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This Week: TAU Board of Governors Meeting 2021

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Festive event to be hosted on campus and broadcast around the world.

The annual TAU Board of Governors Meeting will be taking place between October 13-17. For the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, the festive event will be taking place both in-person and online. The following is a selection of highlights from the program, with a focus on the impact of TAU’s big ideas on the success of the State of Israel and beyond.

Honorary Degrees

Honorary Doctorates for Recipients in Israel will be awarded to: Mr. Haim Be’er (novelist); Adv. Hanina Brandes (Founding Partner, Naschitz Brandes Amir); Prof. Shafrira (Shafi) Goldwasser (Electrical Engineer and Computer Scientist, MIT; Mathematician, Weizmann Institute of Science); and Ms. Hanna Zohar (Founder, Kav La’Oved).

Honorary Fellowships in Israel will be awarded to: Mr. Joseph Bar Natan (Businessman and Philanthropist) and Gesher Theater, Israel.

The ceremony will be broadast live on TAU’s Facebook page on October 17 at 8 p.m. The public is invited to attend virtually.

Climate Change and Space Research

MK Tamar Zandberg, Israel’s Minister of Environmental Protection and a TAU alumna, will address this year’s Academic Symposium, titled “Between Climate Change, Space Research and Life under Extreme Conditions.” 

The guest speaker will be Dr. Jessica Meir, NASA astronaut and one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020. Her talk will focus on her recent mission to space, space research and life under extreme environments as well as on NASA’s work related to climate change. The Symposium will be chaired by Prof. Mark Shtaif, Rector of the University and moderated by Prof. Colin Price, Head, Environmental Studies Department, Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences.

 

Dr. Jessica Meir, NASA astronaut 

First Woman to Chair TAU’s Board

After serving for three years as Co-Chair of the TAU Global Campaign, triple alumna and long-time benefactor of TAU Dafna Meitar-Nechmad will replace Prof. Jacob A. Frenkel, who will be completing two four-year terms as Chair of the Board of Governors. She will be the first woman to Chair the Board of Governors.

Meitar-Nechmad thanked the Search Committee for recommending her appointment: “As a woman, a social investor and an alumna of TAU, it will be a great honor and privilege for me to head its Board of Governors. The past decade has seen substantial development at TAU, in research, education and contribution to the community, and I am certain that together we can keep up this momentum, expand the sources of funding, and open TAU’s gates to new target populations from both Israel and abroad.”

Also during the meeting, TAU will welcome 35 new governors from around the world.

 

Dafna Meitar-Nechmad is the incoming Chair of the Board of Governors (Photo: Moshe Bedarshi)

Kadar Family Award for Outstanding Research

The Kadar Family Award for Outstanding Research at Tel Aviv University celebrates pioneering scientists and scholars who have reached the highest levels of excellence in both research and teaching. For the past six years, the Award has been granted annually to four TAU researchers, two senior and two junior faculty members, from across the entire spectrum of faculties and disciplines on the TAU campus. This year’s recipients are: Prof. Emilia Fridman from the School of Electrical Engineering, Fleischman Faculty of Engineering; Prof. Dalit Rom-Shiloni from the Department of Biblical Studies, Entin Faculty of Humanities; Prof. Yossi Yovel from the School of Zoology; Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and Prof. Domenico Agostini from the Department of General History, Entin Faculty of Humanities.

Launch of New Dan David Prize

At a time when documented facts and evidence-based conclusions are increasingly contested, understanding our history is more important than ever. That’s why, to mark the Dan David Prize’s 20th anniversary, the Prize has been redesigned to celebrate scholars and practitioners whose work illuminates the human past, bringing a historical lens to current debates and our thinking about the future (nominations are still open for the largest history prize in the world, The Dan David Prize 2022). The relaunch of the Dan David Prize will be celebrated with a keynote lecture by Prof. David Nirenberg from the University of Chicago on “How the Long History of Race and Religion Helps Us Think about the Present and Future.”

 

Dan David Prize – Looking Back, Looking Forward

For regular BOG updates and photos, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, hashtag #TAUbog21.

Featured image: From the Honorary Degrees Conferment Ceremony, BOG 2019 (Photo: Noam Wind)

Seahorses – Slow, but Fierce

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Terrible swimmers with incredible preying capability.

Seahorses are not exactly Olympic swimmers, in fact they’re considered to be particularly poor swimmers. Despite being relatively slow, however, they are adept at preying on small, quick-moving animals. In a new study conducted at Tel Aviv University, researchers have succeeded in characterizing the incredible preying capability of seahorses, discovering that they can move their head up at the incredible speed of 0.002 seconds. The rapid head movement is accompanied by a powerful flow of water that snags their prey right into the seahorse’s mouth. How was this spring mechanism formed? When did it develop? The researchers hope the recent study will lead to further studies designed to help solve the riddle of spring fish.

The study was led by Prof. Roi Holzman and the doctoral student Corrine Jacobs of the School of Zoology at The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University, and was conducted at the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat. The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Springing to Action

The researchers explain that seahorses are fish that possess unique properties such as male ‘pregnancy’, square tail vertebrae, and of course the unique eating system. For most of the day, seahorses are anchored with their tail to seaweeds or corals with their head tilted downward, close to their body. However, when they detect prey passing over them, they lift their head at incredible speed and catch it. According to Prof. Holzman, while preying, seahorses turn their body into a kind of spring: using their back muscles, they stretch an elastic tendon, and use their neck bones as a ‘trigger’, just like a crossbow. The result is faster than even the fastest muscle contraction found anywhere in the animal world.

However, until now it was not clear how the spring-loaded mechanism enabled seahorses to actually eat. Just as anyone who tries to remove a fly from a cup of tea knows, water is a viscous medium and the fish needs to open its mouth to create a flow that draws the prey in. But how do seahorses coordinate snagging in prey with their head movement?

In their recent study, researchers from Tel Aviv University succeeded in characterizing and quantifying seahorse movement by photographing their attack at a speed of 4,000 images per second, and using a laser system for imaging water flows. This measurement showed that the ‘crossbow’ system serves two purposes: facilitating head movement and generating high velocity suction currents – 10 times faster than those of similar-sized fish. These advantages enable seahorses to catch particularly elusive prey.

Evolution of the Spring Mechanism

The new measurements also help shed light on the ecology of various species of seahorses, distinguished from each other by the length of their noses. “Our study shows that the speed of head movement and suction currents are determined by the length of a seahorse’s nose”, Prof. Holzman added. “From the evolutionary aspect, seahorses must choose between a short nose for strong suction and moderate head raising, or a long nose for rapid head raising and weaker suction currents. This choice, of course, corresponds to the available diet: long-nosed species catch smaller, quicker animals whereas short-nosed species catch heavier, more ponderous ones.”

 

Prof. Roi Holzman hopes the recent study will lead to further studies to help solve the riddle of spring fish

According to Prof. Holzman, seahorses are not the only instance of the impressive spring mechanism. Actually, seahorses are counted among the family of fish bearing the appropriate scientific name Misfit Fish, including species such as alligator pipefish, shrimpfish, and cornetfish or flutemouths.

“These fish are called that because of their odd shape which enables stretching their body into a spring. The big question applies to the evolution of the spring mechanism, how it was formed and when it developed. I hope our recent study will lead to further studies designed to help solve the riddle of spring fish”. 

Help A Friend Out?

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Help A Friend Out?

Ever wonder what causes us to help – or not to help – someone in distress? New research from the Tel Aviv University indicates that the brain activity that gives rise to one’s motivation to help only occurs when the “other” who is in distress is a member of one’s own group. Interestingly, helping a friend in distress appears to relate more to a sense of group belonging and identity and less to expressing empathy for another’s difficulty and suffering, suggesting that pro-social behavior should be promoted through the reinforcement of a sense of belonging, more than a sense of empathy.

Selective Aid

Previous findings showed that rats do demonstrate empathy for their peers. Rescuing them from trouble and reaching out to help is as rewarding to them as eating chocolate. It was subsequently found that while rats do love to help their peers, they only help members of their own group and not rats from other groups.

In the current study, the research team decided to examine what change in the brain causes this behavioral difference that leads the rats to only help members of the same group. How did they do that? Dr. Inbal Ben Ami Bartal of The School of Psychological Sciences and Sagol School of Neuroscience at the Tel Aviv University explains that during the course of the study, researchers used phosphoric markings to mark those neurons in the rats’ brains that were active when the rats were in the presence of the trapped rats. Similarly, the researchers recorded their cerebral activity by means of a calcium signal that is released when neurons are active.

Cultivating A Sense of Belonging

Their findings are fascinating: Upon seeing the trapped rat, a system in the brain, similar to that seen in humans when they report feeling empathy, was activated. However, only when the rats discerned that it was a rat of their own breed did the researchers observe “helpful behavior” and action by the brain’s “reward system,” meaning – activation of a neural network that inspires motivation to perform acts that contribute to survival. When the trapped rat is from another, unfamiliar breed, the rats do not help it and the brain’s reward system does not activate. Thus, it is a sense of belonging which is the dominant factor that affects social solidarity, and not empathy for the suffering and distress of others.

“This research shows that the reward system has an important function in helping behavior and if we want to increase the likelihood of pro-social behavior, we must reinforce a sense of belonging more than a sense of empathy,” concludes Dr. Ben Ami Bartal.

The team is currently examining what happens in the brains of rats from different groups over the course of two weeks during which they live together and become friends, and how artificial brain stimulation can be utilized to make the rats show empathy for the plight of rats from another breed.

TAU research team: Dr. Inbal Ben Ami Bartal, Tamar Spectre, Estherina Trachtenberg, and Dr. Einat Bigelman (not in the photo: Keren Ruzal and Ben Kantor)

The study was led by Dr. Inbal Ben Ami Bartal of The School of Psychological Sciences and Sagol School of Neuroscience at the Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with Prof. Daniela Kaufer of the University of California and Berkeley as well as additional researchers from Stanford University and the University of Toronto. The study was published in the prestigious journal, eLife.

Can’t Multitask Anymore?

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Non-invasive brain stimulation may boost mobility in the elderly and prevent falls.

Walking while simultaneously carrying out a cognitive task, like talking on a cellphone or with a companion, happens frequently throughout the day for many of us. The concurrent performance of two tasks requires the ability to split attention. For older people, difficulties performing another task while walking or standing reflect an existing and/or a potential problem concerning both functions. It also means an increased risk of falling, which can have many severe and undesirable consequences for older adults.

Tel Aviv University researchers sought to examine the benefits of very low intensity, non-invasive electrical stimulation of various parts of the brain, on the capability of older adults to walk or stand while simultaneously carrying out a cognitive task, a common dual-task situation that can determine their overall functionality. They hoped that this might improve their ability to perform both tasks simultaneously in a safer manner. The researchers found that when stimulating the dorsal lateral pre-frontal cortex (DLPFC), a cognitive brain area responsible for dividing attention and executive functions, the immediate, negative impact of a dual-task on standing and walking performance was significantly reduced.

The study team under the leadership of Prof. Jeffrey Hausdorff of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, the Sagol School of Neuroscience, and the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov), and Dr. Brad Manor at Harvard Medical School, as well as researchers from Harvard University, research and medical institutions in the US and Spain, and the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov). The study was published in the Annals of Neurology, the journal of the American Neurological Association. The research was funded by a grant from the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation.

Gentle Power

The study cohort included 57 subjects over the age of 70. Each of them was tested by 4 different treatments:

  • Sham, designed not to have any influence at all, but to rule out any placebo effects;
  • Stimulation of a cognitive area of the brain (DLPFC) that is responsible for dividing attention;
  • Stimulation of a sensory-motor area of the brain which contributes to the regulation of walking;
  • Simultaneous stimulation of both areas – motor and cognitive – together. 

Each treatment included non-invasive stimulation using a very low-intensity electric current for 20 minutes. Immediately upon the conclusion of the treatment, the walking and standing sway of each subject were evaluated, with and without the request to also perform a cognitive task.

The study showed that stimulation of the cognitive area, whether alone or together with the stimulation of the motor area, reduced the negative effects of the cognitive task on walking and standing stability by about 50%.  Stimulation of the sensory-motor area alone and sham stimulation did not improve the subjects’ performance. The researchers explain that, since the stimulation is gentle, it does not activate brain neurons but only increases their excitability; in other words, it facilitates the ability of the patient to activate those neurons in his or her brain.

“In our study, we demonstrated that a low-level, gentle stimulation of a specific cognitive area of the brain can improve the performance of older adults when they carry out the double task of walking or standing in place while at the same time performing a cognitive task, at least within the immediate time range,” says Prof. Hausdorff.  

“We hope that a series of treatments will lead to similar positive results over a more protracted period: to improve standing stability and walking capability, diminish the risks of falling, and perhaps also enhance cognitive function among the elderly population. This treatment is safe, and we hope that, in time, people will be able to undergo self-treatment in their own homes. Additionally, we foresee the possibility of combining this type of therapy with exercise and other modes of intervention that can help to improve walking, to enhance thinking, and to reduce the risk of falls. There is evidence that combined therapy could prove to be the most effective solution, but further research is required to examine this,” he concludes.

Why Do We Squabble Over The AC?

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New study reveals the evolutionary reason why women feel colder than men.

Why do women typically bring a sweater into work while their male counterparts feel comfortable wearing short sleeves in an air-conditioned office? Researchers at Tel Aviv University’s School of Zoology offer a new evolutionary explanation for the familiar scenario and can share that this phenomenon is not unique to humans, with many male species of endotherms (birds and mammals) preferring a cooler temperature than the females. The researchers propose that males and females feel temperature differently, explaining that this is a built-in evolutionary difference between the heat-sensing systems of the two sexes, related, among other things, to the reproduction process and caring for offspring.

The study was led by Dr. Eran Levin and Dr. Tali Magory Cohen from the School of Zoology and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University, Yosef Kiat from the University of Haifa, and Dr. Haggai Sharon, a pain specialist from Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Tel Aviv Sourasky Tel Aviv Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital). The article was published in the Journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.

Separation During Breeding Season

The new study included an in-depth statistical and spatial analysis of the distribution of dozens of bird and bat species living in Israel, along with a comprehensive review of the international research literature on the subject.

A study of the research literature reveals several examples of a similar phenomenon observed in many species of birds and mammals. In migratory bird species, males spend the winter in colder areas than females (it should be noted that in birds, the segregation between the sexes takes place outside of the breeding season, since the males participate in the raising of the chicks).

Amongst many mammals, even in species that live in pairs or in mixed groups all their lives, the males prefer shade whereas the females prefer sunlight, or the males ascend to the peaks of mountains while the females remain in the valleys.

Following the literature review, the researchers conducted their own research. They sampled information collected in Israel over the course of nearly 40 years (1981-2018) on thousands of birds from 13 migratory bird species from 76 sites (data from Birdlife Israel and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History) and 18 species of bats from 53 sites (data from the researchers and the Society for the Protection of Nature.) In total, the study included more than 11,000 individual birds and bats, from Mount Hermon in the north to Eilat in the south.

The reasoning behind the choice of birds and bats for the study is the fact that they fly and are therefore highly mobile, and the researchers hypothesized that the spatial separation between the sexes – sometimes extending to different climatic zones – would be particularly clear in these groups. Moreover, Israel’s significant climate diversity allowed them to study individual animals of the same species that live in very different climatic conditions.

 

Illustrative Photo: Bats in Cave

The findings of the study clearly demonstrated that males prefer a lower temperature than females, and that this preference leads to a separation between the sexes at certain periods during the breeding cycles, when the males and females do not need, and may even interfere, with each other.

Dr. Levin: “Our study has shown that the phenomenon is not unique to humans; among many species of birds and mammals, females prefer a warmer environment than males, and at certain times these preferences cause segregation between the two species. In light of the findings, and the fact that this is a widespread phenomenon, we have hypothesized that what we are dealing with is a difference between the females and males’ heat-sensing mechanisms, which developed over the course of evolution. This difference is similar in its essence to the known differences between the pain sensations experienced by the two sexes, and is impacted by differences in the neural mechanisms responsible for the sensation and also by hormonal differences between males and females.”

Dr. Levin, who among other things studies the physiology and behavior of bats, noted in his previous studies that during the breeding season males and females tend to segregate, with the males inhabiting cooler areas. For example, entire colonies in caves on the slopes of Mount Hermon are composed of only males during the breeding season, while in the warmer area of the Sea of Galilee there are mainly females, who give birth and raise their pups there.

Dr. Magory Cohen notes that this difference has a number of evolutionary explanations. First, the separation between males and females reduces competition over resources in the environment, and keeps away males who may be aggressive and endanger the babies. Furthermore, many female mammals must protect their offspring at a stage when they are not yet able to regulate their body temperature on their own, so they developed a preference for a relatively warm climate.

Giving Each Other Some Space

The phenomenon can also be linked to sociological phenomena observed in many animals and even in humans; in a mixed environment of females and males the females tend to have much more physical contact between themselves, whereas males maintain more distance and shy away from contact with each other.

It appears the difference in thermal sensation did not come about so we can argue with our partners over the air conditioning. Rather, we are meant to give each other some space so that each person can enjoy some peace and quiet. Question is, who gets the couch?

The Immune System’s Double Agents

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The Immune System’s Double Agents

Glioblastoma is the most common type of brain cancer, and one of the most violent and deadly cancers in humans; the average life expectancy of glioblastoma patients is 12 to 15 months from the moment of detection. Usually, the scientific monitoring of the development of the cancerous tumor in animal models is carried out without an active immune system, in order to enable the absorption and growth of cancer cells in the body. The disadvantage of this commonly-used model lies in the fact that the immune system either does not exist or does not function properly, which prevents researchers from monitoring the interaction between it and the tumor cells.

A new Tel Aviv University study examined for the first time the development of a glioblastoma cancerous tumor in animal models with a normal immune system in order to best simulate the development of the tumor in humans. The findings showed that there are immune system cells that, despite the fact that their primary function is to attack and kill the cancer cells, actually act as “double agents” that increase and intensify the aggressiveness and threat of the tumor.

The study was led by Dr. Dinorah Friedmann-Morvinski of The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and Sagol School of Neuroscience, and her PhD student Prerna Magod. Also participating in the study were Dr. Liat Rousso-Noori and Ignacio Mastandrea, also from the Faculty of Life Sciences, as well as researchers from the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Weizmann Institute of Science. The study was published in the prestigious journal Cell Reports.

Switching Sides

In the study, the researchers found that cells called neutrophils play a critical role in interacting with the cancerous growth. Neutrophils are immune system cells that originate in the bone marrow, and whose purpose is to “swallow” or kill bacteria and fungi and fight the infections caused by them. “Neutrophils are the front-line soldiers of the immune system,” explains Dr. Friedmann-Morvinski. “When a tumor begins to develop, the neutrophils are among the first to mobilize and attack it in order to eliminate it.”

The researchers also found that the neutrophils remain near the tumor throughout its development, and are continuously and consistently recruited from the bone marrow. The surprising thing that was discovered during this study is that the neutrophils “change sides:” Whereas at first, with the onset of the initial tumor, the neutrophils fight it, over time the neutrophils recruited to the cancerous area begin to support its development.

Dr. Friedmann-Morvinski: “We learned that the neutrophils actually change their role. They are mobilized by the tumor itself, and from being anti-cancerous, become pro-cancerous; as a result, they aggravate the damage that the tumor itself creates.”

Moreover, the researchers found that the process by which the neutrophils change their properties can take place remotely, even before they progress towards the tumor itself.

“The study showed that the change in the properties of neutrophils takes place in the bone marrow itself – where there is no tumor at all: the cancerous tumor is located only in the brain, and from there it succeeds in changing the properties of the cells it recruits,” adds Dr. Friedmann-Morvinski.

Seeking to Boost Effectiveness of Immunotherapy

“The new findings of this study may also shed light on immunotherapeutic therapies, which have been gaining a lot of momentum in recent years. In one type of immunotherapy treatment, T cells [important white blood cells of the immune system] are removed from the patient’s body, processed, and returned to the body with increased healing abilities. One of the major problems today is that even these cells, that have been sent in order to heal, are suppressed and their actions stifled. If we know how to change the interaction between neutrophils and T cells so that they are not suppressed, this will have implications for the effectiveness of immunotherapy.”

These revelations may be the first step towards deciphering the mechanism of interaction between the immune system and cancerous tumors.

A House is Not a Home Without a Pet

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TAU law students are helping elderly citizens and their pets move to senior homes.

Many senior citizens have to part with their beloved pets just when they need them the most: when they leave their homes and transition to live in public housing for the elderly. In many of these governmental institutions, pets are still not allowed – and when they are, the policy is not always implemented. This can cause a painful situation which may harm the mental and physical wellbeing of senior citizens, and affect the welfare of the animals (often senior as well) that find themselves homeless and separated from their loving caretakers.

We have some positive news: There are good people out there who are pro-actively seeking to protect the rights of pet caretakers, as well as the pets’.

Who? Students of The Buchmann Faculty of Law who work through the Clinic for Environmental Justice and the Protection of Animal Rights, an integral part of the The Coller-Menmon Animal Rights and Welfare Program, Israel’s leading and most comprehensive academic program on animal law, at the Faculty of Law. We do realize that’s a mouthful and warrants some further explanation…

Protecting Animals’ Rights

The Clinic for Environmental Justice has been handling a range of environmental issues since 2001. In 2017, it expanded its operations to include the protection of animals’ rights. Through their work at the Clinic, law students get to practice drafting applications, precedents and position papers, closely accompanied by top academics and clinical facilitators from Israel’s legal system. 

Dr. Orit Hirsch-Matsioulas researches human-animal relations. She is a post-doctoral fellow of The Coller-Menmon Animal Rights and Welfare Program and one of the founders of The Community for Human-Animal Studies Israel (HASI). Together with Adv. Amnon Keren, Program Coordinator and Clinical Instructor at the Clinic, she made the rights of the elderly and their pets one of the Clinic’s lead projects.

Both Granny and Kitty Benefit

The project was significantly accelerated when the Clinic decided to handle the appeal of a group of senior citizens who were told they were not allowed to bring their pets to their public housing apartments. “The rights of elderly people were violated,” says Dr. Hirsch-Matsioulas. “Some of them decided against moving because they did not want to part with their pets. Noah, the umbrella organization for Israel’s animal protection associations, contacted us, and we got in touch with the Ministry of Construction and Housing to change the existing policy.”

Dr. Hirsch-Matsioulas presented the Ministry with academic studies on emotional, cognitive and health-related benefits of pet relationships for senior citizens. Moreover, she brought a new element to the attention of the Ministry officials, namely the effect of the relationship on the animals.

“We built a multidisciplinary team of people from the fields of law, social sciences, social work, gerontology (i.e. the multidisciplinary study of aging, including physical aspects as well as mental, social and societal implications) and civil society organizations, and we’re working together with the Ministry of Construction and Housing,” explains Dr. Hirsch-Matsioulas. 

A temporary policy was established, allowing for the entry and keeping of pets in all public senior homes, called בתי גיל הזהב, under the responsibility of Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing. It was widely agreed that this temporary right should eventually become permanent, however this is a lengthy process. 

 

Kitty and Milo also have rights. Photo: Vika Minkowitz Mualem

Focusing on Solutions

While we’re excited to share that this undertaking is, in fact, a global precedent, the process of implementing the policy has not been a smooth ride. Due to Covid restrictions, the team has not been able to enter the senior housing buildings to teach the staff about the new guidelines for successful implementation. “The doors have been opened. Now, we must focus on ensuring the optimal execution,” says Dr. Hirsch-Matsioulas. 

Dr. Hirsch-Matsioulas is compiling a report with all the issues that do or may arise. She will then proceed to examine the appropriate solutions for every listed problem, through consultation with relevant professionals. The aim is to come up with suitable solutions for the preservation of the elderly’s right to good health and a dignified life, as well as the preservation of the rights of the animals. Once completed, she will present the list to policy makers to advance the legislation, with the aim that the Ministry of Construction and Housing can adopt the law on a permanent basis. 

The arrived upon solutions will be offered, and hopefully adopted, by additional countries as well.

 

Emotional, cognitive and health benefits enjoyed by both parties. Photo: Vika Minkowitz Mualem

Across Generations and Species

“We intend to visit senior homes, observe and learn, and then to provide cultural programs with positive and educational messages on how to co-exist in a community with multiple living species,” offers Dr. Hirsch-Matsioulas.

“Education is central for promoting change, and we would like to cultivate a new atmosphere on ground through a series of lectures. Children and youth are oftentimes leading agents of change, and we may end up including the grandchildren in this effort.” 

“Beyond our firm conviction that the elderly shouldn’t have to part with their pets, that are to them like family members for all intents and purposes, the Clinic also makes sure that the animals’ interests are represented. Forced removal of an animal from a warm and loving home can cause him or her great suffering, especially in old age,” adds Adv. Keren.

“In recent years, there’s been a growing recognition in Israel of animal rights and their welfare, as key considerations in decision-making pertaining to them. We will continue to develop this trend, whereby the animal is regarded as a subject with his or her own rights, each animal representing a world of his or her own and worthy of protection in and by him- or herself.”

 

Dr. Orit Hirsch-Matsioulas and her good friend, Shenef. 

Featured image: Family and flatmates. Photo: Noah Toledano

Using ‘Good’ Bacteria to Fight ‘Bad’ Bacteria

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Antibiotic resistance is an ever-growing worry to the medical profession, with the World Health Organization recently defining it as one of the most significant dangers to public health and food safety. A new technology from Tel Aviv University will make it possible to insert ‘good’ bacteria into the body, or into diverse environmental niches, for the purpose of injecting toxins and eliminating ‘bad’ bacteria. The breakthrough technology can be suited to target different kinds of bacteria and may become a biological replacement for antibiotics, potentially saving many lives.

The study was conducted by Dr. Dor Salomon, Dr. Biswanath Jana and Kinga Kappel of the Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine.

Taking Advantage of Killing System

Beneficial bacteria and pathogenic bacteria, bacteria that can cause disease, have fought each other over resources and nutrients since the dawn of time, and have developed a variety of sophisticated mechanisms that neutralizes their competition. Understanding the mechanisms that mediate these bacterial wars will enable their utilization and conversion into new tools that will be used to treat diseases caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

TAU researchers built a system which allows them to engineer ‘good’ bacteria that can recognize disease-causing bacteria, attack the latter exclusively with toxins and neutralize them. Dr. Dor Salomon explains, “We know how to change and control every component in the system and create a bacterium that neutralizes different strains of bacteria. This is proof of feasibility, showing that we have the knowledge and ability to create bacteria that take advantage of this killing system and may serve as antibiotic treatments. Such bacteria could replace the classic antibiotics that we currently use in a variety of scenarios”.

High Degree of Control

The researchers ‘borrowed’ a toxin injection system – known as a Type 6 Secretion System – from a pathogenic bacterium and introduced it into a ‘friendly’ bacterium, Vibrio natriegens. This ‘friendly’ bacterium is not harmful to humans or animals and can survive and reproduce under a variety of conditions. The injection system is similar to a poisoned arrow shot from a bacterium towards neighboring bacteria.

​

Photo: Vibrio bacteria expressing a structural component of the type 6 secretion system fused to a green fluorescent protein, allowing us to visualize the assembly of the secretion 

Toxins carried on the arrow then mediate the elimination of competing bacteria. With the help of central regulator protein that they identified, researchers were able to produce an ‘operating switch’ for the system and cause it to ‘turn on’ only in response to recognizing desirable environmental conditions. In addition, researchers proved it possible to control the type and amount of toxins that are loaded on the arrow, thus adjusting the system’s killing range.

Serving Many Purposes

The system in its current form is predominantly suited for preventing and treating bacterial infections that affect the production of food from marine animals. It can then be adapted to treat pathogenic bacteria in humans, farm animals, plants and the environment.

“Ramot – The Technology Transfer Company of Tel Aviv University has filed a patent application to protect the technology and its application. Many companies in the field have already expressed interest in this sophisticated system developed by Dr. Dor Salomon, Dr. Biswanath Jana and Kinga Kappel”, says Keren Primor Cohen, CEO, Ramot at TAU. The study was published in the peer-reviewed EMBO Reports.

Be My Guest

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What famous personalities would TAU researchers invite to their sukkah?

Welcoming guests is a prominent part of celebrating the week-long Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Family, friends, and neighbors are often invited into the sukkah (a hut which evokes the temporary dwellings the Israelites inhabited on their way out of Egypt) to share food and drink and to spend time together. We asked four TAU researchers who they would have invited, if they could pick one person, from past or present time, to visit their sukkah. Why him or her? What question would they have asked? What would they have said?

Dr. Arik Rudnitzky would have invited Former Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin

Dr. Rudnitzky is Project Manager of Tel Aviv University’s Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation, at The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies.

“I would have invited Yitzhak Rabin. To me, he was a father figure in the broad and collective sense of the word.  A model of the “Sabra”, a hero, and a humble one at that. When he died, I felt as though I’d lost an elderly family member. Besides, Rabin would visit soldiers and people and would behave just like regular people. He’d speak with me as equals and not like a politician.”

“I’d ask him how different today’s Israeli is from his vision. I’d love to hear the assessment of today’s reality from a person who made history. I’d also throw in a random question, like ‘How are you?’, just to listen to the way he speaks again. The way he spoke was direct and personal.”

 

 

Dr. Nechumi Yaffe would have invited Sarah Schenirer, a Polish-Jewish schoolteacher who became a pioneer of Jewish education for girls

Dr. Yaffe is Faculty Member of the School of Social and Policy Studies and Researcher focusing on the Ultra-Orthodox at the Israel Democracy Institute.

“I would’ve loved to host the late Sarah Schenirer. She was the founder of the Beit Yaakov network, a girls’ school in Poland that expanded to include the network of ultra-Orthodox girls’ schools around the world. She was a rare and very brave social entrepreneur. She thought differently from everyone around her, fought the establishment and initiated a very pioneering movement. This was long before ‘feminism’ became a recognized term. She first established sacred studies for girls and combined them with high-level secular studies in the Beit Yaakov network.”

“I’d ask her where she got the courage from, and why she did not complete her mission by forcing the rabbis to introduce secular studies in the boys’ yeshivas. The world could have been more complete and enriched.”

 

 

Judi Lax would have invited Ephraim Kishon, a Hungarian-born Israeli author, dramatist, screenwriter, and Oscar-nominated film director. He was one of the most widely read contemporary satirists in the world

Ms. Lax is a doctoral student in The Department of Environmental Studies

“I would’ve loved the chance to sit down with the late Ephraim Kishon in my sukkah. Apart from the fact that we’re both Hungarians, already as a child I enjoyed his brilliant and sarcastic sense of humor. I’d have asked him how he feels about everything that’s happening around us –the epidemic; how so many people had to take unpaid vacations and some have chosen not to return to work; about prisoners who escape from prison, only to discover that the conditions on the outside are worse – all these peculiar things that are going on lately. I am sure that he would have shared an amusing point of view, one that he’d articulate in a fluent language no longer heard.”

 

Dr. Jonatan Ostrometzky would have invited Neil Armstrong, American astronaut and aeronautical engineer, and the first person to walk on the Moon

Dr. Ostrometzky is Faculty Member of Digital Sciences for High-Tech, of The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering.

“I’d invite Neil Armstrong, the commander of the famous Apollo 11 mission in which humans first landed on the moon in the summer of 1969. Landing on the moon symbolizes the almost infinite abilities that can be achieved by a combination of motivation, desire and perseverance – with scientific research and technological development. I’d ask him how he arrived at his famous sentence “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”

 

 

Recruiting ‘Fighting Cells’ to Destroy Tumors

Written by AUFTAU on . Posted in Newsroom.

TAU discovery of cell interaction may serve as basis for improved cancer treatments.

Tel Aviv University researchers have found that our body’s natural defenses can help destroy malignant tumors. The team found that white blood cells called ‘eosinophils’ fight cancer in two ways: they can destroy the cancer cells themselves, and also recruit the immune system’s cancer-fighting T-cells – another type of white blood cells key to protecting the body against infection. These findings may contribute to the development of new immunotherapies.

Fighting Cancer from Within

The discovery comes as the rising number of cancer cases every year has contributed to a boom in immunotherapy, a treatment that activates the body’s immune system to fight disease. Compared to traditional techniques like chemotherapy, immunotherapy generally leads to longer protection from cancer and fewer side effects.

“Enhancing the number and power of T-cells is one of the main targets of immunotherapy treatments administered to cancer patients today,” said lead researcher, Prof. Ariel Munitz of TAU’s Department of Microbiology and Clinical Immunology at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine. “We discovered a new interaction that summons large quantities of T-cells to cancer tissues, and our findings may have therapeutic implications. Ultimately, our study may serve as a basis for the development of improved immunotherapeutic medications that employ eosinophils to fight cancer.”

Repurposing Cells’ “Destructive” Qualities

Eosinophils produce powerful destructive proteins originally intended for fighting parasites. However, in the modern Western world, where high levels of hygiene have significantly reduced the risk of many parasites, eosinophils often have a negative impact on humans, inducing phenomena like allergies and asthma.

Considering the destructive power of eosinophils, the researchers decided to test the potential benefits of these white blood cells if turned against cancer cells.

For two main reasons, they decided to focus their study on lung metastases, or cancer that started in another part of the body and spread to the lungs: “First, metastases, and not the primary tumors, are often the main problem in treating cancer. The lungs are a major target for the metastasis of many types of cancer,” said Prof. Munitz. “Second, in a preliminary study we demonstrated that eosinophils gather in tumors developing in mucous tissues like the lungs, and therefore assumed that they would be found in lung metastases as well.”

Summoning Reinforcement

The researchers examined tissue samples taken from breast cancer patients. They found that the eosinophils reach the lungs and penetrate the cancer tissues, where they often release their destructive proteins and summon T-cells for reinforcement. Ultimately, T-cells gather in the affected lungs, slowing the growth of tumors.

Additionally, the researchers found that in the absence of eosinophils, the lung tumors were much larger than those exposed to the white blood cells. These findings led to the conclusion that eosinophils fight cancer effectively.

Along with Prof. Munitz, the study was led by TAU PhD student Sharon Grisaru. The findings were published in the journal Cancer Research, published by the American Association for Cancer Research. The initiative was funded by ICRF (Israel Cancer Research Fund), the Israel Cancer Association, ISF (the Israel Science Foundation) BSF (U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation) and GSK.  

Featured image: Illustration: Eosinophil, a white blood cell in 3D

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