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The slow ones are the fastest: a new microfluidic method for microscale bio separations

Collaborative research between IBM Research and Technion – Israel Institute of Technology has led to a new method for the separation of particles and molecules from small samples, based on their diffusivity, a molecular property that correlates well with size.  The researchers are currently adapting the method for rapid and direct detection of coronavirus from throat swabs. 

In a recent paper published in Angewandte Chemie and designated by the journal as a “Very Important Paper,” researchers at IBM Research Europe in Zurich and at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology presented a new method and device for separation of particles and biomolecules.  

The device makes use of virtual channels, a concept presented by the same team a year ago in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, wherein unique flow fields can be generated in a microfluidic chamber using electric field actuation.  In their latest findings, the authors used this technology to create bidirectional flows – alternating stripes carrying fluid in opposite directions.  Such a flow field is impossible to create using traditional pumps and valves, and when particles are introduced into this flow they behave in a well-explained yet initially non-intuitive manner: small particles remain stationary, while large particles flow away quickly.  

“We know that all particles in a fluid move in random directions in a process called Brownian motion” said Vesna Bacheva, a PhD candidate in the Technion Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, and a co-first author of the paper. “This is the same mechanism that allows us to smell a small drop of perfume from across the room – the molecules simply make their way randomly in a process also known as diffusion.  However, small particles diffuse much faster than large ones, and when placed in the bidirectional flow they move across the opposing flow streams very quickly. This makes them move very slightly back and forth but overall – stay in place. Larger molecules or particles diffuse much slower and end up being carried away by the flow.”  The team calls their method BFF, meaning “bidirectional flow filter.”  This separation mechanism was defined by one of the paper reviewers as “a fundamentally significant contribution to the field that only comes along every 10-20 years.”

“It really is very simple,” added Dr. Federico Paratore, postdoctoral researcher at IBM Research in Zurich, who also co-first authored the paper. “Surprisingly, it hasn’t been done so far, most likely because of technological limitations. Whereas developing the concept certainly took time and iterations, with today’s microfabrication capabilities the final device is rather a simple solid-state device that can be produced on a large scale”. 

In the paper the team demonstrated the separation of antibodies and particles from small molecules and provided the theory and engineering guidelines for separation of wide variety of biomolecules.   “The reason this might be very useful is because the majority of biological assays rely on a reaction between a probe and the target molecule in the sample, followed by removal of the excess probe molecules that did not find their target. This last step is often very involved and is extremely challenging when the volume of the sample is small,” said Prof. Moran Bercovici.  “Our method does this very well, provided that the two reacting elements are of sufficiently different size.” 

The team is currently working to adapt the method for rapid detection of the novel Coronavirus.

Dr. Govind Kaigala explained the concept: “Fortunately, the coronavirus is fairly large – about 100 nm in diameter. This is much larger than antibodies or other probes that can be used to bind to it. Using our method we hope to be able to place a patient’s sample into our chip where it will mix with visible probes, and then see only the viruses flowing out while the unbound probes stay behind.” 

This work was funded by the European Research Council (MetamorphChip) and by the BRIDGE program (project 40B1-0_191549), funded by Innosuisse and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Click here for the paper in Angewandte Chemie

 

Studying without Worry: Technion Steps up Financial Support for Students

Technion, renowned for its extensive students support programs, has announced a series of extraordinary steps to alleviate financial difficulties during the current crisis: interest-free loans of up to NIS 20,000 per student, additional scholarships, flexible tuition payment schedules, and dormitory refunds

Technion is helping its students get through the current crisis by offering additional financial relief, including the postponement of loan repayment until after graduation, additional scholarships, flexible tuition payment schedules, refunds for dormitories not in use, and refurbished computers at a token price. These unprecedented steps are the result of a collaborative effort by the Technion Management, the Dean of Students, and the Technion Students Association (TSA).

“We have always offered attractive student loans, but they were means-tested,” says Prof. Boaz Golany, Executive Vice President and Director-General. “As a result of the current crisis, we have introduced a special loan package of up to NIS 20,000 per undergraduate student, including those in their sixth year of medical or architecture studies. The students are permitted to repay the unlinked and interest-free loan after they graduate. This special loan is part of our emergency student aid program and positions Technion as the number one Israeli university in terms of the support available to its students to cope with the financial ramifications of the corona crisis.”

“It was obvious that we needed to find solutions for this unique situation,” says Prof. Ayelet Fishman, Dean of Students, “and we made some far-reaching decisions so that our students would be able to continue focusing on their studies without excessive financial worries. As expected, the students responded enthusiastically to the new loans and stipends on offer. In March alone we approved loans totaling over half a million shekels, and the scope of Technion scholarships has doubled compared to last year, amounting to over NIS 700,000. We also received special permission to grant additional scholarships from several external funds, which will enable us to assist even more students.”

“The issues that most worry all Israeli students are tuition and dorm fees,” says Linoy Nagar-Shaul, TSA Chair, “and therefore we dealt with these subjects first. Regarding tuition, we notified the students that a delay in tuition payment would be acceptable this semester; and that students who left the dorms during the corona crisis will receive a refund for this period. In spite of the situation, at the beginning of the spring semester (March) new students moved into the dorms, and, as a result of the pandemic, Technion allocated apartments to students required to self-isolate. As part of the “Melech” (Computers for Everyone) project, we are offering students refurbished computers for a token price of NIS 100, and in cases of severe economic hardship, we also provide students with food donations. If you are a Technion student and have encountered financial difficulties, we invite you to contact us (social@asat.technion.ac.il) and we will help in every way that we can.”

The Dean of Students service units are currently functioning in a reduced capacity, but they respond to all inquiries― and provide online psychological and emotional counseling via Zoom lectures about reducing anxiety, career planning, tips for distance learning, relaxation exercises, and more. The Student Aid Unit offers help to students with extenuating needs, and in particular, students who are alone in Israel, ultra-Orthodox students, and students from the Israeli-Ethiopian community. 

For more information, click here

Scientists at Technion’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine have modified a coronavirus rapid and simple detection method that does not require special lab equipment, only hot water, and reagents

Prof. Naama Geva-Zatorsky from the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, together with her research team, is currently developing a home test that can rapidly diagnose the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It is a simple test that produces results in less than an hour. Partners in developing this innovative test include: members of the Geva-Zatorsky lab, Dr. Moran Szwarcwort-Cohen, Virology Laboratory Head at Rambam Health Care Center; Prof. Mical Paul, Rambam’s Infectious Diseases Unit Head; and Prof. Michal Chowers, Infectious Diseases Unit Head at Meir Medical Center. 

Further development can lead to using this method as mass testing kit in the workplace, points of care, and households. According to Geva-Zatorsky, “We developed a protocol for a test that requires only a saliva sample, reagents, and a thermal cup. The new test’s reliability was measured using 200 biological samples from confirmed coronavirus patients and patients suspected of infection with the virus. The samples were supplied by the coronavirus biobank at Rambam Health Care Campus. One only needs to immerse the saliva sample in a test tube that contains the reactive material and then in the thermal cup with hot water. If the color of the reaction changes, that indicates the presence of the coronavirus. The result is obtained within an hour and does not require lab analysis. This test is not designed to replace the current conventional method.”

Geva-Zatorsky added, “We are now completing the experiments in order to improve sensitivity to the presence of the virus, even in low concentrations. We have found that, when tested on standard swabs, in medium and high concentrations of the virus, the test identifies 99% of the cases, but in low concentrations a second test is necessary a few days later. Once we receive the Health Ministry approval, the kit can be widely distributed. We see this test as suitable for use at entrances to hospitals, workplaces, nursing homes, airports, and in drive-through facilities.

“The current protocol was validated on standard swabs. As a proof of concept, we successfully detected the virus in saliva samples, and are now validating it on a larger cohort of saliva samples. The new test will primarily increase the scale of testing in the community, and will enable the population to be surveyed faster and on a much wider scale,” said Prof. Michal Chowers. “The most significant innovation is that the test can be carried out on site, within an hour, eliminating the need to send the saliva to a special lab.”

The bank of coronavirus samples was recently set up at the Rambam Health Care Campus Biobank, which was established in 2014 as part of the Israeli Biorepository Network for Research (MIDGAM). Rambam immediately realized the vital need for a bank of biological samples from coronavirus patients for research purposes and established in record time Israel’s first coronavirus biobank, containing blood tests and respiratory tract samples. 

“The coronavirus biobank consists of samples collected from our patients, not only for diagnosis and verification but also for research purposes,” noted Dr. Shlomit Yehudai-Reshef, Clinical Research Institute Director at Rambam. Dr. Danny Eytan, a senior physician in Rambam’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and a member of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine added, “Each sample includes clinical data – detailed information about the patient’s medical history before and during infection with coronavirus. This data provides an important tool for decision-making and resource allocation.”

Dr. Tal Gefen, Nadav Ben-Assa, Rawi Naddaf, Dr. Tal Capucha, Haitham Hajjo, Noa Mandelbaum, Lilach Elbaum, Dr. Shai Kaplan and Dr. Asaf Rotem took part in the research. 

A model developed at the Faculty of Physics at the Technion, in collaboration with German scientists at Tübingen, explains the unique properties of Arrokoth – the most distant object ever imaged in the solar system. The research team’s results shed new light on the formation of Kuiper Belt objects, asteroid-like objects at the edge of the solar system, and for understanding the early stages of the solar system’s formation.

The researchers’ findings, published in Nature, explain the unique characteristics of the “Snowman”, known formally as Arrokoth. It is the farthest imaged object in the system, and pictures of it were first taken last year by the New Horizons space mission.

The story begins in 2006 when the New Horizons robotic spacecraft was sent to take, for the first time, a close look at the last planet in the solar system, Pluto, which was had not yet seen up close, and to study its features and terrain. After launch, New Horizons fixed its trajectory towards Pluto, starting a long journey that will last about 9 years. In order not to waste fuel and resources, most of its systems were put to “sleep” until it was close to its target Pluto.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, the international astronomical union decided in to demote Pluto, from its status as a planet, to a dwarf planet. In short, the New Horizons robotic spacecraft was sent to investigate a planet, fell asleep, and awoke to discover that Pluto was no longer considered a planet. But this does not detract from the importance of the mission. New Horizons provided spectacular images of Pluto and its moon Charon, and provided invaluable scientific information that is now still being investigated, and will likely be studied for years. These studies will provide important input for understanding the formation of the solar system, and in particular the Kuiper Belt.

But there is still more to the New Horizons adventure. While Pluto is the largest object at the far ends of the solar system, it is not the only one. Beyond Neptune, in a region called the Kuiper Belt, there are numerous asteroid-like objects ranging in size from a few feet to thousands-of-miles-big objects. The conditions in this area are different (and in particular much colder), than its “sister” asteroid belt in the inner regions of the solar system, and Kuiper Belt objects typically consist of much more icy materials. Even before its arrival to Pluto, it was planned that the New Horizon spacecraft would still have enough resources left to closely watch another Kuiper Belt object, if such an object could be found that was not too far from the spacecraft’s original trajectory.

On June 26, 2014, after an extensive survey in search for such objects, one was identified by the Hubble Space Telescope. Following that identification, the New Horizons research team has designed the spacecraft’s trajectory so that it would pass next to the newly found object after completing its mission in mapping Pluto. Five years later (and four after its encounter with Pluto in 2015), New Horizons passed by the object. On January 1, 2019, humanity won its first close-up shot of a small Kuiper Belt object, thanks to the New Horizons spacecraft passing just 3,500 miles away.

Immediately after the arrival of its first images, the Kuiper Belt object (hitherto known as 2014 MU69) was nicknamed “the Snowman,” because of its unique appearance (see photo). New Horizons researchers initially called it Ultima Thule (“The Edge of the World” in Latin), because of its remote location at the edge of the solar system). But the object eventually earned its professional name: 486958 Arrokoth, for “sky” or “cloud” in the (now extinct) Powhatan native-American language.

New Horizons photos and gathered information provided the scientific community with a wealth of information about the Snowman: it is a 30-kilometer contact-binary that consists of two different sized lobes interconnected with a thin neck (see photo), which appears to be the product of two smaller Kuiper Belt objects that collided to form Arrokoth.

Although various models have been proposed to explain the formation of Arrokoth and its peculiar properties, these encountered major challenges, and could not well explain important features of the Snowman, in particular its slow rotation speed around itself and its large inclination angle. In their Nature article, the Technion researchers present novel analytic calculations and detailed simulations explaining Arrokoth’s formation and features.

The research was led by Ph.D. student Evgeni Grishin, postdoc Dr. Uri Malamud, and their supervisor Professor Hagai Perets, in collaboration with the German research group in Tübingen.

“Simple high-speed collision between two random objects in the Kuiper Belt would shatter them, as they are likely to predominantly made of soft ice,” said Mr. Grishin. “On the other hand, if the two bodies orbited each other on a circular orbit (similar to the moon orbiting the Earth), and then slowly in-spiraled to more gently approach each other and make contact, Arrokoth’s rotation speed would have been extremely high, while the measured speed was actually quite low in respect to such expectations. Arrokoth’s full rotation, ‘a day,’ takes 15.92 hours. In addition, its angle of inclination (relative to the plane of its orbit around the Sun) is very large – 98 degrees – so it almost lies on the side relative to its orbit, a peculiar feature in itself.”

“According to our model, these two bodies revolve around each other, but because they revolve together around the Sun, they basically constitute a triple system,” he continued. “The dynamics of such triple systems are complex and notoriously known as the three-body problem. The dynamics of gravitating triple systems is known to be very chaotic. In our study, we showed that the system did not move in a simple and orderly manner, but also did not behave in a totally chaotic way.”

“It evolved from having a wide, relatively circular orbit, into a highly eccentric, elliptic orbit through a slow (secular) evolution, much slower compared to the orbital period of Arrokoth around the Sun,” said Prof. Perets. “We could show that such trajectories eventually lead to a collision, which on the one hand will be slow, and not smash the objects, but on the other hand, produce a slowly-rotating, highly inclined object, consistent with Arrokoth properties.”

“Our detailed simulations confirmed this picture, and produced models closely resembling Arrokoth’s snowman appearance, rotation and inclination,” said Dr. Malamud, in conclusion.

The researchers also studied how robust and probable such processes are, and found them to potentially be quite common with as many as 20% of all Kuiper Belt wide binaries, and potentially evolving in similar ways.

Until now, said the researchers, it was not possible to explain the unique features of Arrokoth. It is a counter intuitive result, but the likelihood of collision in such configurations actually increases as the initial binary is more widely separated (but still bound) and the initial tilt angle is closer to 90 degrees.

“Our model explains both the high likelihood of collision as well as the unique data of the unified system today, and in fact predict that many more objects in the Kuiper Belt,” said Mr. Grishin. “In fact, even Pluto’s and Charon’s system might have formed through a similar process, and they appear to play an important role in the evolution of binary and moon systems in the solar system.

New Hope for Coronavirus Patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Technion Professor Josué Sznitman and his team have developed an innovative technology that could dramatically improve the efficacy of existing drugs for treating Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). The technology could help save the lives of severe COVID-19 patients suffering from ARDS. Due to the global crisis, its development is being fast-tracked.

Prof. Sznitman’s team in the Technion Faculty of Biomedical Engineering is exploring the effectiveness of an innovative pulmonary treatment for ARDS, which is recognized as the leading cause of mortality in COVID-19 patients.

The team is in a race to launch clinical trials within a few months, and to evaluate the new technology for treating severe Coronavirus patients suffering from ARDS. To date, there is no existing therapy to treat ARDS patients. These patients undergo assisted ventilation and oxygenation, oftentimes under intubation, in intensive care units.

One of the hallmarks of ARDS is damage to pulmonary surfactant (the liquid that coats the surface of alveoli in the lungs). Surfactant has many roles, but perhaps most importantly it reduces the forces required for breathing. While research is ongoing to understand the SARS-COV-2 virus, it was recently shown that the virus kills the epithelial cells that secrete surfactant inside alveoli, after binding to a receptor (called ACE2) on the cell’s surface. Prof. Sznitman’s team hypothesizes that surfactant depletion may be particularly severe in COVID-19-related ARDS.

Surfactant Replacement Therapy (SRT) exists and is an established and life-saving clinical procedure in treating a similar type of ARDS that affects preterm newborn children, whose immature lungs lack pulmonary surfactant. In neonates, SRT is based on endotracheal administration of liquid surfactant (i.e. injecting external surfactant into the neonate’s lungs). As a result of differences in lung size, this delivery method has been highly ineffective in adults. Liquid instillations are strongly affected by gravity and thus quickly drain into pools, drowning some lung regions and leaving others entirely untreated.

The patent-pending technology, invented by Dr. Yan Ostrovski and Prof. Sznitman, and known as Liquid Foam Therapy (LIFT), is intended to dramatically improve the distribution of surfactant across the lungs. More generally, LIFT is a radical new method for pulmonary drug delivery with the potential of delivering therapeutics homogeneously into the lungs and, importantly in large doses. This is accomplished by loading the drug within the foam, or alternatively foaming the drug directly when possible. In both cases, and unlike liquids, the foam defies gravity and prevents the formation of pools.

In their findings (which will soon be submitted for scientific publication and subject to rigorous peer-review), the team thoroughly examined in a preclinical in vivo study, the safety and efficacy of employing LIFT with foamed surfactant in a severe ARDS model induced in rats. The rats recovered a healthy state within 15-30 minutes, with no adverse events. As rat lungs are too small to demonstrate improved distribution that is critically sought in adult lungs, the team used ex vivo experiments in adult-sized porcine lungs to show how LIFT spreads homogenously compared with liquid administration.

Following these encouraging results, the team is now in a race to construct a fully functional delivery device and move to a preclinical in vivo study in severe ARDS models in pigs. If successful, the researchers will pursue the first clinical trials of the therapy, in an effort to critically accelerate the development of a treatment for the most severe COVID-19 patients with ARDS. The LIFT technology will be licensed to the newly founded start-up company, Neshima Medical, led by Dr. Ostrovski and supported by the Technion’s Business Development Unit T³.

“Air-Shield” Improves the Effectiveness of Doctors’ Protective Masks

The Design-Tech Lab at Technion and Rambam Health Care Campus have developed an innovative device for medical staff’s masks, that continuously blows air on their faces, improving protection against infection while eliminating fogging and overheating.

Prof. Ezri Tarazi, Chair of the Industrial Design Program and head of the Design-Tech Lab at Technion, together with doctors at the Clinical Research Institute at Rambam Health Care Campus, have developed a breakthrough device that dramatically improves the efficacy of protective masks worn by COVID-19 medical staff everywhere. Body temperature often causes condensation to build up inside the protective gear, which makes the masks fog up, so that it is difficult for medical staff to see properly when treating patients.  There is additional concern that current protective masks are not sufficiently effective at eliminating infection by the virus aerosol droplets. 

“As medical teams continue to care for Coronavirus patients when one medical worker becomes infected, everyone on the team must be isolated. Therefore, protecting the entire team is a high priority,” says Tarazi.

Dr. Ronen Zalts, the first to test the device in Rambam’s COVID-19 department, and Prof. Tarazi explained that “the new invention generates airflow downwards from the forehead area and creates an ‘air shield’ inside the protective mask that isolates the doctor from the surrounding atmosphere, which may carry COVID-19 droplets. A small pump attached to the waist blows air through a tube up to the forehead, which is expelled via small holes in a manifold attached to the mask.” 

“We tested several different prototypes and made some improvements in order to refine the design and to optimize its effectiveness,” said Dr. Asaf Miller, head of the Internal Medicine ICU and a member of the COVID-19 management team at Rambam.

Prof. David Greenblatt of Technion’s Faculty of Mechanical Engineering carried out tests to ensure that the airflow is uniform.

Although the N95 masks used by medical staff provide 95% protection, the team sought to further improve the protection level. The new technology is the product of an outstanding collaboration between Technion and the Rambam Health Care Center in Haifa. The Technion team developed the mask, while Rambam staff carried out the clinical trials in a highly accelerated timeframe of collaboration.

Medical staff worldwide report that problems of overheating and foggy glasses are among the additional challenges that make it difficult for the medical staff to care for COVID-19 patients. Prof. Tarazi based the idea on pumps used in the IDF protective masks against nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) warfare, and adapted them to the needs of the medical professionals. “We integrated a thin flexible tube, a lightweight manifold, a thin shield and a rechargeable battery. All the components already existed, except for the manifold, which is being specially manufactured at Technion using Hewlett Packard industrial 3D printers.”

Dr. Zalts added, “I wore the shield while working in the COVID-19 department on Friday and it was amazing. It cooled me off and prevented condensation from accumulating, making it significantly easier to treat patients, and gave me an added sense of security since it continuously expelled air providing extra protection against droplet infection.”

Technion has produced an initial quantity of air shields for the Rambam Health Care Campus which are already in use.

COROBOT to Provide Remote Medical Care to COVID-19 Patients at Rambam Health Care Campus

Students and alumni of the FIRST robotics program from the Reali School in Haifa, led by Prof. Gil Yudilevitch of Technion’s Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, have designed a robotic platform to be operated remotely by medical staff, reducing the risk of infection by COVID-19

Over the last weeks, thousands of medical professionals have been forced to stop working after exposure to – or infection by – the novel Coronavirus. When a medical worker is diagnosed with the Coronavirus, the entire team must self-isolate for extended periods of time.

Safeguarding the health of medical workers has become a national priority.

Since medical professionals are on the front-line of the fight against COVID-19 and are the most exposed to the virus. Therefore, it is of critical importance to minimize their direct contact with patients where possible.

Prof. Michael Halbertal, Director General of the Rambam Health Care Campus, has been struggling with this challenge ever since the hospital’s Coronavirus Department was opened. He raised the problem with his predecessor Prof. Rafael Bayer and Technion VP for External Relations and Resource Development Prof. Alon Wolf, an expert in robotics. They discussed the need to develop a robot that would serve the Coronavirus patients and reduce the medical staff’s exposure to the virus. 

Prof. Wolf, academic head of the FIRST robotics program in Israel, contacted the principal of the Reali School in Haifa, Dr. Yosi Ben-Dov. The Reali School has a vibrant robotics club – “Galaxia 5987 in memory of David Zohar” – that has taken part in FIRST championships in the US. From that point on, things moved swiftly and last week the robot they designed was presented to the Rambam medical team. 

Prof. Yudilevitch joined the effort together with Profs. Ezri Tarazi and Reuven Katz. The first prototype fulfills the task of transporting supplies to and from the Coronavirus department. The robot is operated remotely by medical staff using a joystick or smartphone app, with the help of video cameras attached to the robot. 

School principal Dr. Ben-Dov says that “in recent days we have been working very hard, while complying with the Ministry of Health’s guidelines. In less than one week, we developed a robot according to Rambam’s requirements. Kudos to the high school students and the alumni – some are in the army, some are Technion students and others have been laid off from work during the crisis – and of course to the parents who became involved and are supporting this essential project. I would also like to thank teachers Tirza Hochberg and Asaf Shulman, who spared no effort in helping with this important project, as well as Schnapp Batteries, which donated important components for the robot.”

According to Prof. Alon Wolf, “If the robot will successfully pass its installation at Rambam, in a relatively short amount of time we will be able to build more robots for Rambam and for similar departments in other Israeli hospitals. Then additional FIRST groups all over Israel will join the effort.”

“In the next stage, the robot will incorporate a communication system that will include a screen, camera, microphone, and speaker, and will be able to move from patient to patient and transmit information to the medical staff in real-time,” adds Prof. Gil Yudilevitch. “I hope that in the future we will add features that will help with the actual treatment, such as sensors that will check patients’ pulse rates and blood oxygen levels.”

About FIRST

FIRST is an international educational organization that uses robotics competitions to promote entrepreneurship and learning among children and youth. FIRST ISRAEL, led by Technion, runs hundreds of groups across the country totaling approximately 14,000 students between the ages of 6 and 18. 

This is a season in which we are united in staying apart, liberated through lockdown, and elevated through the deep bond we feel reverberating throughout the whole Technion family – regardless of the boundaries of time and space.

From Israel with love, and wishing you a blessed and safe Passover,
The Technion LIVE Team

How is this night unlike any other night?

Holiday blessings from Technion, Israel Institute of Technology

Nanotech stickers for surgical masks via 3D-printing; cutting-edge systems to remotely screen for COVID-19; a proliferation of student volunteers; and the keys to psychological and physical immunity.

In the midst of a state of emergency, hundreds of Technion students volunteer to support the nationwide measures to counter the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Technion Student Association (TSA) has rapidly mobilized the many students who are volunteering time and energy to minimize the human cost of COVID-19 in Israel. Hundreds of Technion students are contributing their time and skills to help those most affected by the crisis. 

In late February and early March 2020, around 15 students were self-quarantined in the dorms of Technion City. Many of these don’t have families in Israel. The TSA rapidly stepped up to support them by staying in contact, providing food and helping in a variety of other ways. Since then, the student association has also been actively involved in ensuring that students are not affected academically by COVID-19, in particular as the entire Technion has switched to online platforms. 

Suddenly, most of Israel’s population has moved into lockdown. This led to a number of TSA initiatives of social support. Several of these include close collaboration with Haifa’s Welfare Department. Many senior citizens who are currently self-isolating suffer from loneliness, practical difficulties, and other quarantine-related issues. The TSA obtained a list of elderly people from Haifa’s Welfare Department and over one hundred Technion students are maintaining contact with people on the list, calling them regularly to alleviate their sense of isolation and checking to make sure they are alright. If necessary, they pass on specific problems and requests to the appropriate entities. 

More than 150 Technion students have joined up to provide meals to elderly citizens in need, many of whom previously picked up their meals in person but cannot do so during the coronavirus pandemic. Volunteers help pack the food and physically distribute the meals throughout the Haifa region.   

Another project in which the TSA is coordinating with Haifa’s Welfare Department involves donating computers to the city’s children and students. Since children are expected to continue their education remotely, those that do not have computers are unable to participate and are forced to stop studying. For years, the TSA has run a project whereby old Technion computers are fixed and upgraded by student volunteers and donated to Technion students. This project has been extended so that Haifa’s school children and students can receive computers and pursue their education from home. Technion’s Faculty of Computer Science has generously donated a large number of computers and TSA volunteers are also contacting high-tech companies and other potential donors. The volunteers personally deliver the computers to the homes of eligible recipients. 

“As Technion students, we understand the importance of education and we want to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity,” says Linoy Nagar Shaul, Chair of the Technion Student Association, adding that other cities in northern Israel have also approached them to join the computer donation project. 

Several impressive initiatives involve medical students at Technion’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine. Among other projects, they are volunteering to staff an ad hoc school for the children of doctors working at Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center. Since doctors are even more overworked than usual these days, schools are closed, and grandparents need protection, caring for their children is a national priority. 

Technion medical students are also volunteering with Magen David Adom (Israel’s Red Cross) at the drive-through COVID-19 testing station in Haifa, as well as testing people in their homes. They were trained at the Faculty of Medicine and at the MDA station in Haifa and have been certified to carry out the testing. 

In a project led by Dr. Lilach Dolev, medical students are also helping out at Clalit Health Fund clinics, taking on tasks such as triage at the entrance to the clinics and equipping possible Coronavirus patients with protective gear. They also assist in the clinics’ call centers, responding to queries that can be handled by phone. Under the leadership of doctoral student Omer Shkadi, a group of Technion doctoral students is volunteering in virology labs in order to speed up the processing of COVID-19 tests. Medical students will also soon volunteer in Rambam’s mental health clinic – an initiative of Dr. Vered Tal. 

During this unsettling period, medical students are also volunteering to keep in touch with Holocaust survivors and senior citizens through the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims.

In addition, the TSA is organizing a blood drive on campus and is planning other activities to alleviate the plight of everyone affected by the current crisis. Indeed, in the midst of this global catastrophe, the involvement of Technion’s students in so many crucial outreach projects – despite the fact that they are busy with their academic obligations – shows how also this cloud has a silver lining.

Fighting COVID-19: a Device that Combines Radar and Optical Sensors for Remote Monitoring of Patients Vital Signs 

Research at Technion in collaboration with the National Emergency Team of the Defense Ministry’s Directorate of Defense R&D (DDR&D) developed a system to remotely measure vital signs of patients to help in the fight against COVID-19. 

The new technology combines radars and optical sensors and enables medical teams to measure a patient’s vital signs without endangering their own health. 

The vital signs are monitored using a thermal imaging method developed by Dr. Yonatan Savir of Technion’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine together with radar technology developed at Elbit and Elta. 

Implementing the new technology will be of great benefit to the medical staff performing triage on suspected infected corona patients upon their arrival at the hospital emergency room. In the future, the technology could be used for rapid detection of sick people at the entrance to public places such as stores, workplaces, and army bases, without requiring physical contact between the person and the tester, and without the need for trained medical personnel. In addition, the accuracy of the test is not affected by lighting conditions. 

The innovative technology is based on deep learning research conducted in Savir’s lab. It uses unique algorithms that extract precise data from simple and inexpensive thermal imaging cameras. The problem with these cameras is that they are not as precise as expensive sophisticated thermal imaging cameras. The Savir breakthrough overcomes this limitation, making it possible to obtain reliable and precise data from inexpensive thermal cameras. 

Dr. Yonatan Savir is a faculty member in the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine. He earned a dual BSc from Technion in Physics and Electrical Engineering, and MSc and Ph.D. degrees in Theoretical Physics from the Weizmann Institute of Science, followed by a postdoc at Harvard Medical School. The Savir Lab conducts interdisciplinary research that combines biophysics, systems biology and deep learning.  

The research was conducted in partnership with Neteera, Vayyar, EchoCare Technologies, Rabin Medical Center, and was led by Brig.-Gen. Yaniv Rotem of the Defense Ministry’s Directorate of Defense R&D (DDR&D) and the Sensor Systems team headed by Col. A., and additional research groups from academia and the IDF.