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Public Statement of Israel Research Universities Presidents Regarding American Universities Presidents’ Statements in Congressional Hearings

Since the horrifying atrocity of October 7th, there has been a distressing surge in anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment on numerous campuses across the United States, including some of its most esteemed universities. Instead of offering empathy and support to Israeli and Jewish students in the wake of the brutal massacre of Jewish communities in their homeland, campuses have witnessed protests advocating for the annihilation of the State of Israel (“from the river to the sea”) and endorsing terrorist activities against Israeli citizens (“intifada”). There has been a disturbing display of hatred towards Jews and Israelis, causing fear among this community on American campuses. This resurgence of hostility evokes memories of dark chapters in Jewish history.

Under these distressing circumstances, there is an urgent need for firm leadership on American campuses—leadership that unequivocally declares, “This far, no further.” Regrettably, such resolute leadership appears to be lacking at present. While some individual academic leaders have vocally opposed anti-Semitism and actively worked against it, many others have remained silent.

In a disconcerting recent hearing held in the U.S. Congress, presidents from three prominent universities (Harvard, MIT, and Pennsylvania) were questioned about their stance on severe instances of anti-Semitism on their campuses. Although these leaders acknowledged the existence of anti-Semitic expressions, they maintained that curbing a significant portion of these expressions is challenging due to their protection under the banner of free speech.

During a critical moment in the congressional hearing, the university presidents were asked whether a call for the genocide of the Jewish people aligns with their institutions’ codes of conduct. Astonishingly, they struggled to provide a straightforward “no” and instead offered vague responses, suggesting that the response depends on the context. This hesitation raises concerning questions about the interpretation of free speech.

Following the hearing, the president of Harvard University released a brief statement emphasizing the institution’s prohibition of anti-Semitic expressions, a sentiment echoed by the president of the University of Pennsylvania.

The positions taken by the university presidents during the congressional hearing, suggesting that anti-Semitic expressions and calls for genocide may fall under the umbrella of free speech, defy the principles of the U.S. Constitution. A nation that permits a call for genocide in the guise of freedom of speech does a disservice to its values. Freedom of speech, while a fundamental right, must yield in the face of incitement, hatred, and calls for violence, especially a call for genocide. This principle holds true not only in the United States but also in all democratic countries globally.

The university presidents’ failure to provide a firm stance in dealing with instances of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment on many campuses in the United States is alarming. Apologies and expressions of regret are not enough; what is required are clear and decisive actions. In their testimony before Congress, the university presidents mentioned measures taken or planned to protect the security and well-being of Jews and Israelis on campuses.

It is now their responsibility to ensure the effectiveness and sufficiency of these measures. The burden lies on their shoulders to demonstrate that the universities they lead not only excel in academics but also uphold universal humanistic values and defend the rights of minorities. It is imperative that everyone understands that advocating for the destruction of a people is strictly prohibited at Harvard, MIT, Pennsylvania, and everywhere else in the world.

Prof. Arie Zaban, President of Bar-Ilan University; Chairperson of Association of University Heads, Israel – VERA

Prof. Daniel Chamovitz, President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Prof. Alon Chen, President of the Weizmann Institute of Science

Prof. Asher Cohen, President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Prof. Leo Corry, President of the Open University

Prof. Ehud Grossman, President of Ariel University

Prof. Ariel Porat, President of Tel-Aviv University

Prof. Ron Robin, President of the University of Haifa

Prof. Uri Sivan, President of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

VERA – Statement on U.S. Congressional Hearing – 12.7.23

More than 250 volunteers from the Technion mobilized to help teach students who were evacuated from their homes

About a week after the outbreak of the war, in mid-October, Prof. Yohai Carmel from the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering came across a volunteer academy project . This new and exciting initiative is designed to harness members of the academic and administrative faculty, doctoral and master’s students to assist in the teaching of students evacuated from the north and south during the war and to support them. Prof. Carmel contacted the originator of the initiative, Dr. Lev Talor from Ariel University, and offered to help not only with the teaching but also with the organization.

Following this, Prof. Carmel is currently coordinating the initiative in the Northern District. Meanwhile, Dr. Ronit Cohen, director of the Ecology Laboratory at the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, has taken it upon herself to coordinate the activity in the Haifa District. In cooperation between them and Michal Meir, who coordinates the “Mutual Guarantee” initiative at the Technion, an email was sent to all Technion faculty members, and as a result, many academic faculty members and managers from the Technion volunteered for this initiative. According to Prof. Carmel, “More than 500 volunteers are currently registered in the ‘Volunteer Academy’ in Israel. Happily, the Technion leads by a margin over all other academic institutions, with more than 150 volunteers.”

The students at the Technion also joined the teaching effort, and this initiative is led by Amit Pelati, a master’s student at the Faculty of Science and Technology Education who works at the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning at the Technion. “So far, about 120 students have volunteered to teach math, science and English,” he says. “I am working on the connection between the volunteers and the temporary schools set up for the evacuees in hotels (for elementary schools) and colleges (for high schools). It is very complex, because things are very dynamic. It happens that we arrange for a student to volunteer at a temporary school – and the next day we receive an update that there is no longer a school there. These are huge numbers: thousands of evacuees from the north are in temporary places in Haifa, Karmiel and around the Sea of Galilee, apparently for a long time, and assistance to the educational teams is really essential these days.”

The main volunteering within the “Volunteer Academy” is in the schools, but many also volunteer in learning centers that operate in the afternoon. In the supplementary learning center at the Hof Guy Hotel in Kinneret, for example, volunteers are Prof. Yizhar Or from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, the Dean of the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering Prof. Giti Frey, Dr. Yosef Frey, Dr. Moran Benhar from the Rapaport Faculty of Medicine. The learning center is attended by students from the evacuated schools of kibbutzim and moshavim in the Nahariya area, which were integrated into the Kaduri High School.

Prof. Carmel himself teaches science in grades 8-10. According to him, “I don’t stick to the curriculum but try to be interesting and relevant for them. Even so, it is difficult for them to concentrate on their studies during this period, after they were displaced from their home and moved to live in a temporary hotel, for an unknown period of time.”

The Technion is exempting students serving in the IDF reserves for significant amounts of time from taking scheduled final exams for spring and summer 2023 classes

The Technion is enabling students who served extensively in the army reserves during the current war to receive exemptions from regular and make-up final exams for classes they took in the spring and summer semesters of 2023. These exemptions, combined with other benefits the Technion has already announced on behalf of students in the reserves, will allow them to begin the new academic year as smoothly as possible. These benefits include a NIS 6,000 grant for each student serving in the reserves, as well as exemption from paying dorm rent, Emotional support and more.

Since the start of the war thousands of Technion’s students received emergency call-up notices, as did many faculty members and academic and administrative staff. Exempting reservists from the need to take exams from last year’s courses will enable them to complete their military duty and return as quickly as possible to their studies at the Technion. Due to the special nature of the studies at the Technion and the disciplines taught at the university – engineering, medicine, science, architecture, and education – a small number of make-up exams for courses defined as crucial for the students’ professional and academic training will not be exempt. Moreover, the exemption does not include the obligation to submit projects and assignments. However, it does include students who are parents and whose partner is serving in the reserves, as well as members of the “Atudaim” program who were mobilized, and students in mandatory service and in the standing army who meet the criteria mentioned above.

Make-up exams for the spring semester and final exams for the summer semester will take place at the Technion from December 17, 2023, through January 5, 2024. Since the war interrupted the original exam schedule and some students are required to complete their exams before the start of the new semester, the Technion announced a special plan for additional academic adjustments for students serving in the army reserves during the war. As a result, the remaining exam period for the last academic year will be separated from the upcoming academic year and there will be no overlapping between the two. This change, along with the exemptions for reservists, will enable all students to begin the new academic year without worrying about lingering obligations from previous years.

“At the Technion, we are very proud of our students who are serving in the reserves and pray for their safe return,” says Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan. “We understand that given the situation and the ongoing war, the students serving in the reserves are experiencing long periods of mobilization with a great deal of challenges, which makes it especially difficult to return to academic life and to exams. Therefore, already from the beginning of the war, the Technion’s management started formulating a series of adjustments to relieve some of the pressure for all students, and especially for those serving in the army during the war. The adjustments for the exams and for the beginning of the academic year will make it possible to open the winter semester at the earliest feasible date, so that we will be able to proceed with a balanced academic year as much as possible.”

Students who served in the reserves for at least 30 days between October 7, 2023, and the start of the exam period are eligible to be exempted from taking exams for the spring and summer semesters of 2023. These students can choose to receive an exemption for classes for which they were supposed to take exams between December 17, 2023, and January 5, 2024. The “exemption” mark is intended to replace the grades of make-up exams. Students who wish to do so can forego the exemption option and can take make-up exams during their scheduled “moed bet” or “miluim” times.

Click here for details.

The Forum of Deans of Medical Faculties in Israel, including Prof. Eli Pikarski, the dean of the Faculty of Medicine at @HebrewU, has developed a framework for the admission of students studying medicine abroad, conscripted to the IDF under Order 8, who are unable to resume their studies. This initiative acknowledges their contributions and aims to mitigate any disruption they may face.

After extensive deliberations, the forum has outlined criteria allowing for the integration of these students into medical faculties in Israel as early as the upcoming academic year of 2023-2024. To implement this plan, a national admissions committee has been established, comprising representatives from all medical faculties in Israel. This committee will review applications and determine the number of accepted students based on each faculty’s capacity to accommodate additional students.

It’s important to highlight that securing full state funding is a prerequisite for executing this framework.

For comprehensive details on the outline, candidacy criteria, and specific conditions, please refer to the full document attached below.

Interested candidates can submit their applications, along with the required documents, to the following email address: VERA.refua@gmail.com

Furthermore, the deans’ forum has decided to extend recognition to candidates enrolled in medical studies this year (2023-2024) who were also conscripted to serve in the IDF under Order 8 on October 7, 2023. These individuals, having completed the entire medical admission process but falling short of a few points for admission, will also be considered. A limited number of these candidates will be selected promptly, with details announced separately.

Please see the attached document for the full announcement text.

FINAL Faculties of Medicine VERA PR – 12.5.23

The position of Executive Vice President for Research has been divided in two: from now on, there will be an Executive VP for Research and an Executive VP for Innovation and Industry Relations

The Technion’s Council, supported by the Senate, has confirmed the appointments of Prof. Noam Adir to the position of Executive Vice President for Research and Prof. Lihi Zelnik-Manor to the position of Executive Vice President for Innovation and Industry Relations.

The new appointments reflect the Technion’s strategic policy of strengthening the ties between academia and industry – as a result of the intensification of research in industry and the understanding that collaborations between academia and industry are a significant force multiplier for research and development, impacting student education and training. In recent years, as part of the strategy of lowering the barriers separating academia from industry, the Technion’s management has expanded the university’s activities related to implementing research, commercializing new technologies, and founding start-up companies. During the last three years, the number of companies founded by Technion faculty members and graduate students tripled. In fact, one of every 30 new start-up companies in Israel is now founded by a Technion researcher.

As a result of these important changes, the role of Vice President for Research has been divided into two positions. The Vice President for Research will deal with all aspects of research at the Technion, including facilities, foundations, grants, national and international research committees, etc. The Vice President for Innovation and Industry Relations will oversee the transfer of knowledge and technologies developed at the Technion to industry, including identifying the research requirements within industry, collaborative research, and commercializing the knowledge.

Prof. Noam Adir, the incoming Vice President for Research, served as the Dean of the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry, as well as Deputy VP for Research and Deputy VP and Director General for Safety. Prof. Adir joined the Technion’s faculty in 1995. His research focuses on physical tools in the chemical research of molecules and biological systems and the development of innovative techniques to harvest solar energy. In his new role, Prof. Adir will also serve as CEO of the Technion Research & Development Foundation Ltd., a subsidiary of the Technion.

Prof. Lihi Zelnik-Manor, the new Vice President for Innovation and Industry Relations, served as Vice Dean of the Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Prof. Zelnik-Manor has been a member of the Technion’s faculty since 2007. Her field is computer vision, and she is deeply involved with industry and innovation. She served as General Manager of the Alibaba R&D Center in Israel for three years. In her new role, she will also serve as Vice CEO of the Technion R&D Foundation Ltd., responsible for T3 (the commercialization unit), the Institute of Metals and the Legal Unit.

Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan congratulated Prof. Noam Adir and Prof. Lihi Zelnik-Manor and wished them success in their new roles. In addition, he thanked the departing Vice President for Research, Prof. Koby Rubinstein, who held the position for four years. During Prof. Rubinstein’s tenure, a great deal of progress was achieved boosting ties between the Technion and industry. The President thanked Prof. Rubinstein for his leadership and dedication during a period that was very challenging for research and development.

Click her

e for photos

Captions:

Prof. Lihi Zelnik-Manor
Prof. Noam Adir

Photos: Rami Shelush, Technion spokesperson’s office

For more information: Doron Shaham, Technion Spokesperson, +972-50-3109088

By Dr. Motti Haimi

Telehealth is the delivery of healthcare services by healthcare professionals through information and communication technologies, where distance separates the participants. In recent years, with the development of the internet and communication infrastructure, telehealth has become a convenient and safe method for patients to obtain reliable information and medical consultation.

There are many benefits in using telehealth, especially in routine care and in cases where a direct patient-healthcare provider interaction is not mandatory.

Since December 2019, the world has been facing an epidemic threat to global health, caused by the novel coronavirus, “SARS-CoV-2“.

Elderly people and those who have underlying medical conditions are at greater risk of developing an intensive and severe form of the disease. On the other hand, people who are not currently infected with COVID-19 but are at greater risk of “catching” the infection (e.g., elderly people and people with underlying diseases), should be able to receive routine healthcare without being at risk from exposure to others.

COVID-19 has catalyzed the rapid use of information communication technologies such as telehealth and virtual software platforms to deliver healthcare at a distance.

Telehealth has become an important tool for the general population, healthcare providers, and patients with COVID-19, enabling patients to maintain real-time contact with healthcare providers for advice on their health problems, especially useful when in quarantine. Remote medical treatment, using telemedicine services, can promote the patients’ access to professional medical advice without having to wait for long periods of time. It reduces unnecessary visits to clinics and hospitals, both in normal times and especially during the pandemic.

Among the most significant benefits of telehealth technologies will be the ways in which they will enable healthcare providers to effectively address and treat chronic diseases, which are one of the major health problems nowadays, and the largest cause of death. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, older adults with complex medical diseases had limited access to healthcare. The elderly population will particularly benefit from telehealth, which has the potential to increase equality in care, but which can also further exacerbate disparities.

The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated access to care, especially among the elderly population, due to reduced clinic visits, transport restrictions, and other societal measures to mitigate the pandemic. Age-related barriers such as lack of exposure and familiarity to new technology were also contributing factors.

Nevertheless, there is a misconception that older people do not have internet or network connection, which they need for telehealth solutions. In fact, most of them do have such access, but have difficulties using the internet. Several studies also described a successful experience for older adults when special equipment was provided and installed, enabling them to experience home telehealth services.

In this systematic review, we explored the availability, application, and implementation of telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic designed for the aging population (age 65 and over), who needed them the most during this challenging period.

In our analysis, a total of 5319 articles were identified in the database, of which 3225 articles were left after deleting the duplicates. Following the removal of duplicate studies and screening titles and abstracts of the different study reports, we finally appraised 40 relevant studies in full. 11 studies were finally included after reviewing the full texts.

Our study shows that although older patients may benefit the most from using home telehealth visits, which improves their access to care, paradoxically there are still not enough telehealth solutions aimed at this specific population. It seems that not enough efforts were made.

Many older adults may have trouble accessing telemedical services. Policy makers should recognize and bridge this digital divide.

We suggest using simple, uncomplicated devices (such as tablets), supplied to the elderly enabling them to easily communicate with their physicians or other healthcare providers. Lectures and demonstrations on telehealth opportunities given to the general population can help address this digital divide. Another option is to train and prepare special health-related or technology-related personnel who can visit the elderly patients several times a month and help them operate the telehealth devices, thus connecting them to their remote healthcare professionals.

We believe that appropriate and successful digital solutions should be tailored and developed specifically for the elderly sub-groups, and aim to address their needs, desires, and everyday activities, not only during pandemics. As demonstrated in this systematic review, despite the hesitations around operating telehealth solutions for older patients, it can be done and is effective.

This article is in memory of my mother, Rachel Haimi, who passed away one year ago, not from COVID-19, but due to the lack of appropriate medical attention caused by the COVID-19 restrictions.

Dr. Motti Haimi

Dr. Motti Haimi, M.D. Ph.D., MHA, is an experienced pediatrician and pediatric onco-hematologist, and medical director, working at Clalit Health Services since 2007.

He has a demonstrated history of working in the hospital and health care industry. Skilled in clinical research, medical education, epidemiology, pediatrics, hematology, telehealth, and anti-healthcare disparities activist.

He is a clinical lecturer at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology; he is also a research associate and lecturer at the School of Public Health, University of Haifa, and at HIT (Holon Technological Institute).

He earned his M.D. from the medical school of The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He also got a Ph.D. degree, and master’s degree (cum laude) in Health Administration and Health Care Management from the School of Public Health at Haifa University.

His areas of research and interest include pediatric hematology, dysmorphology and familial genetic syndromes, hereditary predisposition for cancer, gastroenterology and nutrition in children, and decision making of the primary care doctor.

During recent years, he is especially interested in the field of telemedicine and health-informatics, pediatric telemedicine services, and especially finding telehealth solutions for the elderly population and other populations who may have difficulties in accessing digital solutions.

He is part of the Healthcare Disparities and Digital Health working group of the International Society for Telemedicine & e-health

Dr. Haimi recently received the Prof. Haim Doron Award for outstanding Ph.D. thesis at the 14th Conference on Health Policy of the National Institute for Health Services Research.

Prof Anat Gesser-Edelsburg

Anat Gesser-Edelsburg, Ph.D. is an associate professor, the head of Health Promotion Program, School of Public Health, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, and the founding director of the Health and Risk Communication Research Center at University of Haifa. During 2020, Anat was a visiting scholar at the School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago.

Dr. Gesser-Edelsburg is also a researcher at the Center for Evaluation of Health Promotion Interventions and at the Emili Sagol Creative Arts Therapies Research Center, University of Haifa.

She has won or collaborated in many research grants, and has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Gesser-Edelsburg has a B.A. and Ph.D. from the Faculty of Arts, Tel Aviv University.

Her areas of research include health and risk communication, positive deviance, social marketing, persuasive communication, health-promotion programs, entertainment-education, and qualitative research. She investigates a variety of health-related issues, including emerging infectious disease communication, vaccination compliance, drugs and alcohol abuse, drunk-driving, sex education, nutrition, and prevention of hospital-acquired infections.

The full article published in Health Informatics Journal, can be found here.

A collaboration between researchers from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and the University of Debrecen, Hungary has led to the development of a novel experimental method that makes it possible to track the motion of a twin boundary at nanometer size scales and microsecond time scales. The paper, published in Advanced Functional Materials, was led by Professor Doron Shilo and the Ph.D. candidate Emil Bronstein of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, and Professor Ronen Talmon of the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical & Computer Engineering.

Twin boundary motion governs a highly prevalent deformation mechanism called “twinning.” This mechanism is found in a variety of materials (e.g., magnesium, titanium) and material classes (e.g., shape memory alloys, minerals, ferroelectrics). Because of this, understanding the behavior of twin boundaries has a crucial scientific significance and a direct influence on the comprehension of electro/magneto/thermo-mechanical responses of the aforementioned materials, and many more.

It has long been thought that when a material is rapidly loaded (e.g., by a strong, rapid electric impulse), a twin boundary propagates continuously at a velocity determined by the external loading. Contrarily, when a material is slowly loaded (e.g., by slow compression), twin boundary motion is discrete (discontinuous), and is characterized by short durations at which the twin boundary rapidly propagates separated by long durations at which the twin boundary is static. Despite being the same process, the link between the different behaviors (i.e., the responses to slow and rapid loading) has not previously been considered.

The researchers, however, developed a novel experimental method that enables direct tracking of the twin boundary motion by measuring the magnetic dipole changes of the material. The developed method can track the twin boundary during events that last a few microseconds (a millionth of a second) and have a characteristic size of nanometers. As a result, they provide direct measurements of the motion at unprecedented length and time scales. Analysis of the experimental results indicated, for the first time, that twin boundary motion under both slow and rapid loading can be explained by the same theory. The findings of this research have fundamental scientific importance, as well as a potential to improve actuators (motors) that rely on this process and are used in automobiles, aircraft, spacecraft, and biomedical applications.

Now, the researchers work on the development of data-driven, machine learning methods for the analysis of measured signals that will allow similar studies in a variety of materials and phenomena at short analysis times.

What do ultrasound imaging of a fetus, cellular mobile communication, micro motors, and low-energy-consumption computer memories have in common? All of these technologies are based on ferroelectric materials, which are characterized by a strong correlation between their atomic structure and the electrical and mechanical properties.

Technion – Israel Institute of Technology researchers have succeeded in changing the properties of ferroelectric materials by vacating a single oxygen atom from the original structure. The breakthrough could pave the way for the development of new technologies. The research was headed by Assistant Professor Yachin Ivry of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, accompanied by postdoctoral researcher Dr. Hemaprabha Elangovan and Ph.D. student Maya Barzilay, and was published in ACS Nano. It is noted that engineering an individual oxygen vacancy poses a considerable challenge due to the light weight of oxygen atoms.

Asst. Prof. Yachin Ivry

In ferroelectric materials, a slight shift of the atoms causes significant changes in the electric field and in the contraction or expansion of the material. This effect is the result of the fact that the basic repeating unit in the material contains atoms that are organized in an asymmetric structure.

In order to explain this further, the researchers use the seminal ferroelectric material, barium titanate, the atoms of which form a cubic-like lattice structure. In these materials, a unique phenomenon occurs: the titanium atom draws away from the oxygen atoms. Since titanium is positively charged and oxygen is negatively charged, this separation creates polarization, or in other words, an electric dipole moment.

A cubic lattice has six faces, so the charged atoms move into one of six possibilities. In different parts of the material, a large number of neighboring atoms shift in the same direction, and polarization in each such area, which is known as a ferroelectric domain, is uniform.

Traditional technologies are based on the electric field created in those domains. However, in recent years, a great deal of effort has been directed at minimizing the device size and using the borders, or walls, between the domains rather than the domains themselves, and thus converting the devices from three-dimensional structures to two-dimensional structures.

Dr. Hemaprabha Elangovan, Asst. Prof. Yachin Ivry and Ph.D. student Maya Barzilay

The research community has remained divided in opinion as to what happens in the two-dimensional world of the domain walls: How is the border between two domains with different electric polarization stabilized? Is the polarization in domain walls different to the polarization in the domains themselves? Can the properties of the domain wall be controlled in a localized manner? The great interest in addressing these questions stems from the fact that a ferroelectric material in its natural form is an excellent electric insulator. However, the domain walls may be conducting electrically, thus forming a two-dimensional object that are controllable by will. This phenomenon encompasses the potential to reduce significantly the energy consumption of data storage and data processing devices.

In this project, the researchers succeeded in deciphering the atomic structure and electric field deployment in domain walls at the atomic scale. In their recent article, they corroborate the assumption that domain walls allow for the existence of a two-dimensional border between domains as a result of partial oxygen vacancy in areas that are common to two domains, thus enabling greater flexibility in the deployment of the local electric field. They succeeded in engineeringly inducing an individual oxygen atom vacancy and demonstrated that this action creates opposing dipoles and greater electric symmetry – a unique topological structure called a quadrupole.

With the aid of computer simulations by Shi Liu of Westlake University in China, the researchers demonstrated that engineering the oxygen atom vacancy has a great impact on the electrical properties of the material not only at the atomic scale, but also at the scale that is relevant to electronic devices – for example, in terms of electrical conductivity. The significance is that the present scientific achievement is likely to be of help in miniaturizing devices of this kind as well as reducing their energy consumption.

In the micrograph: Image of the structure before (on the right) and after (left) removing an oxygen atom

In collaboration with researchers from the Negev Nuclear Research Center, the Technion research group also demonstrated that oxygen vacancies can be engineered by exposing the material to electronic radiation. Consequently, in addition to the technological potential of the discovery in electronics, it may also be possible to utilize the effect for radiation detectors, allowing for the early detection – and prevention – of nuclear accidents, such as the one that happened in 2011 in Fukushima, Japan.

The research, which was carried out at the Electron Microscopy Center in the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, was funded by the Israel Science Foundation and the Pazy Foundation. The Nano and Quantum Functional Structures Laboratory, headed by Asst. Prof. Ivry, is supported by the Zuckerman STEM Leadership Program.

For the article in ACS Nano click here

Researchers at the Technion – Israel institute of Technology, in collaboration with researchers from CNRS, recently published findings about the development of an artificial molecule that may inhibit the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The molecule breaks down the toxic chemical complex Cu–Aβ, thus inhibiting the cell death that is thought to be related to Alzheimer’s. The study was led by Professor Galia Maayan and doctoral student Anastasia Behar from the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry, in collaboration with Prof. Christelle Hureau from the Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination du CNRS, Toulouse, France.

Prof. Galia Maayan

Copper ions are a key component of the structure and function of various cells in the body. But their accumulation can lead to cell toxicity, causing dangerous conditions such as oxidative stress, cardiovascular disorders, and degenerative diseases of the brain, including Alzheimer’s.

One of the mechanisms involved in the development of Alzheimer’s is the formation of free radicals that damage the brain cells. These are oxidizing agents formed, among other things, by Cu–Aβ, a complex of copper and amyloid beta.

It is already known that the breakdown of this complex, and the removal of copper from the amyloid, prevents cell death, followed by the inhibition of the disease. The extraction of the copper is done by chelation – using molecules that bind the copper ions and extract them from the amyloid.

Doctoral student Anastasia Behar

However, this is not a simple challenge, because the chelators must meet several critical chemical and kinetic conditions, including stability and resistance to oxidation-reduction reactions. It is also important that the chelator does not bind zinc ions during the copper extraction process, as they are also essential for neuron function (but do not cause toxicity when they are bound to the amyloid); if the chelator does not bind the zinc, it can continue to bind the copper ions, but if it binds zinc, copper binding will be inhibited.

The Technion and CNRS researchers report in the Angewandte Chemie on the successful development of a new artificial chelator that meets all these requirements. The chelator, called P3, is a peptide-like water-soluble synthetic molecule that performs its task selectively; it strongly binds copper and forms the complex CuP3, extracting the copper from the amyloid. By doing so, it inhibits and even suppresses the formation of harmful oxidizing agents, without creating new oxidation processes. Although it binds zinc ions and even extracts them from the amyloid faster than it extracts the copper ions, the binding to zinc is weaker, making the zinc-amyloid complex unstable, so in practice P3 mostly binds copper ions.

In the figure, from left to right: Oxidation of copper ions in an amyloid complex (that also contains zinc ions) leads to the formation of a toxic amyloid complex and harmful oxidizing agents (ROS). The water-soluble chelator extracts the copper ion from the amyloid complex by creating a new, stable complex, and inhibits the formation of harmful oxidizing agents (NO ROS), thereby neutralizing amyloid toxicity.

Click here for the paper in Angewandte Chemie

Technion researchers have presented an innovative method for the formation of nanowires. In it, the nanowires form within line defects that exist in metals. Such defects are known as dislocations. This is the first time that dislocation lines in a material of one kind serve as a template for the growth of a different inorganic material in the form of nanowires. The study, which was published in PNAS, was led by Professor Boaz Pokroy and Ph.D. student Lotan Portal of the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering and the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute.

Professor Boaz Pokroy

Dislocations are a significant phenomenon in materials science since they affect the material’s properties on both the macro- and microscales. For example, a high dislocation density increases a metal’s strength and hardness. The dislocation edges on metal surfaces and the atoms in their proximity tend to be more chemically activated compared to other atoms in the material and tend to facilitate various chemical reactions, such as corrosion and catalysis.

Lotan Portal

The researchers in Prof. Pokroy’s group created nanowires of gold-cyanide complex from classic Au-Ag alloy. In professional terminology, they synthesized inorganic gold(I)-cyanide (AuCN) systems in the shape of nanowires, using an autocatalytic reaction (i.e. through the acceleration of a reaction by one of its reactants). Gold-cyanide complex is used in numerous fields including ammonia gas detection (NH₃ sensors), catalysis (acceleration) of water-splitting reactions, and others.

In black and white: Scanning electron microscope image of a lateral section of a sample that contains a gold-cyanide nanowire created from Au-Ag (to a depth of 2 microns from the surface of the sample).

In the process developed by the researchers, nanowires crystallize at the dislocation ends on the surface of the original gold-silver (Au-Ag) alloy, and the final structure obtained is classic nanoporous (sponge-like) gold, with a layer of nanowires emerging from it. Formation of the nanowires occurs during the classic selective dealloying process that separates the silver from the system and forms the nanoporous gold and is achieved only when the dislocation density exceeds a critical value, as presented in the kinetic model developed and demonstrated in the article.

The model provides a possible route for growing one-dimensional inorganic complexes while controlling the growth direction, shape, and morphology of a crystal according to the original alloy’s slip system. As mentioned, this scientific and technological achievement has numerous potential applications.

In the figure: A schematic drawing depicting 1D nucleation and growth of a gold-cyanide nanowire along a dislocation in the original alloy during the classic selective dealloying process.

The research was sponsored by a European Research Council (ERC) Proof of Concept Grant (“np-Gold” project) as part of the Horizon 2020 Program.

For the article in PNAS click here