for the tremendous opportunity that Marcelle gave me in taking me on – perhaps it was because of my experience in nanomaterials and polymers.”

Prof. Marcelle Machluf’s research team consists of 17 female and 3 males students, researchers and technicians working on two main projects: (1) the development of scaffolds to rehabilitate damaged heart-tissue, and (2) the development of new technology to deliver drug treatment to damaged (sick) tissue (specifically related to cancer therapy). In an interview with her she focused on the second project.

“The current treatment for cancer involves radiotherapy and chemotherapy usually administered through intravenous infusion. The cancer drugs available are extremely effective, yet the way they are put to use in present day treatment, they also cause damage to healthy tissues. These are very potent drugs – they are intended to kill cancer cells – and on their way they also end up killing healthy ones.”

“The greatest damage is caused to rapidly dividing cells, which are similar to cancer cells. Hair follicle cells, for example, are a type of rapidly dividing cells and they damage easily from these types of treatment, which explains the hair loss in patients undergoing chemotherapy. Other side-effects include nausea and hearing loss, sometimes even leading to deafness. The drug Cisplatin for example, is a type of chemo drug used to treat various types of lung and breast cancers; some of its side-effects include damage to renal and immune system functioning, putting patients at risk to infections and diseases.”

These impediments are what fuel Prof. Machluf’s drive to develop a new drug delivery platforms capable of delivering anti-cancer drugs directly to the tumor without damaging healthy tissues on its way. “This is the top priority of cancer treatment: to develop a ‘magic bullet’ that target cancer cells,” explains Prof. Machluf. “And our new platform may be the solution to this great challenge.”

The new platform is based on ‘depleting’ specific cells – mesenchymal stem cells – so that there is nothing left of them save for the membrane. This membrane, called a ghost cells can be down sized to nano-vesicles, termed nano-ghosts, which can be loaded with any drug and delivered by injection directly into the blood stream. The immune system falls for the trap and does not recognize the ‘intruder,’ instead it treats these cells as if they were naturally part of the system and sends them to the afflicted area. On the way to their target they do not release the drug they are carrying and therefore do not do any damage to healthy tissues. Only upon reaching the malignant tissue, which they know how to identify, do they break down and secrete their contents at the site of the tumor cells.

This original idea was tested in a long series of experiments, and the results are very impressive: these nano-ghosts are in fact tumor selective, no matter the type of tumor. They ‘dash’ straight to the malignant tissue without emitting their drug on the way and without damaging healthy cells. Moreover, this unique ‘parcel’ increases the effectiveness of the treatment by ten-fold. Animal studies have shown that the employment of nano-ghosts for anti-cancer drug delivery have led to an 80% delay of prostate cancer – an unprecedented rate.

Still, there is a lot of work ahead, as Prof. Machluf’s research team works on improving the mechanism of this novel new platform: some of them are focusing on compatibility with specific drugs while others, like Dr. Beth Schoen, are concentrating on improving the nano-ghosts “This platform must be very precise,” explains Schoen. “It must be able to endure travelling through the entire human body, and release its contents only inside the tumor.”

The research is being carried out in collaboration with the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute.

Renana Gershoni Poranne, a doctoral student in the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry, explains why she gave up a career in music, why she doesn’t define herself as an “applied scientist,” and why there is no relationship between aromatic substances and air fresheners

This year Renana Gershoni Poranne will be completing her tenth year at the Technion – a decade that began in 2004 with her B.Sc. studies in Molecular Biochemistry and continued with her M.Sc. in Organic Chemistry. She graduated summa cum laude for both degrees and is now studying for her Ph.D. under Prof. Amnon Stanger.

You’re 30 and have already been at the Technion for a decade.

For me this has been a wonderful decade, because I really feel at home here. I love saying that we are a “Technion family” – my father is a Technion graduate and a professor in the PhysicsDepartment, my mother earned her M.Ed. in science education at the Technion, my older sister did her B.A. and M.A. here, and my husband completed his Ph.D. in Computer Science at the Technion last year. I also have a younger sister who is studying graphic design in Holon. I have a wonderful dynamic with Amnon – we even perform together – and I have a great relationship with the rest of the faculty, acceptance, understanding and generous economic support.

Renana Gershoni Poranne lives in Kiryat Tivon with her husband and their two children. She was born in Kibbutz Ramot Menashe, but moved with her family to junior faculty housing on the Technion campus when she was three months old. Several years later her family traveled abroad (her father’s post-doctoral work), and when she returned to Israel, she settled in Tivon. Renana graduated from Ort Greenberg High School in Tivon, with extra credits in physics, chemistry, math and English, of course, but also with external matriculation credits in singing. “I studied classical singing from age 13, first at the conservatory in Tivon, and then I sang with the IDF choir during my army service. Even now, I haven’t given up singing.

Renana’s B.Sc. included a research project with Prof. Ehud Keinan, who later advised her on her M.Sc. project, too. “Following the completion of my M.Sc., I decided to expand my research to include computational studies, because I find them more challenging to me than pure synthesis.” Thus she began working with Prof. Amnon Stanger, also from the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry, and embarked on her Ph.D. thesis. “My situation is quite exceptional, as I am the only student in my project, which is rare in organic chemistry studies. Although I miss the group dynamics sometimes, I enjoy an excellent relationship with my advisor, and have learned much from working alongside him and from the independence he gives me. About a year ago a post-doctoral student named Anuja joined the project, and she has a background in programming. She helps me a lot with technical problems. Based on the findings of Amnon’s previous research projects and our joint projects, Anuja and Amnon wrote an automated (and free) computer program that provides users with a simple way to implement our methodologies.”

Was giving up a musical career painful?

I am at peace with that decision. I have no doubt that I made the right choice for me, and this also concurred with the advice I received from my music teacher about making music an enjoyable hobby rather than a source of income. I chose an academic career because I felt that this is the place to advance using my intellect. Here there is a direct yield on the investment – particularly in the B.Sc. studies. In addition, I felt I could combine music with my research career, but not the opposite, and the thought of giving up the intellectual challenge was even more painful. In any case, you will always hear music playing on the speakers in my office.

What is your continuing involvement in the music world?

Twice a month I go to Tel Aviv for a music lesson, and at the Technion I perform at ceremonies, usually singing solo. These ceremonies, produced by Dalit Yaron of the Public Relations department, often take me away from classical music, my comfort zone, and force me to experience new things. This year I also began to appear with a pianist in the Haifa area and the surrounding Krayot region, in varied programs that include classical music as well as Hebrew and light American music.

Let’s return to science. What are you researching?

Aromatic systems and the production (synthesis) of new aromatic substances.

So you produce perfumes and air fresheners?

No. Aromatic does not mean fragrant. Aromaticity is the property of compounds with cyclically conjugated bonds and which have an interesting variety of physical properties such as light absorption and electrical conductivity. When such substances are put in a magnetic field, induced ring currents develop, and these are the focus of my current research. At present there is no precise qualitative definition for aromaticity, and compounds are usually compared to benzene, which is the “king” of aromatics, but even in comparisons to it we have no precise quantitative scale.

Can you give a few examples of aromatic substances?

Aromatic substances, or substances that contain aromatic groups, are everywhere. In nature we find them in DNA, in proteins and in enzymes. In the hemoglobin in our blood, for example, there is an aromatic group, which is responsible for binding the iron to which oxygen binds, and without which we could not live. In industry, compounds with aromatic groups are used in solar panels, LED lights, transistors and as pigments. Thus these substances have important applications

Does this mean you are involved in applied research?

No. I work in fundamental research. This is what interests me, and I believe this type of research is what leads to applied and theoretical breakthroughs. For example, the scientists who invented NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) never thought that one day it would be used for body scans (MRI), and the researchers who invented optic fibers never dreamed that one day they would be an essential part of Internet infrastructure. To be exact, they never even knew that one day there would be such a thing as Internet.

But why not research a specific application?

First of all, because I think that we, as researchers, should focus on understanding the world around us. Of course that understanding can lead to the development of new technologies, but fundamental understanding should be our first priority. Second, researching a specific application limits the directions of the research, which depend on the purpose of the predefined final application: a new type of light bulb, a kind of steel with specific properties, etc. When you conduct fundamental research, the research itself leads you in different directions, some of which have applications. Of course I don’t discount applied research in industry, but academia should, in my opinion, focus on fundamental research.

What exactly do you do as a “fundamental scientist?”

Our group is researching aromatic molecules in two ways – computational and experimental. In our experiments we design new materials that will have specific physical properties such as light absorption or electrical conductivity. The computation aspect of the research involves developing new formulas for identifying and assessing aromaticity. In simple terms, we use programs that calculate (approximately!) the wave function using quantum mechanical methods. These calculations provide us with information on a molecule’s properties: geometry, energy, charge density, chemical shift, etc., and based on this information we can estimate the magnetic field that the induced ring currents create around the molecule, search for correlations between this field and the other properties and build aromaticity scales for substances from various families.

Do you already have results?

We recently discovered a correlation between the intensity of the ring currents in a molecule and the stability of the compound in two different families of molecules. We figure that in those families, the stronger the ring currents, the more stable – less reactive – the molecule. In addition, we have developed methodologies for identifying ring currents in complex systems. This method is very valuable, as the compounds are used widely in industry, and being able to predict their physical properties will make it possible to design molecules for specific purposes and will save a lot of resources.

What are your plans for the future?

I probably won’t look for a job in industry. At the moment I am gearing towards the next step: a post-doc abroad. When I return I will gladly join a university program as an independent researcher or to provide computation services – a field that is developing all over the world.

Of course I will always be happy to continue teaching chemistry at the university level. Whatever happens, it is very important to me that any path I choose allows me to focus on my family and continue with my music.

“It is important to me that any path I choose allows me to focus on my family and continue with my music.” Renana Gershoni Poranne

 

Benzene molecule with the “sensor atoms” that are used for calculating the magnetic field.

 

Molecule from the phenylenes family and the ring currents calculated for them.

Wanted: Women Engineers!

Women’s Day at the Technion’s Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

“The more women there are who join the scientific-technological fields, the greater the interface between engineering and life, such that women will find it easier to combine family life, research challenges, gratifying careers and a good livelihood,” said Dr. Tamar Yarom, to participants in the Women’s Day event held at the Technion’s Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Yarom, a faculty alumnus, is the director of R&D at the Manor Advanced Defense Technologies Division at Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. and a recent winner of the Israel Employee award. In her lecture, Yarom encouraged her audience to study mechanical engineering at the Technion, adding, “I do not believe in affirmative action; tell yourselves that you are just as good as the male students, and even better, and don’t hold yourselves back because of the environment.”

This was the fifth annual Women’s Day event held at the Technion’s Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. The organizers aim to increase awareness of the field’s importance among female high school students in the science-technology study track, who are candidates for studies at the Technion. During the event, the students were presented with a survey of mechanical engineering as a profession in knowledge-intensive industries and in academia, and with information on studying mechanical engineering at the Technion as a springboard to a career in this field.

The event was held in cooperation with the Haifa Municipality’s Excellence for Science program and the Nitzanei Technion program, which promotes excellence in the Druze sector. In attendance were some 200 female high school students in grades 11 and 12 who are studying in the science-technology track and young female Technion students in the pre-academic preparatory program as well as current Mechanical Engineering students.

The day was divided into two sessions, during which the participants heard lectures by faculty alumni who became senior engineers in Israeli industries and took tours of the faculty’s labs, which display technological developments and trailblazing research.

Prof. Yoram Halevy, the dean of the engineering faculty, greeted the students, saying, “We want to accept the best students to the faculty. There are many talented women who in the past did not find their way to this faculty or to the Technion. From the data I have obtained, I can tell you that the average grade scores of the women students in this faculty are higher than those of the men students. Mechanical engineering is a very broad and varied field, and I hope that your exposure to this variety today at the faculty will lead to your joining us. We will welcome you with open arms.”

“I welcome you on behalf of all the women at the Technion,” Israel Prize laureate Prof. Miriam Erez told the students. Erez is in charge of the status of women at the Technion. “At the Technion we are making good progress toward a greater presence of women on campus, and women account for 40% of the new students enrolled here this year. Unfortunately, the percentage of women in the Israeli high-tech sector is still low, but the Technion is continuously changing and with it the variety of fields of study. I hope you will choose to join the Technion. This is a decision that will be for your own benefit and the benefit of Israeli society as a whole.”

“I have always loved taking things apart and putting things together,” said Yael Shiloah, an alumnus of the faculty who now heads a development team at Intel Haifa. “I like practical studies more than theory, so I decided to learn mechanical engineering. It’s hard to tell what the future will bring, but if you learn at the Technion you will be part of the industry that will create the future. Mechanical engineering is a wonderful foundation for integrating into the technology world.”

The event was sponsored by Intel Israel and Motorola Solutions Israel, which donated scholarships to women students who began their studies in the faculty in 2014.

What can your eyes reveal?

The Eyelid Motion Monitor (EMM) developed at Technion’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering has entered the clinical trials phase. The goal: to be used in the diagnosis of different diseases based on eyelid movement

The Eyelid Motor Monitor (EMM) has achieved another milestone: a prototype of the EMM device, developed at Technion’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering, is in the infant stages of clinical trials on human subjects at the Emek Medical Center, after receiving the ethics committee approval.

This remarkable project was developed by doctoral student Adi Hanuka, who began to work on it during her undergrad degree. She is currently a doctoral student at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering supervised by Prof. Levi Schachter. As part of her studies, she mentors electrical engineering students Alon Berger and Maor Itzhak in advancing the project. Already in its development phase, the project won several international awards, and recently won the top 20 teams at the international Texas Instruments Innovation Challenge Contest.

“Eyelid motion provides us with meaningful information about the health status of a patient,” explains Hanuka. “It can indicate, for example, neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and autoimmune diseases such as Graves’ disease. At the request of Dr. Daniel Briscoe, Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Emek Medical Center, we developed a device that can be installed on standard refraction glasses used in eye tests.”

Both hardware and software systems are installed on these glasses to detect the wearer’s eyelid movements, and interpret them according to the magnetic field generated by two tiny magnets fitted on the upper eyelids. The EMM project is conducted at the High Speed Digital Systems Laboratory (HS-DSL) located in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering; the software (Eyelidpro) was developed by two electrical engineering students.

Adi Hanuka was born in the city of Nesher in 1987. She served in the Intelligence Corps in the IDF, achieving the rank of officer. She completed her undergraduate degree at the Technion within the framework of the Technion Excellence Program, and graduated with exceptionally high grades. Hanuka is also a graduate of the first cohort of the EE-EMET Program (an excellence program teaching technological and scientific knowledge in the areas of electronics, computers and communication run by the Faculty of Electrical Engineering).

Today, as part of her doctorate with Prof. Schachter, she is developing tiny optical radiation devices for cancer therapy. “Existing devices operate on energy from big and expensive accelerators, and this radiation also damages healthy tissue. Our vision is to develop a compact accelerator that would be relatively inexpensive and which could be employed also in small clinics, with a capacity for direct targeted radiation to the tumor site.”

In her spare time – which is hard to imagine she has any of – she plays the organ and up until recently she even studied Hindi (one of India’s official languages) and played on the Technion’s rugby team (until she suffered an injury). She is also a co-founder and member of the BeChen Program (Hebrew acronym for ‘Girls meet at EE’), with Prof. Lihi Zelnik-Manor, a faculty member of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering (EE). BeChen brings together female students at the EE department in order to strengthen their sense of belonging and increase their confidence when moving on to advanced studies or turning to work in the industry. Hanuka also recently won the Ariane de Rothschild Women Doctoral Program funded by the Rothschild-Caesarea Foundation. The foundation promotes equal opportunities for women; in Israel it works towards the advancement of women in Israeli academia, specifically in fields where there is a low number of female doctoral students.

In July 2015, Hanuka will represent Israel at the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting held annually in Germany, a globally recognized forum for the transfer of knowledge between Nobel laureates and young scientists. The conference this year, which focuses on the topic of interdisciplinary research, will be attended by 70 Nobel laureates from the fields of physics, chemistry and physiology or medicine – among them Prof. Dan Shechtman, Prof. Aaron Ciechanover and Prof. Ada Yonath.

“Teaching is my true calling,” explains Prof. Ester Segal, winner of the 2014 Yanai Prize for Excellence in Academic Education

“Teaching is very demanding, and it’s not always easy finding the time to devote to it with all the other tasks before me, but for me it is a true calling,” explains Prof. Ester Segal from the Faculty of Biotechnology & Food Engineering. Prof. Segal was recently awarded the Yanai Prize for Excellence along with nine other faculty members. The prize, funded by Technion graduate Mr. Moshe Yanai in the amount of 100 thousand Shekels, is awarded to Technion faculty.

In her acceptance speech at the prize ceremony, Prof. Segal explained that, “The role of teacher for me is not only about the transfer of knowledge, imparting skills and assisting students in achieving the highest possible grades. It is our task to instil curiosity and a desire for knowledge, to nurture critical thinking, creativity and independence, and to prepare students for the real world that will be waiting for upon completing their studies. I believe that as educators, we should approach teaching with the same enthusiasm and responsibility we place on research on our research. Such attitude towards teaching makes it an interesting and challenging activity and motivates us to be innovative and effective in the classroom. We must keep in mind that in teaching, there is no ‘one size fits all’ – classes are always heterogeneous, and each student has a different learning style. I also believe that building communication and trust is critical for establishing an efficient and productive learning environment. I show the students empathy and care; this also means going an extra mile for them.”

Prof. Ester Segal completed all three of her degrees at the Technion’s Faculty of Chemical Engineering. In 2007, upon completion of her postdoctorate at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), she joined the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering at the Technion. She currently heads the Multifunctional Nanomaterials Laboratory, located at the Faculty, and in the past year she received the Henry Taub Prize for Excellence in Research.

Prof. Segal heads a multidisciplinary research team investigating the interface between materials science and biotechnology. The main research at the laboratory focuses on the synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials and their application to the development of biological sensors and drug delivery systems.

In an article she recently published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications, she reported that silicon carriers for the local delivery of anticancer drugs degrade differently when they reach the diseased environment, which can affect clinical outcomes. The study, conducted jointly with Prof. Natalie Artzi from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Harvard Medical School, sheds light on this degradation process, opening the way for improved tumor treatments.

“In this study we have shown for the first time that biomaterials in general, and nanostructured porous silicon in particular, behave differently when they are injected (or implanted) at the tumor microenvironment. Over the last few years, we successfully engineered silicon to be used as a carrier of anticancer drugs that releases its contents in a controlled manner, and now we are focusing on the degradation mechanism of the silicon at the diseased tissue,” explains Prof. Segal.

Nanostructured Porous Silicon is the common name for a family of silicon-based materials containing nano-scale holes. This material is today seen as a promising drug delivery vehicle, mainly due to its unique characteristics: a large surface area (geared for drug unloading), biocompatbility, and bio-degradability in a safe and non-toxic manner. In recent years, Prof. Segal and her doctoral student Adi Tzur-Balter developed ‘containers’ (carriers) for the delivery of anticancer drugs. Through careful design of the silicon containers, in terms of their pore diameter and surface chemistry, the group achieved optimal features for effective drug delivery.

One of the important findings of the study, which investigates the behavior of the silicon ‘containers in breast cancer tumors, is associated with the accelerated degradation of the silicon material in the diseased area. The research showed that reactive oxygen species upregulated in the cancerous environment (in vivo), induce oxidation of the silicon, causing a rapid degradation of the ‘containers’ as compared with (in vitro) lab experiments. As a result, this article sheds light on the process of nanostructured silicon degradation at the tumor microenvironment, and allows for early and smart design intervention of the silicon structure to facilitate controlled release of the drug at the targeted site.

“Mechanism of Erosion of Nanostructured Porous Silicon Drug Carriers in Neoplastic Tissues:” 

For more information: Gil Liner, Technion Spokesperson, 058-688-2208

 

Hadas Ziso is a doctoral student in the Faculty of Mechanical engineering at the Technion and winner of the Levi Eshkol Prize for 2013. “I began my academic path in the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering,” says Ziso, “where I earned my B.Sc. and M.Sc. My research, advised by Prof. Eitan Kimel, examined the treatment of cancerous tumors using ultrasound and microbubbles. I then worked for several years in the medical sector, until my return to the university as a doctoral student, advised by Prof. Moshe Shoham (head of the medical robotics lab) and Prof. Menashe Zaaroor (head of the Department of Neurosurgery at Rambam Medical Center).”

“My research involves the development of a novel robot for minimally invasive neurosurgery. This robotic system is unique for several reasons: first, the treatment will be executed automatically, under the supervision of the surgeon, according to a treatment plan based on CT/MRI scans and combined with real-time detection of the cancerous tissue. Second, the robotic system will conduct the surgery via a ~4 mm keyhole in the skull and will be able to treat tumors up to 6 cm in diameter.

The robot is equipped with a mechanism of a rigid external needle and a semi-flexible inner needle that gives the system three-dimensional freedom of movement. The external needle moves vertically and rotates, while the inner needle moves laterally. One of the main technological challenges of this project, apart from the miniaturization of the detection and therapeutic tools, is the development of a needle mechanism that can turn a sharp corner. The inner needle will have to endure a 90-degree curvature in the opening of the external needle, and still be strong enough to bear lateral loads. It must be straight upon exit, in order to accurately move the attached detection and therapeutic tools to the planned destination. A few mechanisms that met these requirements were investigated, including thin-wall tube buckling, magnetic bead chain, Nitinol wire and a tensegrity mast.

The two diagnostic and therapeutic methods that meet the system specifications, both clinically and mechanically, and are currently under evaluation are: tumor detection using 5-ALA fluorescence spectroscopy or electrical impedance measurements; and the tumor will be treated with Laser ablation or high-frequency RF ablation, in which radio wave energy vaporizes the tissue. The various detection techniques will be evaluated in clinical trials in-vitro and the therapies will be evaluated in pre-clinical trials.”

Infants’ environments play key role in their heights as adults

If you have ever wondered why you are not a little taller, it turns out it’s not all about genetics. In findings published in the Journal of Pediatrics (January 2015), an Israeli research team shows that the environment in which one lives from the womb to about age one largely determines an adult’s height. The pioneering study was conducted by researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Tel Aviv University and Bnai Zion Hospital, in collaboration with Regional Health Offices in Haifa and Tel Aviv.

Led by Professor Ze’ev Hochberg and Dr. Alina German, of the Technion’s Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, the team found that while genetics do have a significant effect on a person’s height, so, too, do environmental elements that include the environment in the womb, nutrition and health status in the first year of life, parents and family structure, and economic and emotional events.

“Following the genetics revolution, today it is customary to attribute our personal traits to the genes,” explains Prof. Hochberg. “Indeed, there is no doubt that many of our features are genetic. However, as can be seen in our study, environmental conditions have a very significant role – around 50 percent – in determining growth and height.”

The range-difference between people who are tall or short is about 10 inches in men and 9 inches in women. Half of the variation is set at a decisive growth stage – when the child transits from infantile growth to childhood and the new study shows that this part is due only to environmental conditions before birth and during infancy. The researchers determined this phase transition in 162 sets of twins [56 pairs of identical twins (who have identical genes), 106 pairs of fraternal twins (who share only half their genes)], and 106 pairs of non-twin siblings, who also share half their genes.

“Studies on twins let us test the balance between genes and the environment,” explains Prof. Hochberg. “The difference between identical and fraternal twins shows the impact of genetics. Here we discovered the remarkable power of the environment in shaping a person. This is called plasticity in human development, which means that environmental conditions such as mother and baby nutrition, social and family interactions, can influence our growth and height.”

From an evolutionary perspective, say the researchers, this plasticity helps ‘shape’ characteristics to suit future living conditions, which are ‘adaptively predicted’ based on current conditions. For example, “children who are born into and grow up in a malnourished environment  will be shorter, and therefore require less food as they get older, while children born into a well-nourished environment will grow to be tall,” says Prof. Hochberg.

The research team also included Prof. Zvi Livshitz, Dr. Ida Malkin and Dr. Inga Peter from Tel Aviv University; Dr. Yonatan Dubnov and Dr. Hana Akones from Haifa’s Regional Health Office, and Dr. Michael Shmoish of the Lorry I. Lokey Interdisciplinary Center for Life Sciences and Engineering at the Technion.

For further details: Gil Lainer – 058-6882208, Doron Shaham – 050-3109088.

UN Declares 2015 the International Year of Light

Technion and TU Berlin to hold a special symposium on the topic of green photonics

The symposium will mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between Israel and Germany

On March 30th and 31st, 2015, the Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin) and the Technion will hold a joint two-day symposium on the topic of ‘Green Photonics’. The conference, which will be held at TU Berlin, will focus on problems arising from the dramatic increase in Internet use and the inability to provide the electrical energy required to support it. A significant part of the conference will be devoted to innovative technologies based on advanced use of photons, and as such pay tribute to the ‘International Year of Light’ declared by the UN, upon which the year 2015 will be dedicated to technologies based on light.

Leading researchers and developers from industrial and government laboratories worldwide will present the latest technologies related to electronic and optoelectronic computing and data communications (towards a ‘green’ web) as well as energy harvesting methods.  In the morning session of March 30th, a special ceremony will be held to commemorate 50 years of diplomatic relations between the State of Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany, with participation by key government members of both countries; many decades of collaboration between Technion and TU Berlin (the former TH Charlottenburg) will also be remembered and praised.

At the end of the symposium, both leading technical universities will present an outlook on the joint efforts they are making in the development of novel technologies and applications to serve society in the 21st century. As part of this cooperation, young researchers will be fostered and financially supported.

The 2015 Green Photonics Symposium is organized by the President of TU Berlin, represented by the Center of NanoPhotonics, together with the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, represented by the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI) and the German Technion Society.

Registration is open until March 16, 2015; to register go to: http://green-photonics-symposium.com/

Technion President Professor Peretz Lavie, to serve as the Chairperson of the Association of University Heads, Israel. President Lavie replaces the outgoing Chairperson, Hebrew University of Jerusalem President, Professor Menahem Ben-Sasson

Prof. Lavie: “Scientific research at universities is a key growth engine for furthering development and strengthening the strategic status of the country. Our position among the world’s top research universities has been achieved through hard work in severely underfunded conditions. The task of the Committee of University Heads is to ensure that the Government of Israel will work towards enabling the continued functioning of universities at the highest levels.”

Prof. Ben-Sasson: “Quality of research, which is the core activity of the universities, will facilitate the future development of the State of Israel. It is therefore the obligation of the Government of Israel to place the issue of higher education as a top priority.”

The presidents of Israel’s research universities have appointed Prof. Peretz Lavie, President of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, as chairperson of the Association of University Heads of Israel. Peretz replaces the outgoing chairperson, Prof. Menachem Ben-Sasson, the President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who served for a two and a half year term.

VERA – the Hebrew acronym for The Association of University Heads, Israel, is a voluntary body founded by the heads of Israel’s research universities. The objective of the association is to promote and improve the management of aspects of common interest to all the universities and present their common interest in the most efficient manner to decision-making bodies in the field of higher education. All this in order to promote, improve and develop scientific research and standards of academic teaching for the good of the state of Israel and its citizen.

Prof. Menachem Ben-Sasson: “Over the past two years, the Association of University Heads of Israel faced tasks and challenges both at home and abroad that threatened to damage the future and the status of higher education and research in Israel. Among the challenges were attempts to impose academic boycotts on Israeli university researchers; this alongside trends at home opposing participation in budgeting programs and scientific cooperation with the European Union. This in addition to attempts by political bodies to interfere and place political pressure on Israeli academia and its operational conduct. Academic institutions operate based on criteria of academic excellence and a desire for scientific achievement approaching international standards, and the role of Government and society in Israel must allow them to continue to conduct themselves in the way that has led us to excellence.”

“The incoming chairperson will face important responsibilities. My colleagues and I are grateful to Prof. Lavie for agreeing to carry the burden of leadership of the Association of University Heads, and wish him great success in his new role. I would like to thank David Bareket, Head of the Director General Forum and VP and Director-General of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, for being an outstanding partner and my right-hand in managing the Association, and Prof. Aron Shai, Rector of Tel Aviv University and Chairperson of the Forum of Rectors.”

Prof. Peretz Lavie: “Scientific research at universities is a key growth engine for furthering development and strengthening the strategic status of the country. Our position among the world’s top research universities has been achieved through hard work in severely underfunded conditions. The task of the Association of University Heads is to ensure that the Government of Israel will work towards enabling the continued functioning of universities at the highest levels.”

“Another key issue on the agenda is the subject of academic freedom at universities. This freedom is a fundamental principle and the sine qua non for free inquiry, which has helped foster the high academic levels reached by Israeli universities. Ensuring it will be possible only if we continue to implement zero interference by political bodies attempting to violate these freedoms and impose a political agenda that is not conducted on the basis of academic and scientific standards of excellence.”

For further details: Gil Lainer – 058-688-2208, Doron Shaham – 050-310-9088

New Israeli stamp and two Nobel laureates at The Israel Chemical Society Annual Meeting

Prof. Michael Levitt, 2013 Nobel Prize laureate for chemistry: “My never-ending love for chemistry is due to a TV series”

The 80th annual meeting of The Israel Chemical Society (ICS) was held last week in Tel aviv. The meeting was attended by a delegation of senior researchers from Stanford University, including two Nobel laureates for chemistry: Prof. Michael Levitt, who was awarded the prize in 2013 (for developing computerized models for understanding the structure and properties of complex chemical systems), and Prof. William Moerner, who received the prize in 2014 (for developments in fluorescence microscopy). This year’s meeting was organized by the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry at the Technion, and ICS President, Prof. Ehud Keinan, is a member of this faculty.

The meeting opened with the introduction of a new stamp, dedicated to the International Year of Light declared by the UN, and to the three 2013 Nobel Prize laureates in chemistry – Arieh Warshel, Martin Karplus and Michael Levitt, who was the keynote speaker at the opening plenary session. U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Daniel Shapiro, commented that “the Israeli success story is based on science, and the ICS played a major role in building that success even before the establishment of the state. And even though the Israeli and U.S. governments help to oil the wheels, the main force behind the science cooperation between the two countries is based primarily on the activities of the ICS and its American counterpart, which work to promote excellence in academia, by creating an environment that promotes innovation and by being willing to take risks and raise new ideas.” Throughout the first day, the ICS awarded many prizes, including the prestigious 2014 Tenne Family Prize in memory of Lea Tenne for Nanoscale Sciences, awarded to Prof. Efrat Lifshitz, a senior member of the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry, for “development and application of advanced methodologies for the study of the properties of nano-scale materials. These interdisciplinary achievements have significantly impacted the field of semiconductor nanostructures and gained worldwide attention.” Roman Waxenberg, a student of Prof. Lifshitz, won the Excellent Graduate Student Prize.

Michael Levitt: Crediting a TV series

In his opening address, Michael Levitt related that his passion for chemistry was ignited when he watched “Thread of Life” starring Prof. John Kendrew, a BBC series broadcast in black-and-white in the early 1960s. “When I grew up, I chose to study physics, because to me it seemed simpler than chemistry – ‘just a few equations’ – but in the end I found my way to chemistry and medical applications.”

Levitt earned his M.A. and conducted post-doctoral research with Prof. Shneior Lifson at Weizmann Institute, “which is largely responsible for our winning the Nobel Prize.” During his stay in Israel Levitt fell in love with an Israeli and married her, and his first doctoral student (Miri Hirshberg) was also Israeli. “I’m very excited to be here,” said Levitt, “and would like to take this opportunity to thank the Nobel Prize committee for choosing us – not for the fact that they selected us, but rather for the courage to recognize the importance of the method – a calculation method that contributed significantly to biology and medicine. Ultimately, the big winner is our field of research.

“My career developed during a period of immense changes in science, which was driven by technology. It is hard to imagine the immensity of the change that has occurred in the world of computers within a few decades. In 1967 we were working on a computer with 1 megabyte of memory, which cost $1 million and took up an entire room; today you can buy a small laptop with 10 gigabytes of memory for a few thousand dollars. If similar changes had taken place in the automotive field, we would be able to buy a Volvo for $3 that would carry 50,000 passengers, travel at a million kilometers an hour, and park in a shoebox.”

At the end of his address, Levitt advised the young scientists in the room be daring (“take risks, but not stupid ones”), to follow their passion and be original, consistent, good and generous.

For further details: Gil Lainer – 058-6882208, Doron Shaham – 050-3109088.

Green, cheap, efficient photocatalyst for stable visible water splitting: a revolution in hydrogen production for fuel applications?

A novel photocatalyst made of carbon and nitrogen proves to be highly efficient in solar water splitting enabling cheap and stable generation of hydrogen.

Production of H2 and O2 from overall water splitting using solar energy is a promising means of renewable energy storage. In the past 40 years, a host of inorganic and organic systems have been developed as photocatalysts for water splitting driven by visible light. These photocatalysts however still suffer from very low solar to hydrogen energy conversion efficiency and/or poor stability (their performance deteriorates within a few hours). The poor performance of these catalysts hindered the utilization of the simple process of photocatalysis for practical hydrogen production.

Lee, Lifshitz, Kang and co-workers (from Soochow University in Jiangsu, China and Technion, Haifa, Israel) have now developed a new photocatalyst: a carbon nanodot-carbon nitride nanocomposite. This new catalyst has long-term stability (its catalytic activity remains the same within more than 200 days) and is made of C and N – cheap, earth-abundant and non-polluting elements. The photocatalyst’s impressive performance for solar water splitting is realized through two stages as schematically described in the attached figure: (1) Carbon nitride is splitting water to peroxide and hydrogen, (2) Carbon nanodots are decomposing peroxide to water and oxygen. The carbon nanodots also increase the light absorbance of the solar spectrum in its most intense wavelength (orange light). The solar to hydrogen energy conversion efficiency of the new catalyst is 2%, more than ten times larger than previously reported values. Following the techno-economical analysis of the US department of energy (DOE) a catalyst with a 2% efficiency facilitates hydrogen production cost of about 6$/Kg, not much larger than the maximum target cost of DOE (4$/Kg).

Prof. Lifshitz holds 3 academic degrees in Physics: B.Sc. (Hebrew Univ.), M.Sc. (Tel-Aviv Univ.), Ph.D. (Weizmann Inst.). He was a senior researcher at the Soreq Nuclear Research Center where he was the founding head of the Space Qualification Section, responsible for qualification tests of materials and electronic devices used in Israeli satellites. He is internationally known as the originator of the “subplantation model” which is the basis of modern deposition technology and was the first to explain the nucleation of diamond in sub-atmospheric laboratory processes. Currently he is the Alfred and Marion Bar chair professor at the department of Materials Science and Engineering at Technion. Since 2014 he is also a Chair professor at Soochow University, China, where the present research was performed. Prof. Lifshitz was listed as one of the world’s top 100 materials scientists of the 2000-2010 decade by “Thomson Reuters” and the education appendix of Times Magazine. The current Science paper of Prof. Lifshitz adds up to several other Science and Nature papers he co-authored.

The research is being carried out in collaboration with the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute.

Source:
Liu et al, “Metal-free efficient photocatalyst for stable visible water splitting via a two-electron pathway”, Science, 347(6225), 970, 27 September 2015.