Author: AUFTAU

The Tel Aviv University Alumnus Super-Driving the Future

Written by AUFTAU on 14 June 2023. Posted in Alumni News, Newsroom.

Mobileye CEO and trailblazing technologist Prof. Amnon Shashua on what fuels his work and philanthropy.

As an undergraduate at Tel Aviv University in computer science and math, Prof. Amnon Shashua first cultivated his skills in the discipline of scientific thinking.

This approach to problem-solving was foundational to his subsequent academic career and meteoric rise as the CEO and founder of Mobileye. The driver-assist and autonomous-driving technology company is recognized as one of Israel’s biggest high-tech success stories. Its $15.3 billion acquisition by Intel in 2017 remains the largest ever for an Israeli tech company.

Alongside Mobileye, Shashua helms several other businesses based on artificial intelligence (AI) technology, including OrCam, which develops ‘smart’ assistive devices for the visually impaired; Israel’s first digital bank, One Zero; and AI21 Labs, which raised $64 million in 2022 to augment human writing with its AI systems for computer-generated text.

“Scholarships at TAU are part of promoting the economic success of Israel—academia plays a very strong role in this success.” – Prof. Amnon Shashua

TAU Alumnus to Benefactor

Parallel to his zeal for advancing technology, Shashua is passionate about advancing society. To date, he and his family have donated about $60 million to philanthropic causes, including scholarships at TAU.

Together with his wife, Anat, and three grown children, Shashua seeks to promote economic opportunity and movement toward high-tech among Israel’s underrepresented populations. These include the country’s ultra-Orthodox, Israeli-Arabs, women in STEM, and periphery communities.

“The biggest challenge we have worldwide, not just in Israel, is the widening wealth gap which threatens to cause social unrest and disorder,” he says of the impetus behind his giving. “Scholarships at TAU are part of promoting the economic success of Israel—academia plays a very strong role in this success,” he adds.

In another example of their philanthropic contributions, the Shashua family established a $35 million fund to aid some 2,000 new small businesses that suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic. Shashua hopes the so-called WE-19 program will further help even the playing field for new generations of entrepreneurs and innovators.

“AI’s ability to sense the world will change everything we know about mobility” – Prof. Amnon Shashua

AI: Full Throttle Ahead

Sitting at the intersection of academia and the business world, Shashua has a prime vantage point when it comes to the future of AI.

“It’s easy for a human to have common sense, but hard to program it into a machine,” he explains. “Now it’s starting to happen.”

He sees three primary areas where AI is expected to make leaps and bounds in the next five years: pattern recognition and sensing, or understanding the world through sensors; decision-making that affects the actions of others; and natural-language understanding which uses advanced software to enable computers to comprehend and respond to human text or speech.

When it comes to sensing and decision-making, autonomous driving is one example of AI’s progress.

“AI’s ability to sense the world will change everything we know about mobility,” Shashua says. “With autonomous vehicles, cars will become safer, there will be fewer cars on the roads, and lower costs in transporting people.”

“Even though I’m responsible for some 4,000 employees among all my businesses, I’m a scientist at my core,” – Prof. Amnon Shashua

Scientist at the Core

Shashua explains that his businesses are an expansion of his work as a professor of computer science at Hebrew University.

“I thought it would be nice to build startups because then you can solve bigger problems at a larger scale than in academia,” he says. “I never imagined it’d grow into something as big as it did.”

While he wears many professional hats, Shashua maintains an underlying passion for research.

“Even though I’m responsible for some 4,000 employees among all my businesses, I’m a scientist at my core,” he says.

Shashua continues to teach, too. Once a week, he hosts his advanced degree students for sandwiches and research sessions at his Mobileye offices in Jerusalem.

“Staying in academia keeps me sharp,” he adds, smiling.

Prof. Shashua addresses a 2018 ‘Meetings with Inspiring Alumni’ event hosted by the Tel Aviv University Alumni Organization

“Take the tough courses, take the long road, and enjoy the journey not just the destination.” – Prof. Amnon Shashua

Scholarly Foundations

From an early age, Shashua planned to pursue a scientific trajectory. “Becoming an entrepreneur surprised me,” he explains.

Shashua grew up in the Tel Aviv area. In high school, he studied in a program for gifted students in computer science. His academic journey began at Tel Aviv University in 1982, a week after his discharge from the IDF’s Armored Corp, where he’d recently served in the First Lebanon War.

“The tools I acquired through my math studies at the University really captivated me,” says Shashua of his time at TAU.

He then earned a master’s degree in computer science from the Weizmann Institute of Science and completed his PhD and postdoctoral training in fields related to brain and computational sciences at MIT.

For his pioneering contributions to the field of AI, Shashua has earned numerous accolades, most recently the 2020 Dan David Prize, headquartered at TAU, and his 2022 induction to the Automotive Hall of Fame in Michigan, US.

For students aspiring to become innovators and entrepreneurs, he encourages them to “take the tough courses, take the long road, and enjoy the journey not just the destination.”

By Julie Steigerwald-Levi

Imagining the Future Patient

Written by AUFTAU on 13 June 2023. Posted in Newsroom.

Biomedical and technological progress is at the tipping point of transforming medicine into a more precise, proactive science capable of defeating human disease.

The 21st century is revolutionizing our approach to healthcare, our understanding of the human body, and our ability to intervene in its most intricate processes. Tel Aviv University researchers are at the forefront of the advancing changes. They are collaborating with Israel’s hospitals and industry to compute a patient’s future, popularize genetic screenings, develop novel vaccines, and usher in the era of truly personalized treatment.

Transforming Sick Care into Health Care

The last decade has seen an explosion in the amount of electronic medical records. Around the world, massive databases containing comprehensive genetic and health information on hundreds of millions of people have been collected at hospitals, clinics, and data repositories. Alongside it, the revolution in AI is enabling the development of computational tools to accurately analyze this data on an unprecedented scale. At this intersection, the field of bioinformatics, which aims to solve biomedical problems by using computer science tools, is becoming increasingly important in transforming medicine from a reactive to a proactive science.

“It became obvious very fast that analyzing this data would provide fantastic insights to understanding how disease transpires and progresses, and to offer novel approaches to diagnosis, treatment, and prevention,” says Ron Shamir, Professor Emeritus of the Blavatnik School of Computer Science at the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences and the founding director of TAU’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Bioinformatics and Koret-Berkeley-TAU Initiative in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics. The Edmond J. Safra Center for Bioinformatics brings together all bioinformatics-related research and teaching activities across campus into one multidisciplinary hub, spanning over 50 research groups and 200 students across four faculties.

“A single individual’s genome is three billion letters. Working with this amount of data feels like drinking from a fire hydrant at times” – Professor Emeritus Ron Shamir

Navigating the Data Labyrinth

Data is the backbone of all bioinformatics research but it’s not an easy work partner—sometimes its sheer amount and complexity are overwhelming. “A single individual’s genome is three billion letters. Working with this amount of data feels like drinking from a fire hydrant at times,” Shamir says.

To assist TAU researchers in addressing this problem and questions of data privacy and security, TAU recently established the Health Data Science Hub — a joint unit of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Bioinformatics, TAU’s AI & Data Science Center, the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, and the Biomedical Engineering Department at The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering.

“The Hub will be the center of knowledge and expertise on the various protocols needed to access large data repositories and will streamline the process for TAU scientists, which will be a great help in facilitating research,” explains current Head of Edmond J. Safra Center for Bioinformatics, Prof. Elhanan Borenstein, of the Blavatnik School of Computer Sciences and the medical faculty.

“To advance the future of medicine, we need to broaden the set of tools physicians use to understand a patient’s medical situation. Researchers and physicians need to talk to each other.” – Prof. Elhanan Borenstein

Physicians of the Future

Another long-term mission of TAU’s bioinformatic programs is to educate physicians about the potential of digital medicine.

To achieve this, TAU introduced several novel study programs in the 2022-23 academic year. First, a joint Bioinformatics-MD degree, which will arm future doctors with advanced data crunching skills. Another is a Big Data in Healthcare course offered by the Faculty of Medicine in collaboration with a governmental and industry consortium called the “8400 Health Network.” The course allows participants, many of whom are practicing physicians, to become acquainted with the opportunities now available to them in the digital healthcare realm. A total of 480 candidates applied for the 80 spots available in the course pilot.

“To advance the future of medicine, we need to broaden the set of tools physicians use to understand a patient’s medical situation. Researchers and physicians need to talk to each other,” Borenstein explains. To facilitate this, the Edmond J. Safra Center for Bioinformatics spearheads dozens of collaborative projects in clinical bioinformatics with various hospitals, programs, and academic institutions. It awarded 22 grants in the last two years for joint research projects, and an additional five collaborative grants are expected to be awarded in the coming months.

Preventive Genetics

One example of such a collaboration is Prof. Ran Elkon’s lab at the Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine. Elkon’s work centers on understanding the genetic basis of widespread complex diseases, such as high blood pressure, stroke, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and even mental illnesses.

Prof. Ran Elkon

“These diseases are not considered genetic as the term is commonly understood, but it’s clear that they have a genetic component, which we call ‘predisposition,’” says Elkon. Rather than single-gene mutations, hundreds of small genetic variations influence the risk of contracting such diseases, he explains. “Each individual variant has very little effect on its own; what matters is the collective amount of such ‘risk variants’ in each individual genome.”

Elkon’s lab team recently completed a project on identifying women with an elevated genetic predisposition to breast cancer and showed that findings are applicable in Israel. Elkon is now working with Israel’s largest HMO, Clalit, to launch a clinical study for identifying such women among Clalit’s clients and offering them a more personalized breast cancer screening strategy.

“With genetic testing, we can develop more personalized, more precise approaches that will be much more effective for prevention and early detection of [breast cancer].” – Prof. Ran Elkon

The likelihood of developing breast cancer is 16 times higher for women in the top 1% genetic risk group compared to those in a low-risk group. However, today in the developed world, healthcare providers offer identical screening recommendations and coverage for women on both ends of the spectrum, Elkon explains. “We are trying to change this one-size-fits-all strategy on the ground. With genetic testing, we can develop more personalized, more precise approaches that will be much more effective for prevention and early detection of the disease,” he says.

Elkon also places a major focus on teaching ‘predictive genetics’ in his genetics classes for TAU medical students. “Genetic screening will become common practice, similar to routine blood work and other widespread check-ups, and future physicians need to be aware of this. Early detection has a major effect on prognosis and survival,” he explains.

Prof. Elkon works on trying to solve the genetic inequality dilemma, which has surfaced alongside progress in the field. Of all massive genetic breast cancer studies in the world, 90% were conducted on women of European ancestry, making findings and discoveries relevant mostly to this ethnicity. Elkon and his team were able to show that while in Israel the findings translate well to women of Ashkenazi descent, predictive performance substantively declines for individuals of other ethnicities, such as North African, Ethiopian or Druze. Elkon hopes to help come up with computational tools to successfully transfer the findings cross-ethnically. Together with physicians at the Rabin Medical Center (Beilinson Hospital) and the Clalit HMO, he’s heading research on the topic.

“We can turn a person’s skin cell into an undifferentiated stem cell, and from there, into a cell of any organ we want.” – Dr. Ben Maoz

Treatment Personalization

Prevention is the ideal alternative, but what can be done about treatment when disease does occur? On the other side of campus, in his cutting-edge lab at the Susan and Henry Samueli Engineering Building, Dr. Ben Maoz of the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering and the Sagol School of Neuroscience is revolutionizing drug development and treatment personalization.

“The drug development process hasn’t changed in 70 years. It takes a lot of time – about 20 years and $2 billion to develop an FDA-approved medication. And even then, once the drug has been approved, it is not optimal for about 75% of the people taking it, because we all have unique physiologies,” he explains.

Maoz is developing the ‘Organs-on-a-Chip’ technology that circumvents the traditional need for animal drug trials and lets researchers test new medication on something much more similar to humans than rodents—human organ models made of lab-grown cells.

Dr. Ben Maoz and his ‘Organ-on-a-Chip’ model

“It’s a process that takes up to four months overall. We can turn a person’s skin cell into an undifferentiated stem cell, and from there, into a cell of any organ we want,” Maoz explains. Once the researchers have the desired tissue with the specific DNA content they cast it into lego-like units which can be interconnected to mimic the complex physiological system of a specific patient. There is no limit on how many times this can be replicated for multiple trial-and-error runs.

“Parallel trials are especially important when there are multiple treatment options and, without personalized data, we just don’t know which one will work better. In the case of diseases such as cancer, that is crucial information,” he says.

Recently, in a move that exceeded expectations, the FDA approved the Organs-on-a-Chip approach to serve as a complementary tool for drug development, eliminating the unconditional need for animal trials. “This is a major step forward — it opens the door for expediting drug development and making it much more efficient and personalized.”

Maoz’s lab currently collaborates with numerous scientists and hospitals in Israel and the world, as well as three pharmaceutical companies that wish to use the TAU technology to test their drugs for toxicity and efficacy.

While many improvements are still needed, Maoz is certain the technology is here to stay. As for scalability, he says insurance companies will understand that channeling resources into focused, personalized testing and optimal solutions, instead of spending money on ineffective treatments and procedures, is a better and more financially viable strategy. “In the future, patients will arrive, create ‘mini-me’s-on-a-chip’ in fully robotic laboratories, and get an optimal drug for their condition,” Maoz concludes.

Harvesting Stem Cells

Recognizing the increasing demand for cellular material derived from stem cells, and addressing the lack of such facilities in Israel, TAU recently established the Stem Cell Core Lab for Regenerative Medicine, a multidisciplinary initiative of the Faculties of Medicine, Engineering, and The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences; the Sagol Center for Regenerative Medicine; and TAU’s Vice President for R&D.

The lab already serves dozens of research groups across the TAU campus, as well as from other Israeli research institutions and commercial companies. Research based on stem cell technology advances exciting scientific breakthroughs in precision medicine and the Center is there “to help it reach stages of early clinical evaluation.”

Gene Therapy for All

“In gene therapy, the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach often works and may even be the preferred option,” says Dr. Adi Barzel from the School of Neurobiology, Biochemistry & Biophysics at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences.

Dr. Adi Barzel (center) with Dr. Erik Shifrut and Dr. Anat Globerson Levin at their lab in the Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital).

“The COVID vaccines, several cancer therapy drugs, and therapies for rare diseases, which are all already FDA-approved and used on the market, are examples of generic gene therapies that work for most,” he explains.

“Gene therapy is no longer a dream; it is a reality.” – Dr. Adi Barzel

Barzel’s team works on engineering the cells of the human immune system so that they can better combat cancer, infections, and autoimmune diseases. Last year, in a world first, they succeeded in using the gene-editing technology CRISPR to engineer type-B white blood cells with antibodies to successfully fight the HIV virus.

“For this specific drug it will take another 5 to 6 years before we get to clinical trials — these technologies take time to mature, but gene therapy is no longer a dream, it is a reality,” Barzel states.

Barzel envisions that similar to the COVID vaccine, the HIV medication would need no personal adjustment, and ideally be available “in vials at your neighborhood clinic”, and affordable to all.

He predicts that in 10 years we will see many more treatments based on genome editing, gene therapy, and immunotherapy in the fields of rare diseases, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. “We will also see many more vaccines based on the wonderful mRNA technology [the tech behind the novel COVID vaccines]. I believe all current vaccines will become mRNA-based. In addition, we will see the development of vaccines against diseases for which we currently have none, such as HIV and different types of cancer. This will take more work, but it is super exciting.”

To significantly boost the development of these therapies and make a real-world impact, Barzel heads his lab’s collaboration with the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center as part of the joint Dotan Center for Advanced Therapies. “This collaboration is crucial for our ability to take our ideas from the bench to the bedside,” he explains. The partnership fast-tracks the process of working with patient samples, allowing the researchers to get efficient results quickly and establishing an atmosphere of cooperation that translates into real progress in the clinic.

By Sveta Raskin

New Treatment Reduces ADHD Symptoms in 1 out of 3 Students

Written by AUFTAU on 13 June 2023. Posted in Newsroom.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common mental disorders affecting children. Symptoms of ADHD include inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, and the disorder is considered a chronic and debilitating disorder that affects many aspects of an individual’s life, including academic and professional achievements, interpersonal relationships, and daily functioning.

Tel Aviv University has developed a new treatment called Computerized Progressive Attention Training (CPAT), which has shown remarkable efficacy in alleviating symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) among students. In fact, a notable 33% of students experienced significant improvements in their symptoms when undergoing CPAT, surpassing the improvement in symptoms of only 11% of the students who participated in a parallel protocol involving mindfulness training. During this mindfulness training, students practiced a specific form of meditation designed to mitigate their attention difficulties. Importantly, the benefits of CPAT also outshone those of drug treatments like Ritalin, as the improvements persisted for up to four months after the completion of the treatment protocol.

Research Challenges with Non-Medication Interventions

The study was the doctoral dissertation of Dr. Pnina Stern, under the guidance of Prof. Lilach Shalev-Mevorach of The Jaime and Joan Constantiner School of Education at Tel Aviv University. The encouraging results of the study were recently accepted for publication in the Journal of Attention Disorders.

“We developed the CPAT system years ago, and it produced good results in previous studies that we conducted, mainly in children,” explains Prof. Shalev-Mevorach. “Furthermore, in the only study that we conducted in adults with ADHD, positive findings were obtained, but without indications of ‘far transfer,’ meaning an improvement in functions for which participants were not directly trained in the treatment.”

According to Prof. Shalev-Mevorach, it is challenging for researchers to make scientific claims about the effectiveness of non-medication treatments because it is difficult to compare them to a “non-medication placebo.” In other words, when studying non-medication treatments, it’s hard to distinguish the effects of the treatment itself from other factors like the attention participants receive during training sessions or the effort they put into the research. This makes it complex to determine the true impact of non-medication interventions.

Prof. Lilach Shalev-Mevorach

Students with ADHD Enrolled

In the current study, the team of researchers tried to resolve this by employing a research design that included two control groups: a regular control group, which performed the various assessment tasks at two points in time without any intervention as part of the research (the passive control group) and a second control group that participated in mindfulness training sessions under the guidance of a professional instructor. This type of training has yielded positive results in previous studies in people with ADHD.

For the experiment 54 students, male and female, diagnosed with ADHD were recruited from Tel Aviv University and other academic institutions. The subjects were blindly divided into three groups: a zero-intervention control group, a mindfulness group and a CPAT group.

Participants in the CPAT and the Mindfulness groups attended two-hour long group meetings on the University campus once a week, where the CPAT group received Computerized Progressive Attention Training and the mindfulness group received training from a certified mindfulness instructor.

Before and after the intervention protocol, the participants of the three groups performed a comprehensive series of assessment tests: standard computerized tests to assess attention functions, behavioral assessment questionnaires (self-reported ADHD symptoms), and mindfulness questionnaires (self-reported feelings such as stress, anxiety and well-being). In addition, a novel measurement was used for this intervention study, whose participants were, as mentioned, higher-education students: they were asked to read a text from a scientific article while their eye movements were tracked by an eye-tracker. The indices produced using the eye-tracking system made it possible to identify a pattern of inattentive reading, which was used as a measure of reading efficiency in an academic context. Finally, the participants filled out a questionnaire regarding their academic difficulties.

Improvements Maintained Over Time

Prof. Shalev-Mevorach says the results were very positive: “We saw improvements in the attention functions themselves, that is, ‘near transfer,’ for example in sustained attention, the ability to remain attentive for a long period of time, and in attention control, the ability to delay a routine response. But the main thing, is that we saw significant improvements in the participants’ daily and academic functioning, such as reduced repeated reading while reading a scientific article. Furthermore, the improvements in these attention functions were connected to the reduction in behavioral symptoms of ADHD and in repetitive reading.”

“In other words, the CPAT trained the attention mechanisms themselves, and their improvement was related to the improvement achieved in behavioral symptoms and reading patterns. 33% of the participants who received the CPAT protocol showed a significant improvement in ADHD symptoms, compared to only 11% of those who underwent the mindfulness protocol. The improvements obtained were preserved in the testing that was carried out about four months after the end of the intervention protocol.”

Prof. Shalev-Mevorach notes that the effects of stimulant drugs (psychostimulants) such as Ritalin and Concerta are ‘on-off’: patients who take Ritalin daily enjoy significant improvements, but when they stop the treatment, the improvements fade, and they return to the starting point. She says the researchers wish to bring about “a profound change in basic attention functions, a change that will be significant in the long term, as an additional option alongside medication, and of course as an alternative to drug treatment in cases in which it isn’t applicable.”

“Hope Is Like the Air We Breathe”

Written by AUFTAU on 11 June 2023. Posted in Newsroom.

The role of hope in supporting mental health.

The role of hope in supporting mental health is not sufficiently understood among relevant professionals, according to Dr. Dorit Redlich Amirav of TAU’s Department of Occupational Therapy, Steyer School of Health Professions, Sackler Faculty of Medicine.

“Hope is similar to the air we breathe,” says Redlich Amirav. “Air is taken for granted in our daily life until we are suffocating and struggling to breathe.”

How Hope Transcends Generations

Redlich Amirav studies how different groups implement hopeful thinking and improve mental well-being through meaningful occupations. Through her findings, she aspires to help mental health professionals to integrate concepts of hope into their research and treatment and, in the long run, provide a longer-lasting and greater impact on each patient’s holistic well-being.

“Hope is similar to the air we breathe. Air is taken for granted in our daily life until we are suffocating and struggling to breathe.” – Dr. Dorit Redlich Amirav

In new research published in Qualitative Health Research, she investigated the cross-generational transmission of hope. Redlich Amirav cites one of her female participants who was forced by her grandfather to quit school in sixth grade. She felt her hope diminish but stated that her hopeless personal circumstances led her to put more of an emphasis on the importance of education and studying with her own two daughters who both graduated from university.

Other participants displayed this particular kind of cross-generational hope. For example, a mother told Redlich Amirav about her father, who was a violinist until the Nazis broke his fingers. The mother internalized this trauma in a negative way, but all four of her own children play instruments and one of them is an opera singer. She inadvertently conveyed how hope and music are intertwined for them and their heritage.

Hope as a Key to Pandemic Adaptation

In 2019, Redlich Amirav was appointed director of the Israeli chapter of the International Hope Barometer. She says that it came just in time: hope became a key factor in successfully adapting to the trials and tribulations of the pandemic. During the lockdowns, she says that people found meaning in new ways of interacting; specific trends point to the importance of goal-directed behavior in increasing hope.

The Power of Sleep

Written by AUFTAU on 7 June 2023. Posted in Newsroom.

While a good night’s sleep is known to be critical for the consolidation of long-lasting memories, so far there has been little evidence regarding the precise processes at work during human sleep. A breakthrough study demonstrated for the first time that long-lasting memories are consolidated in the human brain through communication between the hippocampus and the cerebral cortex during sleep. Moreover, the researchers found that by inducing deep-brain stimulation during sleep they can improve memory consolidation. They believe intervention during sleep represents a unique approach that can be further developed in the future to provide hope for people with memory impairments such as dementia.

Enhancing Memory Consolidation During Sleep

The unique study, which was published in the leading journal Nature Neuroscience, involved an international collaboration led by Dr. Maya Geva-Sagiv (today at UC Davis). The study was a collaboration between the laboratories of Prof. Yuval Nir from the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biomedical Engineering at The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, and Sagol School of Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University, and Prof. Itzhak Fried from the Department of Neurosurgery at UCLA and the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University.

“Intervention during sleep represents a unique approach that can be further developed in the future to provide hope for people with memory impairments such as dementia.” – Prof. Yuval Nir

The researchers (from left to right): Dr. Maya Geva-Sagiv, Prof. Yuval Nir and Prof. Itzhak Fried

“This study was made possible by a rare group of 18 patients with epilepsy at the UCLA Medical Center,” says Prof. Nir. “Prof. Fried implanted electrodes in these patients’ brains to try and pinpoint the areas that cause their epileptic seizures, and they volunteered to take part in a study investigating the effects of deep-brain stimulation during sleep. Close work with expert neurologists led by Prof. Dawn Eliashiv at UCLA enabled our team to integrate advanced brain stimulation in the research. Thus, we were able to test, for the first time in humans, the long-held hypothesis – that coordinated activity of the hippocampus and cerebral cortex during sleep is a critical mechanism in consolidating memories.”

“Moreover, we improved memory consolidation through a special stimulation protocol that enhanced synchronization between these two areas in the brain. Intervention during sleep represents a unique approach that can be further developed in the future to provide hope for people with memory impairments such as dementia.”

“In this study we directly examined the role of neural activity and electrical brain waves during sleep. Our goal was to enhance the natural mechanisms at play, to discover exactly how sleep assists in stabilizing memories.” – Dr. Maya Geva-Sagiv

Unraveling Mechanism

“We know that a good night’s sleep is critical for the consolidation of long-lasting memories, but so far, we had little evidence regarding the precise processes that are at work during human sleep,” explains Dr. Maya Geva-Sagiv. “In this study we directly examined the role of neural activity and electrical brain waves during sleep. Our goal was to enhance the natural mechanisms at play, to discover exactly how sleep assists in stabilizing memories.”

The researchers developed a deep-brain stimulation system that improves electrical communication between the hippocampus – a deep-brain region involved in acquiring new memories, and the frontal cortex – where memories are stored for the long term. By monitoring activity in the hippocampus during sleep, the system enables precisely timed delivery of electrical stimulation to the frontal cortex.

The study’s participants completed two memory tests, and their performance was compared after two different nights – one undisturbed and one with deep-brain stimulation. On both occasions, they were asked in the morning to recognize famous persons whose pictures they had been shown the previous evening. The study found that deep-brain stimulation significantly improved the accuracy of their memory.

“To our surprise, we also discovered that the intervention did not significantly increase the number of right answers given by participants, but rather reduced the number of wrong answers. This suggests that sleep sharpens the accuracy of our memory…” – Prof. Yuval Nir

Sharpening Memory Accuracy

“We found that our method had a beneficial effect on both brain activity during sleep and memory performance,” says Prof. Fried. “All patients who had received synchronized stimuli to the frontal cortex demonstrated better memory performance, compared to nights of undisturbed sleep. The control group, which received similar yet unsynchronized stimuli, showed no memory improvement. Our deep-brain stimulation method is unique because it is close-looped – stimuli are precisely synchronized with hippocampal activity. In addition, we monitored the stimuli’s impact on brain activity at a resolution of individual neurons.”

“Our findings support the hypothesis that precise coordination between sleep waves assists communication between the hippocampus that takes in new memories, and the frontal cortex that stores them for the long term,” adds Prof. Nir.

“To our surprise, we also discovered that the intervention did not significantly increase the number of right answers given by participants, but rather reduced the number of wrong answers. This suggests that sleep sharpens the accuracy of our memory, or in other words, it removes various distractions from the relevant memory trace.”

The study was supported by grants from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the European Research Council (ERC), the US National Science Foundation (NSF), the US-Israel Bilateral Science Foundation (BSF), and the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP). The paper’s other co-authors are: Prof. Dawn Eliashiv, Dr. Emily Mankin, Natalie Cherry, Guldamla Kalender, and Dr. Natalia Tchemondanov of UCLA, and Dr. Shdema Epstein from Tel Aviv University.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was hosted by Tel Aviv University

Written by AUFTAU on 6 June 2023. Posted in Newsroom.

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, was a guest at Tel Aviv University today together with Ilya Sutskever, Co-founder and Chief Scientist of OpenAI

The event began with a conversation with Dr. Nadav Cohen from the Blavatnik School of Computer Science. There were questions from the audience that included students, researchers and faculty members, high-tech people and industrial and Israeli business leaders

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWUhASix9ws&list=PLNiWLB_wsOg6O2lZUtuCD0rBWmUyVPjLz&index=1

Sam Altman to Visit Tel Aviv University

Written by AUFTAU on 31 May 2023. Posted in Newsroom.

As Altman is due to visit Israel next week, the burning question remains: Is there anyone left on our campus who hasn’t experienced the wonders of ChatGPT?

Altman’s highly-anticipated visit to Tel Aviv University on Monday June 5, part of a worldwide artificial intelligence-themed tour to meet with AI users, developers and decision-makers, promises to be an engaging affair. From sharing the stage with Dr. Nadav Cohen from TAU’s School of Computer Science at the Raymond & Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences in the Smolarz Auditorium to answering questions from students, researchers, high-tech professionals, and senior Israeli officials, Altman will surely leave no stone unturned.

OpenAI World Tour

Altman’s upcoming visit to Israel follows his recent stops in Toronto, Washington DC, Rio de Janeiro, Lagos, and Lisbon as part of the ongoing OpenAI world tour. Last week, he held meetings with entrepreneurs and policymakers in Madrid, Warsaw, Paris, London, and Munich. Altman’s trip to Tel Aviv will be followed by visits to Dubai, New Delhi, Singapore, Jakarta, Seoul, Tokyo, and Melbourne.

According to Israel business news outlet Globes, Altman is a guest of the Microsoft Israel research and development center during his stay in Israel.

And his next destination? Tel Aviv University, of course!

Unleashing the Power of ChatGPT

Prior to founding OpenAI, Altman served as the president of the Y Combinator startup accelerator. OpenAI, co-founded by Altman and tech billionaire Elon Musk in 2015, emerged as a non-profit research and development lab with a mission to ensure the safety of AI and its wide-ranging benefits for humanity.

OpenAI received significant investment from Microsoft at its inception and introduced ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot that emulates human writing, last year. Since then, OpenAI and Microsoft have strengthened their partnership, with OpenAI contributing AI capabilities to Microsoft products such as Teams and Bing. Additionally, there are expectations of adapting the ChatGPT application for integration into Microsoft’s Office suite.

CRISPR Unveils Plant Gene Potential

Written by AUFTAU on 29 May 2023. Posted in Newsroom.

Since the agricultural revolution, mankind has strived to enhance plant varieties through genetic diversity. However, until recently, our understanding was limited to the functions of individual genes, which account for just 20% of the genome. The remaining 80%, comprised of genes grouped in families, remained a mystery on a large genomic scale.

In a groundbreaking achievement, Tel Aviv University researchers have harnessed the power of CRISPR technology to develop an innovative and scalable genetic modification method. This breakthrough allows us to uncover the roles and characteristics of duplicated genes in plants. As a result, the team has successfully identified numerous overlooked features, paving the way for a revolutionary approach to crop improvement. This remarkable development has the potential to revolutionize agricultural practices across a wide range of crops and traits, including increased yields and enhanced resistance to drought and pests.

Overcoming Genetic Redundancy

This groundbreaking research was led by postdoctoral student Dr. Yangjie Hu, under the guidance of Prof. Eilon Shani and Prof. Itay Mayrose from the School of Plant Sciences and Food Security at TAU’s The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences. Collaborating with scientists from France, Denmark, and Switzerland, the team utilized the CRISPR gene editing technology along with bioinformatics and molecular genetics methods to develop this novel gene-location method. The research was published in the prestigious journal Nature Plants.

“We wanted to apply this technique to improve the control of creating mutations in plants for the purposes of agricultural improvement, and specifically to overcome the common limitation posed by genetic redundancy.” – Prof. Itay Mayrose

Genetic redundancy, caused by gene families, has long posed a challenge in plant research. Previous methods of genetic intervention were limited by the inability to precisely identify genes responsible for specific traits. The accepted method to address this challenge is to produce mutations, that is, to modify genes in different ways, and then to examine changes in the plant’s traits as a result of the mutation in the DNA and to learn from this about the function of the gene.

Thus, for example, if a plant with sweeter fruit develops, it can be concluded that the altered gene determines the sweetness of the fruit. This strategy has been used for decades, and has been very successful, but it also has a fundamental problem: an average plant such as tomato or rice has about 30,000 genes, but about 80% of them do not work alone but are grouped in families of similar genes. Therefore, if a single gene from a certain gene family is mutated, there is a high probability that another gene from the same family (actually a copy very similar to the mutated gene) will mask the phenotypes in place of the mutated gene. Due to this phenomenon, called genetic redundancy, it is difficult to create a change in the plant itself, and to determine the function of the gene and its link to a specific trait.

The research team

The team addressed this challenge by using CRISPR and designing sgRNA sequences that guide an enzyme called Cas9 found naturally in bacteria to cut specific genetic sequences associated with entire gene families. Prof. Mayrose explains that “this genetic editing method allows us to design different sgRNA sequences to allow Cas9 to cut almost any gene that we want to change. We wanted to apply this technique to improve the control of creating mutations in plants for the purposes of agricultural improvement, and specifically to overcome the common limitation posed by genetic redundancy.”

In the first stage, a bioinformatics study was carried out on a computer, which, unlike most studies in the field, initially covered the entire genome. The researchers chose to focus on the Arabidopsis plant, which is used as a model in many studies and has about 30,000 genes. First, they identified and isolated about 8,000 individual genes, which have no family members, and therefore no copies in the genome. The remaining 22,000 genes were divided into families, and for each family appropriate sgRNA sequences were computationally designed. Each sgRNA sequence was designed to guide the Cas9 cutting enzyme to a specific genetic sequence that characterizes the entire family, with the aim of creating mutations in all family members so that these genes can no longer overlap each other. In this way, a library was built that totaled approximately 59,000 sgRNA sequences, where each sgRNA by itself can simultaneously modify 2-10 genes at once from each gene family, thereby effectively neutralizing the phenomenon of genetic redundancy.

In addition, the sgRNA sequences were divided into ten sub libraries of approximately 6,000 sgRNA sequences each, according to the presumed role of the genes – such as coding for enzymes, receptors, transcription factors, etc. According to the researchers, establishing the libraries allowed them to focus and optimize the search for genes responsible for desired traits, a search that until now has been largely random.

“We believe that this is the future of agriculture: controlled and targeted crop improvement on a large scale. Today, we are applying the method we developed to rice and tomato plants with great success, and we intend to apply it to other crops as well.” – Prof. Eilon Shani

In the next step, the researchers moved from the computer to the laboratory. Here they generated all 59,000 sgRNA sequences designed by the computational method and engineered them into new plasmid libraries (i.e., circular DNA segments) in combination with the cutting enzyme. The researchers then generated thousands of new plants containing the libraries – where each plant was implanted with a single sgRNA sequence directed against a specific gene family.

The researchers observed the traits that were manifested in the plants following the genome modifications, and when an interesting phenotype was observed in a particular plant, it was easy to know which genes were responsible for the change based on the sgRNA sequence that was inserted into it. Also, through DNA sequencing of the identified genes, it was possible to determine the nature of the mutation that caused the change and its contribution to the plant’s new properties.

In this way, many new traits were mapped that until now were blocked due to genetic redundancy. Specifically, the researchers identified specific proteins that comprise a mechanism related to the transport of the hormone cytokinin, which is essential for optimal plant development.

Commercialization and Future Impact

Prof. Shani concludes: “The new method we developed is expected to be of great help to basic research in understanding processes in plants, but beyond that, it has enormous significance for agriculture: it makes it possible to efficiently and accurately reveal the pool of genes responsible for traits we seek to improve – such as resistance to drought, pests, and diseases, or increasing yields. We believe that this is the future of agriculture: controlled and targeted crop improvement on a large scale. Today we are applying the method we developed to rice and tomato plants with great success, and we intend to apply it to other crops as well.”

Recognizing the transformative potential of this breakthrough, Tel Aviv University’s technology commercialization company, Ramot, partnered with the AgChimedes group to establish DisTree, a company dedicated to applying this technology to different crops. This collaboration, along with financial investment and professional support, aims to revolutionize agricultural genetics and ensure nutritional security in the face of climate crises.

New Studies Expose Coral Reef Crisis in Eilat

Written by AUFTAU on 28 May 2023. Posted in Newsroom.

Recent, unsettling studies conducted by Tel Aviv University have unveiled a deadly epidemic responsible for the widespread decimation of black sea urchins in the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Eilat. Over the span of just a few months, the entire population of black sea urchins in Eilat was eradicated. For instance, within a few weeks, thousands of sea urchins inhabiting a site near the northern shore of the Gulf of Eilat perished. The severity of the epidemic is such that only skeletal remains of black urchins now occupy the site. Disturbingly, similar occurrences have been observed at various other locations in the Gulf of Eilat, as well as in neighboring countries including Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Greece, and Turkey.

“At first we thought it was some kind of pollution or poisoning, or a local chemical spill (…) but when we examined additional sites in Eilat, Jordan, and Sinai, we quickly realized that this was not a local incident. All findings pointed to a rapidly spreading epidemic.” – Dr. Omri Bronstein.

Unveiling Deadly Epidemic

The studies were led by Dr. Omri Bronstein and PhD students Rotem Zirler, Lisa-Maria Schmidt, Gal Eviatar, and Lachan Roth from the School of Zoology, at The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, and The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University. The papers were published in Frontiers in Marine science and Royal Society Open Science.

The researchers underscore the vital importance of sea urchins, particularly the long-spined Diadema setosum, as keystone species essential for the thriving equilibrium of coral reefs. They express a pressing concern, stating, “It must be understood that the threat to coral reefs is already at an all-time peak, and now a previously unknown variable has been added. This situation is unprecedented in the documented history of the Gulf of Eilat.”

According to the researchers’ hypothesis, the cause of the deadly epidemic can be attributed to a pathogenic ciliate parasite that has spread from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. In response to the gravity of the situation, an urgent report outlining the current state has been submitted to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, instigating deliberation on emergency measures to safeguard Israel’s coral reefs.

“Sea urchins in general, and Diadema setosum in particular, are considered key species essential for the healthy functioning of coral reefs. The sea urchins are the reef’s ‘gardeners’ – they feed on the algae and prevent them from taking over and suffocating the corals that compete with them for sunlight.” – Dr. Omri Bronstein

Dr. Omri Bronstein and a dying sea urchin

“At first we thought it was some kind of pollution or poisoning, or a local chemical spill, from the industry and hotels in the north of the Gulf of Eilat, but when we examined additional sites in Eilat, Jordan, and Sinai, we quickly realized that this was not a local incident,” explains Dr. Bronstein. “All findings pointed to a rapidly spreading epidemic. Similar reports are coming in from colleagues in Saudi Arabia. Even sea urchins that we grow for research purposes in our aquariums at the Interuniversity Institute, and sea urchins at the Underwater Observatory Marine Park in Eilat, contracted the disease and died, probably because the pathogen got in through the pumping systems.”

Dr. Bronstein describes it as a fast and violent death: “Within just two days a healthy sea urchin becomes a skeleton with massive tissue loss. While some corpses are washed ashore, most sea urchins are devoured while they are dying and unable to defend themselves, which could speed up contagion by the fish who prey on them.”

Invasion and Vanishing Species

In recent years, Dr. Bronstein’s research group has dedicated their efforts to the investigation of marine invasions, with a specific focus on the long-spined Diadema setosum. “Until recently, the black sea urchins with long spines, familiar to many of us, was one of the dominant species in Eilat’s coral reef,” reflects Dr. Bronstein. “Sea urchins in general, and Diadema setosum in particular, are considered key species essential for the healthy functioning of coral reefs. The sea urchins are the reef’s ‘gardeners’ – they feed on the algae and prevent them from taking over and suffocating the corals that compete with them for sunlight. Regrettably, these once-thriving sea urchins have vanished from the Gulf of Eilat and are quickly disappearing from constantly expanding parts of the Red Sea further to the south,” shares Dr. Bronstein with a sense of lament.

A dying urchin in the Mediterranean Sea (photo: Dr. Omri Bronstein)

Several months ago, Dr. Bronstein was alerted to the initial reports of widespread mortality by colleagues in Greece and Turkey, where the sea urchins had invaded, likely via the Suez Canal. “In 2006, the first sighting of this species of sea urchin occurred in the southern regions of Turkey,” Dr. Bronstein adds. This phenomenon, known as biological invasion, carries far-reaching ecological implications, pervasively affecting the eastern Mediterranean, particularly along Israel’s coastline. “We have been monitoring the dynamics of this species’ invasion in the Mediterranean since its first emergence,” he shares.

In 2016, they discovered the first Diadema setosum sea urchin along Israel’s Mediterranean coastline – a lone urchin sighted at Gordon Beach in Tel Aviv. For over a decade since the first discovery in Turkey, the Mediterranean populations of these sea urchins remained small and usually hidden. However, since 2018 the sea urchin population in the Mediterranean has been growing exponentially, reaching a state of population explosion – with giant populations of thousands and even tens of thousands found in Greece and Turkey.

“The window of opportunity for preserving a thriving population of this species in Eilat has regrettably closed. To establish a safeguard population, we must act without delay, by preserving healthy individuals from the Israeli Mediterranean before the encroaching disease from the north reaches this region.” Dr. Omri Bronstein

“However, during the course of our research, while scrutinizing the invasion of sea urchins in the Mediterranean, we began to receive reports on sudden extensive mortality,” says Dr. Bronstein. “While the extinction of an invasive species is supposedly not a bad thing, we must be aware of two major risks: Firstly, we don’t yet know how this mortality and its causes might impact local species in the Mediterranean. Secondly, and of far greater significance, the geographic proximity shared by the eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea provides a potential conduit for the swift transmission of the pathogen into the Red Sea. As we feared and predicted, this is what appears to have happened.”

Dr. Bronstein and his research team (photo: courtesy of Dr. Omri Bronstein)

A Reminiscent Crisis

The massive loss of sea urchins reminded the TAU researchers of one of the most devastating events in marine ecology: the disappearance of the sea urchins in the Caribbean. Until 1983, the Caribbean coral reef thrived as a vibrant tropical ecosystem, much like the one in the Gulf of Eilat. But as the sea urchins vanished, the uncontrollable growth of algae took over, blocking sunlight from reaching the corals and forever altering the reef into a sea of algae.

Dr. Bronstein reveals, “Just last year, the Caribbean experienced another outbreak of the disease, resulting in the demise of the remaining urchin populations. However, unlike previous incidents, we now possess advanced scientific and technological resources to analyze the forensic evidence. Researchers from Cornell University successfully pinpointed the cause of mortality in the Caribbean: a pathogenic ciliate parasite. The identical pathology observed in the dying sea urchins of Greece, Turkey, and the Red Sea corroborates this finding.”

Dr. Bronstein’s pioneering research not only identified the unprecedented mass mortality of an invasive species in the Mediterranean but also shed light on the alarming decline of the widely prevalent sea urchin species, Diadema setosum. In a groundbreaking study, Dr. Bronstein issued a a warning that the epidemic plaguing the Mediterranean could extend its reach to the nearby Red Sea. Sadly, this cautionary prediction has become a disheartening reality.

Urgent Measures and Closing Window

“The gravity of the situation cannot be understated: the Red Sea is witnessing an alarming surge in mortality, surpassing the extent observed in the Mediterranean. Looming in the background is an ominous uncertainty: What is the exact cause of the sea urchin die-offs? Is it the same Caribbean pathogen or an entirely new and unfamiliar factor? Regardless, it is evident that this pathogen spreads through water, and we anticipate a rapid escalation of sickness and demise among the entire population of these sea urchins in both the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.”

“In my view, it is imperative that we swiftly establish a safeguard population for these sea urchins, ensuring the potential for their reintroduction into the wild. Similar to the approach taken with COVID-19, the trajectory of this epidemic remains uncertain. Will it eventually subside on its own, or persist for years, radically transforming coral reefs? However, unlike the COVID-19 pandemic, there are no available vaccines or treatments for the afflicted sea urchins. Hence, our efforts must be steadfastly directed towards prevention. The window of opportunity for preserving a thriving population of this species in Eilat has regrettably closed. To establish a safeguard population, we must act without delay, by preserving healthy individuals from the Israeli Mediterranean before the encroaching disease from the north reaches this region. While this is a complex undertaking, it is imperative if we aspire to secure the future of this unique species, which plays a critical role in the destiny of coral reefs,” concludes Dr. Bronstein.

Thousands Participate in Tel Aviv University’s Open Day

Written by AUFTAU on 23 May 2023. Posted in Newsroom.

Tel Aviv University hosted its undergraduate Open Day, drawing in thousands of prospective students. The event provided valuable insights into admission requirements, application processes, and the opportunity to interact with faculty members and current students across various disciplines.

The curious participants were treated to a memorable experience, including guided tours exploring faculty buildings, laboratories, and even the renowned Entrepreneurship Center, immersing themselves in the vibrant academic atmoshphere that defines Tel Aviv University.

Tel Aviv University’s Open Day included guided tours to faculties, laboratories and more (photo: Chen Galili)

The Open Day featured an array of captivating activities, with particular interest in a hands-on workshop that simulated the creation of a startup at the Entrepreneurship Center. Additionally, the Dean of Students organized a lecture on selecting a field of study, while an introductory session showcased a groundbreaking program integrating data science and AI into nearly every degree.

Tel Aviv University’s Curiosity Lab (Photo: Chen Galili)

Prospective students had the chance to explore the wide range of study abroad options available at Tel Aviv University through dedicated student exchange coordinators, further enhancing the University’s global outlook.

Sharon Ariel, Marketing Director at Tel Aviv University, emphasized the importance of providing an immersive campus experience to prospective students: “Our goal was to enable prospective students to fully engage with our study programs, interact with current students, observe cutting-edge research in labs, and receive guidance from faculty and administrative staff regarding different study options. By stepping into the shoes of our students for a day, we hoped to inspire them to embark on their educational journeys at Tel Aviv University. I encourage those considering enrollment in October to act swiftly, as registration for many programs will soon close.”

Prospective students interact with current students (photo: Chen Galili)

It was a pleasure to host everyone on our beautiful campus. We hope we will have the privilege of helping them start their journeys in pursuit of the unknown.

Missed the Open Day?

For comprehensive information on admission requirements for the various programs, please visit our registration website (available in Hebrew) or access the English version here.

Prospective students receive guidance from faculty and administrative staff (photo: Chen Galili)