Newsroom – Page 9 – Australian Friends of Tel Aviv University

The Center for Russian Studies at Tel Aviv University has begun its work

Written by Hilary on 2 May 2024. Posted in Newsroom.

The Center for Russian Studies (CRS) at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Tel Aviv University has begun its work. On April 16, there was a presentation of the launch report of the new center – Russian Future Initiative. Contrary to its name, the project appears surprisingly non-political. In order to talk more or less seriously about Russia’s future, CRS intends to deal with the recent history of Russia – economic, political, social, and cultural. The period that interests CRS is from 1991, when the collapse of the USSR occurred and Russia appeared as a separate state, to the present day.

In Russia and Israel, the media has already reported that one of Israel’s universities intends to create a CRS on the funds of Israeli and Russian sponsors-entrepreneurs. Anatoly Chubays, a well-known Russian reformer and former Russian government vice-premier, as previously reported by JP, repatriated to Israel in May 2022. However, the assumptions that a think tank would be created in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, or Beersheba to prepare scenarios for new reforms in the so-called “post-Putin” period were unfounded. The CSR presentation was purely academic, and Anatoly Chubays is only mentioned as the organizer of the group of sponsors of the new center, whose task is a comprehensive study of Russia’s possible future based on the analysis of the events of its recent past.

Social Sciences Instead of Futurology

In Israeli social science, there are already several centers studying Russia, including on the TAU Faculty of Social Sciences and other faculties. Israeli historians, economists, sociologists, culture experts, and specialists on Jewish community life in Russia and the former USSR are well-known in professional circles and in Russia and the world. Academic science in this sense has no boundaries; Russian Studies have been widespread since the 1950s, the beginning of the “Cold War,” primarily in US and European universities. However, CRS is likely the only Israeli scientific center currently studying the last 30 years of Russian history. As it became clear during the presentation, working on these topics between Russia’s history and the present will be more scholars involved in contemporary research than historians – part of them will work in Tel Aviv, part in Russia and Europe. For example, Victor Vakhshtayn, a sociologist and former dean of the Sociology Faculty at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences, will continue his research in the field of social capital studies within the CRS project. Alexander Baunov, a political scientist and author of the popular 2023 book “The End of the Regime: How Three European Dictatorships Ended,” currently working and the Berlin Carnegie Center and as visiting researcher at the Florence University Institute, will continue his research on the structure of Russian elites. Dmitry Butrin, an economist and economic editor of the Moscow “Kommersant,” is an economist in the CRS project. Finally, from Moscow, within the CRS project, cultural studies of Russian culture will be conducted by literary scholar Alexander Arkhangelsky, who continues his work on a series of Russian documentary films.

Over the five years that the CRS initiative is planned, it is assumed that other researchers from Israel, Russia, and other countries will join – the authors of the initial report hint that representatives of other social sciences, such as international relations, may also be involved. The main idea of the research, however, primarily involves working together among CRS staff and working within interdisciplinary research. As the center’s staff explains, which, as it turned out, has been working at TAU’s Faculty of Social Sciences under the leadership of professor Itai Sened since February, the latest Russian history now looks quite unusual in scientific description. There are several “histories of Russia” since 1991, almost none of which are related to each other. One is the history of changes in Russian society at the elementary level. Several others are different parts of the economic histories of the huge populated country, which has appeared as a successfully reforming economy, a backward world gas station, a kingdom of state capitalism, and a battleground for warring oligarchs and siloviki since 1991. Finally, there is the history of the transformation of Russian culture in all its layers – from the return of religion to it to new cults of strength and aggression.

These parts are challenging to reconcile with each other even in publicist descriptions. However, the declared task of CRS is to approach the possibility of “understanding Russia” in its new form in a purely academic sense. In this model, the “cultural” component will not contradict the “political,” and social development will not contradict the economic. CRS assumes that this is the only way to speak reliably about what can and cannot happen to Russia in the foreseeable future because, at least since 2012-2014, forecasts about what would happen in Moscow even next year have usually turned out poorly. And the war with Ukraine, the political protests of 2012, and the current economic upswing have become unexpected for researchers.

However, the same, emphasize the researchers of CRS, can now be said about any other country in the world – quick and bright forecasts, let alone politically engaged ones, attract attention but are just as quickly forgotten. In any case, part of the political sector of neither Israel nor Russia will become the “Chubays Center” in such a composition and with such a research program. However, Tel Aviv University is getting new research team whose answer to the question “What is happening in Russia?” may be more fundamental than before.

How Do We Commemorate the Holocaust in 2024?

Written by Hilary on 30 April 2024. Posted in Newsroom.

Ohad Tadmor, a graduate of the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television and a digital media track alum, created a video game that not only entertains but also educates players about his grandfather’s Holocaust survival. This innovative approach revitalizes the crucial mission of transmitting Holocaust memory to new audiences.

“I wanted to create a game that I would want to play, experience, and be moved by.”

Ohad, tell us about the idea of turning your grandfather’s story into a computer game.

“As a third generation Holocaust survivor, the subject very present in our family. The story of my grandfather, Abraham Hertzock, may he rest in peace, who survived the Holocaust alone as a child in the forests of Czechoslovakia, seemed like a suitable and unique template for a game that combines history, creativity, fear, danger, and courage. It has all the elements of a good story and in my opinion, a good story is one of the most meaningful factors in video games. Despite the sensitivity of the topic, I wanted to use this medium to bridge the gap in Holocaust remembrance among younger generations.”

Ohad and his grandfather, Abraham Hertzock, may he rest in peace.

Which tools did your Film and Television degree, especially the Digital Media program, bring to your creative process?

“Throughout my life, I’ve been playing video games, but I never created one. During my studies, I immersed myself in game development software. We learned techniques in areas such as coding, animation, 3D modeling, lighting, and stage design, which helped me independently build the framework for an experience and understand how a general video game system operates.

“The narrative aspect was very important to me, and thankfully, during our studies, we also received personal guidance in developing a script for our creations. It was challenging because, unlike in films, a video game is interactive, and I had to think about how to adapt personal narratives into a unique interactive experience.”

Who’s the game’s main audience?

the game is in actuality aimed towards girls and boys aged 12 and up who are into story-driven video games. But I can say that a lot of people with no prior gaming experience got really excited about it.”

Link to the game >>

Do you think children living abroad could also identify with it and enjoy it?

“Of course, many players from around the world have played the game, and the message of resilience and coping resonates universally. Additionally, the game has no text, so it contributes to its accessibility from anywhere and at any age.”

What emotional and gameplay experience awaits players?

“First and foremost, there’s empathy for Emil (our avatar), along with feelings of fear, danger, creativity, resilience, and hope. These are the exact emotions I recall feeling myself when I listened to my grandfather’s testimony, and they’re what inspired me to craft this gaming experience. In terms of gameplay, I aimed to create a challenging and true-to-life experience.”

A scene from the game ‘Emil: A Hero’s journey’.

Are there parts of Grandpa’s testimony integrated into the game?

“Of course. The fantastical elements are products of our imagination, but many segments of the game are based on his testimony. One example is the gameplay section where Emil has to hide from soldiers’ flashlights while concealing himself in a wheat field. When the Germans came to take his family to the camps, my grandfather, being the eldest among his siblings, leaped from the house window to the wheat field and hid there until they left. That’s how his father found him, believing he could survive on his own.

“Another example is that since there’s no text in the game, I utilized the environment itself to tell the story (Environmental Storytelling). In the forest Emil traverses, you can see scattered Jewish belongings such as suitcases, carts, and photo albums. On one of the albums displayed prominently, you can see the real photos of my grandfather’s lost family – his father, mother, sister, and little brother.”

On the right: The Hertzock family, who perished in the Holocaust (Abraham, the survivor, is the rightmost child). On the left: Abraham Hertzog in his youth.

“I believe my grandfather would have been surprised to see a video game tackling this topic… but I think he would have understood that to reach today’s young audience, adaptations in the medium are necessary.”

Was the animation process of the child mainly technical, or did emotions take over?

“The process was quite complex. Since I wanted Emil’s movements to be authentic and as similar as possible to those of a small, frightened child wandering alone in the forest, we brought an 11-year-old child actor named Yoav to portray Emil. Training Yoav on the character and his story, and on the game itself, wasn’t easy and required a lot of sensitivity, especially when tackling a topic like the Holocaust, and certainly trying to integrate it into an emotional-conscious state that my grandfather experienced. Thankfully, Yoav is a sensitive and talented child, and based on his movements, we created those of Emil’s 3D character.

The music accompanying the game is deeply emotional (string instruments), and actually reminiscent of Holocaust films. How did you caft it? Did you expect it to be Emil’s accompanying sounds?

“The music accompanying the game is something I’m very proud of. I’ve always wanted to be a musician, and I truly believe that music is a significant part of an experience and can convey a lot of emotion. In creating the original soundtrack, I worked with a talented composer named Yotam Aluf, and we discussed the period, the story’s essence, and the important feelings I wanted to emphasize through the melody. Of course, we also referenced a lot of tunes from various genres. Yotam composed and played the soundtrack on the piano, and then we recorded a live cello in the studio to accentuate the string instruments characteristic of Jewish music from that period.

What would your grandfather say if he could see and play the game?

“My grandmother, Devi, my grandfather’s widow, said that Grandpa would have been very proud knowing that his grandson is sharing his story and using it to commemorate the memory of the Holocaust, something he and other children his age endured. Personally, I believe my grandfather would have been surprised to see a video game about this topic, but with a deep and thorough explanation, I think he would understand that to reach today’s young audience, adjustments in the medium are necessary, and as long as it’s done with respect and awareness, it’s a blessing.

Do you have any advice for someone considering enrolling in the Digital Media program?

Since the Digital Media track provides a wide range of tools in a comprehensive way, I would recommend anyone considering enrolling to try and understand what it’s about. Whether they want to specialize or work in it in the future, in combination with cinema studies, this track offers a background and general understanding that can greatly assist in building our world, story, and design of our experience, as well as tools in programming, animation, and creating effects. Moreover, like any degree, I found myself learning and researching many topics independently and not waiting to study them only when required to do so in homework assignments.”

The team that worked with Ohad on this meaningful project:

Afik Yairi – Producer
Or Hadar – Animation and 3D
Nadav Litver – Programming
Shachar Amiri – Concept Art
Yotam Aluf – Music Composition
Naor Hazan – Sound Design

Is the Heaviest Black Hole in Our Galaxy Closer Than We Think?

Written by Hilary on 16 April 2024. Posted in Newsroom.

Gaia Spacecraft Reveals Massive Black Hole in Milky Way

An international team of researchers, with the participation of researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) led by Prof. Tsevi Mazeh, discovered a star which orbits a black hole 33 times heavier than the sun’s mass, and lies 1500 light-years away from Earth. The black hole, discovered using data from the European Gaia spacecraft, is more than three times heavier than the other known black holes in our galaxy.

The Gaia spacecraft was launched by the European Space Agency in 2013 and has since then been regularly measuring the position and brightness of over a billion stars in our galaxy – the Milky Way galaxy – with unprecedented precision, equivalent to accurately determining the position of a single grain of sand on the moon to the millimeter.

An organization of hundreds of scientists across Europe processes the data coming in from the spacecraft and makes it accessible to the entire scientific community. The research group was led by Prof. (emeritus) Tsevi Mazeh, from TAU’s Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Physics and Astronomy, recently awarded the Israel Prize in Physics for the year 2024. Prof. Mazeh participates in the study of binary star systems discovered using spacecraft data. The research was published in the prestigious journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Credit: ESA/Gaia/DPAC

Cosmic Odyssey: Exploring the Depths of the Universe

The large sample of binary stars should also include systems which include a black hole – one of the rarest celestial objects in the universe. The existence of a black hole is one of the most amazing phenomena in the universe, the existence of which was predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity back in 1939.

According to the accepted theory, when the fuel for the nuclear combustion process that takes place in the core of a star runs out, it collapses in on itself, towards its center. If the star is massive enough, all the remaining matter collapses into a single point of infinite density. It is possible, therefore, to see the black hole as the “corpse” of a star that has ended its life cycle and collapsed in on itself. Astrophysicists are still trying to understand the extreme conditions that lead to the collapse of matter into the central point, and therefore every discovery of a black hole is accompanied by enormous excitement among astronomers.

Into the Abyss of the Black Hole

It is very difficult to discover black holes since light cannot overcome the strong gravitational force in its vicinity. When a black hole is in a binary system with a normal star, the motion of the visible star is used to measure the mass of its invisible partner and thus prove that it is indeed a black hole. Indeed, in a matter of just a few years, the Gaia spacecraft has already discovered two black holes.

With the expectation that the data that continues to be collected by the spacecraft will lead to the discovery of more black holes, Prof. Mazeh together with Prof. Laurent Eyer from the University of Geneva established a small team to find black holes using the spacecraft’s data, including scientists from France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Poland and Switzerland. While examining the new data, the team came across a binary system containing a special black hole, the likes of which has never been found before, with a mass of 33 solar masses, around 1,500 light years away from us.

The new black hole is more than three times heavier than any other known black hole in the Milky Way galaxy. The binary system, named Gaia BH3, contains an ordinary star that seems to have formed more than ten billion years ago when our galaxy was still very young. The star orbits the black hole in an 11-year cycle.

Prof. Tsevi Mazeh – 2024 Israel Prize Winner in Physics

At the suggestion of Prof. Mazeh, it was decided to publish the sensational disclosure right now and not wait until the orderly publication of all the systems that were discovered. The entire spacecraft team, including researchers from TAU – Prof. Shay Zucker, head of the Porter School of Environment and Earth Sciences, Dr. Simchon Faigler, Dr. Sahar Shahaf (now at the Weizmann Institute), Dr. Dolev Bashi (now at the University of Cambridge), Avraham Binnenfeld (research student) and Oded Orenstein (second-year undergraduate student) – are listed as contributors to the scientific article published today which reports on the discovery.

Prof. Tsevi Mazeh: “This is an exciting discovery of the heaviest black hole in a binary system known today in the galaxy. About thirty years passed from the first hypothesis of the existence of a black hole until the discovery of the first black hole, and more than fifty years passed before we were able to discover Gaia BH3 – the binary system with the longest cycle known today. It is amazing how humankind manages to navigate the vast expanses of the universe and discover such mysterious objects. I am convinced that the discovery will lead to a new mode of thinking regarding the presence and prevalence of the black holes that cruise through the expanses of our galaxy.”

Heart Disease’s Cancer Link Unveiled

Written by Hilary on 14 April 2024. Posted in Newsroom.

A Recent TAU Study Exposes the Connection Between Heart Disease and Cancer

Researchers at Tel Aviv University and the Leviev Cardiothoracic and Vascular Center at the Sheba Medical Center have found a mechanism that is responsible for increasing the risk of developing cancer among patients with heart disease: those small extracellular bubbles, or vesicles (sEVs), that are secreted from the sick heart to heal itself are released into the bloodstream – and promote the growth of cancer cells throughout the body. The researchers estimate that the important discovery may improve the protocols for treating heart disease so that clinicians also consider the increased risk of cancer. The study was funded by the Israel Cancer Association and the Israel Science Foundation.

The research was conducted under the leadership of Prof. Jonathan Leor from the Neufeld Cardiac Research Institute, Faculty of Medical & Health Sciences at Tel Aviv University and the Taman Institute at Sheba’s Leviev Center and his student Tal Caller, a medical and research student at Tel Aviv University’s School of Medicine. The research was published in the important medical journal Circulation.

Heart Disease’s Silent Hand in Cancer’s Rise

Caller explains: “In 2013, the Israeli cardiologist Tal Hasin showed for the first time that there is a connection between heart failure and cancer. Patients with heart disease are at a higher risk of developing cancer, and since heart disease is already a leading cause of death–first place in the US and second place in Israel – that means that many people are at risk. Our research revealed that the diseased heart secretes cancer-promoting factors, which we identified as small extracellular vesicles (sEVs). These are tiny particles wrapped in a simple membrane, which all cells secrete, However, due to heart damage, these vesicles are released in greater quantities and contain factors related to inflammation, healing, growth, creation of new blood vessels, and changes in the immune system. These vesicles move through the circulatory system and eventually reach the tumor or the pre-cancerous tissue”.

Caller adds, “Following an injury in the heart muscle and deterioration to heart failure, sEVs containing growth factors and small nucleic acid molecules that promote cell division are released. These sEVs contribute to the healing of the injured cardiac tissue. However, released from the injured heart, those vesicles move within the body’s circulatory system, eventually targeting cancerous growths”.

Prof. Jonathan Leor: “Many theories have been proposed to explain the increased risk of cancer in heart patients. They started with shared risk factors such as smoking, diabetes, and obesity and ended with a single protein or molecule. We showed for the first time that the diseased heart secretes sEVs that contain thousands of different growth factors. These bubbles directly promote the growth of certain tumors and also modulate the immune system, making the body more vulnerable to tumor growth”.

To test their hypothesis, the researchers at TAU inhibited the formation of sEVs in animal models with heart disease and found that the risk of cancer decreases along with the inhibition of vesicle production. However, this is not a viable therapeutic option since inhibiting the production of the vesicles causes severe undesired side effects.

Disrupting Cancer’s Path

Prof. Leor: “When you systemically inhibit the formation of sEVs, you get less cancer – but you cause collateral damage along the way. That is why we tried a different strategy: treat the patient’s heart to reduce the damage to the cardiac tissue so that it secretes fewer sEVs. We used spironolactone, which is a well-known, old, and effective drug used to treat heart failure. We treated the animals with spironolactone at a very early stage of the disease and found that the heart secreted 30% fewer sEVs– and the cancerous tumors grew more slowly. Our experiment shows that it is possible to intervene in heart disease in a way that reduces the risk of cancer among heart patients”.

As for the clinical implications of the study, Caller is careful in his words: “It may be necessary to adjust the existing treatments for the heart so that they also consider the risk of cancer. In addition, it is possible to find biomarkers among heart patients that will indicate an increased risk of cancer since not all patients are at an increased risk. This is basic research, and much work is still required to unravel the connection between the two”.

Moshe Bar-Haim, CEO of the Israel Cancer Association, adds: “Thanks to public donations and designated funds, the research committee of the Israel Cancer Association examines and selects dozens of studies every year and funds researchers and doctors from research and treatment centers across Israel. From these studies, new methods were developed for the diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of cancer patients. Research has no territorial boundaries, so every achievement in research here in Israel is an achievement for the entire world. We hope that the new research – that reveals that because of heart diseases, extracellular bubbles are secreted and increase the risk of cancer – will allow for immediate application in Israel and around the world for the benefit of accurate treatment for patients”.

Berlin Architecture Workshop Unites Jewish and Arab TAU Students

Written by Hilary on 10 April 2024. Posted in Newsroom.

Every year, Eran Neuman, professor of architecture at Tel Aviv University (TAU), takes the fourth-year students in his design studio to a different world city for an architecture and urban design workshop. This year, the trip almost didn’t happen, however the students had different plans. “I thought the students wouldn’t want to go, especially with everything going on, but it really came from the students,” reflects Neuman. “They said, we want to go – it’s tough times, but it’s important for us and we want to go.”

A Week in Berlin

And so, at the beginning of March, and with the support of The Lowy International School, Neuman took 14 of his students with him on a one-week trip to Berlin, where they toured some of the most well-known architecturally designed buildings, went to museum and art exhibits, and met with local architects and architecture offices – including the office of Diébédo Francis Kéré, the famed Burkinabé-German architect and winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize (often referred to as the Nobel prize for architecture).

Neuman in Berlin with two of the students from the TAU design studio.

However, the trip was also special for an entirely other reason: Neuman’s design studio at TAU is made up of approximately half Arab students and half Jewish students. “For the most part, they work perfectly together; all-in-all they are students who want to come and study,” says Neuman.

“They care about getting a good education and they leave politics and what’s going on in the region outside the classroom.”

At the same time, with all the heightened tension in the region since October 7, Neuman was still a bit anxious about whether there would be any strain during the Berlin workshop. “You can’t totally avoid the politics, because this is part of our reality,” says Neuman.

A Platform for Coming Together

However, instead of tension, Neuman says he found a group of students – half Arab, half Jewish – who were keen to listen to one another and be open with one another, especially as they grew more relaxed as the trip went on. “When they did talk about politics, they were open and respectful and they acknowledged each other and each other’s suffering,” he says.

“We told them, it’s in your hands to make this place livable and they completely accepted it – that there are two nations living here and that we have to learn to live together and next to one another.”

On the final day, after dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant, the students even decided to go to a club together, where they asked the DJ to put on Arab and Israeli music.

“They went together with each other, Jewish and Arab, accepting each other’s culture and being together … I came back really optimistic from the workshop.”—Eran Neuman.

Gal Wiesman, a fourth-year student who attended the Berlin workshop, agrees. “It was a great trip,” she says.

“I think it was extremely refreshing to go … and during the trip we created a special bond, and it’s made us all closer since then.”—Gal Wiesman.

Go Fish: Decline in Poleward-Moving Fish

Written by AUFTAU on 4 April 2024. Posted in Newsroom.

An extensive international study led by researchers from Tel Aviv University found a decline in the abundance of marine fish species that rapidly move toward the poles to escape rising sea temperatures. The researchers explain that many animal species are currently moving toward cooler regions as a result of global warming, but the velocity of such range shifts varies immensely for different species. Examining thousands of populations from almost 150 fish species, the researchers show that contrary to the prevailing view, rapid range shifts coincide with widescale population declines. According to the study, on average, a poleward shift of 17km per year may result in a decline of 50% in the abundance of populations. The international study was led by Ph.D. student Shahar Chaikin and Prof. Jonathan Belmaker from the School of Zoology in the Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University. The paper was published in the leading scientific journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. For the first time, the new study correlated two global databases: (1) a database that tracks fish population size over time, and (2) a database that compiles range shift velocities among marine fishes. Altogether, 2,572 fish populations belonging to 146 species were studied, mostly from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in the Northern Hemisphere.

Left to right - Prof. Jonathan Belmaker Shahar Chaikin

Left to right – Prof. Jonathan Belmaker and Shahar Chaikin

Off the Hook

Prof. Belmaker explains: “We know that climate change causes animal species to move – northward, southward, upwards, or downwards – according to their location relative to cooler regions. In the mountains they climb upwards, in the oceans they dive deeper, in the Southern Hemisphere they move south toward Antarctica, and in the Northern Hemisphere, they move north toward the North Pole. In the present study we wanted to see what happens to species that move from one place to another: do they benefit by increased survivability, or are they in fact harmed by the shift – which was initially caused by greater vulnerability to climate change? We found that the faster fish shift toward the poles, the faster their abundance declines. Apparently, it is difficult for these populations to adapt to their new surroundings”.

PhD student Chaikin: “We found that species shifting their geographical range more rapidly towards the poles, are in fact more likely to lose their abundance (e.g. European seabass). Additional findings show differences between populations that are closer to or further from the poles – within the geographical range of a particular species. While it might have been assumed that populations closer to the cooler polar margins of the species range would be less affected by climate change, we found that the opposite is true: fast poleward range shifts of populations from higher latitudes resulted in a more rapid decline in abundance compared to equatorial populations of the same species”.

The researchers highlight that the new findings can and should guide environmental decisionmakers, by enabling a reevaluation of the conservation status of various species and populations. The study’s results suggest that populations exhibiting rapid poleward range shifts require close monitoring and careful management. Thus, for example, pressures that threaten their survival can be mitigated through measures like fishing limits. Prof. Belmaker: “The common belief is that rapid range shifts safeguard a species against local population decline. But in this study, we found that the opposite is true. Apparently, species rapidly shifting their range in search of cooler temperatures do so because they are more vulnerable to climate change, and consequently require special attention. Last year we published another study that focused on local fish species along Israel’s coastline, which resulted in similar findings: species that move towards deeper and cooler habitats in the face of rising water temperatures exhibit declining populations. In the next stage of our research, we intend to investigate this causal relationship in additional marine species, other than fish”.

Do Green Environments Help Heart Patients Live Longer?

Written by AUFTAU on 4 April 2024. Posted in Newsroom.

In a long-term study, unprecedented in its kind and scope, researchers from Tel Aviv University examined the association between a greener environment, which is most likely saturated with vegetation, and the mortality rate of coronary heart patients after undergoing bypass surgery – which is considered a traumatic event from both the physical and mental aspects. The study, which was carried out on thousands of patients who live all over the State of Israel and followed them over more than 10 years, found that the survival rate of bypass surgery heart patients who live in greener areas is significantly greater than those whose living environment is devoid of greenery. The study was conducted by Ph.D. student Maya Sadeh under the guidance of Prof. Rachel Dankner from the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at the School of Public Health in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences and Prof. Alexandra Chudnovsky from the Porter School of Environment and Earth Sciences at TAU. Also participating: Nir Fulman, also from the Porter School, Nirit Agay and Arnona Ziv from the Gertner Institute for Epidemiology Research at Sheba Medical Center, Ilan Levy from the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and Prof. Michael Brauer from the University of British Columbia in Canada. The research was carried out with the support of the Environment and Health Fund and the Israel Science Foundation and was published in the prestigious journal Epidemiology.

Unique Study Involving 3,128 Heart Patients

Prof. Dankner: “The current study was based on a database we built at the Gertner Institute about 20 years ago for another study: 3,128 heart patients who underwent bypass surgery in seven medical centers in Israel, from Haifa to Beer Sheva, between the years 2004-2007. Using data from the Ministry of the Interior Affairs we found that 1,442 (46%) of them died of various causes by the year 2021. In this study, we wanted to examine to what extent (if at all) the life expectancy of heart patients after surgery is associated with the amount of green vegetation in their residential area”. For the study, the researchers cross-referenced the patients’ residential address data with data from NASA’s Landsat satellites, which photograph the Earth and can locate the color green with a very high resolution and within a range of up to 30×30 meters from the residential address – which allows identification of vegetation even within urban areas.

Nature’s Health Check

The researchers worked to accurately account for the amount of greenery in a radius of up to 300m around the address of each patient and placed this figure against the dates of death or survival of the patients over 14 years from the date of surgery. They performed a detailed statistical analysis of the data, including adjustments for a variety of variables, such as age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, urgency of the hospitalization (elective, semi-elective, or emergency surgery), living in the periphery/center, air pollution, and living distance from the Mediterranean Sea. About 90% of the research participants lived in urban areas, 80% in the coastal plain from the center to Haifa, 15% in the Jerusalem area, and 5% in the southern Beer Sheva area. Maya Sadeh: “We divided the residential addresses of the patients into three groups, according to the amount of vegetation in their surroundings, and found a clear significant association between a green environment and the survival of the patients – that is, how many years they continued to live after the operation. The results revealed that during the mean time of 12 years following the operation, the risk of mortality for those who lived in a very green environment was lower on average by 7% compared to those who lived in a non-green environment. We also found that the beneficial relationship is more pronounced among women, who made up 23% of the cohort, and were older at the time of the surgery (69.5 years old on average) compared to men (63.8 years )”.

The researchers conclude: “In this study, we examined the survival of coronary heart patients after undergoing bypass surgery, and found that living in a greener environment is associated with better chances of survival. We hypothesize that there are a variety of reasons for this: in a green environment, people breathe cleaner air and engage in more physical activity, the atmosphere may be calmer, and the quality of life is better overall. The research findings may be particularly relevant to the current period in Israel: implying that exposure to a green environment may be a beneficial factor in recovering from trauma”.

TAU Receives $12.67M Grant for Medical Simulation Center

Written by AUFTAU on 1 April 2024. Posted in Newsroom.

TEL AVIV, Israel & NEW YORK—A $12.67 million lead grant from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust will support the creation of the Helmsley Medical Simulation Center (“Center”) at the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at Tel Aviv University. The Center will provide student training for a new generation of skilled, experienced, and compassionate medical, dental, and healthcare professionals. The skills learned through simulation trainings will lead to increased patient safety and improved health outcomes. The grant will be used to plan, build, equip, and begin operating the Center in an existing building on Tel Aviv University’s campus. The term “medical education” encompasses many goals, but its key challenge is to teach medical professionals the clinical expertise and communication skills they need to successfully treat patients while managing complex interactions with patients, families, and team members. Managing these sensitive interactions appropriately is critical for ensuring high-quality care and patient safety. In addition, students must practice providing care without causing harm or putting patients at risk. Medical simulation training centers have thus become the standard of care worldwide and a synonym for excellence. The Center will be a dynamic and vibrant facility in use from morning to night by 1,400 medical and dental students, 3,000 MDs receiving continuing education at the Center for Continuing Medical Education at Tel Aviv University, and an additional 500 nursing students, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and more. With Israel facing an acute shortage of medical staff, the Center is a timely initiative, enabling the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences to expand medical training opportunities by revamping medical curricula, prioritizing critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and promoting a holistic patient care approach. The Center will provide comprehensive, high-quality, safe, and culturally sensitive educational services by employing state-of-the-art technologies in a teaching and research environment that is innovative and collaborative. Under the supervision of medical faculty members, the Center will include mock doctor-patient encounters featuring either life-like mannequins or actors as patients, and assessment that includes video-based feedback. Such activities will allow trainees to hone their communication and technical skills in a safe and controlled learning environment that is also dynamic and interactive. Such an environment can help improve student performance, engagement, and retention, ultimately leading to better outcomes for students and later for patients. The Center will implement extended and virtual reality technology, as well as extensive multimedia platforms, with a strong research component.

“We support the people of Israel, and we are committed to supporting Israel’s world-class healthcare services,” said Sandor Frankel, a Trustee of The Helmsley Charitable Trust.

“The Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at Tel Aviv University is a powerhouse of teaching and research in medicine and the health sciences, and we recognize the impact the University will have through providing state-of-the-art medical training for a new generation of students, physicians, nurses, occupational therapists, and other health professionals.” Helmsley aims to expand healthcare services so that everyone in Israel has access to quality healthcare no matter where they live, strengthen Israel’s contributions to basic scientific, technological, and medical research, and promote global understanding and appreciation of Israel and its people. Previous grants from Helmsley have supported Tel Aviv University’s research on nanomedicines for personalized “theranostics” for cancer, cardiovascular, and inflammatory diseases, and research on advanced communications technology. Tel Aviv University President, Prof. Ariel Porat, said, “We are deeply grateful for this vote of confidence by the Helmsley Charitable Trust in our medical faculty, which is the largest and leading one in Israel and among the most advanced in the world. With the visionary Helmsley gift, we will be able to build a major facility that is comprehensive, collaborative and innovative, and that will bring our medical training to new heights for the benefit of the Israeli people.”

Prof. Karen Avraham, Dean of the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, commented: “Our remarkable team has worked tirelessly in the recent months to bring this dream to reality, Inspired by our former Dean, Prof. Ehud Grossman. At a time when medical and health care is on the verge of transformations in AI and gene and cell therapy, providing competency and compassion remains a priority.”

About the Helmsley Charitable Trust

The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust aspires to improve lives by supporting exceptional efforts in the U.S. and around the world in health and select place-based initiatives. Since beginning active grantmaking in 2008, Helmsley has committed $4.5 billion for a wide range of charitable purposes, including over $605 million for projects in Israel. For more information on Helmsley and its programs, visit helmsleytrust.org.

About Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University (TAU) – Israel’s largest and most comprehensive institution of higher learning – is home to over 30,000 students studying in nine faculties and over 125 schools and departments across the spectrum of sciences, humanities, and the arts. Situated in Israel’s cultural, financial, and technological capital, TAU shares Tel Aviv’s unshakable spirit of openness and innovation – and boasts a campus life as dynamic and pluralistic as the metropolis itself. Tel Aviv the city and Tel Aviv the university are one and the same – a thriving Mediterranean center of diversity and discovery.

Prof. Hagit Messer-Yaron: Eco-Tech ‘Nobel’ in Electrical Engineering

Written by AUFTAU on 29 March 2024. Posted in Newsroom.

Tel Aviv University applauds and congratulates Prof. Hagit Messer-Yaron from the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering for winning the 2024 IEEE Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies, for her outstanding “contributions to sensing of the environment using wireless communication networks”. IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, established in 1884, is the world’s largest international professional association, with about 450,000 members worldwide. IEEE strives to advance technological innovation and entrepreneurship for the benefit of humanity, and the IEEE Medal is regarded by electrical engineering researchers as the ‘Nobel Prize’ in their field. Prof. Messer-Yaron explains that her research addresses two of today’s greatest scientific and technological challenges: climate change and its implications for life on Earth and processing big data in AI systems. She adds that the first challenge necessitates close monitoring of precipitation and other climatic phenomena in any place inhabited by humans and that today the presence of people is highly correlated with the existence of wireless communication networks.

“The technology we developed enables processing and analyzing the big data collected by these existing communication networks for other purposes. Specifically, it uses changes in signal intensity to monitor meteorological phenomena in general and precipitation in particular. This is a breakthrough in monitoring climate change and the ways to address it”, says Prof. Messer-Yaron.

Prof. Messer-Yaron’s original research enables using the existing coverage of cellular networks to monitor weather and precipitation – eliminating the need to install separate infrastructures of weather radars and locally designated stations that would be sufficiently widespread to provide reliable measures. Prof. Messer-Yaron first presented her novel idea in the leading scientific journal Science, and a 2009 study demonstrated that it can also be used to predict flash floods. For these achievements, Prof. Messer-Yaron and her co-researchers received the Best Inventor Award from WIPO – the World Intellectual Property Organization. In recent years, following Prof. Messer-Yaron’s work, research on opportunistic environmental sensing has grown significantly.

Prof. Messer-Yaron: “I am thrilled to receive the IEEE Medal, and very pleased that my work is being recognized. I see great importance in utilizing existing technologies for the benefit of humankind and wish to thank my colleagues and students at TAU and in other research groups for their contribution to advancing this concept. Current challenges have generated considerable interest worldwide in this sustainable technology, including the establishment of a cohort of over 100 researchers working to implement it with EU funding, an initiative for promoting it in Africa, and more”.

Breaking the MedTech Glass Ceiling

Written by AUFTAU on 27 March 2024. Posted in Alumni News, Newsroom.

Israel’s reputation as “Startup Nation” is well-deserved, but its tech industry suffers from a lack of gender diversity. Hoping to bring in a wealth of untapped potential, Tel Aviv University’s Entrepreneurship Center created a semester-long hands-on workshop for women to help bring their startup ideas to fruition with the help of experienced mentors. One such project is Symbiosis CM, founded by student-and-mentor team Dr. Shira Burg and Varda Badet, which is creating a medical device that personalizes treatment of heart disease. The startup has raised $1.9M as of last year and won a number of competitions and grants including the Deep Tech Track of the Coller Startup Competition and a grant from the Israeli Innovation Authority. The Problem Originally trained as a veterinarian, Shira Burg worked for seven years alongside a small animal cardiologist in Israel, doing catheter procedures on dogs with congenital heart valve disease. There, she learned that one of the most common heart diseases, mitral valve disease, is difficult to treat because valve replacements are not fitted to individual heart sizes and replacement surgeries are invasive and costly. The disease occurs in aged dogs—and aged humans—in almost exactly the same way. During this period, she began working with a surgeon who was attempting to create a mitral valve prosthetic, but discovered just how much heart anatomies differ from person to person. “You can’t take something rigid and standard and expect it to fit every heart,” she says. “I realized that though we have personalized medicine in many fields such as drugs, diet, and genetics, we don’t have much personalization for medical devices. I saw an opening there for an improved mitral valve solution.”

Shira Burg: “I realized that though we have personalized medicine in many fields such as drugs, diet, and genetics, we don’t have much personalization for medical devices. I saw an opening there.”

Burg decided to pursue a PhD in cardiac electrophysiology at TAU’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at the lab of Prof. Bernard Attali. There, she continued to think about her idea for a better mitral valve device. In 2020, she heard about a new workshop, Yazamiyot, for female graduate students at TAU’s Entrepreneurship Center. “I realized that if I could get accepted, I might be able to do something with my idea.” After a rigorous application process involving three separate interviews, Burg was one of 30 women admitted to the first course. The Course Yazamiyot, meaning “female entrepreneurs”, is an accelerator program targeting women master’s and PhD students. Participants work in small groups over one semester to establish a startup initiative in a supportive and empowering environment and are mentored through the process by successful women with industry experience. Burg’s mentor, TAU alumna Varda Badet, would go on to become her business partner. “With Varda, something just stuck. We had a connection,” Burg says. Badet came from the finance sector, having served as the EVP at Bank Leumi for Risk Management during her many years in the field. Hoping to share her knowledge and connections, she took some courses to become a mentor at the Entrepreneurship Center. “There I found Shira, a very special entrepreneur. Every unsolved problem, she investigates and explores until it is solved. She is very motivated and ambitious, and I could see she was someone I wanted to work with.”

Yair Sakov: “At Tel Aviv University, we feel it is our responsibility to help drive change within society. Our mission at the Center is to empower students to come up with solutions to global challenges.”

During the semester, participants were brought face to face with the market realities that would determine whether their ideas were commercially feasible. They were taught how to inform themselves on target demographics and competitors, present their ideas to experts and the public, build a team, and more. They also heard from industry experts, from whom they could ask advice on their individual projects, and successful female entrepreneurs. Yair Sakov, founder and managing director of the TAU Entrepreneurship Center, says: “At Tel Aviv University, we feel it is our responsibility to help drive change within our society. Our mission at the Center is to empower students to come up with solutions to global challenges by helping them develop an entrepreneurial mindset and by giving them tools and resources. In particular, we aim to uplift underrepresented communities, including women, who are still marginalized in the startup ecosystem. The Yazamiyot program was created to address that gender gap, and nearly every cohort since its inception has contributed to the establishment of new woman-led startups.” Burg credits the workshop with giving her the tools to make her idea for a personalized heart valve device a reality, but says the most important thing she gained was her connection with Badet. Aside from teaching necessary business finance skills, Badet brought in resources in the form of her many industry connections and financial backing. “As a mentor, you must believe in your entrepreneur completely and be ready to stick out the tough process with them. This product is worth that perseverance because it could save so many lives,” says Badet. The Company There is indeed great life-saving potential in addressing the lack of effective mitral valve disease solutions: in the US alone about 70% of the 4 million patients with the condition are unable to get proper treatment. Additionally, hospitals pay about $40 billion a year in treatment costs, with over 90% rehospitalization rates due to heart failure. Many companies have tried to address the problem, but their products are not widely approved and do not fit more than 20% of heart anatomies. In a novel move, Symbiosis CM is developing a docking system that allows for real-time valve adjustment per an individual’s heart structure and minimally invasive procedures to treat the disease. The system is compatible with valves already on the market, making it accessible and opening the door to collaboration with other companies. The startup team already has a working prototype in preclinical trials on lab models.

A sample image of the heart valve docking system created by Symbiosis CM Burg happily notes that her original plan to develop a solution for dogs, ideated during her time as a veterinarian, may one day also become reality: the product is small enough to work on animals as well as people. The management side of things is also on track for success: Burg and Badet recently brought on a new CEO, Amir Weisberg, who has behind him 35 years of entrepreneurial experience, three exits in the medical field and an IPO on NASDAQ. “He was actually retired when we approached him, but after we presented to him, he decided to come out of retirement and sign on full-time to the company,” says Burg. The Need for Women in Industry Both Burg and Badet note that the Yazamiyot course is essential because of the difficulties of succeeding in the startup industry as a woman. Says Burg, “It’s a male-dominated world. We need to say it out loud. Especially in the spaces where I work, in the medical field and cardiology, it’s mostly men. When I came to specialists and investors, they would see a young woman and decide before I started speaking that I wasn’t to be taken seriously. That is why it is so important to push more women into entrepreneurship in general: so that people no longer question what we’re doing there.” Adds Badet, “it makes me so glad to see and to help more women break into entrepreneurship.”

Shira Burg: “In Israel, female entrepreneurship is an unpolished diamond.”

“Israel has many undiscovered talents,” says Burg. “Female entrepreneurship, especially, is an unpolished diamond. If we expand programs such as Yazamiyot, amazing things will come from it.” About the Entrepreneurship Center Four the last four years, Tel Aviv University’s Entrepreneurship Center has provided students from across campus with the knowledge, tools, strategies and opportunities to create business and social ventures. It connects them with alumni, industry, government agencies and NGOs to generate and develop the next world-changing ideas. Over the Center’s first years of operations, it has achieved the following: · 100 entrepreneurship courses, events and programs · 12,000 student participants · 92 startups ·$155 million in VC capital ·190 top industry mentors, most of them TAU alumni By gradually expanding activities, the Center expects its to reach 4,500 students per year by 2029.

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