Few animals can match the humble hydra’s resilience. The small, tentacled freshwater animals can be literally shredded into pieces and regrow into healthy animals. A study published February 7 in Cell Reports suggests that pieces of hydras have structural memory that helps them shape their new body plan according to the pattern inherited by the animal’s “skeleton.” Previously, scientists thought that only chemical signals told a hydra where its heads and/or feet should form.
Regenerating hydras use a network of tough, stringy protein fibers, called the cytoskeleton, to align their cells. When pieces are cut or torn from hydras, the cytoskeletal pattern survives and becomes part of the new animal. The pattern generates a small but potent amount of mechanical force that shows cells where to line up. This mechanical force can serve as a form of “memory” that stores information about the layout of animal bodies. “You have to think of it as part of the process of defining the pattern and not just an outcome”, says senior author, biophysicist Kinneret Keren of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
When pieces of hydra begin the regeneration process, the scraps of hydra fold into little balls, and the cytoskeleton has to find a balance between maintaining its old shape and adapting to the new conditions. “If you take a strip or a square fragment and turn it into a sphere, the fibers have to change or stretch a lot to do that,” explains Keren. However, some portions retain their pattern. As the little hydra tissue ball stretches into a tube and grows a tentacle-ringed mouth, the new body parts follow the template set by the cytoskeleton in fragments from the original hydra.
The main cytoskeletal structure in adult hydra is an array of aligned fibers that span the entire organism. Tampering with the cytoskeleton is enough to disrupt the formation of new hydras, the researchers found. In many ways, the cytoskeleton is like a system of taut wires that helps the hydra keep its shape and function. In one experiment, the researchers cut the original hydra into rings which folded into balls that contained multiple domains of aligned fibers. Those ring-shaped pieces grew into two-headed hydras. However, anchoring the hydra rings to stiff wires resulted in healthy one-headed hydras, suggesting that mechanical feedbacks promote order in the developing animal.
Hydras are much simpler than most of their cousins in the animal kingdom, but the basic pattern of aligned cytoskeletal fibers is common in many organs, including human muscles, heart, and guts. Studying hydra regeneration may lead to a better understanding of how mechanics integrate with biochemical signals to shape tissues and organs in other species. “The actomyosin cytoskeleton are the main force generator across the animal kingdom,” says Keren. “This is very universal.”
Technion alumnus Moshe Yanai highlighted the depth of service exemplified through recipients of the Yanai Prize for Excellence in Academic Education. The annual Technion ceremony added new prize categories, including an educational initiative grant; and commendation in teaching.
Six outstanding professors at the Technion Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering received the Yanai Prize for Excellence in Academic Education this year. In addition to prizes for excellence, new categories were added for education in entrepreneurship and special commendation for teaching.
The ceremony was attended by Moshe and Rachel Yanai, the Technion Board, the winners and their families, lecturers and students. The prestigious prize was awarded for the sixth consecutive year: “In appreciation of faculty members, who set an example through their endless contributions to teaching and learning and for their efforts to improve student involvement and sense of belonging to the Technion.”
The six prize recipients this year are:
Assistant Professor Oded Amir (Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering),
Professor Eli Boehm (Faculty of Computer Science),
Dr. Ari Gero (Faculty of Education in Science & Technology),
Prof. Ron Holtzman (Faculty of Mathematics),
Assistant Professor Guy Bartal (Faculty of Electrical Engineering)
Professor Sima Yaron (Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering).
The Yanai educational initiative grant was awarded to the vertical-thematic studio (which was established at the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning). Teaching commendations were awarded to Professor Dan Ritter (Faculty of Electrical Engineering), Associate Professor Yossi Gil (Faculty of Computer Science) and Associate Professor Yoed Tsur (Faculty of Chemical Engineering).
Technion alumnus Moshe Yanai, donated $12 million for the establishment of the prize. Attending the ceremony with his wife Rachel, he said: “The prizewinners are people who put the common good before their own personal good. Academic promotion is based on publishing articles and obtaining research grants, and not on the quality of teaching, and therefore researchers like you, who invest time and effort in teaching, do so out of genuine altruism. Our contribution to the establishment of the prize is a catalyst for excellence in teaching, but no less important is the seriousness with which the Technion approaches this mission. Everyone talks about the importance of teaching in academia, but the Technion doesn’t merely talk about it. It does a lot in this area.”
Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie spoke about the revolution taking place in the world of teaching and about the Technion’s commitment to play a significant role. “The monopoly on the retention and distribution of knowledge has been taken out of the hands of its historical gatekeepers, and now the pocket of every ten-year-old contains more computer power than the Apollo spacecraft.” he said. “Therefore, teaching shouldn’t be based on facts and content, but rather on imparting skills such as validation of information, integration of information from different sources and intelligent use of information for problem-solving. We must make sure that the training, skills and knowledge that we impart to our students will be relevant not just a few years after graduation, but throughout their professional lives.”
“The Yanai Prize is the most important prize awarded at the Technion for excellence in teaching,” said the chairperson of the prize committee, Technion Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Prof. Hagit Attiya. “It is also the most significant prize that the Technion awards to its faculty members. This clearly and concretely demonstrates the importance that the Technion attaches to teaching.”
Professor Sima Yaron spoke on behalf of the prize recipients. “Although I come from an engineering faculty, I believe that there is no one single formula for effective teaching, and there is no one single correct way to create a meaningful learning experience,” she said. “It’s very easy for me to remember three teachers that I consider teachers of life: teachers whose teaching method attracted me to mathematics and science in childhood, and a larger number of lecturers who taught me as a student, here at the Technion.”
Professor Yaron spoke about the extensive project initiated by students from the faculty in the wake of the oil spill incident in the southern Arava in December 2014. A large group of students, accompanied by Technion faculty members, volunteered to research ways to remove pollution from the soil. “I always knew that we had a gold mine of wonderful students here,” said Professor Yaron, “but in that formative year, I learned that our students, even those who come late to class or unprepared to exams, or don’t do their homework, are just waiting for a trigger that will send them in the right direction. When that happens, they get carried away and devote themselves to the learning and work experience.”
The faculty prize went to the Faculty of Food Engineering and Biotechnology. “The prize fills me with pride, but doesn’t surprise me,” said Prof. Marcelle Machluf, Dean of the Faculty. “This is the result of many years of effort by faculty members and employees. In selecting faculty members, we take into account not only the level of research but also excellence in teaching. Previous Yanai Prize winners from the faculty, Prof. Ayelet Fishman and Prof. Ester H. Segal, are joined this year by Prof. Sima Yaron, and I am sure she will not be the last. I thank the students at the faculty, who are the source of our success.”
Technion Student Union Chairman Omer Amit said that it is important to remember that the term “research university” includes not only the word “research” but also the word “university,” whose purpose is teaching. “You, the prize recipients, have now received a badge of excellence that bears a great responsibility: to be teaching ambassadors at your faculties and to inspire those lecturers that do not take teaching as seriously as you do.”
The Yanai educational initiative grant was awarded to the vertical-thematic studio which was established at the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning. “The studio was established as part of the restructuring of teaching at the Faculty, and aims to link research to practice, to enrich the range of options available to students and to better prepare them for their final project,” explained studio founder Prof. Alona Nitzan-Shiftan.
The event was hosted by Prof. Ayelet Baram-Tsabari from the Faculty of Education in Science & Technology.
About the Yanai Prize
Moshe Yanai is a global pioneer in the field of information storage. His donation to Technion in the form of the Yanai Prize expresses his gratitude to Technion for the life skills he gained during his studies at the institute 40 years ago. Since he recalls the years of study at the university with hardship and periods of difficulty, he decided together with Technion President, Prof. Peretz Lavie, to contribute $12 million to award lecturers who have demonstrated teaching excellence, a gift that also greatly benefits Technion students. The prize, which awards NIS 100,000 to each lecturer, will be awarded over a period of 20 years.
Yanai2017 – Group photo of the Yanai prizewinners for 2017
626 – Left to right: Dr. Lina Lavie, Moshe Yanai, Professor Peretz Lavie, Rachel Yanai, Professor Boaz Golani
804 – Associate Professor Yoed Tsur from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering receives a teaching commendation
164 – Professor Dan Ritter from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering receives a teaching commendation
163 – Yanai Prize awarded at the Faculty of Food Engineering and Biotechnology. Left to right: Technion Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Professor Hagit Attiya, Moshe Yanai, Student Union Chairman Omer Amit, Technion President Professor Peretz Lavie, and Dean of the Faculty Professor Marcelle Machluf
022 – Assistant Professor Oded Amir receives the Yanai Prize
341 – Assistant Professor Guy Bartal receives the Yanai Prize
471 – Professor Eli Boehm receives the Yanai Prize
156 – Professor Ron Holzman receives the Yanai Prize
295 – Professor Sima Yaron receives the Yanai Prize
995 – Professor Alona Nitzan-Shiftan and Faculty Dean Professor Iris Aravot receive the educational initiative grant for the establishment of the vertical-thematic studio at the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning
Photo: Nitzan Zohar, Office of the Spokesperson, the Technion
Technion President Peretz Lavie Joins ABNY’s “Future of Higher Education in NYC” Panel Alongside Leaders from Columbia University, New York University, Cornell Tech, and the City University of New York
ABNY Applied Sciences and Higher Education Panel
New York, NY (January 27, 2017): Professor Peretz Lavie, president of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, joined a panel of other leaders from New York’s top universities on Thursday to discuss the role of the applied sciences and higher education in driving economic growth for New York City. Hosted by the Association for a Better New York (ABNY), the panel included Lee C. Bollinger, president, Columbia University; Andrew Hamilton, president, New York University; Dan Huttenlocher, dean and vice provost, Cornell Tech; and James B. Milliken, chancellor, The City University of New York. Rachel Haot, managing director of 1776, served as moderator.
The event marked the first time the Technion’s Lavie and Cornell Tech’s Huttenlocher joined in such an extensive dialogue with their peers in NYC’s higher education community, since the Technion and Cornell University together won the City’s 2011 competition to create a new Applied Sciences graduate school on Roosevelt Island. Much of the discussion focused on innovations in higher education and how Cornell Tech and the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute will impact New York City’s economy. The Institute is forecast to drive $23 billion in long-term economic development, and President Lavie described how the Technion’s presence will help strengthen the crucial link between the City’s education and business communities.
Lavie recalled assembling a group of peers upon receiving Mayor Bloomberg’s letter inviting the Technion to participate in the Applied Sciences NYC Competition.
Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie
“I told them – you have the opportunity to create something from scratch in a very unique way. We should start looking at the industry and businesses of the City and build a university that will engage students in these industries and businesses,” Lavie said. “This is how we started to think about what we could bring to New York. And I would say that so far, it is a success story. The Jacobs Institute and Cornell Tech have attracted fantastic faculty members and absolutely great students. I feel this is one of the greatest experiments in academic education in modern times.”
Through this unprecedented Israel-US alliance, the Technion is bringing its game-changing brand of science and technology education to New York. Lavie hopes the Technion’s success in attracting diversity in academic education will also be reflected in its campus in the United States.
“I don’t know if many of you know, but at the Technion, 21% of students are minorities. Of these, 61% of them are women studying science and engineering,” Lavie explained. “I don’t know of any university anywhere with a higher percentage of women in science and engineering. We believe that diversity is a key for academic excellence.”
Students at the Technion Faculty of Computer Science have developed a robot that folds laundry at the touch of a button
Three students at the Technion have introduced the iFold Project – a robot that folds laundry. The robot was developed by Sapir Cohen, Noa Paz and Hila Levavi as part of an Arduino and IOT course at the Faculty of Computer Science. The course was led by: Itai Dabran; TAs Boris van Susin;Nitsan Pri-Hadash, Ariel Yehezkely Marina Minkin; and Dr. Nir Levy, academic relations director at Microsoft.
Left to right: Noa Paz, Sapir Cohen and Hila Levavi Photo: Shitzu Photographers, Technion Spokesperson’s Office
The project was presented this week as part of the annual project day held by the Department of Computer Science, which featured a range of student projects developed at the Faculty’s Systems and Software Development Lab.
“The algorithms that we developed lets users choose from various types of clothing to be folded and various folding methods, along with the option of receiving a reminder on their mobile phone,” explains Noa Paz.
The robot consists of three arms, three motors and plastic surfaces where the folding is carried out. A mobile application is used to define the type of clothing (pants, shirt, small towel). The three students note that the hardest part of developing the system was mechanical: “We have lots of experience with software, but coping with the mechanical challenges was complicated. We had to do a lot of experimentation and make many improvements.”
The Systems Programming in an Arduino Environment Course is held in conjunction with Microsoft R&D. It enables students to use technology and state-of-the-art software during their studies, including smartphones and tablets for running apps during the development phase. The course is designed to challenge the students with independent product-building projects and as such, the students designed smart systems that combine hardware and software using Arduino-based controllers.
Technion Students Develop Unique Parachute Disaster Relief System
One-ton disaster relief load successfully dropped from high altitude hits bull’s eye in tests, thanks to hi-tech parachute’s guidance system and student initiative
HAIFA, ISRAEL and NEW YORK (Jan. 24 2017) – Students in the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology Faculty of Aerospace Engineering have developed a unique way to help disaster victims: from extremely high altitudes they drop a PANDA on them. PANDA stands for “Parachuted Assistance for Natural Disaster Areas.”
In a test late last year, the students successfully dropped supplies from a cargo plane flying at altitudes of up to four plus miles high – and were able to place a 2,000 pound load in a target area pinpointed to within 100 meters of their mark. The parachute’s hi-tech guidance system the students developed could greatly improve the delivery of aid to disaster victims where land-based efforts are not possible and without the risk of traditional parachute supply drops from cargo planes greatly missing their mark.
“In disaster areas, vital infrastructure such as roads and railroads leading to the affected area are often destroyed or severely damaged, making it impossible for ground-based vehicles to deliver aid,”explained project supervisor Associate Prof. Benjamin Landkof, of the Faculty of Aeronautical Engineering. “Alternative methods for supplying food and first aid are needed.”
Dropping supplies from the air via parachute is an acceptable and highly utilized way to get supplies to disaster victims. But traditional, round parachutes cannot be steered after being dropped. And success in getting supplies where they are needed requires a cargo plane’s pilot to drop the supply bundle from a relatively low altitude to prevent the parachute from drifting away on the wind.
“In addition to the risk to responders involved in dropping items from a cargo plane flying at low altitudes, the margin of error is great,” said Prof. Landkof. “Sometimes the bundle lands hundreds of meters from the target area. Because of these limitations, remotely controlled parachutes were developed to enable slowing the parachute’s fall shortly before landing. The PANDA guidance system navigates the parachute’s way to the desired target by means of a flight computer, two servo motors, GPS, batteries and various gauges.”
The year-long student project was carried out in cooperation with aviation product company APCO Aviation. Experiments were performed on a demonstration parachute supplied by the company. System development processes included simulations and analyses of the parachute, developing improvements, and performing field experiments (see attached picture).
“Our first semester on the project was devoted to characterizing the requirements, building specifications, and reviewing the activity in this field around the world,” saidengineering student Nahum Eisen. “The second semester was dedicated to practical development of the parachute, simulations and field tests showing the system worked and was able to land the supplies close to the target – within 100 meters – when dropped from an altitude of seven kilometers, or nearly four and a half miles.”
A goal of APCO Aviation was to improve its existing parachute and, as a result of the student project, the company was given recommendations for improvement.
The student team members included Nahum Eisen, Gilad Gotlieb, Amir Baidani, Avihai Ben-Naim, Tzahi Calderon, Amir Yanai, Daniel Potashnikow, Gal Rosenthal and Michal Vahav.
The technology of desalination has created a revolution in water supply in Israel. Yet it comes at a price, both economically and to the environment. Today, Technion researchers are meeting the urgent need to find complementary ways to address water scarcity.
Asaf Ben-Neriah, Zavit
Tamar Ofer
Despite the blessing of recent downpours of rain in Israel, and its impressive seawater desalination projects, the demand for drinking water and water for agriculture, gardening and industry is escalating. In order to supply freshwater to Israel’s population, the quantity of water from desalination would need to increase from today’s 600 million cubic meters p/a to about 1,500 million cubic meters in 2050, according to the Water Sector Master Plan of Israel’s Water Authority.
Since desalinated water is expensive, research is underway to identify alternative sources to complement desalination. Two Technion studies offer two alternatives: expansion of water recycling through the use of greywater; and the collection of stormwater in urban areas. The two studies were presented at the Technion-hosted conference: Water Exploration in Israel – the Next Generation for Research and Industry.
Decentralized Treatment
Municipal wastewater is a significant potential water source. After appropriate treatment, it can be used for irrigation and industry. Indeed, Israel is leading the world with reuse of treated effluent for agricultural irrigation, with over 85% of the municipal effluent being reused for agricultural irrigation. In some countries, (not Israel), treated effluent is even piped into the water system for domestic consumption.
How does it work? The present method involves collecting wastewater from residents’ homes, public institutions and industrial areas, and conveying it to a central wastewater treatment plant. Such a system has many advantages when it comes to controlling treatment efficiency.
Despite the advantages of these systems, a proposal has been made for a decentralized treatment system where greywater collected from showers and sinks is separated from general wastewater. The greywater undergoes local treatment and is then used for flushing toilets and watering gardens. The rest of the wastewater is piped into the sewage treatment plant.
Local, decentralized greywater treatment has economic and environmental advantages, including reduction of energy consumption and operating costs, as well as a strengthening of community involvement. The principle resembles the installation of solar panels on roofs of private homes, or the growing of food on green roofs.
In her study, Tamar Ofer compared today’s centralized approach to three alternatives that include urban reuse. The study, conducted under the supervision of Associate Professor Eran Friedler and Professor Aviad Shapira from the Technion Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, examined the following alternatives: separating greywater from sewage, and recycling it at the level of individual buildings; or separating and recycling water at the building complex level (a complex of eight buildings), and conveying part of the treated wastewater from the wastewater treatment plant back to the city. A complete life-cycle sustainability analysis was performed on each of the alternatives, which addressed cost, environmental impact and social benefits.
The greywater recycling alternative at the building complex level received the highest score of the three. This alternative is characterized by energy savings, due mainly to the reduced quantities of desalinated water to be produced (the desalination process is relatively expensive in terms of energy) and the reduction in the quantity of drinking water piped into the city, as well as the wastewater piped into the wastewater treatment plant. According to the study, the decentralized use of greywater saves resources; reduces greenhouse gas emissions; the pollution of natural water resources; and the emission of many pollutants associated with the life cycle of municipal sewage.
Decentralized treatment systems already exist and there is no technological impediment preventing their inclusion in Israel’s water sector. The treatment units tested in this study are of the RBC (Rotating Biological Contactor) type, based on biological treatment using microorganisms fixed onto a rotating medium submerged in the treated water. At the end of the treatment, the water is disinfected. The domestic treatment unit can be placed in the yard or on the roof, but in any case, a separate pipeline is needed for piping the water to and from the unit.
It should be noted that the biggest challenge for recycling greywater is not technical but legal and bureaucratic, since this area is not legally regulated.
Phosphorus, Aluminum and Titanium in Runoff Water
Another way to increase the quantity of available water in Israel is collecting urban stormwater: water originating from roofs of buildings, sidewalks, roads and other places in built-up areas.
Today, most stormwater flows into municipal drainage systems. Researchers from Technion and Hebrew University, funded by the Jewish National Fund, decided to see how the situation could be changed. To this end, they examined the quantity and quality of runoff in a typical Israeli city: Kfar Saba. The researchers examined three drainage areas in the eastern part of the city: a residential area; an area of light industry; and a highway section next to the Teva plant.
Adi Haft, a graduate student at the Technion, presented a summary of the results: relative to its size, the industrial area generates twice the water as the residential areas. The reason: the high percentage of building / paved area to space. However, when the researchers examined the quality of the water, they discovered it contains high concentrations of phosphorus, aluminum and titanium. Relatively high levels of pollutants such as heavy metals and phosphorus were also measured in the water originating from homes.
The researchers found that runoff in eastern Kfar Saba contains twice the concentration of pollutants generally found in cities around the world. Haft explains that this could be due to the long dry intervals between rainfalls. “In Israel,” says Haft, “every rainfall becomes a first rainfall, while in other countries rain is routine.” How does this happen? “After a long dry period, pollutants accumulate on the roads and built-up surfaces. These pollutants flow into the drainage system with the first significant rainfall.”
Haft’s study found that Kfar Saba’s stormwater does not meet the prescribed regulations and therefore cannot be used without first being treated. Treating this water will enable its use for non-potable purposes such as irrigation. Such a challenge is not particularly difficult for Israel’s scientific community which, as stated, already knows how to turn seawater into drinking water.
Not treading water
Israel’s water research has gained worldwide recognition and acclaim over the years. For example, Netafim Ltd received the Stockholm Industry Water Award a few years ago. Water Exploration in Israel – the Next Generation for Research and Industry Conference at the Technion presented dozens of studies in the areas of desalination; wastewater treatment; soil and groundwater rehabilitation; agriculture and the environment; including innovative methods for the treatment of emerging micro-pollutants; and the development of advanced membranes with a long life expectancy and innovative models that will help decision makers choose between water recycling, desalination and water collection from roofs. At the conference, awards were presented to students who delivered lectures of exceptional quality
Talks included:
“Comparing the Impact of Spacer-Biofouling in Forward Osmosis and Membrane Distillation by Lumped Parameter Modeling”, from Anne Bugler
“Using reporting bacteria in a combined photocatalytic-biological wastewater treatment”, from Zach Shidlovsky
“Alternative in-situ biodegradation treatment method for perchlorate contaminate”, from Ilil Levakov.
Scientific posters from students included:
“Regional Water Supply System Management Under Demand Uncertainty: Using Aggregation Rules to Derive an Operation Policy from Implicit Stochastic Programming Models”: Noa Avni
“Deactivation and transformation of wastewater-originated antibacterial agents by mineral surfaces: case study with oxytetracycline”: Marina Karpov
“Diananofiltration-based highly-selective separation of Mg and Ca ions from seawater/SWRO brine”: Samuel Tang.
Held for the third time, the conference was born on the initiative of the Technion Grand Water Research Institute, and is devoted entirely to graduate research from all over Israel. A committee of graduate students took charge of the scientific management of the conference. The committee was headed by Noga Friedman-Bishop, a doctoral student in Chemical Engineering at the Technion; and Yuval Alafia, a doctoral student in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Technion. The conference affirmed that not only does Israeli water research have a successful past, it also has a promising future.
EU Awards €7.7 Million to NanoPack Project to Introduce Nanotechnology-Based Antimicrobial Packaging to Enhance Food Safety and Reduce Waste
NanoPack aims to develop and demonstrate state-of-the-art antimicrobial packaging solutions for perishable foods based on natural nanomaterials that will prevent food-borne illness outbreaks and reduce food waste caused by early spoilage.
Dr. Ester Segal Photo credit: Nitzan Zohar, Technion Spokesperson’s office
Brussels, Belgium, January 16, 2017– The European Union (EU) has awarded the international NanoPack consortium €7.7 million to develop and demonstrate a solution for extending food shelf life by using novel antimicrobial surfaces.
The three-year project is aimed at demonstrating, validating and testing food-packaging products with antimicrobial surfaces based upon natural materials. NanoPack will address scientific, technological, economic, safety.
NanoPack, which is led by the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, is funded as part of HORIZON 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.
“NanoPack will demonstrate a solution for extending food shelf life by using novel smart antimicrobial surfaces, applied in active food packaging products,” said Dr. Ester Segal, NanoPack’s coordinator and associate professor at the Technion. “NanoPack will enhance food safety for consumers by significant growth inhibition of food-borne microbes, which in turn will prevent food-borne illness outbreaks and early spoilage.”
She added that NanoPack would help reduce the staggering 1.3 billion tonnes of food wasted each year, which cause major economic loss and significant harm to the world’s natural resources.
“We intend to present better performing, safer and smarter products that will position Europe as the leader in food nanotechnology and smart antimicrobial packaging while increasing competitiveness and growth,” Dr. Segal added.
The active polymer films developed by NanoPack exhibit broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties unmet by existing state-of-the-art materials, which include currently used nanomaterials such as silver particles, which have raised health concerns of toxicity and microbial resistance.
Applying the power of nanotechnology, the project will employ polymer composites based on natural Halloysite Nanotubes (HNTs) as reliable and safe carriers, capable of tailored release of bioactive payloads. Due to their size, HNTs are unable to migrate from the food packaging into food. Maximizing safety, HNTs in the NanoPack food packaging slowly release
minute amounts of potent, volatile, natural and EU-approved essential oils into the packaging headspace. The oils exhibit both antimicrobial and anti-fungal properties and can be tailored to inhibit growth of most food-borne microbes.
The NanoPack consortium is comprised of 18 partner organizations – leading industrial and research institutes – from Belgium, Austria, Norway, Spain, Israel, Ireland, Denmark, Portugal, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
NanoPack project concept
NanoPack will hold its opening conference at the facilities of Bio Base Europe (BBEU) in Ghent, Belgium on January 24–26, 2017.
About NanoPack
NanoPack is an EU-funded project, which aims to develop and demonstrate a solution for extending food shelf life by using novel antimicrobial surfaces applied in active food packaging products.
NanoPack intends to develop, scale up and run pilot lines in operational industrial environments to manufacture and validate antimicrobial polymer films that are commercially feasible and accepted by retailers and consumers alike.
Mort Zuckerman honored at official residence of the President of Israel for $100 Million STEM Initiative
Donation by Zuckerman Institute will herald unprecedented collaboration between Israel’s four major research universities
Jerusalem, January 16, 2017…The Mortimer B. Zuckerman Institute was honored by Reuven Rivlin at Beit Hanassi, the official residence of the President of the State of Israel for its $100 million initiative to provide scholarships to the next generation of STEM leaders in the United States and Israel.
Mortimer B. Zuckerman and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at meeting honoring the Zuckerman Institute STEM Initiative. Credit: Israel Hadari
The American business leader and philanthropist Mortimer Zuckerman launched the Zuckerman Stem Leadership Program, to support future generations of leaders in science, technology, engineering and math in the United States and Israel and, over time, foster greater collaboration between two of the world’s most advanced scientific research centers.
At the event, President Rivlin thanked Mr. Zuckerman saying, “The essence of science is rules. But maybe, the most important rule is that collaboration and modern development can only happen together. One person can, by himself, think of and find, but when we work together we share experience and truly advance. As an Israeli, I know that you, Mr. Zuckerman, are one of the great people that has helped us create something that allows Israel to be appreciated all over the world for its education and responsibility. It is a great honor to welcome you at the president’s residence today.”
Mr. Zuckerman told the meeting: “I was a guest in this country many times and have been fascinated and always moved by the many achievements of Israel. This is a society that knows how to develop and created a state that is absolutely a miracle. I have always admired what the Israelis could achieve in the country that is not rich in natural resources but rich in human resources. It is not oil, not gold or silver, but people who are willing to work hard and sometimes fight hard and I’m an advocate of Israel. I am deeply honored to be here.”
Seated, Mortimer B. Zuckerman shakes hands with President Reuven Rivlin, Standing left to right: James S. Gertler, Trustee, Zuckerman Institute, Eric J. Gertler, Trustee, Zuckerman Institute, Prof. Daniel Zajfman, President, Weizmann Institute of Technology, Joseph Klafter, President, Tel Aviv University, Prof, Yaffa Zilberhats, head, Council for Higher Education Budget Committee, Peretz Lavie, President Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Menahem Ben-Sasson, President, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Isaiah Arkin, Head, the Authority of Research and Development, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Credit: Israel Hadari
The Zuckerman STEM Leadership Program will give the highest-achieving American post-doctoral researchers and graduate students the ability to collaborate with leading researchers at Israel’s top research institutions – the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology; Tel Aviv University; and the Weizmann Institute of Science – which are among the world’s most advanced.
Mr. Zuckerman, Eric J. Gertler and James S. Gertler, Zuckerman Institute Trustees, Prof. Menahem Ben-Sasson, President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Prof. Joseph Klafter, President, Tel Aviv University, Prof. Peretz Lavie, President, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Prof. Daniel Zajfman, President, Weizmann Institute of Science were in attendance along with a number of Zuckerman Scholars.
Tel Aviv University President Prof. Joseph Klafter said, “Through the Zuckerman STEM Leadership Program, creativity will soar, discovery will soar, and the American-Israeli cooperation will soar farther than ever. We are deeply grateful for this vote of confidence in Israel by Mort Zuckerman.”
By providing American graduate students and post-doctoral researchers with exposure to Israel’s renowned cutting-edge research and startup culture, the Zuckerman STEM Leadership Program will raise a generation of academic, scientific and industry leaders in the United States infused with a unique spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation.
Prof. Peretz Lavie, President of Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, said, “Today, Israel is in the front-line of scientific research and Israeli universities are at a stage where they are attracting post-doctoral students from around the world, creating networks and fellowships. The power of this $100 million donation will help create coherent scientific endeavors. Four leading universities working together is absolutely unprecedented.”
“The Zuckerman STEM initiative will strengthen connections between the academic communities of North America and Israel, and enrich the science and knowledge emerging from both regions for the benefit of people everywhere. As a new generation of scientists begin their careers, this initiative will allow them to develop roots in the best institutions in both regions, and to serve as catalysts for collaboration going forward,” said Prof. Menahem Ben-Sasson, President of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The program will simultaneously bolster Israeli research institutions as world-leading centers for innovative research by providing Israeli institutions access to large-scale funding needed to develop top-tier research labs, projects, and programs.
Prof. Daniel Zajfman, President of the Weizmann. Institute of Science said, “The Zuckerman program aims at supporting the collaboration of the best minds between Israel and North America. This is one of the better ways to make a major impact in the world of STEM and an efficient way to support the world of science and technology. I can already imagine, in 10 years, the room full of Zuckerman fellows who have gone through this program, the impact of their work in the various Israeli and North America research programs, and the incredible network which will be created among these people.”
The Zuckerman STEM Leadership Program will, over time, help strengthen the US-Israel partnership as Zuckerman Scholars return to the United States after building long-lasting relationships based in mutual collaboration. Israeli academic leaders returning to research institutions in Israel will similarly advance the overarching collaborative effort in science between the two nations as they continue to build bridges with their American colleagues.
The first cohort of 14 Zuckerman Scholars began with the 2016–2017 academic year. In the next twenty years alone, the program intends to provide over $100 million in scholarships and related educational activities that will benefit not only the participating scholars and universities, but the public as well.
Mechanical Engineering in the Internet of Things and Big Data Era, the 34th Israeli Conference on Mechanical Engineering, was held at the Technion.At the conference, awards were given to three individuals who have made significant contributions in the field of mechanical engineering.
The 34th Israeli Conference on Mechanical Engineering (ICME 2016) was held recently at the Technion Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. This interdisciplinary event, which included 234 lectures, is intended to foster innovation and promote the translation of basic research into beneficial engineering applications. The conference focused on two main areas: the Internet of Things – a combination of electro-mechanical systems that make it possible to collect information and store it in a cloud; and Big Data – the use of machine learning technologies for extracting the relevant information in order to improve the performance, control, design and production of such systems.
Breaking down the barriers
The four keynote lectures at the conference were delivered by Technion alumnus Prof. Hod Lipson from Columbia University, on the subject of evolutionary development of robots, three-dimensional printing and the future generation of robots; Technion alumnus Ziv Belfer, head of PTC’s development center in Israel, on manufacturing and service in the Internet of Things era; Eran Shlomo, head of Intel’s startup program in Israel, on the impact of the Internet of Things on the relationship between man and machine and on daily life; and Technion alumna Prof. Galit Shmueli from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan, on the use of Big Data in behavioral studies.
“In the past, behavioral studies were conducted based on information provided by the subjects,” said Professor Shmueli, “but today there is a vast spectrum of information collected from us without our knowledge, based on phone calls, driving, account balance and internet browsing. All this information is collected not by the government, like in Orwell’s book 1984, but by private entities. This trend, which of course raises many ethical issues, provides an opportunity to carry out innovative research while breaking down the barriers between engineering, entrepreneurship, science and the study of behavior.”
Conference Chair Prof. Alon Wolf from the Technion Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, said: “The presentations, designed to take us out of our comfort zone and open new horizons of thought, did so with great success. The speakers showed how all the standard mechanical systems that we’re familiar with are turning into computerized systems based on sensing and information. Along with their great promise, they emphasized the deep problems accompanying this development: entering an era where privacy is virtually meaningless. An era when car insurers, for example, will know exactly who drives carefully and who drives recklessly. By and large, this was a very impressive conference with 900 participants on the two days of the conference, and very high level innovative research.”
The Fourth Industrial Revolution
The conference opened with words of welcome by Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie, Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Prof. Yoram Halevi, Chairman of the Israeli Mechanical Engineering Association at the Association of Engineers Mr. Emanuel Zvi Liban, Conference Chair Prof. Alon Wolf, and Academic Program Chairman Prof. Eran Sher.
“The Internet of Things and Big Data are not the future – they are the present,” said Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie. “Both of these fields are part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, part of a world that is changing before our eyes. The technological revolution will change the industrial world and we must be prepared for it.”
Prof. Yoram Halevi, Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, said: “The annual conference is a very important professional and collegial opportunity, and it reflects the strength of the omnipresent community of mechanical engineers. On this occasion I am pleased to announce that efforts to increase the number of female students at the Faculty are bearing fruit, and 20% of the new students at the Faculty are women.”
Awards for contribution to the field
At the conference, three men received awards for their significant contribution in the field of mechanical engineering: Mr. Gideon Frank, former chairman of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission and now chairman of the board of the Technion; Mr. Emanuel Zvi Liban, former senior executive at Israel Aerospace Industries and now Chairman of the Israeli Mechanical Engineering Association; and Dr. Rafi Wertheim, former senior executive at Iscar and President of CIRP (the International Academy for Production Engineering) and now senior adviser at the Fraunhofer Institute.
“I have come full circle, because I studied at the Technion Faculty of Mechanical Engineering years ago,” said Emanuel Zvi Liban. “Unfortunately, production and development are moving from Israel to China, a dangerous situation that is causing unemployment, inequality and social gaps. That’s why we established the Institute for the Industrialization of Ideas, in order to participate in the revolution that is now taking place, inter alia in the field of autonomous vehicles, in order to keep production in Israel and put an end to the brain drain.”
Student Excellence Awards
At the conference, awards were given to undergraduate and graduate students. Awards for graduate students, under the auspices of the Association of Engineers, went to doctoral students Hadas Zissu (supervised by Prof. Moshe Shoham and Prof. Menashe Zaaroor, both from the Technion), Dana Solav (supervised by Prof. Alon Wolf from the Technion) and Nir Degani (supervised by Prof. David Zarrouk from Ben Gurion University of the Negev). The Prof. Gad Hetsroni Award for undergraduate students went to Michael Laufer, for his study under the supervision of Technion professors Steven Frankel and David Greenblatt, and to Ofir Dahan and Idan Daya for their study under the supervision of Prof. Idit Avrahami from Ariel University.
How the moons that came before collided to form The Moon
HAIFA, ISRAEL (January 9, 2017) – The Moon, and the question of how it was formed, has long been a source of fascination and wonder. Now, a team of Israeli researchers suggests that the Moon we see every night is not Earth’s first moon, but rather the last in a series of moons that orbited the Earth in the past. The findings by the team of researchers from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and the Weizmann Institute of Science are published today in Nature Geoscience.
The newly proposed theory by researchers Assistant Prof. Hagai Perets, of the Technion, and Weizmann Institute Raluca Rufu (lead author) and Prof. Oded Aharonson, runs counter to the commonly held “giant impact” paradigm that the moon is a single object that was formed following a single giant collision between a small Mars-like planet and the ancient Earth.
“Our model suggests that the ancient Earth once hosted a series of moons, each one formed from a different collision with the proto-Earth,” said co-author Assistant Prof. Perets. “It’s likely that such moonlets were later ejected, or collided with the Earth or with each other to form bigger moons.” To check the conditions for the formation of such mini-moons or moonlets the researchers ran 800 simulations of impacts with the Earth.
The new model is consistent with science’s current understanding of the formation of the Earth. In its last stages of the growth, the Earth experienced many giant impacts with other bodies. Each of these impacts contributed more material to the proto-Earth, until it reached its current size.
“We believe the Earth had many previous moons,” said AssistantProf. Perets, who added that, “a previously formed moon could therefore already exist when another moon-forming giant impact occurs.”
The tidal forces from the Earth could cause moons to slowly migrate outwards (the current Moon is slowly doing that at a pace of about 1 cm a year). A pre-existing moon would slowly move out by the time another moon forms. However, their mutual gravitational attraction would eventually cause the moons to affect each other, and change their orbits.
”It’s likely that small moons formed through the process could cross orbits, collide and merge”, said Rufu, and Perets summarizes “A long series of such moon-moon collisions could gradually build-up a bigger moon – the Moon we see today.”
Orientation day for new faculty members at Technion.
Technion President: “Excellence is our sole criterion for accepting students and faculty”
On December 13th, the Technion held an orientation day for new faculty members, attended by the Technion board and veteran faculty members. The new faculty members are engaged in an exciting variety of fields, including: industrial design; protein decomposition in the living cell; mechanisms of cancer; neuroscience; decomposition of soil pollutants; eating disorders and their implications; semiconductors; quantum gravity; precise microscopy and the effect of sleep on the development of cancer.
The event was opened by Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie. “The institution that you have joined is a new Technion, since more than half of the faculty has been replaced with new people over the past decade. You have been selected carefully, as the Technion does not compromise on excellence, neither when it comes to student admissions or when it comes to hiring faculty. Student admission at the Technion is based on a single criterion: excellence. There is no affirmative action at the Technion, only accelerated education frameworks that offer an equal opportunity for populations and individuals who did not receive the basic education at school required for admission to the Technion. This also applies to the faculty that we recruit. Excellence on the part of each of you in your field has been the sole criterion for your being hired by the Technion.”
The event opened with icebreakers led by Associate Prof. Ayelet Baram-Tsabari from Faculty of Education in Science and Technology. Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Prof. Hagit Attiya presented the key aspects of the academic promotion process. Faculty members received additional information from: Executive Vice President for Research Prof. Wayne D. Kaplan; Prof. Ben-Zion Levi – Dean of the Graduate School; Dr. Abigail Barzilai – Head of the Center for the Promotion of Learning and Teaching; Technion Executive Vice President and Director General Matanyahu Englman; Research Prof. Moti Segev; Prof. Marcelle Machluf; and Prof. Avinoam Kolodny.
The new faculty members are: Assistant Prof. Semion Zhutovsky and Assistant Prof. Adi (Ish Am) Radian (Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering); Prof. Ezri Tarazi, Associate Prof Aaron Sprecher, Assistant Prof. Ruth Liberty-Shalev, Assistant Prof. Danny Broitman and Assistant Prof. Ram Eisenberg (Architecture); Associate Prof. Anat Levin, Assistant Prof. Ariel Epstein, Assistant Prof. Lior Kornblum, Assistant Prof. Omer Bobrowski and Assistant Prof. Yuval E. Yaish (Electrical Engineering); Assistant Prof. Nadav Amdursky (Chemistry); Assistant Prof. Tamar Segal-Peretz (Chemical Engineering); Associate Prof. Ari Turner, Assistant Prof. Vincent Desjacques, Assistant Prof. Guy Bonin and Assistant Prof. Itai Arad (Physics); Assistant Prof. Ron Rosenthal and Assistant Prof. Michael Khanevsky (Mathematics); Associate Prof. Alexander Bronstein (Computer Science); Dr. Dan Michaels and Assistant Prof. Oksana Stalnov (Aerospace Engineering); Dr. Kinneret Teodorescu (Industrial Engineering and Management); Assistant Prof. Oded Kleifeld (Biology); Assistant Prof. Yoav Shechtman (Biomedical Engineering); Prof. Ze’ev Ronai, Prof. Eyal Gottlieb, Assistant Prof. Hagai Wolfensohn, Assistant Prof. Noam Kaplan; Assistant Prof. Raz Palty and Assistant Prof. Shai Berlin (Medicine).
The following researchers joined the Technion in the hospital staff track: Clinical Assistant Prof. Dean Keren, Dr. Ruth Perets Dr. Emily Avitan-Hersh, Assistant Professor Ilan Bruchim, Dr. Yaniv Zohar, Clinical Assistant Prof. Oren Tomkins-Netzer, Dr. Irena Kessel, Dr. Gabriel Nierenberg, Dr. Michal Cohen, Dr. Noga Kerem, Dr. Omri Emodi, Clinical Assistant Prof. Fahad Hakim, Clinical Associate Prof. Tzvi Dwolatzky, Dr. Tzofnat Weiner, Dr. Ran Kramer, Clinical Assistant Prof. Shaul Lin and Dr. Gidon Berger.
An all-time record: five outstanding female researchers have been appointed deans at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.
The appointment of five outstanding female researcher as Deans of their departments at Technion is an all-time record among academic institutes in Israel.
By Tamar Trabelsi (YNET)
At the Technion, an impressive women’s leadership revolution based on excellence is in full swing. Indeed, the Technion leadership has set a target for the number of Technion female students to be in direct proportion to the population: fifty percent in every faculty.
The five newly appointed deans are world-renowned researchers in their fields. They are: Technion Prof. Shulamit Levenberg – Dean of the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering; Prof. Marcelle Machluf – Dean of the Faculty of Food Engineering and Biotechnology; Prof. Iris Aravot – Dean of the Faculty of Architecture & Town Planning; Prof. Orit Hazzan – Dean of Graduate Studies; and Prof. Yehudit Dori – Dean of the Faculty of Education in Science & Technology.
The Technion administration has restated its goal to nurture excellence among students of both sexes at Technion. It is noted that as far back as 1913, (when leading universities in the United States still did not admit women), the Technion’s founders and directors decided that the institute would be open to all, regardless of religion, race or gender. The first graduating class, comprised 16 male students and one female student.
Today, the percentage of women among undergraduate students at the Technion is 37%; graduate students 32%; and doctoral students 44%.
(l-r) Prof. Levenberg, Prof. Dori, Prof. Aravot, Prof. Machluf and Prof. Chazzan (Photo: Elad Gershgoren)
“I see these five female faculty members as deans as role models for both female students and young female faculty members,” said Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie, adding that the Technion is making tremendous efforts to increase both the number of female students and the number of female faculty members.
The appointment of the female deans is particularly noteworthy in view of the low percentage of women in engineering and the exact sciences which engage just 25-30% of all students in Israel, although women account for over 50% of all Israeli undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees.
The academic environment cultivated at the Technion promotes the exact message that excellence does not depend on membership of one group or another.
Prof. Orit Hazzan says that the low representation of women in science and engineering is only low due to cultural reasons. “Therefore, the fact that there are five female deans shows that the Technion is an environment that enables anyone who excels to maximize his or her potential,” she said. Until recently, Hazzan was Dean of the Faculty of Education in Science & Technology and now she becomes Dean of Graduate Studies, “These cultural conventions are not reflected at the Technion,” she continues, “In general, it is desirable for organizations to moderate a culture in which excellence can find unconditional expression. The academic environment cultivated at the Technion promotes the exact message that excellence does not depend on membership of one group or another.”
Dean of the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering Prof. Shulamit Levenberg – is a world-renowned expert in stem cells and tissue engineering. Levenberg refers to the increase in the number of female faculty members that have been promoted to full professor as an explanation for the women’s leadership revolution.
“Go with your heart, with your inner voice, with what you love,” she tells female college and high school students. “People will say that you chose a difficult program and that it’ll be too much for you. But don’t be afraid, be daring and listen to yourselves. For she who goes her own way, will enjoy what she does and will overcome all the obstacles.”
Prof. Yehudit Dori, Dean of the Faculty of Education in Science & Technology, says that the appointment of five female deans is a highly significant breakthrough because: “We are a role model for female undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students and for female high school students. ”This indicates that women, like men, can reach senior positions and fill them successfully. For both Yehudit Dori and Orit Hazzan, this is their second appointment as dean at the Technion. The choice of these women to lead faculty members, researchers, administrative staff and thousands of students is proof that the sky’s the limit. All of them have families, children, and I even have grandchildren, and this is proof for girls who wonder whether it’s possible to combine a successful career with raising a family.”
Go with your heart, with your inner voice, with what you love.
Prof. Marcelle Machluf, Dean of the Faculty of Food Engineering and Biotechnology, says that excellence, investment and perseverance are what lead every woman to success in any field, particularly in academia. “Unfortunately, too few women choose a career in the difficult world of academia, not because they’re not talented, but because the remote environment, and especially the immediate environment, is still not supportive enough.
“If there were more women in academia, this article would not have been written, because women are competitive and would undoubtedly have attained this position and even more senior positions, and these positions would not have been referred to as ‘masculine’,” she says.
The Technion notes that the percentage of female undergraduate students at the various faculties of Engineering at the Technion is steadily increasing, partly due to various activities at the faculties and at the Technion as a whole. These activities are designed to encourage female high school students throughout Israel, who excel in mathematics and the exact sciences, to choose to study these fields and engineering. They include conferences and one-day events attended by hundreds of female high school students who come to the Technion and meet with women faculty members and graduate students. They tour the campus and the labs in various faculties and receive information about research topics and courses of study at the Technion.
This article was first published in Hebrew on Ynet.
