Faculty of Biology celebrates its 50th birthday!

To mark the occasion, the faculty inaugurated a faculty council room in memory of former dean, Professor David Gershon and his wife, Professor Harriet Gershon, and awarded excellence awards for research in their name.

The Faculty of Biology kicked off their Jubilee celebrations with the unveiling of the faculty council room named after the late former dean of the Faculty Prof. David Gershon and his wife, the late Prof. Harriet Gershon. Afterwards, a ceremony was held to award excellence scholarships to postdoctoral fellow Dr. Sergei Rudnizky for his research entitled “optical tweezers reveal the dynamic nature of genome packaging” and to Ph.D student Ofri Levi for her work on “a new role for an old family of enzymes.” The event was attended by Yishi Gershon, David and Harriet’s son, and David’s sister, Ruti Brody. David and Harriet’s daughter Tami Gershon-Hayon watched the event online from the U.S.

Prof. David Gershon led the transformation of the department of Biology into a faculty and recruited most of the scientists who led the faculty in its early years. He came to the Technion as a faculty member in 1967 after completing his doctorate at Cornell University and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Weizmann Institute. In 1975, he was appointed head of the department of biology which later became an independent faculty, where he served as dean for two more terms. His vision shaped the faculty and led its focus in the field of molecular biology.

The focus of Prof. Gershon’s studies was the molecular processes in cells during aging. He pioneered many aspects of the research, including the emphasis on understanding molecular and intracellular mechanisms. His wife, Prof. Harriet Gershon, joined his laboratory at the end of her doctorate and worked there for years until she moved to the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, where she was one of the founders of the Department of Immunology and later head of the department. She was a pioneer in characterizing the biological basis of the decline of the immune system in old age.

The event was attended by Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan, Executive Vice President and Director General Professor Boaz Golany, Vice President for External Relations and Resource Development Professor Alon Wolf, Chairman of the Friends of the Technion Association in Israel and former Technion President Professor Peretz Lavie and many faculty researchers and staff.

Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan said that “The track the faculty has taken over the last 50 years is very impressive, and I am curious about what the next 50 years will bring. Life sciences will continue to be a major research field in the coming decades, and the faculty is a key component in this process. Today, we understand that in order to excel in multidisciplinary research in the life sciences, we must blur the inter-faculty boundaries and encourage collaboration. We are currently working on a joint program between the six Technion faculties related to life sciences, including the Faculty of Biology for finding unique, Technion-specific ways of collaborating.”

“I can’t think of a more appropriate and exciting way to start the 50-year celebrations” said Faculty Dean Prof. Yael Mendel-Gutfreund during the ceremony. She noted that they were also officially inaugurating the new entrance to the faculty and the impressive wing where the ceremony was being held. “On behalf of myself and all the faculty, I would like to thank the Executive Vice President and Managing Director of the Technion Prof. Boaz Golany and Deputy Director of Operations Ms. Zehava Laniado who helped and supported us along the way, the construction and maintenance department personnel who worked hard, and in particular Alon Katz, the project manager, and of course a huge thank you to the maintenance personnel of the Faculty of Trustees, the administrative personnel and our head of management Nir Blitz.”

“I congratulate the faculty on the jubilee of its founding,” said Executive Vice President and Professor Boaz Golany. “Yigal Allon said, when a people does not honour its past, it lives in a present of little substance and faces a future clouded in doubt.. Indeed, it is important to tie the future to an understanding of the past. Today, we invest heavily in promoting the faculty’s growth, both through establishing laboratories for new faculty members and through improving the new computational center at the Technion, which is essential to your work.”

Chairman of the Friends of the Technion, Professor Peretz Lavie: “I had the privilege of getting to know Prof. David Gershon, his laboratory and its activities. He was a true Zionist and a Technion patriot. And he once wrote an article for the editor of Nature in which he expressed resentment towards their anti-Israel sentiment. There is no better way of honoring him than by naming the heart of the faculty after him, and the family deserves all the credit for the effort to commemorate them both.”

Professor Michael Glickman, a faculty member: “I am the last staff member that Prof. Gershon recruited to the faculty, and he taught me that only one person can interfere with my path – me. It was David who led the department’s transformation into a faculty, and it was he who recruited most of the scientists who led the faculty in its early years. His vision shaped the faculty and led to its focus on what is now called molecular biology, at a time when the biological community was more concerned with ecology and systemic biology. After his retirement he continued to work hard and publish articles in leading journals. In the latter period of his life, he was a key partner in the project to develop innovative immunotherapeutic technology for the treatment of breast cancer.”