Endowment to support innovative research in transplant medicine.

TAU inaugurated the Closner Family Chair for Next Generation Organ and Tissue Implants on May 16 during its 2022 Board of Governors meeting. Headed by Prof. Tal Dvir, the Chair will boost TAU’s capacity to pioneer replacement organs and tissues that reduce the need for organ donations and the risk of transplant rejection.

Prof. Dan Peer, TAU Vice President for Research and Development, welcomed Dvir in his new capacity and thanked the Toronto-based Closner family for its support. “Our next-generation organ and tissue transplantation lab, headed by Prof. Dvir, will offer hope to millions of people waiting on transplant lists worldwide,” Peer said.

Dvir is also head of the Sagol Center for Regenerative Biotechnology and the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at TAU.

The inauguration took place in the presence of Neil Closner, the Chair benefactor, Prof. Abdussalam Azem, Dean of the Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Stephen Adler, head of the Canadian Friends of TAU (Ontario and Western Canada), Peer, Dvir, and Governors and friends of the University.

“The Chair will advance TAU’s standing in the international scientific community,” said Closner, who experienced the complex field first-hand, when his mother underwent double-lung transplant surgery a few years ago. “And I hope to see great things coming from it.”

Following the ceremony, Closner toured the lab facilities accompanied by Dvir and other researchers, who showcased their latest experiments. The Dvir lab recently made international headlines with a breakthrough development of 3D spinal cord implants.

Featured image: From left: Stephen J. Adler, Neil Closner and Prof. Tal Dvir (Photo: Ofer Amram)