Author: AUFTAU

From EMT to MIT: Shai Zilberzwige-Tal’s Fast-Track Journey in Life Sciences

Written by AUFTAU on 18 July 2022. Posted in Scholarship stories.

Scholarship helps outstanding student follow her dreams.

When Shai Zilberzwige-Tal completed her army service, during which she was an emergency medical technician (EMT) stationed along the Gaza Strip, she knew she wanted to learn more about helping people combat disease.

Now, eight years later, she’s getting ready to travel to Boston, with a PhD, two kids, and a husband in tow, to begin a post-doctoral position at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in cell biology.

“This is a dream come true for me, and the scholarship support I received throughout my studies has been instrumental in making it happen,” she said.

Zilberzwige-Tal grew up in a small town in the south of Israel. After the army, she enrolled at TAU’s Wise Faculty of Life Sciences as an undergraduate student in biology. From the start of her academic journey, she showed her exceptional talent and drive: she was on the Dean’s list two years in a row, received an excellency award and graduated with honors.

After completing her bachelor’s degree, Zilberzwige-Tal enrolled in the exclusive Fast Track Program at TAU’s Smolarz Graduate School. The program for outstanding students offers a direct path to a PhD in four years. For Zilberzwige-Tal, the road took five years, with two maternity leaves in the midst. The Argentinian Friends of TAU support this program, in which participating students receive full coverage of tuition and a living stipend.

“Scholarships are very important in promoting science and research in general. Students really rely on this help to get ahead,” said Zilberzwige-Tal. “Thanks to the support of scholarships, I was able to concentrate on my research and invest most of my time in my studies.”

While studying towards her PhD at the microbiology lab in the Shmunis Center of Biomedicine & Cancer Research, Zilberzwige-Tal continued to prove that she was an exceptional student and a leader on numerous occasions. She was nominated as the Faculty’s Student Union representative for three years in a row, and she received an excellency award for her work as a teaching assistant. Recently, Zilberzwige-Tal was awarded an early career research grant from NANOSERIES for her contribution to developing a disease-modifying treatment for rare genetic metabolic disorders.

During her time at MIT, Zilberzwige-Tal plans to continue her research in gene-editing technologies. “These technologies hold great promise for the treatment of human disease,” she said. She also hopes to reach out and initiate collaborations with world-leading scientists—collaborations that she will continue once she completes the fellowship and returns home to open her own lab in Israel, she says.

Impressive achievement for Tel Aviv University in the Bar Association Exam

Written by AUFTAU on 17 July 2022. Posted in Alumni News, Newsroom.

100% of the TAU alumni who took the Bar Association exams for the first time, passed successfully and Tel Aviv University also leads with the highest average grade.

While You Were Sleeping

Written by AUFTAU on 13 July 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

A new TAU discovery may provide a key to a great scientific enigma: How does the awake brain transform sensory input into a conscious experience? The researchers were surprised to discover that the brain’s response to sound remains powerful during sleep in all parameters but one: the level of alpha-beta waves associated with attention to the auditory input and related expectations. This means that during sleep, the brain analyzes the auditory input but is unable to focus on the sound or identify it, and therefore no conscious awareness ensues.

The study was led by Dr. Hanna Hayat and with major contribution from Dr. Amit Marmelshtein, at the lab of Prof. Yuval Nir from the School of Medicine of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, the Sagol School of Neuroscience, and the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and co-supervised by Prof. Itzhak Fried from the UCLA Medical Center. Other participants included: Dr. Aaron Krom and Dr. Yaniv Sela from Prof. Nir’s group, and Dr. Ido Strauss and Dr. Firas Fahoum from the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov). The paper was published in the prestigious journal Nature Neuroscience.

A Deep Dive into the Human Brain

Prof. Nir explains that this study is unique in that it builds upon rare data from electrodes implanted deep inside the human brain, enabling high-resolution monitoring, down to the level of individual neurons, of the brain’s electrical activity.

While electrodes cannot be implanted in the brain of living humans just for the sake of scientific research, in this case the researchers were able to utilize a special medical procedure in which electrodes were implanted in the brains of epilepsy patients, monitoring activity in different parts of their brain for purposes of diagnosis and treatment. The patients volunteered to help examine the brain’s response to auditory stimulation in wakefulness versus sleep.

The researchers placed speakers emitting various sounds at the patients’ bedside and compared data from the implanted electrodes – neural activity and electrical waves in different areas of the brain – during wakefulness and during various stages of sleep. Altogether, the team collected data from over 700 neurons (about 50 neurons in each patient) over the course of 8 years.

Dr. Hanna Hayat

Measuring the Strength of Alpha-beta Waves

“After sounds are received in the ear, the signals are relayed from one station to the next within the brain,” explains Dr. Hayat. “Until recently it was believed that during sleep these signals decay rapidly once they reach the cerebral cortex. But looking at the data from the electrodes, we were surprised to discover that the brain’s response during sleep was much stronger and richer than we had expected. Moreover, this powerful response spread to many regions of the cerebral cortex. The strength of brain response during sleep was similar to the response observed during wakefulness, in all but one specific feature: the level of activity of alpha-beta waves.”

The researchers explain that alpha-beta waves (10-30Hz) are linked to processes of attention and expectation that are controlled by feedback from higher regions in the brain. As signals travel ‘bottom-up’ from the sensory organs to higher regions, a ‘top-down’ motion also occurs: the higher regions, relying on prior information that had accumulated in the brain, act as a guide, sending down signals to instruct the sensory regions as to which input to focus on, which should be ignored, etc. Thus, for example, when a certain sound is received in the ear, the higher regions can tell whether it is new or familiar, and whether it deserves attention or not.

“We hope that our findings will serve as a basis for developing effective new methods for measuring the level of awareness of individuals who are supposedly in various states of unconsciousness.”

This kind of brain activity is manifested in the suppression of alpha-beta waves, and indeed, previous studies have shown a high level of these waves in states of rest and anesthesia. According to the current study, the strength of alpha-beta waves is the main difference between the brain’s response to auditory inputs in states of wakefulness vs. sleep.

Decoding Consciousness

Prof Nir summarizes: “Our findings have wide implications beyond this specific experiment. First, they provide an important key to an ancient, fascinating enigma: What is the secret of consciousness? What is the ‘X-factor’, the brain activity that is unique to consciousness, allowing us to be aware of things happening around us when we are awake, and disappearing when we sleep? In this study we discovered a new lead, and in future research we intend to further explore the mechanisms responsible for this difference.

“In addition, having identified a specific brain feature that is different between states of consciousness and unconsciousness, we now have a distinct quantitative measure – the first of its kind – for assessing an individual’s awareness of incoming sounds. We hope that in the future, with improved techniques for measuring alpha-beta brain waves, and non-invasive monitoring methods such as EEG, it will be possible to accurately assess a person’s state of consciousness in various situations: verifying that patients remain unconscious throughout a surgical procedure, monitoring the awareness of people with dementia, or determining whether an allegedly comatose individual, unable to communicate, is truly unaware of his/her surroundings. In such cases, low levels of alpha-beta waves in response to sound could suggest that a person considered unconscious may in fact perceive and understand the words being said around him. We hope that our findings will serve as a basis for developing effective new methods for measuring the level of awareness of individuals who are supposedly in various states of unconsciousness. “

Forging a Brighter Future through Caring

Written by AUFTAU on 12 July 2022. Posted in Scholarship stories.

Motivated by scholarship for Israeli-Ethiopian students, TAU nursing undergrad aims to advance society through healthcare, academia and philanthropy.

In both her professional and personal ambitions, Tel Aviv University nursing student Wudnesh Wolde Giorgis is driven by a passion for helping others and especially those in need.

“I chose to study nursing so I can help people in times of difficulty; it’s a privilege for me,” she says, as she completes her undergraduate degree in nursing studies at the Stanley Steyer School of Health Professions. “I grew up in a family that places a great emphasis on giving and caring for others. It’s part of who I am.”

Giorgis, 26, is one of nine siblings and the first in her family to pursue higher education. She was born in Ethiopia and made aliyah to Israel with her family when she was five. They settled in the central city of Rishon Lezion, where Giorigs says she had a typical Israeli upbringing, going through the public education system before serving in the IDF.

Personally Meaningful Support

To help her achieve her academic goals, Giorgis received a scholarship backed by French philanthropists Andre and Thérèse Harari. The scholarship fund provides full degree support for 20 TAU students of Ethiopian descent each year. The Hararis’ family foundation established the scholarship program at TAU in the 2017-2018 academic year in association with the French Judaism Foundation and French Friends of TAU.

“Their support isn’t just limited to the duration of time at the University; it’s personally meaningful and can change the whole life of the person who receives it,” Giorgis says. “They enabled me to focus on my studies in peace without worrying about the financial side of things.”

After completing her military service, she set her sights on pursuing a university education. Giorgis worked various jobs since high school and has worked nights as a security officer throughout her studies The scholarship, she says, enables her to take fewer work shifts than she would have to in order to cover her living expenses apart from tuition.

“My parents are my biggest cheerleaders. I’m so grateful for their support and cherish everything they’ve done for me throughout the years,” she says. “Still, they have a lot to look out for at home and there aren’t many extra finances.”

Andre Harari explains that upon the establishment of their family foundation in 2017, “we rapidly identified the obstacles many Israeli-Ethiopian students face in pursuing higher education, and were quite astonished by the difficulties they encountered, due in particular to the low financial income of their families.

“We felt a sense of urgency to promote their access and social integration in higher education while also offering them financial support,” he says. “Our scholarship program aims to increase their low representation within the general student body and to enable them to pursue paths of excellence for their future professional life.”

Foundations for Success

Giorgis explains that while she has received several scholarships, this one stands out due to the donors’ personal involvement.

“The Hararis are amazing, and their support extends far beyond the financial aspects,” she exclaims. “They visit us on campus each year. They really want their scholarship recipients to succeed. I appreciate how much they care.”

Beyond her scholarship, Giorgis received an additional stipend from the Hararis during the height of COVID-19 to assist with living costs while campus shuttered and courses went completely online.

“Their support makes a lasting impact from the recipient’s early days in academia to their professional establishment,” she says. “It enables recipients to build a solid educational background and professional success so they can fulfill their biggest dreams and support themselves and their family, and even help those around them.”

Andre Harari adds: “We are so happy and proud to have accompanied Wudnesh throughout the four years of her bachelor’s in nursing. We have always enjoyed hearing about her academic progress and future aspirations.”

Future Aims: PhD to Philanthropy

Following her graduation and certification, Giorgis hopes to work in a demanding specialty such as intensive care or maternity nursing.

“By far, the most incredible experience during my studies was witnessing a birth in the maternity ward during clinical training at the hospital,” she recalls.

In addition to clinical practice, she also hopes to eventually pursue advanced degrees up to a PhD.

“It’s something I’ve really set my sights on because I believe it’s up to us in nursing to advance the field with further research and understanding,” she says. “People like the Hararis help make it possible.”

The impact of the Hararis’ contributions and personal engagement with the students they support has inspired Giorgis to help society in other ways as well: “I hope to be on the giving side of philanthropy one day.”

– By Julie Steigerwald

Two New Planets Found in Milky Way

Written by AUFTAU on 11 July 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

TAU team leads discovery of giant planets, similar in size to Jupiter, in remote corner of the galaxy.

Tel Aviv University researchers led the recent discovery of two new planets in remote solar systems within the Milky Way galaxy. They identified the giant planets, named Gaia-1b and Gaia-2b, as part of a study in collaboration with teams from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the body’s Gaia spacecraft.

The development marks the first time that the Gaia spacecraft successfully detected new planets. Gaia is a star-surveying satellite on a mission to chart a 3D map of the Milky Way with unprecedented accuracy comparable to standing on Earth and identifying a 10-shekel coin (roughly the size of a U.S. nickel) on the Moon.

TAU’s Prof. Shay Zucker, Head of the Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, and doctoral student Aviad Panhi from the Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Physics & Astronomy led the initiative. The findings were published in the scientific journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

More Discoveries on the Horizon

“The discovery of the two new planets was made in the wake of precise searches, using methods of artificial intelligence,” said Prof. Zucker. “We have also published 40 more candidates we detected by Gaia. The astronomical community will now have to try to corroborate their planetary nature, like we did for the first two candidates.”

The two new planets are referred to as “Hot Jupiters” due to their size and proximity to their host star: “The measurements we made with the telescope in the U.S. confirmed that these were in fact two giant planets, similar in size to the planet Jupiter in our solar system, and located so close to their suns that they complete an orbit in less than four days, meaning that each Earth year is comparable to 90 years of that planet,” he adds.

Giant Leaps for Astronomy

There are eight planets in our solar system. Less known are the hundreds of thousands of other planets in the Milky Way, which contains an untold number of solar systems. Planets in remote solar systems were first discovered in 1995 and have been an ongoing subject of astronomers’ research ever since, in hopes of using them to learn more about our own solar system.

To fulfill its mission, Gaia scans the skies while rotating around an axis, tracking the locations of about 2 billion suns, stars at the center of a solar system, in our galaxy with precision of up to a millionth of a degree. While tracking the location of the stars, Gaia also measures their brightness — an incomparably important feature in observational astronomy, since it relays significant information about the physical characteristics of celestial bodies around them. Changes documented in the brightness of the two remote stars were what led to the discovery. Aviad Panhi explains: “The planets were discovered thanks to the fact that they partially hide their suns every time they complete an orbit, and thus cause a cyclical drop in the intensity of the light reaching us from that distant sun.”

To confirm that the celestial bodies were in fact planets, the researchers performed tracking measurements with the Large Binocular Telescope, in Arizona, one of the largest telescopes in the world today. The telescope makes it possible to track small fluctuations in a star’s movement which are caused by the presence of an orbiting planet.

The discovery marks another milestone in the scientific contribution of the Gaia spacecraft’s mission, which has already been credited with a true revolution in the world of astronomy. Gaia’s ability to discover planets via the partial occultation method, which generally requires continuous monitoring over a long period of time, has been doubted up to now. The research team charged with this mission developed an algorithm specially adapted to Gaia’s characteristics, and searched for years for these signals in the cumulative databases from the spaceship.

Signs of Life?

What about the possibility of life on the surface of those remote new planets? “The new planets are very close to their suns, and therefore the temperature there is extremely high, about 1,000 degrees Celsius, so there is zero chance of life developing there,” explains Panhi. Still, he says, “I’m convinced that there are countless others that do have life on them, and it’s reasonable to assume that in the next few years we will discover signs of organic molecules in the atmospheres of remote planets. Most likely we will not get to visit those distant worlds any time soon, but we’re just starting the journey, and it’s very exciting to be part of the search.”

Startups On the Right Track

Written by AUFTAU on 10 July 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

These teams wowed the judges with their innovative ideas at this year’s Coller Startup Competition.

The sixth annual Coller Startup Competition final took place recently on TAU campus, as the final teams of TAU students and alumni pitched their startups for an investment of $100 000 on each track.

Encouraging Entrepreneurial Venturing

The goal of the competition is to encourage TAU students and alumni to engage in entrepreneurial venturing and launch successful startups, and previous winners have gained recognition, support, and millions of dollars in follow-on investments. Diverse team are welcome to join, hailing from different faculties and disciplines.

Dr. Eyal Benjamin, Head of Entrepreneurial Projects, Coller Institute of Venture, and Director of the Coller Startup Competition, opened the event stating that “Being a unicorn should not be perceived as the ‘holy grail’. Being successful and achieving what you set out to achieve with your venture – that is the ‘holy grail’. First, it is important to articulate what you wish to achieve and your desired reach. That’s what we’re doing here. We help [TAU students and alumni] move forward and grow their ventures. This is the reason why the competition was established in the first place.”

The Coller $100,000 Startup Competition was established five years ago, by Mr. Jeremy Coller, Chief Investment Officer at Coller Capita and Co-Founder of the Competition and Chief Entrepreneurship and Innovation Officer at the Coller School of ManagementProf. Moshe Zviran. It is a multi-staged process, offering mentoring and enhancement process for participating startups, as investors and innovation experts give valuable feedback on the ventures, serving the startups for the long run. At the final event, the teams gain exposure to additional investors who come to watch the ventures’ presentation.

Multiple Tracks

We did not envy the 52 judges (among them were VCs, angel investors, academics and entrepreneurs), as we listened to 13 hopeful teams (out of the 110 startups that applied) who took turns pitching their ideas. Each team got five minutes to wow the judges.

The ideas presented were diverse – covering tools to help children with special needs, personalized real time makeup assistance, production of egg proteins, solutions for the freight forwarding industry, and more.

Whereas last year’s competition featured only two tracks, Prof. Zviran explains, “We started with the Technology track. We then proceeded to add the food tech track – and this year, we’ve chosen to distinguish between Deep Tech and Online, which means that this year we offer three separate competition tracks.” The plan is to expand to include additional tracks, covering additional fields with new partners.

The judges of the Coller Startup Competition 2022 had to make some tough decisions (photo: Nimrod Glickman)

Taking the Chicken out of the Equation

This year’s winner of the FoodTech track (the only track that is not preconditioned by TAU affiliation) was PoLoPo, a biotech startup developing a plant platform for high-scale, economical custom-made production of proteins. PoLoPo exploits the full potential of plants as diverse metabolite and green protein factories, and have successfully engineered egg proteins (= animal proteins), without chickens. Eliminating the need for chickens is good news for those of us who do not eat regular eggs, as well as for the climate and the environment, and in particular given the context of recent bird flu viruses. The founders of the startup are Dr. Raya Liberman- Aloni and Dr. Maya Sapir-Mir.

PoLoPo share celebrate their victory on their LinkedIn page

In a Heartbeat

Symbiosis won the DeepTech Track. The Symbiosis team are developing a novel personalized platform for anchoring and sealing of irregular anatomical structures in real time, with emphasis on the mitral valve apparatus for moderate to severe MR patients. Or, in simpler terms, the project is developing a solution to the problem of heart failure.

The project’s Co-Founder, Shira Burg, got the idea after witnessing many dogs suffer from the problem as a veterinarian. Today, she is a doctoral student in the field of electrophysiology of the heart at TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, and symbiosis C.M. offers a solution to the problem for humans (and in the future also in dogs). Burg and second Co-Founder, Varda Badet, also a TAU alumni, were awarded a $100,000 investment from Coller Capital.

Insert a Good Shipping Quote Here

Due to the significant changes Covid-19 brought to the freight forwarding industry, companies are looking for solutions to stay competitive. According to Pierate.io, winner of this year’s Online track, the global shipping industry is “inefficient, outdated, and manual,” and the company argues that “one quote should not take so long to generate.” Pierate.io offers a SaaS platform which collects data from all sources to allow the freight forwarders’ sales teams to generate highly accurate price quotes in just a few clicks.”

Pierate.io won the online track at a $100,000 investment by PALSAR Ventures (specializing in early-stage investments in the online field)), which was surprisingly joined by Jeremy Coller, who pitched in with an additional $100,000 investment while the team was still on stage.

A happy post on Pierate’s LinkedIn page

The company’s founders, Eyal Daniel, TAU alumnus Sidney Feiner and Maayan Weinheber, also a TAU alumnus, went home (or perhaps to the nearest bar to celebrate?) with a check totaling $200,000.

The Pierate team left the competition $200,000 richer. From left: Prof. Moshe Zviran, Chief Entrepreneurship and Innovation Officer at the Coller School of Management; Adv. Eyal Bar-Zvi, Partner in PALSAR Ventures Fund; Pierate CEO Eyal Daniel; CTO Sidney Feiner; CEO Maayan Weinheber and Dr. Eyal Benjamin, Director of the Coller Startup Competition (photo: Shlomi Mizrahi)

Congratulations to the winning teams and good luck with your new ventures!

Featured image: Dr. Eyal Benjamin (far left) and Prof. Moshe Zviran (far right) with the competition’s winning teams

Diagnosing Diseases in Space

Written by AUFTAU on 6 July 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

If pursuing the unknown in space is on your bucket list, you can take comfort in knowing that TAU researchers recently conducted a unique experiment at the International Space Station to test genetic diagnosis under microgravity conditions. The researchers launched a kit together with Israeli astronaut Eytan Stibbe to space and proved that an existing technology based on a bacterial immune system against viruses, ‘CRISPR’, can be used to identify viruses and bacteria infecting crew members during space missions.

The study was led by Dr. Dudu Burstein from the Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research, Tel Aviv University and Dr. Gur Pines from the Volcani Institute. The experiment was conducted by Stibbe as part of the “Rakia” mission in April, under the leadership of the Ramon Foundation and the Israel Space Agency.

Suited for Astronauts

CRISPR systems are the immune systems of bacteria from viruses. Bacteria use the CRISPR-Cas systems as a sort of molecular ‘search engine’ to locate viral sequences and cleave them to disable viruses.

As part of their scientific vision, the researchers hypothesized that genetic diagnostics using this method, which requires minimal and easily operated equipment, could be suitable for long space missions: “Conditions in space are extremely problematic,” explains Burstein. “Treatment methods are limited, so it is essential to identify pathogens [= a microorganism that can cause disease] in a rapid, reliable, and straightforward method.” The method stands in contrast to tests like PCR (which we are now all familiar with due to Covid-19), which Burstein notes require trained personnel and relatively complex equipment.”

Researchers discussing the experimental design. From left to right: Dan Alon, Dr. David Burstein, Dr. Gur Pines (Photo: Ella Rannon)

Burstein outlines the process: “First, the DNA is amplified: each targeted DNA molecule is repeatedly duplicated many times. Then the CRISPR-Cas goes into action: If it identifies the target DNA, it activates a fluorescent molecular marker. The fluorescence lets us know whether the bacteria or viruses of interest are indeed present in the sample. This whole process can be conducted in one tiny test tube, so it is well suited for the astronauts’ needs.”

Zero Gravity? No problem!

Dr. Burstein describes the preparation for the space experiment: “Doctoral student Dan Alon and Dr. Karin Mittelman planned the experiment in detail and conducted it countless times in the lab under various conditions. After reaching the desired result, they prepared a kit, including the CRISPR-Cas system and the other components required for detection. Eventually, the kit was launched with Eytan Stibbe to the International Space Station.”

The experiments conducted by Stibbe were very successful, and proved that it is indeed possible to perform precise and sensitive CRISPR-based diagnosis – even in an environment with virtually no gravity.

What now? “This is the first step towards the simple and rapid diagnosis of diseases and pathogens on space missions,” says Burstein, adding that there is still some work to do on the next stages, including, “simple extraction of DNA from samples, making the system more efficient, so that it will be able to test a variety of organisms in one test tube, and diagnosis of more complex samples.”

“It was inspiring to see our test kit in Eytan’s hands at the Space Station, and we’re even more excited by the possibility that such kits will help future astronauts on their extraterrestrial missions,” he concludes.

Eytan Stibbe executing the experiment on the International Space Station (Photo: the Ramon Foundation and the Israel Space Agency)

Featured image: International space station on orbit of planet Earth

Tackling a Worrying Rise in Cyber Crimes and Warfare

Written by AUFTAU on 3 July 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

Israel’s 12th Annual Cyber Week Conference was attended last week by 300 speakers, 7000 in person and 2000 online attendees from 80 countries. The speakers included top Israeli government figures such as then Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Defense Minister Benny Gantz; leading American and British cyber figures, including Chris Inglis, the National Cyber Director at the Executive Office of the President at the White House and Lindy Cameron CEO of the British National Cyber Security Centre, and security executives from large companies, such as Walmart, SolarWinds,Apple and Netflix.

TAU researchers presented different academic perspectives on cybersecurity challenges, demonstrating the broad interdisciplinary scientific research on cybersecurity at TAU: Prof. Eran Toch from the Department of Industrial Engineering on “The Science of Cybersecurity in Organizations: Why is it so hard and what it takes to do it right”; Prof. Niva Elkin-Koren from The Buchmann Faculty of Law on “Digital Surveillance: Rethinking the Design Approach” and Prof. Yehuda Afek from the Blavatnik School of Computer Science on “Securing the DNS System.”

This year’s gathering took place against the backdrop of unprecedented cyber challenges and events including Russia’s war on Ukraine. Speakers described a dramatic and concerning rise in cyber warfare as well as cybercrime – cyber-related damage is predicted to hit $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, while cybersecurity spending on data protection and risk management could reach $172 billion globally in 2022. Yet they also expressed hope in the effectiveness of properly implemented defenses and evolution in defensive cyber techniques to meet the challenge.

The Human Aspect of Cyber

Ira Winkler, CISSP, Chief Security Architect of Walmart, outlined the important role government plays saying, “at a high level, governance tells people how to do things correctly with cyber security at the forefront.” He also recognized the need to account for the human aspect of cyber and to be realistic when devising and implementing strategy, “A user is as much as part of the system as a computer. Stop expecting people not to click on suspicious content, but rather have a strong network protecting them.”

The human face of fraud victims was highlighted through Norwegian Netflix star, Cecilie Fjellhøy, from “Tinder Swindler,” who was scammed of hundreds of thousands of US dollars by a man she knew as Simon Leviev. Fjellhøy uses her own experience to fight for justice for fraud victims around the world, and discussed the subject of “the day after” for those affected and what we as a society can learn from it.

Cecilie Fjellhøy from “Tinder Swindler used her own experience to speak up for fraud victims (Photo: Chen Galili)

In contrast, self-professed “Hacker, Helper and Human,” Jason E. Street, VP Infosec, Sphere NY, USA, illustrated weak points – human factors were highlighted – of companies and institutions with regard to security breaches. Street showed video footage of himself strolling into banks and compromising their security on the highest level in next to no time. He reminded those in the audience who were shaking their heads and laughing that their companies could be next in line, and urged them to prepare for such a scenario.

Terrorists with Keyboards

Israel’s former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett pointed out how “inevitably cyber is going to become one, if not the most, prominent dimensions of future warfare,” while drawing attention to the vital need for global collaboration in the cyber sphere. In cyber, he reasoned, the same actors who attack one company or country are often attacking others at the same time. Information sharing can help all vulnerable parties defend themselves.

Israel’s Minister of Defense, Benny Gantz, outlined the increasing shift of conflicts to the cybersphere, noting that bad actors are already carrying out cyberattacks, particularly Iran. The country uses new [cyber] proxies, who Gantz referred to as “terrorists with keyboards,” in addition to their direct actions. He stressed the need for private companies to follow government guidelines and cooperate on a response, stressing that “Iran is first a global challenge, then it is a regional challenge, and only finally is it a threat to the State of Israel. The same goes for the cyber dimensions – the same framework of cooperation vis-a-vis Iran is expanding to cyber.”

Then Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks at Cyber Week 2022 conference at Tel Aviv University (Photo: Chen Galili)

About Cyber Week

Cyber Week is a leading international cybersecurity event that provides a unique opportunity for experts from industry, government, military and academia to share their knowledge about the challenges and opportunities in the field. Cyber Week is jointly held by the Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center (ICRC); The Yuval Ne’eman Workshop for Science, Technology and Security at Tel Aviv University; and the Israeli National Cyber Directorate under the Prime Minister’s Office.

Prof. Karen Avraham Elected Dean of TAU’s Medical Faculty

Written by AUFTAU on 30 June 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

Prof. Karen Avraham was selected as the next Dean of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University. She is the first woman appointed to the position.

She will replace Prof. Ehud Grossman, and her tenure will begin on September 1. Prior to this appointment, Prof. Avraham served as Vice Dean for Pre-Clinical Affairs at the Faculty of Medicine.

“Medicine is undergoing a transformation, both in terms of research and education. We will continue to be at the forefront of medical research, and I am very much looking forward to leading our Faculty to new breakthroughs,” she said.

Prof. Avraham is recognized as one of Israel’s top scientists for her research that centers on disease genomics with an emphasis on hearing disorders. To that effect, her team explores the genes responsible for hereditary hearing loss and implements new gene therapies to reverse deafness. Recently, she has expanded her research to study rare genetic diseases, including developmental delay, epilepsy and breathing disorders in children. She is a member of the Department of Human Molecular Genetics & Biochemistry at the Faculty of Medicine and the Sagol School of Neuroscience.

For her scientific achievements, she has won numerous awards, including: the Sir Bernard Katz Prize from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany, the Michael Bruno Memorial Prize from the Rothschild Foundation (Yad Hanadiv), the TEVA Prize for Groundbreaking Research in the Field of Rare Diseases, and the Teva Founders Prize on Breakthroughs. Prof. Avraham’s work was also featured among the top pioneering Israeli discoveries and developments that affected the world, at a 2016 exhibit at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport.

Prof. Avraham has advised 135 graduate, MD-PhD students and post-docs in her lab and recruited 65 junior faculty to the Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University. She serves as director of The Healthy Longevity Research Center and is co-director of The Aufzien Family Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease and of the Taube-Koret Global Collaboration in Neurodegenerative Diseases. She founded and directs the Biomed@TAU Research Hubs, whose mission is to bring together scientists and foster collaboration from across Tel Aviv University and affiliated hospitals who share overlapping research interests.

Born in Canada, Prof. Avraham moved to the US at a young age before coming to Israel, where she earned her PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science. She conducted post-doctoral training at the United States’ National Cancer Institute in Maryl

An Unexpected Fit: From Yeshiva to TAU Law School

Written by AUFTAU on 29 June 2022. Posted in Scholarship stories.

Trailblazers program & scholarship helped Daniel Ben Zeev find his place at TAU.

Daniel Ben Zeev is one of many second-year students at Tel Aviv University’s Buchmann Faculty of Law, but the path that led him there is a less-travelled one. Ben Zeev grew up in in an ultra-Orthodox family in the city of Bnei Brak, home to several of Israel’s largest and strictest religious communities. He received a traditional religious education, attending all-boy elementary and middle schools, followed by eight years in a system of yeshivas, where he was trained in religious studies with no education in secular subjects.

When he married at the age of 22, Ben Zeev had no specific plans for a future career. His wife Yael, however, was already a student at TAU’s Goldschleger School of Dental Medicine. “About a year into our marriage, I decided that I, too, wanted an education that would enable me to have a job and give back to society,” he said.

Ben Zeev was interested in studying law, a field popular among many religious students because of its similarities to Talmudic studies. TAU was a natural choice for him because he could share the commute with Yael, but he didn’t know where to start.  “The entire system of secular education was foreign to me,” he explained, smiling shyly.  

Ben Zeev called TAU to inquire about admissions, and that’s when he was referred to Trailblazers: the Program for Integrating the Ultra-Orthodox into Tel Aviv University. Traiblazers accompanies the students “from application to graduation”, providing academic and social support, including tutoring, career and psychological counselling, social events and more.  

“With the help of the Program and its dedicated director Galia Givoly, I was able to successfully navigate the enrolment process and prepare for law studies at TAU,” Ben Zeev said.  

Traiblazers also helped Ben Zeev obtain a scholarship. “Both my wife and I receive scholarships from TAU,” explained Ben Zeev. “Our degrees require a lot of time investment and leave few options for holding down a job. I currently work three times a week, but without a scholarship I’d need to work double that amount, which would be a disaster for my studies. My wife, in her 6th year of dental school, does not have time to work at all,” he said. “Without the support of our scholarships, we wouldn’t be able to complete our studies.” 

As this article went to print, Daniel and Yael Ben Zeev were expecting their first child. At this exciting time in their lives, they are thankful to the Trailblazers program and scholarships at TAU for enabling their success in academia. “I want to become a lawyer and give back to society, which will be possible with the help of these wonderful programs,” Ben Zeev concluded. 

By Sveta Raskin

Author: AUFTAU

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