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The three Technion faculty members who were selected are:

Prof. Oded Beja of the Faculty of Biology, whose field is metagenomics – an approach that analyzes organisms in their natural environment. This approach was developed in response to the fact that around 98% of all microorganisms can’t grow in laboratory cultures, certainly not in a manner that resembles the natural process. Ribosomal RNA analyses provide many insights, but not a complete understanding of the organism’s ecological function and its physiologic and biochemical properties. The approach used by Prof. Beja’s research group exposes this knowledge using metagenomics, making it possible to overcome this problem by analyzing the microbial genomes and detecting protein-coding genes and biochemical routes in cells. Using metagenomics, Prof. Beja discovered microbial rhodopsin proteins used for harvesting light energy.

Prof. Benjamin Podbilewicz of the Faculty of Biology, who studies cell fusion mechanisms in fertilization and organ development. His pioneering work led to the discovery of two fusogens that cause cells to fuse: EFF-1 and AFF-1 in C. elegans. These proteins are necessary and sufficient to fuse cells during the development of organs. His group demonstrated that switching viral fusogens with EFF-1 or AFF-1 causes a viral infection. This was the first time it was shown that cellular fusogens can replace viral fusogens. The group solved EFF-1’s atomic structure and discovered a structural similarity to viral fusogens; this was the first structure that has been solved for cellular fusogens. Together with Pablo Aguilar, Podbilewicz predicted that a plant protein (GCS1/HAP2) structurally resembles EFF-1 and proved its activity. They defined a super-family of fusogens from animals, plants, protists and viruses known as fusexins. His lab found that EFF-1 and AFF-1 maintain and repair the tree-like structure of neurons and showed how dendritic branches age and ways to rejuvenate them. He also studied the first mammalian sperm fusogen with Tetsuya Higashiyama, and new fusexins in Archaea with an international consortium.

Prof. Asya Rolls of the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine studies psychosomatic interactions – specifically, how the brain influences the immune system and its ability to cope with diseases. Her work demonstrated that the reward mechanism in the brain, which is connected to motivation and hope, increases the immune system’s activity, thereby boosting the defense against viral infections (the research was published in 2016 in the journal Nature Medicine). In a different study (published in Nature Communications in 2018), she showed that similar brain interventions lead to a dramatic reduction in the size of cancerous tumors, mediated by the immune system. In an additional article from 2021, published in Cell, Prof. Rolls demonstrated a difference aspect of the connection between the brain and the immune system by showing that the brain preserves “memories” of past diseases, and is capable of reproducing these diseases by activating those memories. These findings have dramatic ramifications on understanding the placebo and nocebo effects, as well as the outbreak of diseases following certain emotional experiences.

EMBO is an international organization whose members are scientists from 30 countries. 92 Nobel Prize laureates are now, or were in the past, members of the organization. Its main goals are to support talented researchers at all phases of their careers, promote the sharing of scientific knowledge and help create a rich research environment that enables researchers to make the most of their abilities. The new young scientists who join the four-year program, during which they receive financial support from the organization, enjoy important professional connections, mentorship of senior researchers from the EMBO community, leadership training, and access to the research facilities at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany. The organization, which was founded in July 1964, is currently celebrating its 60th anniversary. The new cohort includes nine Israeli researchers.

Click here for the New EMBO Members 2024 list Outstanding scientists elected to EMBO Membership – Press releases – EMBO

One undergraduate student and two doctoral students from the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering have been selected to attend the 73rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, where young scientists meet with Nobel laureates. Some 650 young scientists from around the world will participate in this year’s meetings, which will take place this week.

Nevo Werner-Reiss is a fourth-year undergraduate student in the double-major track of Electrical Engineering and Physics at the faculty, and is a member of the Technion Excellence Program.

Exceptionally for an undergraduate student, Nevo was an active member of Prof. Shahar Kvatinsky’s lab which he initially joined toward the end of his first year in the Excellence Program for a summer project. There Nevo worked on adapting and evaluating algorithms and hardware designs for In Memory Binary Neural Network inference accelerators. During his third academic year, Nevo presented his research and won the “Best Student Poster” Award at ATTO9 – The 9th International Conference on Attosecond Science and Technology that was held in Jeju, South Korea.

In his poster, Nevo showcased his research project: “Towards Quantum Tomography of Attosecond Pulse by FROG-CRAB” where he explored the effect of photon statistics on FROG-CRAB. His research was supervised by Matan Even Tzur and Prof. Oren Cohen. Nevo is continuing his studies as a graduate student at Prof. Yuval Shagam‘s Molecular Quantum Technology Lab.

Sapir Biton completed her undergraduate and master’s degrees at the faculty and is currently an Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship, which is given to outstanding doctoral students by the Edmond de Rothschild Foundations. Under the supervision of Prof. Nir Tessler, Biton’s doctoral research focuses on devices in the fields of optoelectronics and microelectronics based on electrochemical processes.

According to Prof. Tessler, “Electrochemical transistors and memories are likely to be part of the next stage of the microelectronics industry, and I am very pleased that Sapir has taken us in this direction. The fact that researchers worldwide are changing the structure of their devices following Sapir’s insights is direct evidence of her excellence.”

In an article published in 2023, the two presented a model describing the instability mechanism in perovskites – cells that are expected to be integrated into silicon solar cells and later also into lightweight and semi-transparent cells for various other applications. The findings are expected to accelerate the use of perovskites and improve the production of green energy.

Michael Birk completed a double major in physics and electrical engineering as part of the “Pinnacle” Future Scientists program, and he is currently a doctoral student under the joint supervision of Prof. Ido Kaminer (AdQuanta) from the Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Prof. Oren Cohen from the Faculty of Physics. In his doctoral research, Birk focuses on the theory and application of quantum optics.

According to Prof. Kaminer, “Michael’s contribution was crucial to our publications in Nature Physics and Nature Photonics last year, where he was one of the lead authors. Together, the two articles laid the foundation for a new research field – strong-field quantum optics – which has already begun to engage researchers worldwide. In a third article published in the Journal of Optics, Michael led the Technion’s contribution to an international collaboration of researchers, demonstrating impressive leadership and collaboration skills.”

Prof. Brik was born in the village of Abu Snan in the Western Galilee and completed his undergraduate degree at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and his master’s degree and PhD at the Technion. After completing his PhD, he continued to a postdoctoral fellowship at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, California. Upon his return to Israel, Prof. Brik was appointed as a senior lecturer at Ben-Gurion University, and within five years, he was promoted to full professor. In 2015, he was recruited to the Technion and has since been a faculty member in the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry.

Irith Rappaport, daughter of the founders of the Bruce and Ruth Rappaport Foundation said: “The vision behind the prizes established by my late parents is to encourage excellence, whether in the category for biomedical research or in the categories for art and for women generating change. The research prize is a professional award that has gained a reputation as one of the prestigious and important awards in Israel. Moreover, as someone who was born in Haifa, the most diverse city in Israel, the model of a shared society was and remains self-evident to me. Therefore, I am proud to award the prize each year to the winners who represent Israeli society as a whole. I am confident that my parents would have been proud that the prizes they established sanctify the values ​​they instilled in us: excellence, equality, and mutual respect regardless of religion, race, and gender.”

Prof. Brik focuses on biological chemistry and develops innovative methods for the synthesis of proteins with unique properties, such as those that undergo changes after translation. These proteins are used in structural, biochemical, biophysical, and functional analyses, as well as in understanding their roles in various diseases and in developing innovative treatments for these diseases. He has won numerous awards and grants, including the Humboldt Prize (Germany), the Hirata Award (Japan), the Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award, the Teva Award for Excellence in memory of Eli Hurvitz (Israel), the Israel Chemical Society Prize for Outstanding Young Chemist, and the ERC Advanced Grant, awarded to leading researchers with outstanding achievements in research. In 2019, he was elected as a member of the Israel Young Academy.

The Rappaport Prize for Outstanding Doctoral Students was awarded to Dr. Alia Ghrayeb, who completed her medical studies at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and continued her doctoral studies at the same faculty under the supervision of Prof. Eyal Gottlieb. She is currently under the supervision of Prof. Zaid Abbasi. Dr. Ghrayeb researches key metabolic changes in fatty liver disease, the most common cause of chronic liver disease and the leading cause of liver transplants worldwide. Using metabolic tools, she revealed not only changes in lipid profiles but also significant changes in amino acid metabolism, particularly in the glycine pathway. She extended these findings to demonstrate that such metabolic changes are also present in cardiovascular diseases, the main cause of mortality among people with fatty liver disease. Although the therapeutic potential of glycine has been previously studied, the mechanism leading to a decrease in glycine levels and the metabolic implications of this deficiency have not yet been thoroughly investigated. Using metabolic tools combined with unique pharmacological and genetic approaches in an experimental model of fatty liver in mice, Dr. Ghrayeb demonstrated that increased synthesis of serine from glycine through the reverse activity of the mitochondrial enzyme 2SHMT is the main cause of decreased glycine levels in fatty liver. Additionally, genetically engineered mice that do not express 2SHMT in the liver exhibit a preferred antioxidant capacity, which protects them from oxidative stress damage. Alia’s deep understanding of glycine metabolism in fatty liver holds potential for therapeutic applications in the not-too-distant future.

 For the video that was screened in honor of Prof. Brik at the award ceremony.

Image generator models – systems that produce new images based on textual descriptions – have become a common and well-known phenomenon in the past year. Their continuous improvement, largely relying on developments in the field of artificial intelligence, makes them an important resource in various fields.

To achieve good results, these models are trained on vast amounts of image-text pairs – for example, matching the text “picture of a dog” to a picture of a dog, repeated millions of times. Through this training, the model learns to generate original images of dogs.

 

However, as noted by Hadas Orgad, a doctoral student from the Henry and Marilyn Taub Faculty of Computer Science, and Bahjat Kawar a graduate of the same Faculty, “since these models are trained on a lot of data from the real world, they acquire and internalize assumptions about the world during the training process. Some of these assumptions are useful, for example, ‘the sky is blue,’ and they allow us to obtain beautiful images even with short and simple descriptions. On the other hand, the model also encodes incorrect or irrelevant assumptions about the world, as well as societal biases. For example, if we ask Stable Diffusion (a very popular image generator) for a picture of a CEO, we will only get pictures of women in 4% of cases.”

Another problem these models face is the significant number of changes occurring in the world around us. The models cannot adapt to the changes after the training process. As Dana Arad, also a doctoral student at the Taub Faculty of Computer Science, explains, “during their training process, models also learn a lot of factual knowledge about the world. For example, models learn the identities of heads of state, presidents, and even actors who portrayed popular characters in TV series. Such models are no longer updated after their training process, so if we ask a model today to generate a picture of the President of the United States, we might still reasonably receive a picture of Donald Trump, who of course has not been the president in recent years. We wanted to develop an efficient way to update the information without relying on expensive actions.”

The “traditional” solution to these problems is constant data correction by the user, retraining, or fine-tuning. However, these fixes incur high costs financially, in terms of workload, in terms of result quality, and in environmental aspects (due to the longer operation of computer servers). Additionally, implementing these methods does not guarantee control over unwanted assumptions or new assumptions that may arise. “Therefore,” they explain, “we would like a precise method to control the assumptions that the model encodes.”

The methods developed by the doctoral students under the guidance of Dr. Yonatan Belinkov address this need. The first method, developed by Orgad and Kawar and called TIME (Text-to-Image Model Editing), allows for the quick and efficient correction of biases and assumptions. The reason for this is that the correction does not require fine-tuning, retraining, or changing the language model and altering the text interpretation tools, but only a partial re-editing of around 1.95% of the model’s parameters. Moreover, the same editing process is performed in less than a second. In ongoing research based on TIME, called UCE, which has been developed in collaboration with Northeastern and MIT universities, they proposed a way to control a variety of undesirable ethical behaviors of the model – such as copyright infringement or social biases – by removing unwanted associations from the model such as offensive content or artistic styles of different artists.

The methods receive inputs from the user regarding a fact or assumption they want to edit. For example, in cases of implicit assumptions, the method receives a “source” on which the model bases implicit assumptions (e.g., “red roses” by default the model assumes red roses) and a “target” that describes the same circumstances but with the desired features (e.g., “blue roses”). When wanting to use the method for role editing, the method receives an editing request (e.g., “President of the United States”) and then a “source” and “target” (“Donald Trump” and “Joe Biden,” respectively). The researchers collected about 200 works and assumptions on which they tested the editing methods and showed that these are efficient methods for updating information and correcting biases.

TIME was presented in October 2023 at the ICCV conference, one of the important conferences in the field of computer vision and machine learning. UCE was recently presented at the WACV conference. ReFACT was presented in Mexico at the NAACL conference, one of the leading conferences in natural language processing research.

The research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF), the Azrieli Foundation, Open Philanthropy, FTX Future Fund, the Crown Family Foundation, and the Council for Higher Education. Hadas Orgad is an Apple AI doctoral fellow.

Click here for the project website and papers:

https://aclanthology.org/2024.naacl-long.140/

https://technion-cs-nlp.github.io/ReFACT/

https://time-diffusion.github.io/

Dr. Patricia Mora-Raimundo, a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Avi Schroeder’s research group in the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering, recently won first place in the Future Award competition of the EuroTech Universities Alliance. She received the prestigious award for working on an innovative method to transport drugs to the brain by using music.

The EuroTech Alliance is a strategic partnership between leading science and technology universities. On January 1, 2019, the Technion joined the alliance as the sixth member of the network and the first outside Europe. The Future Award was established by the scientific-technological alliance last year to honor researchers expected to make dramatic changes in their fields for the benefit of humanity. Winners are chosen based on their existing and potential contributions to advancing the United Nations’ vision as reflected in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set in 2015 and adopted by all member states.

Twenty-eight early-career researchers competed for the EuroTech Future Award in 2024. Patricia Mora-Raimundo of Technion, Yudong Xue of EPFL, and Melisa Benard Valle of Technical University of Denmark made the top of the list. The award jury, composed of the Vice Presidents for Research of the EuroTech member universities and the Head of the EuroTech Brussels Office, assessed the impact of the applicants’ work in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals defined by the United Nations; their excellence as researchers; and their ability to communicate about their work in a way that allows non-experts, particularly policymakers and citizens, to understand their contribution to a more sustainable world.

Dr. Mora-Raimundo completed her academic education in pharmaceutical sciences at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. During here postdoc, she has focused on developing new treatments for Parkinson’s disease, solutions for crossing the blood-brain barrier to treat brain diseases and creating nano-lipid particles to deliver nucleic acids to the body. She has won numerous awards, including the Azrieli Fellowship, and is a member of Teva’s National Forum for Innovation in Life Sciences.

Dr. Mora-Raimundo began her research on nanometric drugs at the University of Madrid, in the context of bone cancer and osteoporosis treatment. In 2020, during the last year of her doctorate, she spent a short period in Prof. Schroeder’s laboratory. The initial period was extended due to her interest in the research areas at the Technion laboratory, and she decided to continue her postdoctoral fellowship at the University.

In her proposal that won her the Future Award, Dr. Mora-Raimundo presents the MINND model: Music Input in Nanotechnology-based treatments for Neurological Disorders.

“My journey in the world of science began in 2012,” says Dr. Mora-Raimundo, “inspired by my grandfather, who instilled in me curiosity, faith in effort and perseverance, and shaped my character — and later my research. About a decade ago, my grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and his condition influenced me to choose research related to this disease. In the advanced stages of the disease, most of my grandfather’s abilities declined, but music continued to speak to him. This is the inspiration for the development I presented to EuroTech.”

Neurological disorders are the leading cause of disabilities and the second leading cause of death worldwide. Nanometric drugs promise improved solutions for treating these disorders — better than conventional treatments. One of the technological challenges in implementing nanomedicine is that to affect the brain, the nanometric particles must cross the blood-brain barrier. This barrier, which protects the brain from infections present in the blood, is a complex obstacle in therapeutic contexts as it hinders drug delivery to the brain. One of Dr. Mora-Raimundo’s tasks in her current research is to increase the number of particles crossing the barrier into the brain. Like the Pied Piper, she seeks to overcome the blood-brain barrier by using music allowing these particles to arrive to the brain.

“As mentioned, my grandfather is the inspiration, as despite suffering from Alzheimer’s, he continued to listen to music for a long time. I read extensive scientific literature on the subject and discovered that music creates new connections in the brain. Then I asked, could listening to music improve the delivery of therapeutic particles to the brain? The answer is still under research, and hopefully we will achieve promising results.”

The Office of the Executive Vice President for Innovation and Industry Relations is dedicated to enhancing the collaboration between the Technion and industry by identifying opportunities and maximizing their potential.

In a recent interview, Prof. Lihi Zelnik-Manor, Executive VP for Innovation and Industry Relations, talks about how Technion researchers have traditionally been at the forefront of cutting edge technologies, leveraging the university’s valuable multidisciplinary approach to create successful partnerships with industry players.

How can the Technion create and maintain fruitful collaborations with industry to ensure these make a real and meaningful impact?

Universities have historically focused their efforts on pursuing academic research, while industry has used its resources to manufacture products. Over the past few decades however, we have seen a spurt of collaborative relationships and a fluidity of roles: many academic institutions are facilitating the inception of companies while corporations have started to set up their own research and development centers. As the relationship between academia and corporations intensifies, universities are presented with different needs and challenges.

Ever since its formation, the Technion has strived to enrich research and academic development, generate valuable human capital, revolutionize knowledge, and impact the Israeli and global industry around the world. The university’s strategic vision emphasizes collaboration with industry, believing it can leave a significant mark on society by transferring the vast amount of knowledge and research it has accumulated within its labs to industry.

Over the years we have formulated and updated collaboration frameworks and plans, to make this knowledge transfer even more effective and impactful, with added productivity. We are formulating one such plan as we speak: we are taking a deep look at what works, what needs to be amplified and finetuned, and where resources should best be allocated. All of this is to ensure that the Technion continues to be the leading technological university in Israel, a pillar of its society and a driving force for industry.

What challenges and setbacks are you facing that could hinder collaborations?

To ensure collaborations with industry are successful we need to make sure that the two sides learn how to talk with each other: researchers tend to ask broad questions, look at the larger picture and deliberate issues for extended periods of time. Those who work at corporations are generally product oriented and focused on bringing the development to market as soon as possible.

One of our jobs is to help bridge these differences and match expectations, so that both sides can work with each other and create a collaborative and productive working environment.

People who work in industry are often so focused on developing a product that they can often be unaware of recent research findings that could impact their work. Since our labs are equipped with the latest technologies and are managed by skilled researchers who track global scientific developments, they can quicky update industry partners with this information. This can help modify products to suit the changing reality or help companies to make the necessary tweaks to resolve an even larger challenge.

Today, a significant part of our staff and students are immersed in research projects that could translate into commercial products. This is a source of pride, as the technologies developed in our labs are those that will make an impact on society and the medical world. Intensifying connections with industry, as is happening now, will only boost these results.

What distinct advantages and expertise do Technion researchers bring to collaborations with industry?

The Technion’s multidisciplinary approach to research is what confers upon its scientists an unprecedented and unparalleled level of flexibility when approaching a problem. Our research teams include members from a wide variety of faculties and fields, including chemistry, biology, medicine, and engineering. This enables them to work together to tackle challenges as varied as sustainability and human health and find solutions to a variety of other pressing humanitarian problems.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a fast-growing field in which Technion researchers have joined forces over the years. Whereas the study of AI first emerged in the 1950s, we have seen a flourishing of this science only in the last few years, made possible by faster chips and the development of cloud computing.

This has triggered a global AI frenzy, with corporations spending billions of dollars and valuable human resources to get an edge over others and create practical tools to best make use of this technology.

Since the very beginning, the Technion has been at the forefront of AI research. Today, the 120 researchers that work in the university’s labs can tap into decades of accumulated experience and experiments to bring that ripe knowledge to the industry that is hungry for new AI-based solutions and applications.

It is the role of the Technion’s tech transfer unit to convert these high-scale projects into strong commercial products.

Another advantage of the Technion is the fact that many of its researchers, including myself, have worked in industry at some point during their careers, and are thus able to understand its needs and unique viewpoints. This background enables us to tutor our students and our fellow researchers with the practical knowledge relevant to industry. It also allows our students to successfully blend into the business world after they graduate, providing their new employers with an all-rounded and better-prepared force to meet the challenges of the future.

One should not forget that there are many similarities between a talented researcher and a talented entrepreneur. Both need to have the ability to be thorough and pay attention to detail, undertake a comprehensive study of the field they wish to explore, ask the right questions, and think independently.

What will impact the Technion’s research going forward?

It has always been in our DNA to perform innovative research and align forces with the industry. This collaboration will expand in coming years, and the ongoing open discussion, flow of information and the sharing of ideas will continue to be beneficial and fruitful for both parties.

We have seen this in the past, we continue to witness it today and we will experience even more of it in the future.

The Zimin Institute Conference addressed the various stages of translating basic ideas and research into applications that impact human health through artificial intelligence.

On May 27, the Zimin Institute Conference took place at the Technion, led by Tech-AI.Biomed – the medical arm of the Technion’s Artificial Intelligence Center, Tech.AI. The conference opened with welcoming remarks from Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan and Mr. Boris Zimin, president of the Zimin Foundation.

The conference focused on the translation of academic innovation into medical applications, and was divided into three main parts, all dealing with innovation in medicine: the idea, the transition from basic research to product, and real-world impact. During the conference, the winners of the 2024 Zimin Foundation grants were announced.

The partnership between the Technion and the Zimin Foundation was formalized in 2022 with an agreement in which the Foundation supports the establishment and operation of the Zimin Institute for AI Development in Medicine at the Technion.

According to Prof. Sivan, “This important partnership is a central component of the Technion Human Health Initiative (THHI), which aims to advance human health through interdisciplinary research that harnesses technologies, including artificial intelligence, for the benefit of medicine. As a leading institution in both medical research and artificial intelligence, the Zimin Institute exemplifies two of our prominent strengths. We thank the Zimin Foundation, appreciate its decision to establish its third institute at the Technion, and congratulate it on the first conference being held at the Technion.”

The Institute is headed by Prof. Shai Shen-Orr from the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine.

Participants in the conference included Zimin Institutes Director Dr. Mark Shmulevich, Zimin Institute Tel Aviv University Director Prof. David Mendlovic, Leonid Solovyev, director of operations at the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, and Ronit Samler, director of the Technion Technology Transfer Office (T3) at the Technion.

Supported by Mobileye, Nvidia, Harel Technologies, IBM Research, and Technion’s Zimin Institute for AI Solutions in Healthcare, the event drew 500 industry executives, academics, and students. Prof. Shen-Orr highlighted the rapid development within Tech.AI, noting the establishment of new centers and initiatives. The conference provided a valuable platform to present Technion’s AI capabilities and foster new partnerships.

Speakers at the conference, in order of appearance:

Prof. Rafael Beyar, former CEO of Rambam Health Care Campus and former dean of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, on innovation in medicine in clinical, academic, and industrial fields.

Prof. Yoni Savir from the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, on the use of artificial intelligence to improve medical diagnosis and biopsy-based treatments. Prof. Savir won the Zimin Foundation grant in 2023.

Prof. Uri Shalit from the Faculty of Data and Decision Sciences, on a personalized recommendation system for treating hospitalized patients suffering from heart failure and acute kidney injury. Prof. Shalit won the Zimin Foundation grant in 2023, together with Prof. Danny Eitan from the Rambam Healthcare Campus, and Dr. Oren Caspi.

Prof. Lihi Zelnik-Manor, Technion vice president of innovation and industry relations, on innovation in medicine at the Technion.

Prof. Shai Shen-Orr from the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, head of the Zimin Institute at the Technion, on CytoReason, the company he founded.

Prof. Tamir Tuller from Tel Aviv University on a computational model of gene expression: introduction and biomedical applications. OncoDecipher, the company founded by Prof. Tuller, grew out of a Zimin Foundation grant.

Dr. Renana Sabi from the Faculties of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at the Technion, manager of Tech.AI-Biomed, on the mindset changes needed to turn an idea into a product.

Dr. Orna Berry, former chief scientist at the Ministry of Economy and Industry and current senior executive at Google Cloud.

Leor Stern from Google Research Center.

Prof. Michal Rosen-Zvi, director of AI and life sciences research at the IBM Research Laboratory, on the promise of generative AI in overcoming challenges in drug development.

Udi Goori, general manager, Israel, at Elevance Health, proactive care.

Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry, Distinguished Professor Dan Shechtman from the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, on internal entrepreneurship as a key to success in large organizations.

For photos from the conference see here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jwfAV3Apa5TrdqKDo6Jud3E-6_DquTzr?usp=sharing

An article published by Technion researchers in the prestigious journal Nature presents new insights about the evolution of the immune system. The team’s findings highlight the modularity and flexibility of the evolution of immunity. The study was led by researchers from the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Prof. Shai Shen-Orr, Dr. Tania Dubovik, and postdoctoral fellow Dr. Martin Lukačišin, in collaboration with Rambam Health Care Campus and Carnegie Mellon University.

The immune system is complex, and its main function is to protect the organism from viruses, infections, and other hostile agents.  At the core of this system are different types of immune cells, each with its own function, which work together to provide the necessary protection for the body. The interaction between the immune system and the dynamic environment requires it to change constantly. The primary mechanism that drives changes in the living world is evolution, based on adaptation to environmental changes through the formation of mutations — random genetic changes. However, due to natural selection, not every random genetic change is beneficial to the individual, and even if the change is beneficial, it is not preserved and passed on to future generations.

Immune system genes evolve faster than other genes in the genome, especially in mammals and birds, indicating the importance of the role of the immune system in adapting to the environment in health and disease.  Despite this, its evolutionary dynamics have not been studied in depth until now. This is largely due to the fact that the immune system is complex, and highly variable between individuals, which has resulted in a tradition of studying it in laboratory animals inbred for genetic uniformity and kept in a clean, bug-free environment.

The Technion researchers leveraged a unique model of genetically different mice, which harbors similar variation to that observed in humans. Using this model, the researchers measured the variation in immune cell types between the mice and identified the genes that control the abundance of each immune cell type.  Many of these genes affect the entire system through the regulation of cell division, migration, and death, by controlling the same cell type in which they are expressed. However, within these genes, the researchers identified a set of genes that are expressed in one cell type and control another. By scanning the genomes of 60 vertebrates spanning an evolutionary timeline of ~600 million years, the researchers demonstrated that the latter group is richer in mutations and provides a favorable space for evolution to generate novel interactions between cell types by increasing diversity without significant damage.

According to Prof. Shen-Orr and his team, “One of the important implications is that the ability of the immune system to evolve new functions is dependent more on the interaction between different cells than within a cell type, giving us an understanding of how complex modular systems evolve. This modularity was observed in the past in how genes and proteins evolve new functions, but it has never been studied in complex network systems, such as the interacting cells of the immune system.”

Further research into immune system evolvability could thus not only enlighten the design principles behind immune responses, but also contribute to biomimetic solutions, e.g., in the system-of-systems approach to engineering, which, similarly, is based on interactions between functional units.

The research was generously supported by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF), the Applebaum Foundation, the Milgrom Foundation, the Kollek Research Fund, the Bruce and Ruth Rappaport Cancer Research Center, and the Eli Kaufman Fellowship.

For the full paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07661-0

A Technion study reveals that observing natural elements during daily actions such as walking to and from work improves mood and reduces stress and anxiety, according to participants’ reports. The research was led by Dr. Whitney Fleming, a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Assaf Shwartz’s research group. Prof. Shwartz is a socioecologist and head of the Landscape Architecture Department in the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at the Technion.

The study used eye-tracking technology to examine the benefits of daily interactions with nature. As part of the study, Technion students were asked to take a walk around campus, simulating a regular walk to or from work or studies. The students were divided into three groups. The first group was asked to observe nature during the walk and stopped ten times at “green” points with natural elements. The second group was also asked to stop ten times, but at “gray” points with built, artificial elements such as buildings, roads, and cars. The third group combined both, observing both natural and artificial elements.

 

Individuals who directed their gaze more frequently at green elements reported a decrease in stress and anxiety after the walk, compared to measurements taken before the walk. This reduction was not recorded in the other groups. Researchers tracked the participants’ eye movements and found a correlation between the duration of viewing natural elements such as trees, bushes, and lawns, and improvements in mental health indicators. The most beneficial impact was observed from viewing trees.

Prof. Shwartz stated: “We are in a very stressful period with complex mental challenges, and nature can play a central role in our ability to cope. By using cutting-edge eye tracking technology, our research shows that simply being mindful of nature, even during a regular walk to or from work or studies, can be beneficial to mental health and help relieve stress. Previous studies have shown that interaction with nature has benefits for mental health and quality of life, but this study demonstrates for the first time that even a few fleeting glances at nature during daily routines can yield these benefits.” Prof. Shwartz added, “Our research shows how important it is to incorporate natural elements in urban planning. However, this integration is not enough, landscape architects and planners should also think about innovative means to enhance the experience of this nature and ensure that residents actually notice these elements. The challenge is to design our cities in a way that encourages interaction between people and nature. Such interactions will improve both the residents’ quality of life and their connection to nature, and desire to preserve it.”

The study was supported by a European Union ERC Starting Grant and the Zuckerman STEM Leadership Program.

Read the full paper here: The nature gaze: Eye‐tracking experiment reveals well‐being benefits derived from directing visual attention towards elements of nature – Fleming – People and Nature – Wiley Online Library

Technion alumnus Col. (Res.) Prof. Salman Zarka, director of Ziv Medical Center, spoke at the ceremony on behalf of the award recipients: “We must bring forth light to ourselves and to the entire world”

The Technion awarded honorary fellowships this week to men and women who made exceptional contributions to the Technion, the State of Israel, and humanity. The recipients are Adina Bar Shalom, Paul Charney, Robert Davis, Stephen Seiden, and Col. (Res.) Prof. Salman Zarka. The ceremony took place within the framework of the Technion’s Board of Governors, in the presence of Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan, Chairman of the Board Gideon Frank, Chairman of the Board of Governors Scott Leemaster, and was hosted by Prof. Avi Schroeder from the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering.

“Many of the Technion’s friends came to the Board of Governors’ meeting from near and far, despite the situation,” said Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan. “These are challenging days for all of us, but they have taught me three important lessons: the first is that decentralization of responsibility and authority is essential in crisis resolution. The Technion teams – management, administrative and academic staff, and students – demonstrated great creativity in dealing with unexpected challenges. The second lesson is the importance of community and the strength we draw from each other. We provided vital support to all those whose lives were disrupted on October 7 and during the subsequent war, and to the reservists who left everything to defend us. Cohesion and mutual support are what allowed us to face the challenges of the moment and will aid us in the recovery process. The third, and perhaps the most important lesson, is the significance of our values, not just as an ideal but as a practical tool in dealing with crises. The values of the Technion guided us, and each time we realized how stable they are and how deeply embedded they are in the Technion’s culture and in our lives. This is an emotional moment for me, to stand here today before you at this ceremony and to see that these very values are embodied in the lives and work of the people receiving honorary degrees from the Technion tonight. These exemplary figures serve as a beacon for us in times of internal and external turmoil.”

Speaking on behalf of the award recipients, Technion alumnus Col. (Res.) Prof. Salman Zarka, director of Ziv Medical Center in Safed, said: “Here at the Technion, as a young man from Peki’in, I began my academic journey at the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine – a journey that led me from the Technion to the battlefield, where I served as a combat doctor for more than 25 years. This evening, we have gathered here to highlight the crucial role of the Technion in educating students, fostering a love for humanity and the State of Israel, taking responsibility, striving to push boundaries, and leading into the future. We will continue to serve humanity and our beloved country.” Prof. Zarka thanked his colleagues, the Ziv family, donors, his subordinates in the Medical Corps, his partners in the government and the health system in his role as Corona project manager, and his family who are fully supportive of his endeavors. To conclude, he quoted Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, “As long as the candle is still burning, we can repair,” and added, “I believe that we must repair and bring forth light to ourselves and to the entire world.” He ended his speech with words of gratitude in three languages: “Thank You, Shukran, Toda.”

Pictured here receiving their honorary degrees from Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan are:

Adina Bar Shalom – “In gratitude and appreciation for her exceptional dedication to fostering unity among diverse sectors, promoting the values of equality, and inspiring solidarity among the people of Israel; and in recognition of her exemplary efforts to create opportunities for young girls, especially in the religious community, which demonstrate her tremendous commitment and significant contribution to the advancement of Israeli society.”

Paul Charney – “In recognition of his loyal devotion and service to the State of Israel and to the Technion as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Technion UK; and in gratitude for his philanthropic leadership in the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland and in other prominent Jewish organizations and charities.”

Robert Davis – “In gratitude for his dedication to and support of the Technion by furthering a multi-generational family legacy; for his commitment to the bettering of the State of Israel by investing in world-class education and research; for his leadership as a member of the Technion’s Board of Governors; and for his generous contributions as a Technion Guardian, including the founding of the Technion Additive Manufacturing Center.”

Stephen Seiden – “In celebration of his family’s multi-generational support of the Technion and deep commitment to and advocacy for Israel’s future; in gratitude for his numerous gifts as a Technion Guardian; for his contributions and leadership as a member of the Technion’s Board of Governors; and with appreciation for his support through his work as a trustee of the Russell Berrie Foundation.”

Col. (Res.) Prof. Salman Zarka – “In appreciation of his deep dedication to the human spirit and the provision of medical assistance that crosses geographical boundaries; in recognition of his leadership in times of crisis; and in gratitude for his activity on behalf of the State of Israel, which reflects a commitment to maintaining human values and lights the way to a world where compassion knows no bounds.”