Invitation to the media: 59th Israel Annual Conference on Aerospace Sciences (IACAS)

Some 600 engineers, scientists and aviation experts from Israel and abroad are due to attend the 59th Israel Annual Conference on Aerospace Sciences (IACAS) – Israel’s most important event in the field of aviation and space – this week on March 6 and 7, 2019.

The event will take place on Wednesday, March 6 at the Dan Panorama Hotel in Tel Aviv and on Thursday, March 7 at the Churchill Auditorium and the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Technion in Haifa. The 59th IACAS Organizing Committee is headed by Prof. Emeritus Mordechai (Moti) Karpel of Technion’s Faculty of Aerospace Engineering.

New research and up-to-date technologies will be presented at the event, including innovative projects in the space industry – the launch of SpaceIL’s Beresheet spacecraft, currently on its way to the moon; and the Elbit and Technion autonomous drone swarm. The annual competition will also be held for the student final projects of Technion’s Aerospace Engineering Faculty.

The plenary lectures will be delivered by: Dr. Amiram Appelbaum, Chief Scientist and chairman of the board of the Israel Innovation Authority on “Innovation Beyond the Horizon”; aerospace engineering Prof. Elaine Oran of the University of Maryland on “The Beauty of Turbulence and Transitions in Reactive Flows”; Prof. Juan Alonso of Stanford University on “Industrial Shape Optimization Applications Using Adjoints and HPC: A 25-Year Perspective”; Opher Doron, VP & General Manager of Israel Aerospace Industries Space Divison; Prof. Penina Axelrad of the University of Colorado at Boulder on “Scientific Applications of Global Satellite Navigation Systems”; and Prof. Carlos Cesnick of the University of Michigan on “Very Flexible Aircraft: Performance Promises and Aeroelastic Challenges.”

Dr. Susan Ying, President of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS), will speak about “Aviation’s Third Revolution: Challenges and Opportunities” She has vast experience in the aerospace industry, and her illustrious career includes work at NASA, McDonald Douglas, Boeing and more recently at the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC). She is currently the Vice President of Technology Strategy and International Relations at Ampaire, a startup company which is developing electric aircraft to reduce operating costs and the environmental impact of commercial air travel.  

Dr. Ying, a pilot, and certified flight instructor, completed her degree at Cornell University in mechanical engineering and aeronautical engineering. She went on for her master’s and doctoral degrees in aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University, where she received the Distinguished Doctorate Prize in 1986.

For the full conference program click here

Safarcon: A new ride-sharing application for women in the Arab sector

The application was developed by researchers at Technion’s Transportation Research Institute (TRI) in collaboration with Kayan, a feminist non-profit organization, and supported by the Office of the Chief Scientist at the Ministry of Transport. According to the researchers, the application intends to help solve the problem of Arab women’s access to the workplace in the absence of adequate public transportation, thereby increasing their participation in the job market.

Prof. Yoram Shiftan

Researchers from TRI and Kayan, which aims to promote the status and rights of Arab women, have developed a unique ride-sharing application which supports Arabic and is adapted to the Arab sector in general and to Arab women in particular. The purpose of the application is to create alternative modes of transportation and to increase mobility in Arab society. This free application connects drivers with passengers who need to reach the same destination. The application also features a package-delivery scheduling system.

The application was developed by Prof. Yoram Shiftan, Dr. Robert Ishaq, and Ebtihal Shety of TRI at the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, in cooperation with Kayan’s General Director Rafah Anabtawi and Director of the Community Department Mona Mahajneh.

In order to characterize the application, the Technion research team held focus groups with the participation of 117 women from 10 communities in Northern Israel and reached these conclusions:

• The participants support the values of mutual assistance and responsibility expressed through their willingness to implement travel-share, in order to benefit from convenient and time-saving travel at low cost.
• The participants also addressed various challenges and concerns, primarily concern for their personal security. Most of the participants said they would prefer to travel only with drivers who are familiar to them. Another disadvantage that arose in the focus groups was the loss of flexibility and privacy.

Dr. Robert Ishaq

Dr. Ishaq and Ebtihal Shety said, “We knew that we were facing a major challenge yet we believed that a ride-sharing application could only improve the limitations of public transportation in Arab communities. Our main target audience were women who suffer from lack of transport options both within and outside their villages. The application’s main potential is that the majority of these women (98%) have access to a smartphone and 73% have a driver’s license.”

“It was clear to us that we had to offer a simple and intuitive application that fully supports the Arabic language,” said Prof. Shiftan. We chose a simple and meaningful name – Safarcon – which translates into, ‘Your Travels’ and a logo designed in both Arabic and English. While the application is also available for men, its main goal is to increase transport mobility among women. This is a non-profit application, and the financial accounting takes place between the driver and the passenger.”

Referring to the importance of the application for Arab women, Anabtawi said, “The problem of accessibility to public transportation is considered one of the most significant barriers that women face and which hinders women’s integration into the job market and their involvement in the public arena. This application, which was designed according  to the needs of Arab women, taking into account gender and cultural sensitivity, may provide a solution, if only partial, to the inter-locality and inter-city mobility limitations.”

The researchers believe that Safarcon can help Arab women cope with the lack of adequate transport and mobility solutions and that via the use of the application the number of Arab women entering the workforce is likely to increase.

The Safarcon app.

Six pubs in Haifa will be serving up science along with drinks on Sunday, March 10, 2019, as part of International Women’s Day events offered by Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

Called “Science at the Bar,” the six parallel lectures by leading female Technion researchers are free to the public. The six lectures begin at 20:00 at six bars around the city. The event was organized by Prof. Ayellet Tal of Technion’s Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering and advisor to the Technion President for the Advancement of Women in Science and Engineering.

Below is a list of the events:

Syncopa Bar, 5 Khayat Street, Haifa

Prof. Ruth Hershberg

Genetics Prof. Ruth Hershberg of Technion’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine will speak on, “From Abundance to Deficiency – the Evolution of Bacteria Under Prolonged Hunger.”

Prof. Hershberg researches the evolution of bacteria in an attempt to understand their wonderful ability to produce variation rapidly and how this ability makes it possible for bacteria to adapt quickly to extreme changes in their environment.

Shanan Street Bar, 3 Shalom Aleichem Street, Haifa

Dr. Oksana Stalnov

Dr. Oksana Stalnov of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering will lecture on “Sound Waves and Aircraft.”

Dr. Stalnov is involved in interdisciplinary research on the interaction between air flow and the formation of sound waves. Among other things, she develops miniature sampling systems and advanced algorithms for acoustic cameras to identify sound sources.

Nola Socks Pub, 4, Shalom Aleichem Street, Haifa

Prof. Shenhav Cohen

Prof. Shenhav Cohen, of Technion’s Faculty of Biology and Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI), will speak about: “How maintenance of normal muscle mass promotes health.”

Prof. Cohen has developed a new field of research that combines the biology of muscle and the biochemistry of the ubiquitin-proteosome system. She studies molecular mechanisms associated with muscle weakness (atrophy) due to obesity or starvation, aging, neural damage, and various diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and heart failure.

HaPina Café, 43, Masada Street, Haifa

Prof. Kinneret Teodorescu

Prof. Kinneret Teodorescu of the Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management will lecture on: “The Search for  Searching Behaviors.”

Prof. Teodorescu studies the interaction between optimal search and human behavior – Why do people go beyond optimal searches? When do they search too little or and when do they search too much?

Tea Pool Café, 1, Masada Street, Haifa

Prof. Matanya Sack

Prof. Matanya Sack of the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning will lecture on: “The Landscape of an Urban Designer.”

Sack is an assistant professor at Technion’s Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning and founding partner of Sack and Reicher Architecture and Landscape Studio in Tel Aviv-Jaffa that specializes in integrated open spaces and structures, based on regional and national mapping and the relationship between man and his environment.

After Dark Bar, 30, Jaffa Road, Haifa

Prof. Ayelet Baram-Tsabari

Prof. Ayelet Baram-Tsabari of the Faculty of Education in Science and Technology will lecture on “Science Communication in the Post-Truth Era.”

Prof. Baram-Tsabari is head of the Science Communications Research Group and a former science journalist. She is also a member of the Israel Young Academy. Her research investigates how non-scientists use science in their lives and how to support scientists who want to involve the public in their research.

All lectures begin at 20:00. The number of seats is limited. Please secure your place in advance.

Click here to register

A new discovery regarding the organization of DNA during sperm development and its possible effect on future offspring
Joint research from Technion and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital

Prof. Noam Kaplan

Researchers at Technion’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine present new findings regarding the organization of DNA during sperm formation and its implications on future organisms. The research which was published in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology was done by Prof. Noam Kaplan and MSc student Haia Khoury from the Technion, together with their colleagues at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Leading the research at Cincinnati were Prof. Satoshi Namekawa and research student Kris Alvattam.

The DNA in the living cell is packed, together with the proteins attached to it, in a molecular complex called chromatin. Although it may seem that the chromatin serves only as packaging of genetic data within the DNA, the way in which the DNA is packed considerably influences cellular systems. For example, DNA that is tightly packed may become inaccessible to biological machinery which reads the DNA, possibly leading to inactivation of genes encoded in that DNA sequence.

This current research examined the organization of the DNA during spermatogenesis – sperm development. Although spermatogenesis has been long studied, the way in which DNA is packed during this process has not been mapped in detail due to technological challenges. Now, researchers have met this challenge by using a novel technology, called Hi-C, which combines experimental molecular biology with computational analysis to measure the spatial organization of DNA.

Haia Khoury

Each day, millions of sperm cells are created in the human male body. One of the critical stages in the formation of sperm cells is meiosis (cell division). Early in meiosis, DNA is drastically reorganized as the chromosomes condense in preparation of the upcoming cell division. Furthermore, these condense chromosomes swap segments of DNA and in this way increase genetic variation.

The Israeli-American research team successfully isolated mouse sperm cells at the start of meiosis when the chromosomes are condensed and then used Hi-C to measure the spatial organization of the DNA. The researchers discovered that the spatial structure of the chromatin gradually strengthens during spermatogenesis until it reaches its ultimate strength in the mature sperm. They suggest that this organization enables the sperm cells to activate a wide variety of genes during meiosis, enabling the cells to later gain the unique ability to produce all cell types after fertilization. According to Dr. Kaplan, “In the future, we intend to use this approach in order to understand how the genome’s spatial structure may influence fertility.”

This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Azrieli Foundation and the Henry and Marilyn Taub Scholarship.

Prof. Kaplan joined the Technion Rappaport Faculty of Medicine in 2016 and established an interdisciplinary laboratory for studying the spatial structure and function of genomes in health and disease.

Haia Khoury completed her BSc at the Technion’s Faculty of Biology and is currently pursuing an MSc in Biomedical Sciences at the Technion Rappaport Faculty of Medicine.

Changes in the organization of DNA during sperm development. Left to right: developing sperm cells (early meiosis), developing sperm cells (after meiosis) and mature sperm cells. Top row: microscopy image of cells where DNA is marked in black. Lower row: Hi-C interaction maps showing spatial structures of DNA (rectangular shapes). In early meiosis when the DNA is condensed, the DNA structures exist but are weaker, then gradually strengthen after meiosis and in the mature sperm cells.

Click here for the paper in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology

Photo credit: Technion Spokesperson’s Office

For more information: Doron Shaham, Technion Spokesperson, 050-310-9088

EIT FAN is a new EU funded multi-location accelerator programme delivered across Europe. Over a 4 month acceleration period, start-ups will have access to a buffet of tools, connections, mentors, and expertise to help them to succeed. With the 3 best start-ups receiving prizes.

Driven by a consortium of EIT Food partners, representing the very best in academic and industry expertise in the food space, and with MassChallenge, the programme supports high impact food-space start-ups to maximize their success.

The EIT FAN will be held across 5 locations in Germany, Israel, Switzerland, Spain, and the United Kingdom, and will start in June 2019.

For further details click here: http://www.eitfan.eu

Students from Technion’s Faculty of Computer Science showcase their innovative projects

A navigation system for the visually impaired, a system to prevent drunk driving, and a social app for task-sharing

[Technion January 22, 2019]

BionicEye team

Undergraduate students from Technion’s Faculty of Computer Science presented 43 projects in the fields of Internet of Things (IoT), Android Applications, Ransomware, and computer communications.

The students, from the Technion’s Systems and Software Development Lab (SSDL) headed by Chief Engineer Itai Dabran, presented a wide range of projects which spanned navigation system for the visually impaired, sensors for a karate match, a recipe search system based on available ingredients, a driving instructor’s logbook, a ‘smart’ glove for a motorcycle racing game, and a family application for managing household chores.

SPIN-IT team

The projects were carried out in cooperation with the Microsoft Israel R&D Center, which assists the students in using new technologies and software during the course of their studies. Guiding the students were teaching assistants Boris Van Sosin, Lina Maudlej, Ron Balter, and Ofir Alexi from Technion’s Faculty of Computer Science and Microsoft’s Director of Academic Programs, Nir Levy.

Among the guests of honor at the project fair were Microsoft’s Jennifer Ritzinger, Senior Director of Audience Evangelism and Justin Garrett, Director of Academic Ecosystems for Cloud & AI. “I was really inspired, listening to the computer science students at The Technion share their projects on IoT, mobile app dev, and ransomware prevention…many powered by cloud platforms like Azure. There’s just an energy, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit here and it’s an honor for Microsoft to be a partner here”, Garrett said.

Among the projects that were presented:

BionicEye system installed on a shoe

BionicEye was designed to warn visually impaired people of obstacles in their vicinity and to help them navigate their surroundings.  The development team includes friends and fellow students Aviad Shiber, Shahar Shalev, and Oded Raiches.

The idea for the project was initiated by Shiber, whose mother is visually impaired. “Guide dogs are a good solution for the visually impaired, but they do not know how to deal with an unfamiliar pattern,” he explained. This device helps the user navigate via the use of voice and vibrating applications that safely direct them towards their destination.

DriveSafe is a system whereby ‘smart cars’ are able to identify drivers who have consumed a high level of alcohol and prevent car-ignition. The system was developed by students Rotem Samuel, Adva Bitan, and Elizabeth Langerman, and also supports tests such as the drivers’ breath and balance as well as their response in real-time.

Pacmino – live Pac-Man

Pacmino is an innovative game based on the popular 80’s arcade game, Pac-Man. Students Ameer Dar Aamar, Samir Massad, and Khaled Manaa built a physical model of the game in which the Pac-Man is remotely controlled. The player activates and moves the Pac-Man, via on an application which implements image processing technology.

“As children, we played a lot of Pac-Man on a computer with very basic graphics, and now we wanted to take the game a step further and provide the user with an enhanced game experience,” said Massad.”

SPIN-IT students Tal Helfand, Naomi Goroboy, and Aviv Cohen developed a racing game that encourages sports culture. A pair of cyclists compete on real bicycles secured to the floor in a virtual environment; receiving feedback on their distance, progress achieved over time, and performance improvement, to encourage sports and fitness.

Amigo team

Amigo is a smartphone application designed for the elderly. The app, developed by students Marah Ghoummaid, Moanes Mrowat, and Eman Ayoub, is designed to assist elderly people with their daily tasks and also serves as an emergency-call device. “Our application enables the user to navigate, write messages and surf the web, all in one application and does not require advanced technological know-how.”

Jesta is a social app which enables people to obtain assistance at a reasonable price. The application connects between people who need help and the relevant people who are able to help. “It is a win-win situation,” said Maxim, Chicherin, Dennis Vashenikov and Evgeni Leonti, the three team members who developed the app. The students recognize the commercial potential of this application and intend to continue its development.

From the origin of species to the origin of sexual reproduction

Yael Iosilevskii and Benjamin Podbilewicz, Faculty of Biology, Technion

In 1831 Captain Robert FitzRoy commissioned His Majesty’s Ship ‘Beagle’ and set out on an expedition, accompanied by “Mr. Charles Darwin…a young man of promising ability, extremely fond of geology, and indeed of all branches of natural history” [1]. This journey, would give rise to the most important book ever written in life sciences.

In his book, “On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life,” published in 1859, Darwin claimed that evolution by natural selection was one of the main forces influencing the variation in living organisms. For the first time in history, this book depicted evolution in the form of a (family) tree wherein various species which exist today are the result of the branching out of an extinct ancestor [2]. Such evolution is evident in language development [3], disease outbreaks [4], and in the formation of new plant and animal species [5].

How is a new species of a living organism created? First, we must define what is a species. Animals of different species cannot sexually reproduce (to bear fertile offspring). Changes in the genetic composition or the environment from one generation to the next may create a situation whereby two populations become distinct enough so as to not be able to reproduce between them – thus, a new species is created from an existing one. Over time, these differences become greater and the species become more divergent. Many mechanisms can contribute to this separation, but a significant factor is the requirement for a perfect match of the special cells responsible for reproduction, the gametes (e.g. sperm and egg) [6]. In general, only same-species gametes will fuse to form a zygote (or fertilized egg), from which an entire new organism would develop.

This seemingly trivial first step in sexual reproduction is in fact one of the greatest mysteries of all time: Two cells will not fuse spontaneously; special proteins called fusogens must mediate this, and the fusogens mediating sperm – egg fusion in vertebrates, including humans, are unknown.

We do know the identity of fusogens responsible for fusion of gametes in other sexually reproducing species: flowering plants and the malaria parasite use proteins called “HAP2” [7], and some viruses use “class II fusion proteins” to merge into the cell they infect. Additionally, in the worm C. elegans, one third of all cells fuse to sculpt organs using proteins called “EFF-1” [8]. Remarkably, these proteins, from plants, parasites, viruses, and worms, look almost identical, and can interact to cause different cells to fuse in a petri dish [7].

The similarity of structure between EFF-1, HAP2 and viral class II fusion proteins enables us to trace back and speculate that there was once a common ancestor to these fusion proteins, from which multiple families diverged [9]. Were sexual fusogens ‘stolen’ by viruses from the ancient hosts, or were they a viral mechanism adopted by ancient organisms to facilitate sexual reproduction? We are still not sure.

Figure: Trees depicting evolution. The first known evolutionary tree drawn by Darwin in 1837 (left) [10]  and a tree showing the structural relationships between fusogens of the family named fusexins (right). Viral class II proteins (red); somatic fusogens (green); sexual fusogens (blue) [7].

As research develops, we will be able to identify and describe new fusogens and place them accordingly into an evolutionary tree. In Darwin’s words, “Of the many twigs which flourished when the tree was a mere bush, only two or three, now grown into great branches, yet survive and bear the other branches; so with the species which lived during long-past geological periods, very few have left living and modified descendants.” [2]  As such, Darwin’s original ideas have continued to evolve with us over the past 160 years, and will surely continue to do so.

References:

1. FitzRoy, R., (1839). The narrative of the voyages of H.M. Ships Adventure and Beagle. London: Colburn [1st ed.] Proceedings of the second expedition, 1831-36. pp. 18-19. http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=1&itemID=F10.2&viewtype=text
2. Darwin, C. (1859). On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: Murray. [1st ed.] pp.3-6 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F373&viewtype=text&pageseq=1
3. Corballis, M. C. (2017). Language evolution: a changing perspective. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 21(4), 229-236. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661317300190?via%3Dihub
4. Su, S., Bi, Y., Wong, G., Gray, G. C., Gao, G. F., & Li, S. (2015). Epidemiology, Evolution, and Recent Outbreaks of Avian Influenza Virus in China. Journal of virology, 89(17), 8671-6. https://jvi.asm.org/content/89/17/8671
5. Shapiro, B. J., Leducq, J. B., & Mallet, J. (2016). What Is Speciation?. PLoS genetics, 12(3), e1005860. https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1005860
6. Springate, L., & Frasier, T. R. (2017). Gamete compatibility genes in mammals: candidates, applications and a potential path forward. Royal Society open science, 4(8), 170577. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.170577
7. Valansi, C., Moi, D., Leikina, E., Matveev, E., Graña, M., Chernomordik, L. V., Romero, H., Aguilar, P. S., & Podbilewicz, B. (2017). Arabidopsis HAP2/GCS1 is a gamete fusion protein homologous to somatic and viral fusogens. J Cell Biol, 216(3), 571-581. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5350521/
8. Mohler, W. A., Shemer, G., del Campo, J. J., Valansi, C., Opoku-Serebuoh, E., Scranton, V., Assaf, N., White, J.G., & Podbilewicz, B. (2002). The type I membrane protein EFF-1 is essential for developmental cell fusion. Developmental cell, 2(3), 355-362. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1534580702001296?via%3Dihub
9. Hernández, J. M., & Podbilewicz, B. (2017). The hallmarks of cell-cell fusion. Development, 144(24), 4481-4495. http://dev.biologists.org/content/144/24/4481
10. Darwin, C. Notebook B: [Transmutation of species (1837-1838)]. ‘commenced. . . July 1837’. pp.36. http://darwin-online.org.uk/manuscripts.html(DAR121)

Prof. Uri Sivan elected new President of Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

Prof. Uri Sivan

The Technion Council headed by Mr. Gideon Frank, has elected Prof. Uri Sivan, of the Faculty of Physics as the next president of Technion. The Council’s decision was based on the recommendation of the Search Committee for the Technion President and received sweeping support from the Academic Assembly. The appointment is subject to the final approval of the International Board of Governors which is set to convene in June.

Prof. Sivan will commence his term as President of Technion on October 1, 2019, and will replace the outgoing President Prof. Peretz Lavie, who will complete his term after a decade in office.

Prof. Sivan, 64, a resident of Haifa, is married and the father of three. He served as a pilot in the Israeli Air Force. He has a BSc in Physics and Mathematics, an MSc and Ph.D. in Physics, all with honors from Tel Aviv University.

In 1991, after three years at IBM’s T. J. Watson Research Center in New York, Prof. Sivan joined the Faculty of Physics at Technion. His research has covered a wide range of fields including quantum mesoscopic physics and the harnessing of molecular and cellular biology for the self-assembly of miniature electronic devices. In recent years, his research has focused on the way water orders next to molecules and the effect of this ordering on inter-molecular interactions in biologically relevant solutions. Within this framework, Prof. Sivan’s group designs and builds unique, ultra-high-resolution atomic force microscopes.

Prof. Sivan, the Bertoldo Badler Chair, is credited with important scientific achievements. Prof. Sivan, along with colleagues Profs. Erez Braun and Yoav Eichen, demonstrated for the first time how to harness molecular recognition by DNA molecules for wiring an electric circuit. This study gained considerable resonance and helped pave the way for a new field in nanotechnology using the self-assembly properties of biological molecules to construct miniature engineering systems.

Prof. Sivan is a renowned lecturer in Israel and abroad. He was awarded numerous prizes including the Mifal Hapais Landau Prize for the Sciences and Research, the Rothschild Foundation Bruno Prize, the US-Israel BSF Bergmann Award, the Technion’s Hershel Rich Innovation Award, and the Taub Award for Excellence in Research.

His research has led to patents and industrial applications. Recently, an Israeli start-up company was established in the field of single cell analysis for cancer diagnostics, based on the technology developed in Prof. Sivan’s lab.

Prof. Sivan is the founding director of the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Research Institute (RBNI), which he headed between 2005 and 2010.  RBNI has led the scientific revolution in nanotechnology at Technion and has placed the university at the forefront of global research in the field. RBNI made headlines when Prof. Sivan and Dr. Ohad Zohar engraved the entire Hebrew Bible onto a tiny silicon chip. The Nano Bible was written as part of an educational program developed by the Institute to increase young people’s interest in science and especially in nanotechnology. In 2009, President Shimon Peres presented the Nano Bible to Pope Benedict XVI during his official visit to Israel. Today, there are three copies of the chip worldwide: at the Vatican Library, the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C., and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

The establishment of RBNI spearheaded the development of Israel’s national nanotechnology program, and together with centers established in other Israeli universities, has positioned the country as a world leader in nanotechnology.

Recently, Prof. Sivan was appointed the head of the National Advisory Committee for Quantum Science and Technology set up by the Council for Higher Education’s Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC). The committee outlined the national quantum academic program, which was adopted and launched last year.

Prof. Sivan has served as a member of the Israeli National Committee for Research and Development (MOLMOP) and the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Batsheva de Rothschild Foundation. He currently serves on the Advisory Committee of the Maof Fellowships Committee for advancing Arab faculty and is a member of the Wolfson Foundation Advisory Committee in Israel.

Prof. Sivan deeply values and promotes education. He headed a Ministry of Education committee to develop and mentor “Science and Technology for All,” a national curriculum for non-science high-school majors.

Photo credit: Nitzan Zohar, Technion Spokesperson’s Office

Vascularizing Engineered Tissues in Lab Could Make for More Successful Organ Transplants

(L-R) Prof. Shulamit Levenberg and Shahar Ben-Shaul

HAIFA, ISRAEL (February 5, 2019) – When human tissue is damaged by trauma or disease, replacement tissue is needed by surgeons to repair it. The tissue is usually transplanted from one part of the patient’s body to another (autograft) or from one person to another (allograft).

Autografts can save lives, but they are complicated: Harvesting autografts is painful and costly, and infections and hematoma (solid swelling of clotted blood) within the tissues can result. Transplanted tissue via allograft is also complex because the recipient’s immune system can reject the tissue, and the graft can transport infection or disease to the recipient.

The field of tissue engineering aims to regenerate or replace damaged tissues using tissues made in the lab. Cells taken from the body are incorporated with very porous scaffold biomaterials, which act as 3D templates that guide the growth of new tissue.

A doctoral student in biomedical engineering at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa and her colleagues have brought successful tissue engineering a step closer. Shahar Ben-Shaul – working with Shira Landau and Uri Merdler under the supervision of Prof.  Shulamit Levenberg – have just published their findings in an article called “Mature vessel networks within engineered tissue promote graft-host anastomosis and prevent graft thrombosis” in the latest issue of PNAS (Proceedings of the US National Academy of Sciences.

Blood perfusion (red) of the implanted engineered- vessels (green) connected to the host blood vessels (blue).

The scaffolds are seeded with cells grown in vitro to create tissues for implantation or are introduced directly into the exact site where the patient’s body has been damaged or diseased. The tissues are then coaxed into regeneration.

Graft vascularization – creating blood vessels to bring oxygen and nutrients to the regenerated tissue, is one of the most difficult tasks before this process can succeed in creating thick, transplantable tissues and organs. In-vitro ‘pre-vascularization’ of engineered-tissues has been suggested to promote rapid “anastomosis” (connection of blood vessels) between the graft and the recipient’s tissues. But thrombosis (clotting or coagulation) in the grafts can result.

Ben-Shaul and her team aimed at finding out whether transplanting more mature engineered vessels to integrate with the patient’s tissues could speed up this process without causing thrombosis in the grafts.

They cultured endothelial cells and fibroblasts on 3-dimensional scaffolds for 1, 7 or 14 days, to form vessels of different ages.

The result was that the most mature grafts with complex vessel networks that have grown longer in the lab increased graft-host vessel anastomosis and improved penetration of the vessels in the recipient.

The less-mature vessels were less successful in combining with the host tissue and caused more clots to be formed. These findings, they wrote, “demonstrate the importance of establishing mature and complex vessel networks in engineered-tissues before implantation” in promoting anastomosis with the host and speeding up the perfusion of blood into the tissues.

After the current study in the mice, Ben-Shaul hopes to conduct additional preclinical studies that could lead to the implementation of the study’s conclusions in humans.

Click here for the paper in PNAS

Photo credits: Technion Spokesperson’s Office