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He’s Bringing Plastic Back

Written by AUFTAU on . Posted in Magazine, Newsroom.

TAU alumnus Tal Cohen and his company “Plastic Back” converts plastic waste back to its original form.

We use plastic in almost every aspect of our lives. It is cheap in production, durable and can be reused multiple times. The problem is, though, that 350M tons of plastic waste is produced annually, out of which only 8% is recycled. To counter the environmental hazard, laws and regulations, are implemented towards reducing landfill and increasing recycling. The EU has pledged to reduce landfilling to 10% of its current capacity by 2030. We spoke with Tal Cohen, a TAU alumnus with an MBA from the Coller School of Management and founder of a startup company called “Plastic Back”, who may have found the perfect solution.

The Big Savior Becomes the Big Offender

When plastic was originally introduced, 70 years ago, it was commonly believed that it would contribute to save the environment. “When plastic was first introduced, it was actually thought to be the big savior of the future environment, replacing the use of ivory, tortoise shell and corals. While petroleum came to the relief of the whale, plastic has given the elephant, the tortoise and the coral a respite in their native haunts,” says Tal. With time, however, it went from being the big savior to instead becoming recognized as a major environmental hazard,” Tal muses. Over the past 70 years since its invention, 8.3 billion tons of plastic waste has been accumulated worldwide.

And how is plastic produced? “After developing over millions of years underground, crude oil is drilled out and extracted. It is then sent to be refined by the petrochemical industry, after which it can be used for various purposes, such as fuel for cars and… plastic production,” explains Tal. Plastic is, in other words, produced from oil, a non-renewable source of energy.  

Tal is well acquainted with plastic. After earning his B.Sc. in Marine Sciences and Environment at the Ruppin Academic Center, Tal Cohen worked as a marine biologist. Three kilometers offshore, surrounded by fish and – you guessed it – plastic, he would research, work in the lab and dive. After a few years, he went on to study for an MBA at Tel Aviv University: “I wanted to learn how to develop technologies and businesses that are focused on ecological solutions. While studying ‘Entrepreneurship and Innovation Technology Management’ at TAU, I was also working at a venture capital fund, handling portfolios of ten renewable energy companies. It taught me a lot about the needs of startups in the renewables field.”

 

Plastic Back’s technology offers waste handlers to help treat their waste streams and create profit, as an alternative to landfill

Bring it Back: A Chemical Solution

Tal Cohen and his Israeli based startup company “Plastic Back” offers an interesting solution: “By way of ‘reverse engineering’, we are able to convert plastic waste back to its original, valuable form of oils, waxes and other valuable chemicals. With unique chemicals, ratios and timing, our technology breaks down the carbon-to-carbon bonds of the plastic polymer to liquid fractions that can be (re)used by the petrochemical industry.” Brilliant, isn’t it?

“While transforming plastic back to oil through burning is already done, that requires very high temperatures, between 600-1000 degrees Celsius, which constitutes an environmental and financial burden. The real innovation here, is that we manage to convert the plastic to oil by chemical means only, and at room temperature. So there’s an environmental advantage which is expressed financially, and it is also advantageous energy-wise. The goal is to offer an alternative to the traditional drilling for additional non-renewable oil.”

The idea, Tal got while he was working with one of the aforementioned portfolio companies: “Once I felt like I had learnt enough about the startup world and what setting up a startup entailed, I went on a mission to find technologies. At The Hebrew University, they had a technology in place from 2016-17. It spoke to me, as it was related to plastic, which I was intimately familiar with from my time working underwater as a marine biologist, and I also knew that the renewables field is evolving.”

“The technology was in place, and so I decided to find out if there was any business interest for it. In 2019, I attended Shell’s competition in Holland, which is the largest energy competition in the EU, where more than 250 companies competed during 10 days of business and technological validation. We ended up in 2nd place. We knew then that there was demand for the crude oil which we were able to convert the plastic back to. Shell was willing to invest and to pay some money up front, so we had some starting capital. I went ahead and founded the company. We have since found an angel investor who invested a certain amount, have received recognition from the European Commission and are taking part in the EU accelerator program.”

Making Waste Vanish and Renewing Non-renewables

Who are the winners with this initiative? “Plastic Back enables a shift from a linear to a circular economy, by closing the loop between the petrochemical industry (including companies such as Shell), which is currently dependent of crude oil drilling and operating under increasingly heavy regulation and pressure, and the waste handlers who receive millions of tons of plastic waste from waste manufacturers, such as agriculture, factories and hospitals and medical devices, most of which goes to landfill. The waste handlers are seeking alternatives, especially as there’s been a fivefold increase in landfill price since 2019. The waste manufacturers, on their side, would gain the ability to treat their waste on site/close by, save expenses on removal and treatment fee and even create profits from their plastic waste.”

Tal is not planning to rest in the coming years, “The research and development phase of our project is completed for the most part. Last year, we successfully proved that there is demand for what we are offering. We have received a grant from the Ministry of Energy to set up our first pilot facility together with an industrial partner in the South of Israel in 2022. A year and a half after that, we would like to set up our first facilities. In five years from now, we should have two or three active facilities, hopefully one of them here in Israel and the rest in Europe.”

 

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Tal Cohen presenting his startup at TAU’s Coller $100,000 Startup Competition in July 2021

Featured image: By way of ‘reverse engineering’, Tal’s team is able to convert plastic waste back to its original form.

COVID-19 Immunity Varies Among Genders and Age Groups

Written by AUFTAU on . Posted in Newsroom.

TAU researchers contribute a new piece to the puzzle on the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination.

As experts continue to learn more about immune responses to COVID-19 and the effectiveness of vaccines, researchers from Tel Aviv University have contributed a new piece to the puzzle. A joint study conducted by researchers from TAU and the Shamir Medical Center (Assaf Harofe) indicates that the level of antibodies changes according to age groups, gender, symptoms, and time elapsed since vaccination. The findings are the latest from the researchers in a series of studies aimed at providing reliable measures on the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination.

The new study examined the level of antibodies in over 26,000 blood samples taken from COVID-19 convalescents, as well as vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.

In vaccinated individuals, the researchers found differences between women and men in the concentration of antibodies in the blood relative to both age and gender. In women, the level of antibodies begins to rise from the age of 51, and is higher than the levels found in men of similar age. This phenomenon may be related change in levels of the estrogen hormone, observed around this age, which affects the immune system. In men, a rise in antibody levels is seen at an earlier age, starting around 35, and may be related to changes in levels of testosterone and the effect on the immune system.

In young adults, a high concentration of antibodies generally signals a strong healthy functioning immune response, while in older demographics it typically indicates overreaction of the immune system associated with severe illness. In general, young adults were found to have a higher level of antibodies sustained for a longer period of time compared to older vaccinated persons. The findings further validate existing evidence that, depending on age, higher antibody count isn’t necessarily equivalent to higher rates of recovery.

Furthermore, the study found that the immune response of vaccinated individuals (after two doses) is much stronger than that of people who have recovered from COVID-19. The findings show that vaccinated individuals have four times the level of antibodies compared to convalescents.

The study was conducted by Tel Aviv University’s Prof. Noam Shomron, Head of the Computational Genomics Laboratory at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and a member of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Bioinformatics and Dr. Adina Bar Chaim from the Shamir Medical Center. The data were collected by Dr. Ramzia Abu Hamad from the Shamir Medical Center, and analysis was conducted by Guy Shapira, a PhD student at Prof. Shomron’s laboratory. The study was published in Medrxiv. 

What to Do When Everything is Vulnerable and Under Attack

Written by AUFTAU on . Posted in Newsroom.

Highlights from Cyber Week 2021.

 

 

Israel’s 11th Annual Cyber Week Conference, this year hosted in a hybrid in-person and online format, was attended last week by 2,500 in-person and 3,700 online, among them top Israeli politicians, global cyber policymakers and executives from multinational companies and cutting-edge startups from more than 80 countries.

TAU Professor behind Israel’s ‘Magic Circle’ and Cyber Week

Prof. Isaac Ben-Israel, Conference Chairman of Cyber Week, submitted a plan to the government in 2011 after his appointment by the Prime Minister to head a multidisciplinary task force in order to prepare Israel for future cyber threats. The plan outlined a solution whereby an entire ecosystem, or ‘magic circle’ was built (combining the forces of defense and government, industry and academia) to handle new and unpredicted cyber threats on a continuous basis. Ever since, the annual Cyber Week Conference at Tel Aviv University has been an important meeting point for experts from industry, government and academia across the globe.

Participants at Cyber Week 2021

Will The Iron Dome be Joined by A “Cyber Dome”?

In his speech at this year’s event, Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett stressed the need for further cooperation and invited other nations to join a global “Cybernet Shield” initiative to jointly coordinate the fight against cyber threats globally, stressing that “(…) if you fight alone you will lose, but if we fight together we will win.”

2020 was a rough year, with more than 300M ransomware attacks worldwide. Cyber warfare continues its rapidly growing military importance and global cyber security investment is skyrocketing, 80% of which went to US and Israeli companies. “Everything is vulnerable and everything is under attack” Bennett warned. 

Israel’s Defense Minister, Benny Gantz, expressed similar sentiments and called for a cyber-version of Israel’s famous anti-missile defense system, the Iron Dome, “Cyber is now a vulnerable space that must be protected like the sea, space, air, and ground”. He called for a no-tolerance policy by the Israeli government when it comes to cyberattacks, “Our message is very clear – be it a rocket, or a keyboard, we will not tolerate anyone to threaten our people.”

And the Winner of This Year’s Cyber Shield Award… 

True to tradition, also this year the Cyber Week Committee nominated a winner of the Cyber Shield Award, based on contributions to Israel’s cyber ecosystem. This year’s prize was awarded the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) for their longstanding, inspiring and groundbreaking achievements in promoting the Israeli cyber scene and bringing Israel to the status of a global cyber power. 

The IDF is awarded the Cyber Shield Award. From left to right: Major General Lior Carmeli, Major General Tamir Hayman,  Gili Drob-Hiesten Managing Director ICRC, TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat and Prof. Isaac Ben Israel 

The conference is a joint effort by Tel Aviv University’s Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center (ICRC) and Yuval Ne’eman Workshop for Science, Technology and Security, and the Israeli National Cyber Directorate under the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Tel Aviv Bats Have More Fun

Written by AUFTAU on . Posted in Newsroom.

More adventurous than their rural counterparts, fruit bats in Tel Aviv enjoy what the city has to offer.

Urbanization processes tend to lead animals to leave the city, but some animals are able to thrive in an urban domain. A new Tel Aviv University study found that fruit bats, just like humans, are able to adapt to a variety of environments, including the city and the countryside.

Prof. Yossi Yovel: “How animals cope with urbanization is one of the most central and important questions in ecological research today. Understanding the ways in which animals adapt to urban areas can help us in our conservation efforts. The urban environment is characterized by much fragmentation, and we currently have little understanding of how animals, especially small animals, like the bats, move and fly in such areas.”

The City Bat and the Country Bat

The urban environment is fundamentally different from the rural environment in terms of the diversity and accessibility of food. Although the city has a larger variety of trees per area, there are many challenges that bats have to face, such as buildings and humans. In rural areas, on the other hand, most of the trees are concentrated in orchards without barriers, but have less diversity – the trees are mostly of one type.

Because of the environmental differences between the city and the country with regards to the distribution and variety of fruit trees, the nature of the bats’ movement when foraging in these areas differs as well. In this new study, the researchers compared the nature of the movement of rural bats and city bats as they foraged for food, using tiny GPS devices to track the bats to see if the way they moved while searching for food was affected by their living environment, or the environment in which they were foraging.

The study was led by research student Katya Egert-Berg, under the guidance of aforementioned Prof. Yossi Yovel, head of Tel Aviv University’s Sagol School of Neuroscience and a faculty member of the School of Zoology in The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, as well as a recipient of the 2021 Kadar Family Award for Outstanding Research. The study was published in the journal BMC Biology.

Enjoying their Meals in the Big City

The researchers found that the fruit bats hunting for food in the city are much more exploratory, enjoy the abundance of the urban environment, visit a variety of fruit trees every night, and feed from a wide a variety of trees. In contrast, the rural bats focus on only one or two fruit trees each night. Moreover, the researchers found that among the rural bats who rest in the countryside, there were many who left their rural homes every night in search of food in the city, and then flew back to the country after their meal. During their stay in the city, such bats share the same flight patterns as those of the bats that live in the city around the clock.

The study’s findings led the researchers to assess that even bats that live in rural environments their entire lives will be able to orient themselves in an urban, industrialized environment. They explain that there are animal species that are flexible – for them, the ability to adapt to a new and unfamiliar environment such as an urban settlement is an acquired skill. Such species, of which the fruit bats are an example, will in many cases be able to adapt to life in urban areas.

Featured image: A Tel Aviv bat in action. Photo: S. Greif

See You at Naftali

Written by AUFTAU on . Posted in Magazine, Newsroom.

Prof. Itai Sened explains how TAU students will tackle global warming from what will become the greenest building on campus.

The Naftali building, which houses the Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences and was built in the 1960s, is one of the most iconic buildings on campus. And now, Prof. Itai Sened the Dean of the Faculty is planning to turn the building into a green island, attracting students from all faculties.

Imagine walls covered with photovoltaic cells (solar cells that convert solar energy to produce electricity), an open research lab on a roof top, and a green wall in the garden… The physical makeover of the building is only the tip of the iceberg: “This is the infrastructure of the program, and will serve as a focal point for research and development on the topic of climate change for the entire university, quietly contributing ideas and environmental solutions touching on all faculties,” says Prof. Sened.

A Lab that is not a Lab

What will it look like? The walls of the Matanel Garden on the ground floor are already covered with tropical vegetation that gives a sense of freedom and nature. In the garden, it will be possible to hold academic meetings on any subject, and there will be indoors work spaces with screens on the walls, displaying data on how much alternative energy the university produces on all roofs at any given moment. There will be a facility for landless agriculture, where the products will be monitored and tested by research teams. It will also provide raw materials for the cafeteria, which will make a comeback. The cafeteria will be operated by youth at risk, closely accompanied by students of social work and psychology.

The green wall and the agricultural garden will be irrigated with water extracted from the Tel Aviv air, which has been proven suitable for drinking, operated from the roof. An extension of the project, on the roof of the nearby Social Sciences Library, will include gray water purification laboratories, wind energy facilities and more. Solar panels will also cover the southern wall of the building.

The real focal point, however, is the lab. The ‘Laboratory without a laboratory’, as Prof. Sened calls it, will be run by Prof. Hadas Mamane, head of the Environmental Engineering Program at The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, and Dr. Vered Blass from The Department of Environmental Studies, who specializes in circular economy. And where will it be? “The laboratory is located in the minds of students and researchers,” explains Prof. Sened. “The spaces must be open; we cannot continue working with closed laboratories. We are building a unique program here that will take on anything that can be changed. Our goal is to train future leaders to deal with climate and water crises, to create a sustainable future.”

The future Naftali building, complete with vertical gardens, biodomes, solar panels, a shaded lab area, grey water tank and algae ponds.

Flow of Thought

The students in the novel program entailing a “lab-less lab” are master students, Israeli and international. “With us, they learn how to do special things in the most remote places in the world, but they need freedom. It’s a new era. These are young people who grew up in a world without limits. There is no Faculty of Engineering, no Faculty of Law. There are young people who hang out, they are here and there and they keep returning, ” Prof. Sened shares his reasons for setting up the special venture.

“Here you will see graduates of selected academic units who travel to the most remote villages in the world, together with someone from the Faculty of Life Sciences, someone from the School of Computer Science, students from the Faculty of Social Sciences – from Economics, Public Policy, Psychology and Anthropology. They go to those villages because that is what they enjoy doing and exploring. They will not sit here and write a doctorate for five years – that would be torture for them, as it does not suit them anymore. However, if we put them in this new type of lab, they will get a doctorate after they do much more. That is the guiding principle. “

An Entire Generation Looking for Purpose

Prof. Sened explains that while the whole thing  may give off an “engineering and life sciences” vibe, most of the projects that are undertaken there are actually related to the social sciences. “One of our most talented doctoral students is about to start working at the State Comptroller’s Office as a real estate expert. Individuals like her wish to succeed and to change the legislation on all aspects of renewable energy. “

He explains that it is important for their students to know, right from the start, where they will be able to integrate when they complete their degree. “In these projects, they often integrate in the process. A student who goes to Kenya to purify water, install solar panels, or to study a worm that is making its name known in corn crops – may be noticed and ‘snatched” – and will already be on his way to another project. That’s how it works.”

“The infrastructure of what we are building here is 20% of the matter, and it is what is visible to the eye. However, the most interesting part is the remaining 80%, the minds involved. And they are not limited by space (…) We needed something visible, and so we built the green Naftali. Now they will finally be visible, ” concludes Prof. Sened.

Students hanging out in the Naftali garden surrounded by its green walls

When the stars aligned: A star in a distant galaxy blew up in a powerful explosion, solving an astronomical mystery from the 11th century

Written by AUFTAU on . Posted in Newsroom, Press release.

Las Cumbres Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope color composite of the electron-capture supernova 2018zd (the large white dot on the right) and the host starburst galaxy NGC 2146 (toward the left).

Giant Explosion in Space Illuminates Thousand-Year Mystery.

Dr. Iair Arcavi.
Credit: Israel Hadari 

Dr. Iair Arcavi, a Tel Aviv University researcher at the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, participated in a study that discovered a new type of stellar explosion – an electron-capture supernova. While they have been theorized for 40 years, real-world examples have been elusive. Such supernovas arise from the explosions of stars 8-9 times the mass of the sun. The discovery also sheds new light on the thousand-year mystery of the supernova from A.D. 1054 that was seen by ancient astronomers, before eventually becoming the Crab Nebula, that we know today.

A supernova is the explosion of a star following a sudden imbalance between two opposing forces that shaped the star throughout its life. Gravity tries to contract every star. Our sun, for example, counter balances this force through nuclear fusion in its core, which produces pressure that opposes the gravitational pull. As long as there is enough nuclear fusion, gravity will not be able to collapse the star. However, eventually, nuclear fusion will stop, just like gas runs out in a car, and the star will collapse. For stars like the sun, the collapsed core is called a white dwarf. This material in white dwarfs is so dense that quantum forces between electrons prevent further collapse.

For stars 10 times more massive than our sun, however, electron quantum forces are not enough to stop the gravitational pull, and the core continues to collapse until it becomes a neutron star or a black hole, accompanied by a giant explosion. In the intermediate mass range, the electrons are squeezed (or more accurately, captured) onto atomic nuclei. This removes the electron quantum forces, and causes the star to collapse and then explode.

Historically, there have been two main supernova types. One is a thermonuclear supernova — the explosion of a white dwarf star after it gains matter in a binary star system. These white dwarfs are the dense cores of ash that remain after a low-mass star (one up to about 8 times the mass of the sun) reaches the end of its life. Another main supernova type is a core-collapse supernova where a massive star — one more than about 10 times the mass of the sun — runs out of nuclear fuel and has its core collapsed, creating a black hole or a neutron star. Theoretical work suggested that electron-capture supernovae would occur on the borderline between these two types of supernovae.

That’s the theory that was developed in the 1980’s by Ken’ichi Nomoto of the University of Tokyo, and others. Over the decades, theorists have formulated predictions of what to look for in an electron-capture supernova. The stars should lose a lot of mass of particular composition before exploding, and the supernova itself should be relatively weak, have little radioactive fallout, and produce neutron-rich elements.  

The new study, published in Nature Astronomy, focuses on the supernova SN2018zd, discovered in 2018 by Japanese amateur astronomer Koihchi Itagaki. Dr. Iair Arcavi, of the astrophysics department at Tel Aviv University, also took part in the study. This supernova, located in the galaxy NGC 2146, has all of the properties expected from an electron-capture supernova, which were not seen in any other supernova. In addition, because the supernova is relatively nearby – only 31 million light years away – the researchers were able to identify the star in pre-explosion archival images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Indeed, the star itself also fits the predictions of the type of star that should explode as an electron-capture supernovae, and is unlike stars that were seen to explode as the other types of supernovae.

From left: Japanese amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki (who discovered the supernova), Tel Aviv University researcher Dr. Iair Arcavi (who participated in the study), and University of California graduate student Daichi Hiramatsu (lead author of the study), at one of Itagaki’s telescopes in Japan.

While some supernovae discovered in the past had a few of the indicators predicted for electron-capture supernovae, only SN2018zd had all six – a progenitor star that fits within the expected mass range, strong pre-supernova mass loss, an unusual chemical composition, a weak explosion, little radioactivity, and neutron-rich material. “We started by asking ‘what’s this weirdo?’” said Daichi Hiramatsu of the University of California Santa Barbara and Las Cumbres Observatory, who led the study. “Then we examined every aspect of SN 2018zd and realized that all of them can be explained in the electron-capture scenario.”

The new discoveries also illuminate some mysteries of one of the most famous supernovae of the past. In A.D. 1054 a supernova happened in our own Milky Way Galaxy, and according to Chinese and Japanese records, it was so bright that it could be seen in the daytime and cast shadows at night. The resulting remnant, the Crab Nebula, has been studied in great detail, and was found to have an unusual composition. It was previously the best candidate for an electron-capture supernova, but this was uncertain partly because the explosion happened nearly a thousand years ago. The new result increases the confidence that the historic 1054 supernova was an electron-capture supernova.

“It’s amazing that we can shed light on historical events in the Universe with modern instruments,” says Dr. Arcavi. “Today, with robotic telescopes that scan the sky in unprecedented efficiency, we can discover more and more rare events which are critical for understanding the laws of nature, without having to wait 1000 years between one event and the next.”

Dr. Arcavi is a member of the Global Supernova Project, and makes use of the Las Cumbres telescope network to study rare transient phenomena like supernovae, neutron star mergers, and stars torn apart by black holes.

Link to the original article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01384-2

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New study found differences between women and men in the level of COVID-19 antibodies

Written by AUFTAU on . Posted in Newsroom, Press release.

Prof. Noam Shomron, Head of the Computational Genomics Laboratory at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and a member of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Bioinformatics

A joint study conducted by researchers from Tel Aviv University and the Shamir Medical Center (Asaf Harofe) examined the level of antibodies in over 26,000 blood samples taken from COVID-19 convalescents, as well as vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. The serological results indicate that the level of antibodies changes according to age groups, gender, symptoms, and time elapsed since vaccination. The study was published in Medrxiv.

A difference was found between vaccinated women and men, in the concentration of antibodies in the blood relative to both age and gender. In women, the level of antibodies begins to rise from the age of 51, and is higher than the levels found in men of similar age. This phenomenon may be related change in levels of the estrogen hormone, observed around this age, which affects the immune system. In men, a rise in antibody levels is seen at an earlier age, starting around 35. This may be related to changes in levels of the male sex hormone testosterone, and the effect on the immune system.

In young adults, a high concentration of antibodies is usually the result of a strong immune response, while in older people it typically indicates overreaction of the immune system associated with severe illness.

Dr. Adina Bar Chaim from the Shamir Medical Center

Main trends and findings:

  1. The immune response of individuals who have received two doses of the vaccine is much stronger than that of people who have recovered from COVID-19. In fact, the level of antibodies found in the blood of vaccinated persons was 4 times higher than that found in convalescents.
  2. A difference was found between convalescent males and females – in antibody concentration in the blood relative to both age and gender. In women, the concentration begins to rise from the age of 51, and it is higher than the levels found in men of similar age. This phenomenon may be related to the change in levels of the estrogen hormone, observed around this age, which affects the immune system. In men, a rise in antibody levels is seen at an earlier age, starting around 35. This may be related to changes in levels of the male sex hormone testosterone, and its effect on the immune system.

In young adults, a high concentration of antibodies is usually the result of a strong immune response, while in older people it usually indicates overreaction of the immune system associated with severe illness.

  1. In general, young adults were found to have a higher level of antibodies sustained for a longer period of time compared to older vaccinated persons. A decrease of tens of percent was observed over time between the younger and very old age groups.

Conclusion: Further research is required in order to obtain an in-depth understanding of the immune system’s response to COVID-19, to recovery from the disease, and to the vaccine. We hope that in the future we will be able to supply a reliable measure for the effectiveness of vaccination, correlated with age, gender and symptoms.

The study was conducted by Tel Aviv University’s Prof. Noam Shomron, Head of the Computational Genomics Laboratory at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and a member of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Bioinformatics and Dr. Adina Bar Chaim from the Shamir Medical Center. The data were collected by Dr. Ramzia Abu Hamad from the Shamir Medical Center, and analysis was conducted by Guy Shapira, a PhD student at Prof. Shomron’s laboratory.

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A world first: Technology that restores the sense of touch in nerves damaged as a result of amputation or injury

Written by AUFTAU on . Posted in Newsroom, Press release.

Cut your finger and lost your sense of touch? There’s hope yet.

  • Researchers have developed a sensor that can be implanted anywhere in the body, for example under the tip of a severed finger; the sensor connects to another nerve that functions properly and restores tactile sensation to the injured nerve.
  • This unique development is biocompatible (“human-body friendly”) and does not require electricity, wires, or batteries.

Tel Aviv University’s new and groundbreaking technology inspires hope among people who have lost their sense of touch in the nerves of a limb following amputation or injury. The technology involves a tiny sensor that is implanted in the nerve of the injured limb, for example in the finger, and is connected directly to a healthy nerve. Each time the limb touches an object, the sensor is activated and conducts an electric current to the functioning nerve, which recreates the feeling of touch. The researchers emphasize that this is a tested and safe technology that is suited to the human body and could be implanted anywhere inside of it once clinical trials will be done.

The technology was developed under the leadership of a team of experts from Tel Aviv University: Dr. Ben M. Maoz, Iftach Shlomy, Shay Divald, and Dr. Yael Leichtmann-Bardoogo from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, in collaboration with Keshet Tadmor from the Sagol School of Neuroscience and Dr. Amir Arami from the Sackler School of Medicine and the Microsurgery Unit in the Department of Hand Surgery at Sheba Medical Center. The study was published in the prestigious journal ACS Nano.

The researchers say that this unique project began with a meeting between the two Tel Aviv University colleagues – biomedical engineer Dr. Maoz and surgeon Dr. Arami. “We were talking about the challenges we face in our work,” says Dr. Maoz, “and Dr. Arami shared with me the difficulty he experiences in treating people who have lost tactile sensation in one organ or another as a result of injury. It should be understood that this loss of sensation can result from a very wide range of injuries, from minor wounds – like someone chopping a salad and accidentally cutting himself with the knife – to very serious injuries. Even if the wound can be healed and the injured nerve can be sutured, in many cases the sense of touch remains damaged. We decided to tackle this challenge together, and find a solution that will restore tactile sensation to those who have lost it.”

In recent years, the field of neural prostheses has made promising developments to improve the lives of those who have lost sensation in their limbs by implanting sensors in place of the damaged nerves. But the existing technology has a number of significant drawbacks, such as complex manufacturing and use, as well as the need for an external power source, such as a battery. Now, the researchers at Tel Aviv University have used state-of-the-art technology called a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) to engineer and test on animal models a tiny sensor that restores tactile sensation via an electric current that comes directly from a healthy nerve and doesn’t require a complex implantation process or charging.

The researchers developed a sensor that can be implanted on a damaged nerve under the tip of the finger; the sensor connects to another nerve that functions properly and restores some of the tactile sensation to the finger. This unique development does not require an external power source such as electricity or batteries. The researchers explain that the sensor actually works on frictional force: whenever the device senses friction, it charges itself.

The device consists of two tiny plates less than half a centimeter by half a centimeter in size. When these plates come into contact with each other, they release an electric charge that is transmitted to the undamaged nerve. When the injured finger touches something, the touch releases tension corresponding to the pressure applied to the device – weak tension for a weak touch and strong tension for a strong touch – just like in a normal sense of touch.

The researchers explain that the device can be implanted anywhere in the body where tactile sensation needs to be restored, and that it actually bypasses the damaged sensory organs. Moreover, the device is made from biocompatible material that is safe for use in the human body, it does not require maintenance, the implantation is simple, and the device itself is not externally visible.

According to Dr. Maoz, after testing the new sensor in the lab (with more than half a million finger taps using the device), the researchers implanted it in the feet of the animal models. The animals walked normally, without having experienced any damage to their motor nerves, and the tests showed that the sensor allowed them to respond to sensory stimuli. “We tested our device on animal models, and the results were very encouraging,” concludes Dr. Maoz. “Next, we want to test the implant on larger models, and at a later stage implant our sensors in the fingers of people who have lost the ability to sense touch. Restoring this ability can significantly improve people’s functioning and quality of life, and more importantly, protect them from danger. People lacking tactile sensation cannot feel if their finger is being crushed, burned or frozen.”

Dr. Maoz’s laboratory:

https://www.maozlab.com/

  The article:

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsnano.0c10141

 

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A New Tool for Combating Discrimination

Written by AUFTAU on . Posted in Magazine, Newsroom.

After decade long study, the Kantor Center has published a special book edition on legislation against discrimination and racism around the globe.

The Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry recently completed writing four extensive volumes of legislation covering existing anti-discrimination laws on the grounds of racism, religion and ethnicity in all 195 countries of the world. Entitled “Legislating for Equality – a Multinational Collection of Non-Discrimination Norms.” It is the first time that researchers have mapped, examined and compared policies aimed at eradicating discrimination in each country.

The comprehensive initiative, led by Adv. Talia Naamat, legal researcher at the Kantor Center, involved in-depth examination of the countries’ constitutions, as well as international conventions and agreements. Universities and researchers from around the world contributed. Recognizing the value this work brings to the global stage, former Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova wrote the introduction to the volumes published by Brill, one of the world’s leading law book publisher.

From Antisemitic Laws to Racist Laws

“The study was born out of a practical need to combat antisemitism,” says Naamat, the editor-in-chief of the volumes. “We started working on it in 2011, when researchers approached us with questions about antisemitic legislation following a seminar on the subject. We’d receive questions such as where Holocaust denial was allowed and where it was forbidden.” Prof. Dina Porat, Head of the Kantor Center, recalls “One of the researchers mentioned the law in his country, when another researcher jumped in and pointed out that in his country the situation was different.”

The research quickly expanded, “We realized that we needed to review the information in a broader manner, looking at the general prohibition of discrimination and the combatting of all types of racism. Thus we began compiling the relevant constitutional clauses, parts of penal codes as well as the language of specific laws,” explains Naamat.   

In the volumes, the authors sorted the countries according to continents. Obtaining the information was more straightforward for some continents than others. The highly organized and digitized nature of the information gathered from European countries made the research easier, while for continents like Africa and Asia they had to win collaborations with universities and other bodies in order to obtain the necessary data, translate the information to English and obtain the required translation certificates. Many of the laws had never before been published in English.

Israel and the World

Legislation, of course, does not necessarily reflect the actual situation on ground. The researchers consulted with annual reports from the U.S. State Department, among others, to assess the situation in each country. “We addressed such discrepancies in the footnotes. For example, if the constitution in a particular country stipulates that every citizen has the right to political organization, but we know the actual situation on ground is catastrophic and that there’s currently a civil war taking place there, then we’d address this in the comments,” notes Naamat.

And what is the current situation here in Israel? “We like to compare ourselves to Europe, and we do operate with a high standard for freedom of expression in Israel. The enforcement, however, is more severe in Europe, and the whole discourse is conducted differently here,” says Naamat. Porat adds, “While calling another person a ‘Nazi’ in Europe is an offence which may lead to punishment, here in Israel a person can use the word [unpunished] from morning to evening. We have this absurd situation whereby we [Israelis] demand that Europeans enforce it, while we do not have a single law on the subject ourselves.” 

The Israeli discourse is more open than in Europe – for better or worse

Human Rights Violations Against Witches and Persons with Albinism

Our research showed that culture, form of government and attitudes towards religion greatly influenced legislation. “We were surprised to see that there are countries with harsh realities on ground, but with good constitutions. The constitutions of Saudi Arabia, Libya and Iran, for instance, appear very enlightened. If you had read the constitutions of any of these countries without preexisting knowledge about the country, you could mistake it for being all about equality and solidarity”, says Porat.

The degree of separation between state and religion was also a significant factor. “For example, in Iran where the Sharia law, a religious law, has been incorporated into the country’s otherwise secular laws. Other religious principles can be found, such as permitting the murder of a person who has raped or harmed another person,” notes Porat.

The volume about African countries shows how religion and culture influence legislation, for example through the persecution of witches and albino hunting. “We may expect legislation to be something that represents net justice, while in practice it is a product of what you and I believe and believe in. For example, there are religious principles that contradict human rights and the freedom of religion and worship. We have seen laws prohibiting the persecution of witches and albinos (there are places where being in the possession of an albino person’s limbs is considered a blessing), and the fundamental question arose as to when religious worship should be allowed and when religion violates human rights,” Naamat and Porat explain.

 

Leave them alone. An albino child anno 2021.

Legislation is Dynamic

The good news is that in most countries of the world laws are constantly being renewed and updated. The circumstances for enacting new laws vary. In 2008, the EU announced that all member states must align and enact anti-discrimination laws, which led to widespread legislation across the continent.

Porat and Naamat point to growing global immigration over the last decade as one of the main influences on changes in legislation: “We observed this in the early 1990s, when a big wave of immigration began. The USSR disintegrated, Germany united, waves of immigrants changed their direction and, and new questions emerged: Who is an immigrant? Who is a refugee? Who is a foreign worker? Who deserves what? The legislation was expanded and many new laws were introduced.”

“As immigration grew, so did racism, discrimination, and harsh expressions. The mass immigration to Germany led to the rise of neo-Nazism and the extreme right, which is actually a counter-reaction of those who ask ‘What about us? You care about the immigrants but what will happen with us?’” says Naamat.

Where Are We Headed?

The situation on ground may not look particularly bright in many places. However, these new books make the information accessible for all, openly presenting what is happening all over the world. The anthology could serve as a source of hope and pave the way for revolutions. “We are offering a tool that allows countries to compare their laws with those of other countries, and improve them. Such activity started as soon as the books were published. The secretary of the Jewish community in Greece received a copy and went on to check the existing laws in Europe against Holocaust denial. He told us that the information helped him promote an amended law in his country. And this will happen in other places,” predicts Porat.

 

Israel’s Supreme Court President Justice Esther Hayut receives the four volumes.

 

Porat presented the four volumes to Supreme Court President Justice Esther Hayut during a special visit to the country’s highest judicial officer. Chief Justice Hayut congratulated Prof. Porat on the academic achievement, noting that it adds an important dimension to the war on racism and discrimination against various peoples and groups in the world.

The meeting was also attended by former president of Tel Aviv University Professor Emeritus Yoram Dinstein who chaired the scientific committee that accompanied the work; former Deputy President of the Supreme Court Justice Prof. Elyakim Rubinstein and Supreme Court Justice Daphne Barak-Erez who were members of the accompanying committee; Adv. Talia Naamat and Celia and Jack Michonik who generously supported the work.

“Thank you, Your Excellency, on behalf of everyone present, for the time you have devoted to us and for the interest which you have shown our work. We hope that these volumes will contribute, albeit modestly, to the fight against racism-based discrimination in the world – an evil which is present in many countries and societies. And that’s consistent with the spirit of the values that our Supreme Court, of which we are proud, leads in your leadership,” said Prof. Porat excitedly. 

Featured image: Prof. Dina Porat with the four volumes

TAU Medical Student to Swim for Israel at Summer Olympics

Written by AUFTAU on . Posted in Magazine, Newsroom.

Andi Murez enhances her athletic performance at the Sylvan Adams Sports Institute.

“Most people tell me I’m crazy to be a professional swimmer and medical student, but I couldn’t give either up, so I tried to do both, not knowing whether I would succeed at either,” says Andrea “Andi” Murez during a break between training sessions at the University’s Sylvan Adams Sports Institute and the neighboring Sports Center. “I’m proud that I’ve given it a shot and prevailed.”

A Balancing Act

In 2017, California native Murez enrolled at TAU in the Sackler School of Medicine New York State/American Program. She has since completed her first two years in the MD Program that offers English courses for students from North America. 

This will be 29-year-old Murez’s second Olympics; she previously represented Israel in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. With the Games in sight, the Israeli national record-holder in the 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle has taken a temporary break from her studies to focus on her Olympic aspirations. Following Tokyo, she will return to medical training and begin two years of clinical rotations at TAU-affiliated hospitals.

Training at TAU

Murez’s grueling routine in the final stretch to Tokyo consists of regular sessions at TAU facilities, including performance analyses at the Sylvan Adams Sports Institute, alongside teammates from Israel’s Olympic delegation and its national swim team.

Established in 2018, the Institute focuses on improving athletic capabilities in endurance sports: swimming, running, cycling, and triathlon. The Institute houses a state-of-the-art flume (counter-current) pool that helps swimmers improve their craft by testing factors such as limb function, movement symmetry and muscle fatigue.

 

Murez trains at the flume pool at TAU's Sylvan Adams Sports Center (Photo: Moshe Bedarshi)

Murez trains at the flume pool at TAU’s Sylvan Adams Sports Center (Photo: Moshe Bedarshi)

“Having Andi and other members of the Olympic team at the Institute is a realization of the Sylvan Adams Sports Institute’s mission, which is to enhance the abilities of Israel’s top athletes and nurture Olympic-level champions,” says the Institute’s Director, Prof. Chaim Pick of TAU’s Department of Anatomy & Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine.

“In a sport where every hundredth of a second matters, training sessions such as those performed at the Sylvan Adams Sports Institute—which could not have been done elsewhere in Israel—are vital for high-level swimmers such as Andi to evaluate and fine-tune their technique,” he adds.

WATCH: Murez trains at the flume pool at TAU’s Sylvan Adams Sports Center

 

For her part, Murez appreciates the variety of performance building options available at TAU. “Some people perform better in the flume pool, some in the open pool,” she says. “It’s great to have both for a holistic approach.”

Diving into Israel

In addition to her Olympic aims, Murez hopes to inspire other women along with potential olim to realize their dreams in Israel, particularly when it comes to athletics and higher education. 

“Growing up, I never thought I’d swim for Israel—but it’s been great,“ says Murez.

 

Murez will swim for Israel at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan (Photo: Moshe Bedarshi)

Andi Murez is making waves in the pool and the classroom (Photo: Moshe Bedarshi)

The 17-time Maccabiah Games medalist credits formative experiences at the so-called “Jewish Olympics” for connecting her to Israel. Murez decided to make aliya following the 2013 Maccabiah, where a local counterpart drove home the exciting potential of living and swimming in Israel. 

After undergraduate studies at Stanford University, she accepted a spot on the Israeli National Swimming Team and made aliya in 2014. Murez encourages others to follow similar paths. “It was a very welcoming experience,” she enthuses.” I love it here.”

She views swimming and medicine not as disparate endeavors, but as parallel tracks with many similarities. “The medical path is a long and rigorous journey, which takes patience and delayed gratification—two things I have experienced as a swimmer. When I was stressed in the classroom, I had swimming to fall back on,” she says. “When I’m stressed by swimming, I can focus on school to help me feel better.”

“The TAU faulty supported my passion for swimming and allowed me to take two years off of school to train for the Tokyo Olympics,” she notes. “I feel very fortunate that I found a great medical program to continue my studies.” Murez also nods to her classmates for their support. “In our program, I often studied in groups with classmates. If I fell behind on the material because of trainings, they would help me catch up,” she recounts. “They even came to a few swim meets to cheer me on!”

Following the 2021 Olympics, Murez plans to stay in Israel and pursue her professional swimming career alongside working as a physician. We wish Andi good luck and will continue to root for her in all her endeavors!

 

Murez will swim for Israel at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan (Photo: Moshe Bedarshi)

Murez will swim for Israel at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan (Photo: Moshe Bedarshi)

Featured image: TAU medical student and Olympic contender Andi Murez poolside at the University’s Sports Center (Photo: Moshe Bedarshi)

Victoria

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