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President’s Farewell Message – 2009 to 2019

Written by AUFTAU on . Posted in Newsroom.

Prof. Joseph Klafter sums up a rewarding tenure of championing creativity and entrepreneurship in every field

Like many organizations, Tel Aviv University must reinvent itself every now and then to ensure its continuing relevance and leadership role in an ever-changing, competitive global arena. This requires creativity and an entrepreneurial spirit.

My mission as university president for the last 10 years was to champion creativity and entrepreneurship in every field, sow fertile ground for them to grow, and nurture “academic chutzpah.” All along the way I sought to closely involve faculty, students, staff, alumni and supporters. I kept an open door. I learned to embrace what seemed impossible dreams. I gave people in the TAU community “permission to fail” and resolute backing on their path to success. Mostly, I endeavored to humanize this large university – this City of Big Ideas – sprawled on a Ramat Aviv hillside. When people meet people, sparks ignite.

Among the highlights of my tenure, I would like to share a number of trends that defined the growth and evolution of the University:

 

Removing Barriers: Interdisciplinary Culture

TAU has always been the Israeli pioneer for novel interdisciplinary research and study programs. Building on this foundation, TAU added some 50 major research centers, institutes and study frameworks, mostly in partnership with visionary donors, in areas ranging from neuroscience to ethics, evolutionary history to cyber security, and sports performance to smart cities – to name a few. Likewise, a vigorous faculty recruitment drive emphasized rising stars who could bring interdisciplinary know-how to TAU and Israel. Since 2010, TAU absorbed 420 talented new faculty members at an overall cost of $88 million.

 

Taking Flight: Globalization

Just as academic disciplines are borderless, so too are the challenges facing scientists. Developing more effective drugs, ensuring food security, protecting the environment, fighting poverty – these and many more universal challenges require a concerted global effort. Over the last decade, TAU has expanded ties and founded joint innovation centers with leading institutions on 6 continents, with a particularly dramatic push eastward into China and India. A globalized campus also meant attracting more international students, and we increased English-language degree programs from 2 in 2009 to 17 today.

 

Demonstrating Confidence: Strategic Moves

Along with looking outward to global opportunities, TAU looked inward at its own structure and brand identity and managed to rejuvenate both. We reorganized 125 academic departments into 31 schools to further encourage interdisciplinary excellence. And while already a super-brand in Israel, TAU nonetheless underwent a branding process to reposition itself as a bold, curiosity-inspiring research university that frees researchers, students and alumni to “pursue the unknown.”

 

Pursuing the Unknown: Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Out of fearless questioning on the one hand, and interdisciplinary thinking on the other, emerges wonderful innovation – the new ideas, products or services that transform our lives. Over the last 10 years, TAU has flourished as a world recognized hub for generating discoveries and startups in every sphere. Among the factors contributing to this success are robust industry ties, venture capital backing, and the move to embed both technological and social entrepreneurship into the curriculum.

 

Serving the Community: Social Responsibility

Along with translating knowledge into practical solutions, TAU significantly widened access to its rich offerings for the benefit of Israeli society. TAU students work with about 100 NGOs on vital civic projects. Scholarship programs target underrepresented groups in higher education such as the Ultra-Orthodox, minorities, and young people with disabilities. At the same time, we’re diversifying and expanding our future student body with a unique program for teaching TAU online courses – for full university credit – in periphery high schools.

 

Expanding Capabilities: $1 Billion Global Campaign  

TAU’s heightened contribution and impact would not have been possible without the dedication and generosity of the University’s supporters. Donor funding has enabled the construction of 12 buildings for a total of 60,000 sq. m. (645,000 sq. ft.) in new, state-of-the-art facilities. Moreover, through the tireless activities of TAU’s Friends Associations in 26 countries, TAU’s reach is more extensive than ever before. We leveraged this heightened visibility to kick off, in 2013, the largest fundraising campaign of any Israeli university — $1 billion in 10 years – aimed at ensuring TAU’s growth momentum and fostering the Next Big Ideas. This year we reached $600 million in cash and pledges.

 

Today, after 3,600 intensive days and nights, I look back with satisfaction and forward with confidence. Mine has been a fascinating job at the apex of personal fulfilment and public service, philanthropy and private investment, and national priorities and global concerns. It has reinforced my deep belief in the singular importance of the University to Israeli society and to freedom and progress everywhere.

 

Most of all, I leave my position as President incredibly grateful for the help and support I received from my TAU family every step of the way.  I extend heartfelt thanks for the noble and inspiring teamwork that has placed TAU firmly on the map of the world’s lead

 

 

 

TAU Honorary Degrees 2019

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This year’s Honorary Degrees will be awarded to illustrious individuals in the areas of research, business, banking, social activism and philanthropy

 

The ceremony will take place on 16 May 2019 at the Miriam and Adolfo Smolarz Auditorium on the Tel Aviv University campus as part of the 2019 international Board of Governors Meeting.

 

The George S. Wise Medal:

 

Dr. Axel A. Weber, Germany

Dr. Axel Weber has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of UBS, a Swiss bank and the world’s largest global wealth manager, since 2012. Previously, he served as a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, President of the German Bundesbank, and as a member of the German Council of Economic Experts. He was a professor at the University of Cologne (2001-2004), Goethe University of Frankfurt/Main (1998-2001) and University of Bonn (1994-1998), and a Visiting Professor at the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago (2011-2012). A leading financial expert, Dr. Weber serves in a diverse range of advisory and trustee roles, including as Chairman of the Board of the Institute of International Finance, member of the Group of Thirty, and board member of the Swiss Bankers Association. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Siegen, Germany.

 

Honorary Doctorates:

 

Mr. Sylvan Adams, Israel/Canada

Sylvan Adams, a Canadian-born businessman, philanthropist and amateur cycling champion, made Aliyah in 2016. He previously served as CEO of the Montreal-based real estate firm Iberville Developments, and was the sole shareholder of Summit International Bank. Upon immigrating to Israel, Adams quickly integrated and devoted himself to serving his country; his calling card reads: “Self-appointed Ambassador at large for the State of Israel.” Adams supports an array of causes, most notably in education, health sciences, Jewish continuity, and sport, continuing the philanthropic legacy of his parents, Marcel and Annie, and the family tradition to make a positive contribution to society. Adams holds an MBA from the University of Toronto. He is a Governor and Vice-Chair of Tel Aviv University’s Board of Governors, and a member of the cabinet of TAU’s Global Campaign.

 

Prof. Adrian R. Krainer, USA/Uruguay

Adrian Krainer is the St. Giles Foundation Professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (Long Island, NY). He grew up in Montevideo, Uruguay, the child and grandchild of Jewish Romanian and Hungarian immigrants. He received his BSc and PhD degrees in biochemistry from Columbia University and Harvard University, respectively. Prof. Krainer focuses his research on RNA splicing, and invented the RNA-targeted antisense therapeutic Spinraza, the first approved drug to treat the neurodegenerative disease spinal muscular atrophy. Prof. Krainer has published widely and holds 7 US patents and 83 foreign patents that have been licensed or sublicensed to 3 companies. He is the recipient of the 2019 Life Sciences Breakthrough Prize and the 2019 RNA Society Lifetime Achievement Award. Prof. Krainer is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the National Academy of Inventors (USA), and the Royal Society of Medicine (UK). 

 

Dr. Shlomo Markel, Israel  

Dr. Shlomo Markel has been Vice President, Office of the Chief Technical Officer, at Broadcom since 2001. Dr. Markel also oversees both the operations in Israel, where Broadcom has acquired 13 companies in the last decade, and academic collaboration with all the major Israeli universities; and promotes STEM education in cooperation with the Ministry of Education. In 1999, he retired at the rank of Rear Admiral from the Israeli Navy as Chief of Material Command, where he headed R&D, logistics, programs and technology. The holder of several US and international patents, Dr. Markel has received numerous accolades, including the Navy CNO Citation for Creative Thinking, Israel’s R&D Ministry of Defense Ingenuity Award and, in 2013, national recognition from the President of Israel for his and Broadcom’s contribution to the Israeli economy. Dr. Markel holds a BSc, MSc and DSc in electrical engineering from the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology.

 

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria

Economist, international development expert and anti-corruption warrior, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was the first woman to serve as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance (2003-2006 and 2011-2015) and as Minister of Foreign Affairs (2006). Previously, she served for 25 years at the World Bank, rising to the number two position of Managing Director, where she oversaw an $81 billion operational portfolio in Africa, Asia and Europe. Among a host of leadership and advisory roles, she currently chairs the boards of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization and the Africa Risk Capacity. She co-chairs the Global Commission for the Economy and Climate and is a member of the Standard Chartered Bank PLC and Twitter Boards, among others. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala holds a degree in economics from Harvard (1976) and a PhD in regional economics and development from MIT (1981). She was named by Fortune magazine as one of the 50 greatest world leaders in 2015, and by Forbes as one of the world’s most powerful women for five consecutive years.

 

Mr. Dilip Shanghvi, India

Dilip Shanghvi is an Indian entrepreneur who founded Sun Pharmaceutical Industries in 1983. The company is the 5th largest global specialty generic pharma company with revenues of $4 billion. Mr. Shanghvi is currently the Managing Director of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, and Chairman and Managing Director of Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company, which is engaged in R&D of drugs and delivery systems. Mr. Shanghvi is the former President of Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance. In 2018, he was appointed to the central board committee of the Reserve Bank of India, and in 2017 he was made a trustee of the Rhodes Scholarship Program at Oxford University. He is the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. For his accomplishments, the Indian government awarded Mr. Shanghvi the Padma Shri civilian award in 2016.
 

 

The Hon. Laura Wolfson Townsley, UK

The Honorable Laura Wolfson Townsley is Chair of the Wolfson Family Charitable Trust and a Trustee of the Wolfson Foundation, both of which have a long tradition of funding excellence in higher education across the UK and Israel. She is the granddaughter of Sir Isaac Wolfson and the daughter of Lord Wolfson of Marylebone, the charities’ founders. In 2010, the Wolfson family was awarded the Prince of Wales Medal for Arts Philanthropy and, in 2013, the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy. Mrs. Wolfson Townsley has received numerous honors for her charitable endeavors, including an honorary fellowship from Birkbeck, University of London and the Rambam Award for 2011, and she is a Tel Aviv University Governor. The Wolfson family has supported an extensive range of projects at Tel Aviv University over four decades, including buildings, research grants, prizes, scholarships and chairs in fields ranging from engineering to Jewish studies and theoretical physics.

 

Dr. Janet L. Yellen, USA

Dr. Janet Yellen is an economist who served as Chair of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System from 2014-18, and as Vice-Chair from 2010-2014. She is a Distinguished Fellow in Residence with the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. Among her prior roles, she was Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton, and President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Dr. Yellen has been a faculty member of the University of California at Berkeley since 1980, where she was the Eugene and Catherine Trefethen Professor of Business and Professor of Economics. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she has written on a wide range of macroeconomic issues, with an emphasis on the causes, mechanisms and implications of unemployment. She received her PhD in economics from Yale University in 1971, the only woman in a class of 24.

 

Honorary Fellowships:

 

Mr. Richard Sincere, USA

Richard Sincere is founder, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Sincere & Co., a third-party marketing and distribution firm in the financial investment industry. He previously worked at the Fidelity Investment Advisor Group as a Senior Vice President and in management positions at National Westminster Bank and Citicorp/Citibank. He has been a Director of the Certified Financial Planners Board of Standards since 2010 and also serves on the mutual fund board of Roge Partners Fund. Mr. Sincere writes a bimonthly column for the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors publication, and serves on the advisory boards of The Journal of Wealth Management and Inside Money. At Tel Aviv University, he is a member of the international Board of Governors and of the board of the Coller School of Management, as well as outgoing National Chairman of the American Friends Board of Directors. His connection with TAU began when he spent a study year abroad in its overseas program in 1974.

 

Appleseeds Academy, Israel

Appleseeds Academy is an Israeli non-profit founded in 2000 with the aim of bridging between Israel’s startup sector and marginalized communities from Israel’s social and geographic periphery. An initiative of Mr. Leon Recanati, who serves as its Honorary President, Appleseeds promotes digital equality in Israel by developing and implementing programs in the areas of technology, employment and life skills. Through its team of 250 professional instructors, Appleseeds works in dozens of sites across Israel, from Kiryat Shmona in the north to Eilat in the south, reaching some 80,000 beneficiaries annually. Its overarching mission is to level the playing field for underprivileged groups by equipping them with technological and life skills that will help them integrate into Israel’s mainstream employment market, economy and society.

***

 

 

TAU President’s Award:  

 

SpaceIL  

SpaceIL is a non-profit organization established in 2011 to land the first Israeli spacecraft on the Moon. The $100 million project was founded by three young engineers in response to the Google Lunar XPRIZE challenge and made possible by several private donors. SpaceIL’s launch of ‘Beresheet’ took place in February 2019 and while, its moon landing was unsuccessful, it made Israel the seventh country to orbit the Moon and is the first privately funded spacecraft to achieve this milestone.

 

 

Yariv Bash: Bash is a TAU electrical & electronic engineering alumnus, and CEO and co-founder of Flytrex Aviation, which provides autonomous drone delivery solutions.

Yonatan Winetraub: A TAU master’s alumnus in electrical engineering and a graduate of the NASA International Space University, Winetraub gained experience in space technologies as a satellite system engineer for Israeli Aerospace Industries.

Kfir Damari: An entrepreneur, engineer, researcher and lecturer, is a communication systems engineering graduate of Ben Gurion University of the Negev, and is co-founder of Tabookey, a cyber security startup.

 

 

What will life look like in 2030?

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From surgery to household tasks, humanity is about to see its daily life transformed. Prof. Irad Ben-Gal is planning for the biggest unknowns of our future.

Only twenty years ago, connecting to the internet meant sitting next to a desk and sorting through various cables, when downloading a photo could take ten minutes or more. Today, it seems like everything happens online – it’s where we find our friends and where elections and revolutions are won and lost.

But as we spend more and more of our lives in cyberspace, the question is: what’s next? The rate of change and growth is so rapid, even ten years can make a huge difference. Humanity’s biggest “unknown” is the immediate future: what can we do to foresee and cope with the next set of changes and challenges?

To answer these questions, Tel Aviv University partnered with Stanford University to create the Digital Living 2030 program. It will connect engineering students from Israel and the U.S. to lead the development of infrastructures, processes, methods and algorithms, hardware and software components, to create and support this new world. 

When our digital self goes grocery shopping

According to Prof. Irad Ben-Gal, from the Department of Industrial Engineering, a founder of the Digital Living 2030 project, we’ll see many changes over the next ten years. Some for the better, some, potentially, for the worst.

What are the biggest changes waiting around the corner?

“In general,” Prof. Irad Ben-Gal said. “A lot of sectors will see accelerated progress in the coming decade, such as autonomous transportation, personal digital medicine, smart cities, industry (robots and artificial intelligence), virtual environments and applications that affect our personal lives.

 

“On a personal level, we will witness a more complete integration between our digital world and our physical world. People will live simultaneously in both worlds when their digital self will perform different tasks for them – it will learn, make decisions (in collaboration with other digital agents), perform social interactions, and more.”

What about our lives will be better by 2030?

“In principle, a large section of society will benefit from having a better life: personalized services such as autonomous transportation, personalized medicine, a longer and healthier life, increased leisure time, more efficient handling of information overload, and a variety of new and interesting professions.”

What are the biggest problems we’ll have to deal with?

“First and foremost, there is a danger of widening economic and social gaps between different people – experts and laymen in the digital world, between the rich and the poor, between developed and developing countries, between technologically advanced and non-technological sectors…

But we’ll have to cope with all of this just like previous generations had to cope with their own technological leaps forward. Every innovation introduces new risks, from the discovery of fire and stone tools, to dynamite, to artificial intelligence.”

What about 2130? On the basis of what you know today, what will life look like in a century?

“Nothing is truly certain, of course, but there’s one thing I’m sure of: the integration of the digital world with the physical world will be complete.

 

​

 

“The individual will not only be a physical entity represented in digital worlds (as we are today represented in social networks) but a perfect dual entity. The digital entity will be aware, make independent decisions, learn on its own, work in parallel with the physical entity and be rewarded accordingly, and will contain elements of emotions and awareness that don’t exist today.”

So, what are you most looking forward to in the coming decade, or the coming century? And how will you prepare? Are you looking forward to outsourcing your grocery shopping to your digital avatar or dreading having to be even more involved in cyberspace than you already are?

One thing’s for sure: the engineers taking part in Digital Living 2030 will do their best to make sure we’re as ready as it’s possible to be.

New evidence points to existence of Biblical figure

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A line of the Mesha Stele inscription lends credence to the story of Balaam in the Book of Numbers, Tel Aviv University researchers say

he legendary King Balak from the Book of Numbers may have been a real historical figure, according to a new reading of the Mesha Stele, the longest extra-biblical inscription in existence.
 
The Mesha Stele, an ancient inscribed stone dating to the ninth century BCE, tells the story of the territorial expansion and construction endeavors of King Mesha of Moab, who is also mentioned in the Second Book of Kings in the Old Testament. The stele was found in the 19th century among the ruins of the ancient town of Dibon in Moab, located in today’s Jordan, east of the Dead Sea. The stele is on display at the Louvre Museum.
 
According to the study, a word on Line 31 of the stele that has until now been interpreted as “House of David” in fact refers to King “Balak,” who is known as a Moab ruler only from the Book of Numbers.
 
The new Tel Aviv University-Collège de France study was published on May 2 in Tel Aviv: Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University. It was co-authored by Prof. Israel Finkelstein and Prof. Nadav Na’aman of TAU’s Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures in collaboration with Prof. Thomas Römer of Collège de France and the University of Lausanne.

Learning from the “squeeze”

A recent exhibit, Mésha et la Bible, held in October 2018 at the Collège de France in Paris in conjunction with the Louvre Museum, showcased the Meshe Stele “squeeze,” a reverse copy of the inscription on paper. This exhibition afforded researchers the unique opportunity to take high-resolution photographs of the squeeze.
 
Although the stele had been cracked in the 19th century, the parts that went missing were preserved in the squeeze, which was made before the stone broke into pieces.
 
The authors of the new research studied new high-resolution photographs of the squeeze and of the stele itself. These new images made it clear that there are three consonants in the name of the monarch mentioned in Line 31, and that the first is the Hebrew letter bet, which corresponds to the English letter “B.”
 
The most likely candidate for the monarch’s name is “Balak.” The seat of the king referred to in Line 31 was “Horonaim,” which is mentioned four times in the Bible in relation to the Moabite territory south of the Arnon River.

No longer the “House of David”

“We believe Balak was a historical figure like Balaam, who, before the discovery of the famous Deir Alla inscription in Jordan in 1967, was considered an ‘invented’ character,” explains Prof. Finkelstein. “The new photographs of the Mesha Stele and the squeeze indicate that the reading ‘House of David’ — accepted by many scholars for more than two decades — is no longer valid.”
 
In 1994 the French epigrapher André Lemaire suggested that letters missing in Line 31 of the stele would spell “House of David,” as in the Tel Dan Stele, which features the term in reference to the Kingdom of Judah. Accordingly, Lemaire proposed that in the mid-ninth century Judah ruled in southern Moab, east of the Dead Sea.
 
“With due caution, we suggest that the line refers to the Moabite King Balak, who, according to the Balaam story in Numbers 22-24, was supposed to bring a divine curse on the people of Israel,” Prof. Na’aman says.
 
“The biblical story was written down later than the time of the Moabite king referred to in the Mesha Stele,” Prof. Römer adds. “But to proffer a sense of authenticity to his story, its author must have integrated into the plot certain elements borrowed from ancient reality, including the names Balaam and Balak.”

Violent attacks against Jews worldwide spiked 13% in 2018

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The U.S. saw highest number of cases – over 100 – of severe violence against Jews in the world, annual Tel Aviv University Kantor Center study reports

Thirteen Jews were murdered in the world in 2018, and the number of other major violent anti-Semitic attacks, including assault, vandalism and arson, spiked 13% from 342 to 387 incidents worldwide. The U.S. registered the highest number of violent attacks on Jews – over 100 cases – followed by the U.K. at 68 incidents and France and Germany, both of which respectively saw 35 violent attacks on Jews in 2018, according to the annual report by Tel Aviv University’s Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry, published on Wednesday, May 1st.

The report did not include figures from the recent attack near San Diego on the Chabad of Poway Synagogue, in which one woman was killed and three others wounded.

A state of emergency

“There is a growing sense that Jewish people in many countries are living in a state of emergency,” Prof. Dina Porat, Head of the Kantor Center and Chief Historian of Yad Vashem told reporters at a press conference held at Tel Aviv University on Wednesday. “Physical insecurity and the questioning of their place in society and in the parties that were once their political home are more prevalent than ever.”

“Anti-Semitism peaked recently in a manner that casts doubt on the very existence of Jews in many parts of the world,” Dr. Moshe Kantor, President of the Jewish European Congress, was quoted as saying in a press release. “As we have seen following the second mass shooting incident at a U.S. synagogue, many parts of the world are no longer safe for Jews as we though they were in the past.”

The Kantor Center’s annual report, a global overview of anti-Semitic incidents, is based on surveys conducted by recognized watchdogs from dozens of countries, including nearly all European Union member states.

The normalization of antisemitism

According to the report, “The year 2018 and the beginning of 2019 witnessed an increase in almost all forms of anti-Semitic manifestations, in the public sphere as well as the private one. Thirteen Jews were murdered during 2018, the largest number compared to previous years. Anti-Semitism is no longer a part of the activities of the triangle made of the far right, the extreme left and radical Islam. It has mainstreamed, and become a constant reality.”

The report comes a day after the Anti-Defamation League published its own report, which found that violent attacks against Jews in the U.S. doubled last year. The New York-based group counted 1,879 anti-Semitic incidents — harassment, vandalism or physical assault — in 2018. That is a 5% decrease from the 1,986 incidents reported in 2017, but the third-highest total since ADL began tracking the data in the 1970s.

“People in Europe, in France especially, are on the frontlines, they are dealing with anti-Semitism,” Prof. Porat said. “But we have to address anti-Semitism in the context of broader racism in the world. We are not alone. Other minorities are suffering. We should suggest a coalition, an umbrella organization to work together in this fight, extending a hand to other groups who are suffering, like the Roma.”

“We cannot fight anti-Semitism as if it is just a Jewish problem,” concluded Adv. Ariel Zuckerman, Chairman of the Kantor Center Board. “Anti-Semitism is always a moral barometer for the state of the world, for the broader context of widespread racism, and we are sounding a siren.” 

Discovery of a binary star orbited by three planets

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Discovery by a team of researchers, including Prof. Tsevi Mazeh from the School of Physics and Astronomy

Astronomers have discovered a third planet in the Kepler-47 system, turning the system’s to be one of the most interesting known binary stars.

Using data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope, a team of researchers, including Prof. Tsevi Mazeh from TAU, detected a new Neptune-to-Saturn-size planet orbiting between two previously known planets. The system is now known to include two suns in a very close orbit, circled by three planets. This is the only known double star with more than one circumbinary planet known.

Further information >

Image credit: NASA

Over 400 People Attend Launch of “Astronomy on Tap”

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The School of Physics and Astronomy inaugurated a new public outreach activity – short astronomy-related presentations at a bar.

The first event was held at the Kanta Bar in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. PhD student Meir Zeilig-Hess spoke about his research on supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies, and Master’s student Natalie Lubelchick talked about her research in deciphering the explosions of stars. New faculty member, Dr. Iair Arcavi, and PhD student Dalya Baron hosted the event and reviewed the month’s “astronomy in the news”. Astronomical prizes were given to attendees who sent questions to the speakers during the event.

Astronomy on Tap is expected to take place roughly once a month in the same format. The events are free and open to the public. Updates will be provided through the Astronomy on Tap mailing list and Facebook page (in Hebrew). Links to photos and videos of each event will be posted to the website. For further information, please contact the organizer of the event, Dr. Iair Arcavi.

Photo: From left: Dr. Iair Arcavi, Dalya Baron, Natalie Lubelchick, Meir Zeilig-Hess. Photo: Ofir Hochberg

27 TAU alumni in the 21st Knesset

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TAU Alumni are the most influential in Israel!

27 TAU alumni, from the right-wing and left-wing parties, were elected yesterday as MK’s in the twenty-first Knesset of the State of Israel:

 

  • Avi Dichter (Likud), alum of the Coller school of Management
  • Avi Nissenkorn (Blue & White), alum of the Faculty of Law
  • Assaf Zamir (Blue & White), alum of the Faculty of Law
  • Lt Gen Benny Gantz, head of the Blue & White Party, alum of the School of History
  • Boaz Toporovsky (Blue & White), alum of the Faculty of Law and the School of Economics
  • David Bitan (Likud), alum of the Faculty of Law
  • Eitan Ginzburg (Blue & White), alum of the Harold Hartog School of Government and Policy
  • Elazar Stern (Blue & White), alum of the Coller school of Management
  • Eli Avidar (Yisrael Beiteinu), alum of the TAU Faculty of Humanities
  • Eli Cohen (Kulanu), alum of the Coller school of Management
  • Lt Gen Gabi Ashkenazi (Blue & White), alum of the Harold Hartog School of Government and Policy and the Faculty of Social Sciences
  • Gideon Sa’ar (Likud), alum of the Faculty of Law, the Harold Hartog School of Government and Policy and the Faculty of Social Sciences
  • Gilad Erdan (Likud), alum of the Harold Hartog School of Government and Policy
  • Idan Roll (Blue & White), alum of the Faculty of Law
  • Michal Rozin (Meretz), alumna of the Harold Hartog School of Government and Policy and the Women and Gender Studies Program
  • Miki Haimovich (Blue & White), alumna of the School of Cultural Studies and the Harold Hartog School of Government and Policy
  • Oded Forer (Yisrael Beiteinu), alum of the Harold Hartog School of Government and Policy
  • Ofer Shelah (Blue & White), alum of the Faculty of Humanities and the School of Economics
  • Pnina Tamano-Shata (Blue & White), alumna of the Department of Public Policy at the Faculty of Social Sciences
  • Maj. Gen. Tal Russo (HaAvoda), alum of the Coller school of Management
  • Tamar Zandberg, Chairman Meretz, alumna of the Faculty of Law
  • Yael German (Blue & White), alumna of the School of History
  • Yoav Segalovich (Blue & White), alum of the Faculty of Law
  • Yoaz Hendel (Blue & White), alum of the School of Jewish Studies & Archeology
  • Yorai Lahav Hertzanu (Blue & White), alum of the Department of Public Policy at the Faculty of Social Sciences
  • Dr. Yuval Steinitz (Likud), alum of the Faculty of Humanities
  • Zvi Hauser (Blue & White), alum of the Faculty of Law

 

The TAU Alumni Organization congratulates and takes pride in each and every one of you!

TAU Scientists Print First 3D Heart Using Patient’s Own Cells and Materials

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Engineered heart completely matches the immunological, cellular, biochemical and anatomical properties of the patient

In a major medical breakthrough, Tel Aviv University researchers have “printed” the world’s first 3D vascularised engineered heart using a patient’s own cells and biological materials. Their findings were published on April 15 in a study in Advanced Science.

Until now, scientists in regenerative medicine — a field positioned at the crossroads of biology and technology — have been successful in printing only simple tissues without blood vessels.

“This is the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart replete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers,” says Prof. Tal Dvir of TAU’s School of Molecular Cell Biology and Biotechnology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and Sagol Center for Regenerative Biotechnology, who led the research for the study.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death among both men and women in the United States. Heart transplantation is currently the only treatment available to patients with end-stage heart failure. Given the dire shortage of heart donors, the need to develop new approaches to regenerate the diseased heart is urgent.

“This heart is made from human cells and patient-specific biological materials. In our process these materials serve as the bioinks, substances made of sugars and proteins that can be used for 3D printing of complex tissue models,” Prof. Dvir says. “People have managed to 3D-print the structure of a heart in the past, but not with cells or with blood vessels. Our results demonstrate the potential of our approach for engineering personalized tissue and organ replacement in the future.”

Research for the study was conducted jointly by Prof. Dvir, Dr. Assaf Shapira of TAU’s Faculty of Life Sciences and Nadav Moor, a doctoral student in Prof. Dvir’s lab.

 

​”At this stage, our 3D heart is small, the size of a rabbit’s heart,” explains Prof. Dvir. “But larger human hearts require the same technology.”

The secret to a new heart

For the research, a biopsy of fatty tissue was taken from patients. The cellular and a-cellular materials of the tissue were then separated. While the cells were reprogrammed to become pluripotent stem cells, the extracellular matrix (ECM), a three-dimensional network of extracellular macromolecules such as collagen and glycoproteins, were processed into a personalized hydrogel that served as the printing “ink.”

After being mixed with the hydrogel, the cells were efficiently differentiated to cardiac or endothelial cells to create patient-specific, immune-compatible cardiac patches with blood vessels and, subsequently, an entire heart.

According to Prof. Dvir, the use of “native” patient-specific materials is crucial to successfully engineering tissues and organs.

“The biocompatibility of engineered materials is crucial to eliminating the risk of implant rejection, which jeopardizes the success of such treatments,” Prof. Dvir says. “Ideally, the biomaterial should possess the same biochemical, mechanical and topographical properties of the patient’s own tissues. Here, we can report a simple approach to 3D-printed thick, vascularized and perfusable cardiac tissues that completely match the immunological, cellular, biochemical and anatomical properties of the patient.”

What organ would you like?

The researchers are now planning on culturing the printed hearts in the lab and “teaching them to behave” like hearts, Prof. Dvir says. They then plan to transplant the 3D-printed heart in animal models.

“We need to develop the printed heart further,” he concludes. “The cells need to form a pumping ability; they can currently contract, but we need them to work together. Our hope is that we will succeed and prove our method’s efficacy and usefulness.

 

“Maybe, in ten years, there will be organ printers in the finest hospitals around the world, and these procedures will be conducted routinely.”

Better maps for better self-driving cars?

Written by AUFTAU on . Posted in Newsroom.

New research on object detection breaks with long-held principles of radar technologies

Radar technologies were originally designed to identify and track airborne military targets. Today they’re more often used to detect motor vehicles, weather formations and geological terrain.

Until now, scientists have believed that radar accuracy and resolution are related to the range of frequencies or radio bandwidth used by the devices. But a new Tel Aviv University study finds that an approach inspired by optical coherence tomography (OCT) requires little to no bandwidth to accurately create a high-resolution map of a radar’s surrounding environment.

“We’ve demonstrated a different type of ranging system that possesses superior range resolution and is almost completely free of bandwidth limitations,” says Prof. Pavel Ginzburg of TAU’s School of Electrical Engineering, one of the principal authors of the study. “The new technology has numerous applications, especially with respect to the automotive industry. It’s worth noting that existing facilities support our new approach, which means that it can be launched almost immediately.”

The new study was conducted jointly by Prof. Ginzburg, Vitali Kozlov, Rony Komissarov and Dmitry Filonov, all of TAU’s School of Electrical Engineering. 

Preventing the traffic jams of the future

It was commonly believed that radar resolution was proportional to the bandwidth used. Meaning, a good, accurate radar, required a lot of bandwidth, something that could become a limited resource in the future.

“Our concept offers solutions in situations that require high-range resolution and accuracy but in which the available bandwidth is limited, such as the self-driving car industry, optical imaging and astronomy,” Kozlov explains. “Not many cars on the road today use radars, so there’s almost no competition for allocated frequencies. But what will happen in the future, when every car will be equipped with a radar and every radar will demand the entire bandwidth?

“We’ll find ourselves in a sort of radio traffic jam. Our solutions permit drivers to share the available bandwidth without any conflict,” Kozlov says.

The TAU researchers have now demonstrated that low-bandwidth radars can achieve similar performance at a lower cost and without broadband signals by exploiting the coherence property of electromagnetic waves. The new “partially coherent” radar, which uses significantly less bandwidth, is as effective as a standard “coherent” radars in experimental situations.

Using radar for rescue

“Our demonstration is just the first step in a series of new approaches to radiofrequency detectors that explore the impact of low-bandwidth radars on traditional fields,” Prof. Ginzburg concludes. “We intend to apply this technology to previously unexplored areas, like rescue operations — sensing if an individual is buried in a collapsed building — or street mapping — sensing if a child is about to cross the street behind a bus that conceals him.”

Research for the study was supported by an ERC grant and Kamin, and it was conducted at TAU’s Radio Physics Laboratory’s anechoic chamber.

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