Yearly Archives: 2012

New research from the Technion Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute and the Rambam Medical Center may lead to the development of new methods for controlling the growth of cancer, and perhaps lead to treatments that will transform cancer from a lethal disease to a chronic, manageable one, similar to AIDS.

By placing cancer cells in and near a growth developed from a population of human stem cells, scientists have demonstrated that the cancer cells grow and proliferate more robustly when exposed to human cells than they do in a typical petri dish or mouse model. The cancer cell population is also more diverse than had previously been understood.  The research was published in the current advanced online issue of the journal Stem Cells. Maty Tzukerman, Rambam senior research scientist and the project leader and senior co-author on the report, says that this model will facilitate targeted drug discovery aimed at blocking the cancer cell self-renewal process.

Previous studies have determined that some tumor cells appear to be differentiated, while others retain the self-renewal property that makes cancer so deadly. According to Technion Professor Karl Skorecki, director of Medical Research and Development at Rambam Health Care Campus and senior co-author on the report, this new research attempts to understand how cancer grows, and to find ways to halt the runaway replication.

In order to mimic the human cancer environment as closely as possible, the research team developed a teratoma — a tumor made of a heterogenous mix of cells and tissues — by enabling the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into a variety of normally occuring human cell lines on a carrier mouse. The human cellular teratoma constitutes a new platform of healthy human cells for monitoring the behavior and proliferation of human cancer cells.

For this study, the team took cells from one woman’s ovarian clear cell carcinoma and injected them either into or alongside the human stem cell-derived environment. “We noticed very early on, rather strikingly, that the human cancer cells grow more robustly when they are in the teratoma environment compared to any other means in which we grew them, such as in a mouse muscle or under the skin of a mouse,” says Skorecki.

The scientists were able to tease out six different kinds of self-renewing cells, based on behavior — how quickly they grow, how aggressive they are, how they differentiate — and on their molecular profile. This was a previously unknown finding, that one tumor might have such a diversity of cells with crucial fundamental growth properties. Tzukerman explains that the growth of the cancer cell subpopulations can now be explained by their proximity to the human cell environment.

The researchers cloned and expanded the six distinct cell populations and injected them into the human stem cell teratomas. One key observation is that some cells, which were not self-replicating in any other model, became self-replicating when exposed to the human cells.

Skorecki said that while he wasn’t surprised that the human environment affected the growth, he was in fact surprised by the magnitude of the effect: “We’ve known for years now that cancers are complex organs, but I didn’t think the power of the human stem cell environment would be so robust, that it would make such a big difference in how the cells were grown.”

The researchers point out that they do not yet know the cues that particularly enhance the cancer’s proliferation, and the team is now working on isolating the factors from human cells that promote such plasticity and self-renewing properties. The scientists explain that this may eventually allow physicians to manage cancer as a chronic disease: instead of one therapy against the entire tumor, researchers may develop a method to tease out the variety of self-renewing cell lines of a particular tumor and determine what allows each to thrive, then attack that mechanism.

Skorecki and Tzukerman say that an important next step in this line of cancer research will be to identify and develop ways of blocking the factor or factors that promote this essential self-renewing property of cancer, thus relegating many forms of cancer to controllable, chronic diseases.

This research was supported with grants from the Daniel M. Soref Charitable Trust, the Skirball Foundation, the Richard D. Satell Foundation, the Sohnis and Forman families, and the Israel Science Foundation.

The first beach volleyball tournament of its kind will be held as part of the Technion cornerstone centennial celebrations: the event will take place between April 1st and 4th, 2012 in the Technion Sports Center on an artificial beach to be built especially for this occasion. The tournament is recognized by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), and will be attended by some of the leading players in the world; the prizes will amount to $50,000

The first beach volleyball tournament of its kind will be held as part of the Technion cornerstone centennial celebrations: the event will take place between April 1st and 4th, 2012 in the Technion Sports Center on an artificial beach to be built especially for this occasion. The tournament is recognized by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), and will be attended by some of the leading players in the world; the prizes will amount to $50,000.

The tournament will be divided into two parts: an Israel State Cup and the international tournament. The competitors in the Israel State Cup will be students from various academic institutions in Israel, among them the Technion, Tel Aviv University and Ben Gurion University, and the winning  pair will participate in the international tournament.

Fourteen pairs of men and women from abroad will take part in the international tournament. Among the pairs who confirmed their participation are top ranking players from all over the world: the Brazilian pair Benjamin-Harley, who won first place in the 2011 World Championship as well as 12 gold medals over the years, and Pablo Herrera from Spain, who won a silver medal in the Athens Olympics together with his partner Adrian Gavira, who finished fifth in the two last world championships and who won a bronze medal in the European championship. The women’s tournament will be attended by Hana Klapalova and Lenka Hájec(ková from the Czech Republic, who finished fourth in the last world championship, one place before the Americans Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Hanson, who will also participate in the tournament.

The event will open on April 1^st with a festive ceremony, and the Israel State Cup will be held on this day. The international tournament will be held between April 2^nd and 4^th. The grand final is scheduled to take place on April 4^th, and the event will be concluded with a festive closing ceremony.

During the tournament days, the Technion students will enjoy a performance by the Technion Salsa and Dance Group, a pool party and an earphone party. In addition, players from abroad will enjoy tours to Nazareth and Caesarea.

Beach volleyball is usually played by two players in each group, and most of the game rules resemble regular volleyball rules. The first beach volleyball game was played in 1920 in California. It was introduced in the Olympic Games in 1996 and today there are the beach volleyball leagues in most countries.

The tournament is held in collaboration with the Israel Volleyball Association and the Municipality of Haifa.

Technion Graduate Prof. Judea Pearl has won the Turing Award for a “contribution that transformed artificial intelligence”; he will receive the prestigious Technion Harvey Prize at the end of the month

The Tecnion’s announcement said that Prof. Pearl has “laid, through courageous and far-sighted research the theoretical foundations for the presentation of knowledge and reasoning in computer science. His theories of inference under uncertainty, and in particular the Bayesian Networks approach, have influenced varied disciplines, including artificial intelligence, statistics,  philosophy, health, economics, social sciences and cerebral cognitive processes. The Harvey Prize in Science and Technology is awarded to Prof. Pearl in recognition of the breakthroughs that are  embodied in his researches and their influence on multitudes of spheres of our life.”

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, announced last weekend that Prof. Judea Pearl of UCLA has won the 2011 ACM Turing Award, for innovations that enabled breakthroughs in the partnership between humans and machines that is the foundation of artificial intelligence. He has created the computational basis for processing information under uncertainty – a core problem faced by intelligent systems. “Prof. Pearl’s influence extends beyond artificial intelligence and even computer science – to human reasoning and the philosophy of science,“ said ACM’s announcement.

First and foremost, the Harvey Prize rewards excellence by recognizing breakthroughs in science and technology. The monetary Prize is a banner of recognition for men and women who have truly contributed to the progress of humanity. No less, however, the Prize is a source of inspiration. Serving as stimulus, the award urges scientists and scholars forward to further accomplishment.

The Harvey Prize was awarded for the first time in 1972, from a fund established by Leo M. Harvey, of Blessed Memory, of Los Angeles, in recognition of great contributions to the advancement of humanity in science and technology and  human health, and to the advancement of peace in the Middle East. Every year, the fund awards $75,000 to each of the winners.

Among the recipients of the prestigious Harvey Prize are scientists from the USA, Britain, Russia, Sweden, France and Israel, such as Nobel Prize Laureate Mikhail Gorbachev, former leader of the USSR, who was awarded the Prize  for his activity towards reducing regional tensions; Prof. Bert Sakmann, Nobel Laureate in Medicine; Prof. Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, Nobel Laureate in Physics; Prof. Edward  Teller, for his discoveries in solid state physics, atomic physics and nuclear physics; and Prof. William J. Kolff, for the invention of the artificial kidney.

Candidates for the Harvey Prize are recommended by leading scientists and personages in Israel and the world. The prize laureates are selected by the Harvey Prize Council in a stringent process at  the Technion.

Above: Prof. Judea Pearl. Photo: Technion Spokesman

The International Robotraffic Competition was attended by 50 student groups from Israel and abroad

The first places in the various categories were won by students from schools affiliated with World Ort Organization. A group from Ort Dniptopetrovsk in the Ukraine won first place in safe driving category. A group from the Sde Eliyahu school won the racing category. Emek Hahula and Ort Moscow schools won the driving laws test category. A group from Shaab high school won the road safety content and innovations category.

Underlying the competition, hosted by Dr. Evgeny Korchnoi, is an initiative to reduce the involvement of young drivers in car accidents. The competitors were small vehicle-shaped mobile robots that are operated in situations that simulate road traffic. Robotraffic is a unique robotics competition aimed at acquiring safe driving knowledge and skills. The competition makes use of specifically developed “safe roads” employing sensors that communicate with the vehicles (robots) on the roads. The sensors return the automatic response of the vehicle to signals, traffic lights, obstacles, road signs, etc.

The competition requires the competitors – school students from across the country and this year also from abroad – to build a robotic vehicle that will observe road signs and traffic lights, obey traffic laws and avoid accidents. First place in the competition for elementary schools was won by 5^th grade students from the Begin school in Kiryat Motzkin: Adi Ostrov, Eliad Liani, and Gal Gadot. “In the robotics studies, that are held in the afternoon hours by Ytek Company, we work with computers, watch robotics presentations, and program,” says Adi, and Gal adds: “we experimented before coming here, and we might also have been lucky.”

Prof. Moshe Shoham, Head of the Robotics Center, explains that the competition has several goals, among them the study of robotics, road safety and bringing about the development of smart roads and autonomous driving systems. “The requirements are adapted to the various age groups, and the competitors are supposed to deal with issues in programming and control, car assembly and sensor installation, and all this requires close knit teamwork.”

It was the first time in the competition for the delegation that came from Shalom Aleichem school in Vilna, and the trip to Israel was financed by the students’ parents as well as by the World Ort Organization. Mark Kotz, a member of the school board, who accompanies the delegation, says that the contact with the Technion was established in an assembly of World Ort’s Board of Representatives in Berlin, where he met Haim Dribin, a robotics teacher at Misgav school. Dribin told him about the competition, and Shalom Aleichem school recruited Prof. Sergey Borodin, who is currently in charge of the robotics studies there.

Sami, a mechatronics teacher in Shaab high school, near Carmiel, attended the competition with eight of his students. “There are 17 mechatronics students in the class, only four of them boys. The girls have a very technological and creative mind, and they are highly suitable for these subjects. They also understand that the technology opens for them a window to a brilliant future.”

The main goals of the competition are to impart familiarity with driving laws, good driving habits, a positive approach to safe and careful driving and an understanding of the limitations of the car while diving, and to bring about the development of smart roads with sensors that would reduce the number of car accidents and of sophisticated robotic systems for safe driving. During the competition the robots move automatically, carefully avoiding accidents and observing traffic laws. The competition arena is a model of a road with intersections, traffic lights, road signs and obstacles. The guests of honor were: Prof. Oded Shmueli, Technion Executive Vice President for Research; Prof. Moshe Shoham, Head of the Leumi Robotics Center at the Technion; the Director General of World Ort Organization’s Kadima Mada Program in Israel, Avi Ganon and senior representatives of the Ministry of Education.

Avi Ganon, Director General of World Ort Organization’s Kadima Mada Program in Israel: “We do much to enhance science and technology and to maintain contact with the Jewish communities worldwide. This competition connects varied cultures and communities and provides a venue for the exchange of know-how and the development of joint ventures by the countries.”

200 members of the Israel Technion Society – graduates, government ministers, economy leaders and senior executives – convened on Sunday this week at the Rabin Center in Tel Aviv, for a special event held by the Israel Technion Society to commemorate the cornerstone centennial of the historic building at Hadar Hacarmel in Haifa.

Among the many guests at the event held at the Rabin Center in Tel Aviv were Supreme Court Judge Hanan Meltzer, Minister of Science and Technology Rabbi Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz (former Dean of the Technion Department of Mathematics), Minister of Energy and Water Resources Uzi Landau (graduate of the Technion Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management), Prof. Moshe Arens, four Technion Presidents Emeriti – Maj. Gen. (Res.) Amos Horev, Prof. Zeev Tadmor,   Lt. Gen. (Res.) Amos Lapidot, Prof. Yitzhak Apeloig, and current Technion President  Prof. Peretz Lavie.

Amos Horev, Israel Technion Society Chairman for the last three decades, and his wife Shoshana welcomed the guests who enjoyed a creative supper prepared by three chefs – Zachi Bukshester, Eyal Lavi and Eran Zino – a tribute to three Nobel Laureates that the Technion has produced in the last seven years – Profs. Avram Hershko, Aaron Ciechanover and Dan Shechtman.

Amos Horev spoke about the years preceding the laying of the cornerstone and said that the decision to establish a university in this remote corner of the Ottoman Empire was in effect made because the Jews were prevented from higher education in Europe (“Numerus Clausus”).

Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie spoke about the Technion in the coming years, in Haifa and in New York, and said that it is fortunate for all of us that Hebrew prevailed in the language war that preceded the establishment of the Technion.

Research Professor Aaron Ciechanover advocated creativity and spoke of the birth of medications that save the lives of millions of people every year.

Technion students pleased the audience with music and singing.

Members of the Israel Technion Society in the distant past were also represented in the event. Dr. Micha Levin, grandson of Dr. Shmaryahu Levin who was one of the main founders of the Technion, arrived with his wife, granddaughter of Yechiel Chelnov, who officiated the cornerstone laying ceremony in April 1912, and said in his speech, which he made in German, that the Technikum will be “a peaceful workplace, one that will be a blessing to the country and to the entire nation, and that will benefit the entire population, both Jews and non-Jews”.

The first donation to the Technion, in the amount of 100,000 rubles, was made by a fund set up by Kalonimus Wissotzky. Mr. Shalom Seidler, a descendant of the Wissotzky family and currently Chairman of Wissotzky Tea, arrived at the event with a donation of a different kind – a gift from Wissotzky Tea to the guests, with its blessing.

Above: Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz (on the right) with Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie (on the left) and Dan Propper (in the middle). Photo: Technion Spokesman – Assaf Shilo / Israel Sun

World Ort Organization’s Kadima Mada (Science Journey) Program and the Leumi Robotics Center have joined together to hold the competition that will be attended by 50 student groups from Israel and abroad

World Ort Organization’s Kadima Mada (Science Journey) Program and the Leumi Robotics Center at the Technion Faculty of Mechanical Engineering will hold Robotraffic, the third international robotics competition aimed at imparting safe driving and road safety habits. The competition will be attended by 50 groups of school students (4^th-12^th grades), eight of which are from World Ort schools in former Soviet Union countries (Ukraine, Lithuania, Moldova and Russia).

Underlying the competition is an initiative to reduce the involvement of young drivers in car accidents. The competitors are small vehicle-shaped mobile robots that are operated in situations that simulate road traffic. Robotraffic is a unique robotics competition aimed at acquiring safe driving knowledge and skills. The competition makes use of specifically developed “safe roads”, employing sensors that communicate with the vehicles (robots) on the roads. The sensors return the automatic response of the vehicle to signals, traffic lights, obstacles, road signs, etc.

The main goals of the competition are to impart familiarity with driving laws, good driving habits, a positive approach to safe and careful driving and an understanding of the limitations of the car while driving, and to bring about the development of smart roads with sensors that would reduce the number of car accidents and of sophisticated robotic systems for safe driving. During the competition the robots move automatically, carefully avoiding accidents and observing traffic laws. The competition arena is a model of a road with intersections, traffic lights, road signs and obstacles.

The competition will be held on Thursday, March 15, 2012 at 12:00, at the Churchill Auditorium, Technion City, Haifa. Journalists and photographers are invited.

Was given an editorial in a leading scientific journal under the heading: “Prevention is Better than Cure”; the novel device continuously monitors the breathing function of the premature baby, immediately detects the development of respiratory deterioration and helps in characterizing it, before the onset of distress that may lead to serious irreversible injury to the patients

The researchers, Dr. Dan Waisman from the Technion’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Carmel Medical Center and Prof. Amir Landesberg of the Technion’s Faculty of Biomedical Engineering say that the device, called the “Pneumonitor”, continuously and systematically monitors the dynamics of premature babies’ breathing. It was tested successfully on mice, rats and rabbits in different disease models. “We simulated common conditions that occur in premature babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, as well as an animal model for asthma, and compared the operation of our device to that of competing devices”, they say. “We also tried the device in 63 cases in Carmel, Bnai Zion and Rambam Medical Centers. The device is now ready for FDA review”.

It has been reported that 45% of life threatening events that occur in a Neonatal Pediatric Intensive Care Unit go undetected by monitoring devices currently used, and were detected only by staff visual inspection of their patients. Even when the devices do detect a problem, the patient is already in distress, can develop life threatening complications and the event become dramatic, and it still remains for the doctor to identify the cause of the event.

The Pneumonitor has three miniature motion sensors that are attached to the infant on both sides of the chest and the upper abdomen. When respiratory deterioration is detected, the device signals an alarm before the onset of distress, and provides information that can assist in the diagnosis of the nature and location of the problem, and selecting the appropriate treatment. The motion sensors quantify the breathing effort and the symmetry of lung ventilation. The device displays data on the respiratory conditions and indicates changes in the level of ventilation.

Approximately 10% of all births worldwide are preterm, and an additional 10% of full term babies suffer complications and require tight respiratory supervision. Also, 15% of premature babies born under 1500 grams may die and an additional 15% suffer from serious complications such as mental retardation, severe handicaps, hearing and visual problems, and chronic lung disease. A significant percentage of these complications is related to respiratory management and care. That is why the early identification of respiratory distress in premature babies is so important.

Approximately 400,000 premature infants are born every year in the United States, and 30 thousand of these novel devices are needed for the premature baby wards alone.

The Technion has registered a patent for the device and has set up a company called “Pneumedicare”, located in Yokne’am and managed by Dr. Carmit Levy, who earned her Ph.D. from the Technion’s Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Above: The “Pneumonitor” in action. Photo: Technion Spokesman

Dean of the Technion Computer Science Department, Prof. Eli Biham, has won the 2012 RSA Conference Award.

The RSA conference is the largest cryptography conference in the world, and Prof. Biham has won the prestigious Award for Excellence in the Field of Mathematics: “Prof. Biham’s work on the cryptanalysis of symmetric-key ciphers is a scientific breakthrough. He developed the technique of differential cryptanalysis together with Adi Shamir in the late 1980s”, said the judges’ decision.

A senior researcher at Mitsubishi, Dr. Mitsuru Matsui, received the award together with Prof. Biham.