Tag: Life Sciences

Three Tel Aviv University Researchers Awarded the ERC Proof of Concept (PoC) grants

Written by AUFTAU on 9 February 2023. Posted in Newsroom.

The European Research Council (ERC) recently announced the recipients of its 2022 call for Proof of Concept (PoC) grants, and three Tel Aviv University researchers were included on the list. The grants – each worth 150.000 euro – help researchers to bridge the gap between the discoveries stemming from their frontier research and the practical application of the findings, including early phases of their commercialization. The funding is part of the EU’s research and innovation program, Horizon Europe.

“Tel Aviv University sees great importance in the development of applied technologies and their commercialization, and we are very proud of our researchers and happy about their achievements and success. It is exciting to see that Israel in general, and Tel Aviv University in particular, continue to be at the forefront of global science in a variety of fields.” says Prof. Dan Peer, Tel Aviv University’s Vice President for Research and Development and Head of the Laboratory for Nanomedicine.

The three researchers who were awarded ERC Proof of Concept grants for their groundbreaking research were:

Prof. Ronit Satchi-Fainaro | Sackler Faculty of Medicine:

Prof. Satchi-Fainaro is engaged in multidisciplinary research that focuses on the interactions between cancer cells and their microenvironment, and discovering new targeting molecules that may interfere with the interaction between the host and the tumor. In her current research, Satchi-Fainaro is developing a targeted modular nanoplatform that can be used as a therapeutic tool and would also help regulate the cells of the immune system during cancer treatment. She won the ERC PoC (ImmuNovation) grant based on her ERC Advanced grant (3DBrainStorm), which deals with the development of cancer nano-vaccines, tested on the unique 3D models she created in her laboratory.

Prof. Raja Giryes | School of Electrical Engineering | The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering:

Prof. Giryes’ research focuses on artificial intelligence and its application in the fields of signal processing, images, and optics. In his current research, Prof. Giryes is developing innovative cameras for polarization and 3D calculation. Based on this technology, a polarized endoscopy method will be developed that incorporates 3D imaging.

Prof. Eilon Shani | School of Plant Sciences and Food Security | The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences:

Prof. Shani researches the fields of molecular genetics in plants as well as the transport mechanisms of signal molecules in plants. In order to deal with the challenge of the genetic overlap of gene families in plants, Prof. Shani’s current research applies genetic editing approaches (CRISPR) with genomic resolution. These biotechnological tools result in revealing the phenotypic variation in the plant, and identifying mechanisms that the plant uses to deal with changes such as lack of water.

Featured image: From left to right: Prof. Raja Giryes, Prof. Ronit Satchi-Fainaro and Prof. Eilon Shani

Five Tel Aviv University Researchers Win Prestigious ERC Grants

Written by AUFTAU on 7 February 2023. Posted in Newsroom.

The European Research Council (ERC) recently announced the winners of its 2022 call for research grants for mid-career researchers, and Tel Aviv University won five of these grants. The highly coveted grants enable promising researchers to achieve their research goals, promote fruitful collaborations and build competent research teams.

From Across TAU Campus

“We are very proud of our researchers, and happy about their success. It is exciting to see that Israel in general, and Tel Aviv University in particular, continue to be at the forefront of global science. I am especially happy and excited to see a growing representation of researchers from the fields of Humanities and Social Sciences,” says Prof. Dan Peer, Tel Aviv University’s Vice President for Research and Development and Head of the Laboratory for Nanomedicine.

The following researchers were awarded ERC grants for their groundbreaking research:

Prof. Miri Yemini | School of Education | The Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities

Prof. Yemini researches the interactions between local and global processes in the education system. She explores how young people from different backgrounds in different countries understand and apply global citizenship.

Prof. Tom Schonberg | The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and Sagol School of Neuroscience

Prof. Schonberg heads the Minerva Center for Human Intelligence in Immersive, Augmented and Mixed Realities and the TAU XR Center. In his laboratory, he investigates mental functions and the neural basis of human decision-making processes. For this purpose, he uses MRI methods, eye movement tracking, various physiological indices, and methods from the computational learning field. He also investigates human decision-making through the construction of virtual reality environments that enable full functionality and are monitored at the highest possible level.

Prof. Limor Landsman | Sackler Faculty of Medicine

Prof. Limor Landsman from the Cell and Developmental Biology Department researches the function of beta cells, cells that regulate insulin production, crucial for blood sugar control and for the prevention of diabetes. Her team studies how beta-cell function and mass are established and maintained in healthy individuals and why they are lost in instances of diabetes. To this end, they research the crosstalk between beta-cells andother cells in their microenvironment.

Dr. Erica Lynn Weiss | Department of Sociology and Anthropology | Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences

Dr. Weiss is a cultural anthropologist who studies how people navigate moral dilemmas they encounter in their daily lives. She also researches liberalism and its alternatives, especially in the contexts of religious and ethnic coexistence. Through her research, Dr. Weiss explores how different groups in the world find ways to overcome differences and bridge the gaps between them.

Prof. Hila Shamir | Faculty of Law

Hila Shamir, a Professor of Law at Tel-Aviv University Faculty of Law, teaches and researches Employment, Labor, Immigration, and Welfare Law with a focus on issues of human trafficking, gender equality, informal work, and the law of global value chains. Prof. Shamir is a second time ERC grant winner. As part of her first ERC grant, she established the research group TraffLab: Labor Perspective to Human Trafficking.

In her current research, Shamir examines efforts to promote workers’ rights in global supply and production chains. Her groundbreaking research looks towards various efforts to strengthen the collective power of workers in different parts of the world, to learn how a collective labor law can be developed to counterbalance to the growing power of corporations in the global economy.

Featured image: Winners of the ERC grant for 2023 (from left to right): Prof. Tom Schonberg, Prof. Limor Landsman, Prof. Miri Yemini, Prof. Hila Shamir and Dr. Erica Weiss

Do You Have a Rightist or a Leftist Brain?

Written by AUFTAU on 1 February 2023. Posted in Newsroom.

Political orientation can be predicted by measuring brain activation while watching campaign-ads.

A first-of-its-kind study scanned the brains of dozens of politically involved participants while they watched campaign-ads and speeches by parties from both ends of the political spectrum, just before one of the last rounds of elections. The participants, half right-wing and half left-wing, were scanned using magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a method that measures brain activation. Surprisingly, political-dependent differences in the brain response emerged already in early brain regions, such as regions involved in vision and hearing, and in fact the response in these regions was enough to predict an individual’s political views.

Great Minds Think Alike

The study was led by Noa Katabi, a research student in the lab of Dr. Yaara Yeshurun in The School of Psychological Sciences and the Sagol School of Neuroscience. The study was published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

During the study, participants watched video-clips, including a neutral (in terms of political characteristics) video-clip and different political campaign-ads and political speeches by politicians from both blocs, Right and Left. The researchers were surprised to discover widespread partisanship-dependent brain activation and synchronization when Right-wing individuals watched the videos of their political bloc, or when Left-wing individuals watched the videos of left-wing politician.

Interestingly, the researchers found that such partisanship-dependent differences in brain synchronization was not limited to “higher” areas of the brain, associated with interpretation and abstract thinking, as was previously found. Rather, these differences occurred already in regions responsible for sight, hearing and even touch.

“This is the first study to show political-dependent brain activity in early sensory and motor areas, and it can be said that at the most basic brain level, rightists and leftists in Israel literally (and not just metaphorically) don’t see and hear the same things.” Dr. Yaara Yeshurun

Dr. Yaara Yeshurun

Rightists and Leftists Experience Things Differently

“The research clearly showed that the more the subjects were politically aligned with a certain group, the more their brain response was synchronized, including in motor and somatosensory areas, that is, those areas of the brain that are active when we move or feel things with our senses,” explains Dr. Yeshurun. “In fact, just by the brain’s response in these primary sensory areas we could tell if a certain individual was left or wight wing. Intriguingly, it was not necessary to examine the activity in ‘higher’ brain areas – areas that are involved in understanding why a certain character did something, or what that character thinks and feels – to predict participants’ political views, it could even be done by examining an area of the brain that is responsible for seeing or hearing.”

The researchers think that this surprising finding is due to the fact that the participants they chose were politically involved, and also due to the timing of the experiment – a few weeks before the elections, when the political atmosphere in Israel was very present and emotional.

“This is the first study to show political-dependent brain activity in early sensory and motor areas, and it can be said that at the most basic brain level, rightists and leftists in Israel literally (and not just metaphorically) don’t see and hear the same things. I think that if we try to understand how people who hold opposite political views to ours experience the world, we might be able to conduct a slightly more effective public discussion that can hopefully attenuate the current political polarization,” adds Dr. Yeshurun.

Right or left? “If we try to understand how people who hold opposite political views to ours experience the world, we might be able to conduct a slightly more effective public discussion (…)”

Prof. Ehud Gazit Elected Fellow of the US National Academy of Inventors

Written by AUFTAU on 25 January 2023. Posted in Newsroom.

Prof. Ehud Gazit of Tel Aviv University was recently elected as a Fellow of the United States National Academy of Inventors (NAI). The appointment to the rank of NAI Fellow is the highest recognition given by the Academy, awarded to innovators whose inventions have had a decisive impact on quality of life, economic development, and social welfare.

The National Academy of Inventors counts over 4,000 members in about 250 different institutions around the world, who as of today hold over 58,000 registered patents. The National Academy of Inventors was established in 2010 to recognize and encourage inventions that are covered by US patents.

Prof. Ehud Gazit is a Full Professor at The Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research in The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and The Department of Materials Science and Engineering in The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering at Tel Aviv University. In addition, he is incumbent of the Chair of the Biotechnology of Degenerative Diseases, a member of the University’s Executive Committee, and the Founding Director of the Blavatnik Center for Drug Discovery.

As one of the most prolific inventors in the Israeli academy, he has been granted over a hundred patents, and has managed the transfer of technologies to companies in Israel and around the world. Two drugs he developed are currently in human trials, many others are in model-based drug development, and a food supplement that he co-developed is currently sold in the US.

Professor Gazit thanked the members of the NAI: “I would like to express my gratitude to the members of the Academy for selecting me for this honor. My research focuses on the interconnectedness of discovery, invention, and application, and I strongly believe that basic and groundbreaking science can and should be applied for the benefit of society. I am grateful for the recognition of our efforts in this regard. I would also like to thank my current and former students and colleagues for their innovative research, as well as the staff at ’Ramot‘ for translating our work into practical applications in industry.”

He previously served as Tel Aviv University’s Vice President for Research and Development, as Chairman of Ramot, Tel Aviv University’s technology transfer company, and as the Chief Scientist of the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology.

Over the years, Prof. Gazit has won a series of prestigious awards in Israel and around the world, including the Kadar Family Award for Outstanding Research, the Landau Award for Arts and Sciences, and the Rappaport Prize for excellence in biomedical research. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in the UK, a foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences in India, and a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization. He was recently appointed to the International Solvay Chair in Chemistry for 2023, the first Israeli to be appointed to this position previously held by 15 of the world’s top scientists, including three Nobel Prize winners in chemistry.

Researchers Uncover New Factors Linked to Williams Syndrome

Written by AUFTAU on 24 January 2023. Posted in Newsroom.

Williams syndrome is a relatively rare, multisystem genetic syndrome that causes disorders in brain development. A new study by the Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University found that abnormal processes lead to disruption in the expression of genes essential for brain development in people suffering from the syndrome. The researchers believe their findings may contribute to the future development of targeted treatments that will enable normal expression of the affected genes identified in the research.

Looking Beyond Chromosome 7

The research was led by Dr. Boaz Barak from the School of Psychological Sciences and the Sagol School of Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University and Dr. Asaf Marco from the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment of the Hebrew University. Also participating in the research were Dr. Sari Trangle, Mr. Gilad Levy and Ms. Ela Bar from Dr. Barak’s laboratory, and Dr. Tali Rosenberg and Ms. Hadar Parnas from Dr. Marco’s laboratory. The research findings were published in the prestigious journal Molecular Psychiatry from the Nature publishing group.

“We wanted to examine whether the Williams Syndrome is also characterized by defects in the genomes contained in brain cells which prevent the proper expression of essential genes.” Dr. Boaz Barak

Dr. Barak: “Williams syndrome is a rare, multisystem genetic syndrome that includes disorders in brain development that lead to heightened social interactions, mental retardation, and other characteristic features. Past research has revealed that twenty-five genes are missing from the DNA on chromosome number seven of people with Williams syndrome, and the study of the syndrome to date has mainly focused on those missing genes and their functions.”

“We wanted to examine whether the syndrome is also characterized by defects in the genomes contained in brain cells which prevent the proper expression of essential genes. Specifically, we asked: ‘Is it possible that certain genes are not expressed properly in the brains of people with Williams syndrome due to the phenomenon of methylation – when a molecule known as a ‘methyl group’ is located on a certain gene that is present in the genome, preventing it from expressing itself properly?”.

To illustrate the phenomenon of the missing genes, Dr. Barak took an instruction book in which some of the pages were torn out. As a result of the missing pages, anyone following the instructions would make mistakes. Similarly, hiding some of the letters in the pages left in the book with a black marker would result in instructions being corrupted, just like methylation on an existing gene disrupts its expression.

Methylation is in many cases a normal mechanism in the cells of the body, as its role is to prevent expression of certain genes when appropriate. However, when there are disruptions in the correct application of methylation, the abnormal expression of the genes may lead to impairments in cell function, and subsequently cause damage to various organs, including to normal brain development.

Dr. Boaz Barak from the School of Psychological Sciences and the Sagol School of Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University

Uncovering New Factors

The researchers examined human brain tissues taken from adults with and without Williams syndrome who died of causes unrelated to the syndrome and donated their brains to science.

“We focused on samples from the frontal lobe, the area of the brain that is responsible for brain functions such as cognition and decision-making,” Dr. Barak explained. “In a previous study, we located in this area damage to the characteristics of the nerve cells and the cells that support nerve cell activity in people with Williams syndrome. In this study, we examined all the genes in all the cells of the frontal lobe to determine whether there are genes in people with Williams syndrome that have undergone abnormal methylation processes, i.e., increased or decreased gene silencing compared to a brain with typical development.”

“We uncovered significant information about the defective expression of genes in people with Williams syndrome. While these genes are fully present in the genome of the brain cells, until now it was not known that these abnormally regulated genes are involved in the syndrome.” Dr. Asaf Marco.

The researchers found that indeed in people with Williams syndrome abnormal methylation does exist in this area of the brain, resulting in disruption of the normal expression of many genes related to the normal development of the brain’s neural functions, such as regulation of social behavior (people with Williams syndrome are known to be overly friendly), cognition, plasticity of the brain, and cell survival.

“We uncovered significant information about the defective expression of genes in people with Williams syndrome. While these genes are fully present in the genome of the brain cells, until now it was not known that these abnormally regulated genes are involved in the syndrome,” says Dr. Marco.

“Building on our findings, it will be possible to focus future efforts on the development of targeted treatments that will reach the disrupted sites that we identified in the study in order to ‘correct’ the defective expressions.” Dr. Boaz Barak

Next Step: Target Disrupted Sites

“In addition, one of our main findings is that the disruptions in methylation do not have to appear near the gene whose function is impaired, and sometimes the disruptions are located far away from it. This information is critical because it allows us to better understand the spatial organization of DNA and its effect on gene control.”

He adds that, “since we know of enzymes that are able to remove or add methyl molecules, the next challenge will be to precisely direct those enzymes to the disrupted sites identified in our research, with the aim of allowing the genes to be properly expressed.”

Dr. Barak concludes: “Our research revealed new factors related to the disabilities that characterize Williams syndrome. Instead of focusing on the effects of the missing gene, as has been done until now, we shed light on many more genes that are expressed in a defective manner. Building on our findings, it will be possible to focus future efforts on the development of targeted treatments that will reach the disrupted sites that we identified in the study in order to ‘correct’ the defective expressions.”

Robot, Can You Smell This?

Written by AUFTAU on 23 January 2023. Posted in Newsroom.

In a scientific first, a robot can “smell” using a biological sensor.

After having developed a robot that hears through the ear of a locust, researchers from Tel Aviv University have succeeded in equipping a robot with the sense of smell, using a biological sensor. The sensor sends electrical signals as a response to the presence of a nearby odor, which the robot can detect and interpret. The researchers successfully connected the biological sensor to an electronic system and using a machine learning algorithm, were able to identify odors with a level of sensitivity 10,000 times higher than that of a commonly used electronic device. The researchers say “The sky’s the limit,” and believe that this technology may also be used in the future to identify explosives, drugs, diseases, and more.

WATCH: The first robot with a biological nose. Only at Tel Aviv University.

“Man-made technologies still can’t compete with millions of years of evolution. One area in which we particularly lag behind the animal world is that of smell perception (…) When they want to check if a passenger is smuggling drugs [at the airport], they bring in a dog to sniff him.” Dr. Ben Maoz and Prof. Amir Ayali

Technology Lags Behind Evolution

The biological and technological breakthrough was led by doctoral student Neta Shvil of Tel Aviv University’s Sagol School of Neuroscience, Dr. Ben Maoz of the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering and the Sagol School of Neuroscience, and Prof. Yossi Yovel and Prof. Amir Ayali of the School of Zoology and the Sagol School of Neuroscience. The results of the study were published in the prestigious journal Biosensor and Bioelectronics.

Dr. Maoz and Prof. Ayali explain: “Man-made technologies still can’t compete with millions of years of evolution. One area in which we particularly lag behind the animal world is that of smell perception (…) When they want to check if a passenger is smuggling drugs [at the airport], they bring in a dog to sniff him.”

“In the animal world, insects excel at receiving and processing sensory signals. A mosquito, for example, can detect a 0.01 percent difference in the level of carbon dioxide in the air. Today, we are far from producing sensors whose capabilities come close to those of insects.”

The researchers point out that, in general, our sensory organs, such as the eye, ear and nose – as well as those of all other animals – use receptors that identify and distinguish between different signals. Then, the sensory organ translates these findings into electrical signals, which the brain decodes as information. The challenge of biosensors is in the connection of a sensory organ, like the nose, to an electronic system that knows how to decode the electrical signals received from the receptors.

Dr. Ben Maoz and doctoral student Neta Shvil

“Nature is much more advanced than we are, so we should take advantage of that.” Dr. Ben Maoz.

10,000 Times More Sensitive to Smell

“We connected the biological sensor [to the electronic system] and let it smell different odors while we measured the electrical activity that each odor induced,” explains Prof. Yovel. “The system allowed us to detect each odor at the level of the insect’s primary sensory organ.”

“Then, in the second step, we used machine learning to create a ‘library’ of smells. In the study, we were able to characterize 8 odors, such as geranium, lemon and marzipan, in a way that allowed us to know when the smell of lemon or marzipan was presented. In fact, after the experiment was over, we continued to identify additional different and unusual smells, such as various types of Scotch whiskey. A comparison with standard measuring devices showed that the sensitivity of the insect’s nose in our system is about 10,000 times higher than the devices that are in use today.”

“Nature is much more advanced than we are, so we should take advantage of that,” says Dr. Maoz. “The principle we have demonstrated can be used and applied to other senses, such as sight and touch. For example, some animals have amazing abilities to detect explosives or drugs; the creation of a robot with a biological nose could help us preserve human life and identify criminals in a way that is not possible today. Some animals can detect diseases. Others sense earthquakes. The sky is the limit.”

What’s next? The researchers plan to give the robot a navigation ability to allow it to localize the odor source and later, its identity.

Will he be able to retire soon? A working dog searches for hazardous materials at the airport

Tel Aviv University’s First MedTech Hackathon Sets a High Bar

Written by AUFTAU on 15 January 2023. Posted in Newsroom.

TAU’s first competition for medical innovation ended last weekend (January 11-13) with spectacular results. The TAU MedTech Hackathon, organized by four entrepreneurial students from Tel Aviv University’s faculties of Medicine and Engineering, included 200 students who participated alongside 120 mentors and 30 judges from Israeli medicine and hi-tech. They shared the common goal of finding solutions for today’s burning medical problems.

Burning Challenges from Israel’s Medical Industry

TAU students from Medicine, Engineering, Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Neuroscience, and Sofaer Global MBA (the flagship global MBA program of the Coller School of Management) worked together in 34 interdisciplinary teams for over 40 hours to come up with practical solutions to critical issues as defined by selected Israeli organizations and hospitals.

Among the problems: finding a technological solution for early detection of peripartum depression (depression occurring during pregnancy and/or after childbirth); providing remote healthcare to ease the burden on hospitals and individuals who are physically challenged; inventing a new and safe device for brain water drainage in cases of hydrocephalus (a life threatening condition in children), and more.

The participants were not left to their own devices: each team was assigned two mentors, one from the medical world and another from the technological world, each leader in their field. In addition, the participants could join lectures and TED-style talks by industry experts.

Among the 200 participants were 30 international students, eight of them from Sofaer Global MBA. “The hackathon was an amazing experience which allowed our students to help their teams with the business side of the process and implement the knowledge they already gained through their studies into this real life experience. Impact entrepreneurship is the kind of entrepreneurship that we are encouraging and supporting at Sofaer,” said Jackie Goren, Head of the Program and one of the mentors at the hackathon.

Student Initiative

The students who launched the ambitious initiative were Tom Zukerman, Yael Lieber and Orr Erlich – all third-year medical students, and Ilan Peerutin, a third-year dual B.sc Biomedical Engineering, Biology and Neuroscience student.

Together, the four recruited support from international tech and biomedical engineering giants, as well as hospitals and health care funds. Noteworthy sponsors included: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, AWS, Meuhedet, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, TAU’s Entrepreneurship Center, Teva, Ichilov Tech, Novartis, Startup Nation Central, Philips and the Sagol Center for Regenerative Medicine.

Tel Aviv University encourages entrepreneurial activities for and by its students, and Prof. Karen Avraham, TAU’s Dean of Medicine, supported the students throughout the process: “This was an incredible initiative, and it came entirely from the students. They asked me if the Faculty of Medicine would support the project, and I immediately agreed (…) This hackathon is particularly thrilling because it is not a given that students would dedicate their time and make the effort required to mobilize so many stakeholders to come up with solutions to save people’s lives and health,” she said.

And the Winners Are…

Making the Operating Room Safer

The first prize went to team “OReye” from the Clalit Health Services’ general surgery challenge. Most aspects of patient safety in surgeries today are handled solely by the operating team. OReye utilizes cutting-edge computer vision technology to alleviate some of this responsibility, allowing the team to focus solely on the procedure. OReye’s mission is to improve patient safety in the operating room and reduce stress for surgical teams, making it a valuable tool in the operating room. Their project stood out for its originality, feasibility, and potential impact.

The winning team will be flying to compete in the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) medical hackathon competition “MIT Grand Hack,” scheduled for April 2023.

The team will also receive an AION Labs and Sanara Ventures accelerator package, which includes personal mentoring hours with experts, office space and professional tools to help develop their winning idea into a commercial startup.

The winning team and Prof. Karen Avraham (from left to right): Adi Sarig, Aviv Ziv, Prof. Karen Avraham, Idan Hezler, Eden Elbaz, Raz Naveh and Daphne Cavanaugh

Early Detection of Peripartum Depression

The runner-ups were the “Mommies,” who competed in the women’s health challenge from the Briah Foundation. The team created a community-based wellness app for the early diagnose and treatment of peripartum depression. “It is a true delight to create something for women,” says team member Juliana Gordon from the Sofaer MBA Program, and adds “This is just the beginning. Hopefully we will be able to impact millions of lives, benefitting society.”

The team will receive ten mentoring sessions with experts from Weccelerate and the Israeli Leumit Health Services.

Team “Mommies” with Alon Pinhas from Weccelerate (from left to right): Juliana Gordon, Victoria Koval, Assaf Gadish, Mirit Halfon, Tal Beit Halevi, Shani Zach and Alon Pinhas (Weccelerate)

Personalized Treatment Plans for Breast Reduction

Team “ABC3D” competed in the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center Ichilov’s plastic surgery challenge. They developed a service that uses 3D models to create personalized treatment plans for breast reduction surgery. This enables advanced prediction and visualization ahead of surgery.

The team was awarded an entrance ticket to the JumpTAU accelerator program at TAU’s Entrepreneurship Center.

Team “ABC3D” with Yair Sakov, Head of TAU Entrepreneur Center (from left to right): Savion Cohen, Sarah Tannenbaum, Alaa Masarwa, Ido Shapira, Lydia Sokolovski and Yair Sakov (TAU Entrepreneur Center)

In addition, all the winning teams will receive legal advice, courtesy of leading Israeli commercial law firm Barnea Jaffa Lande.

“Prizes for such hackathons are usually monetary,” notes organizer Tom Zuckerman. “However, it was important to us that the winners receive tools and assistance to develop the skillsets needed to advance their initiatives.”

The Joy of the Process

How do the organizers summarize the event? The hackathon exceeded all their expectations: When we started this project, we didn’t imagine that so many people would believe in our vision. Those 40 hours were incredible; 200 talented and motivated students, accompanied by professionals and super-experienced mentors, and an extraordinary panel of judges. Seeing the results was fantastic, but following the process was an absolute joy.”

“We are already looking forward to next year’s hackathon, where we will continue to push the boundaries of medical innovation and positively impact the healthcare industry. In addition, we will be organizing other events during the year, and you’re all welcome to follow us to stay up to date!”

Tired but happy. TAU MEDTech organizers (from left to right) Tom Zuckerman, Orr Erlich, Yael Lieber and Ilan Peerutin

Researchers Identify 100,000 New Types of Viruses

Written by AUFTAU on 27 December 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

A groundbreaking Tel Aviv University study has discovered about 100,000 new types of previously unknown viruses – a ninefold increase in the amount of RNA viruses known to science until now. The viruses were discovered in global environmental data from soil samples, oceans, lakes, and a variety of other ecosystems. The researchers believe that the discovery may help in the development of anti-microbial drugs and in protecting against agriculturally harmful fungi and parasites.

Most Viruses Not Harmful to Humans

The study was led by doctoral student Uri Neri under the guidance of Prof. Uri Gophna of the Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research in The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University. The research was conducted in collaboration with the US-based research bodies NIH and JGI, as well as the Pasteur Institute in France. The study was published in the prestigious journal Cell, and comprised data collected by more than a hundred scientists around the world.

Viruses are genetic parasites, meaning they must infect a living cell to replicate their genetic information, produce new viruses, and complete their infection cycle. Some viruses are disease-causing agents that can cause harm to humans (such as the coronavirus), but most viruses do not harm us – some of them even live inside our bodies without us even being aware of it.

“One of the key questions in microbiology is how and why viruses transfer genes between them. We identified several cases in which such gene exchanges enabled viruses to infect new organisms.” Prof. Uri Gophna

Harnessing Viruses for Use in Medicine and Agriculture

Uri Neri says that the study used new computational technologies to mine genetic information collected from thousands of different sampling points around the world: oceans, soil, sewage, geysers, and more. The researchers developed a sophisticated computational tool that distinguishes between the genetic material of RNA viruses and that of the hosts and used it to analyze the big data. The discovery allowed the researchers to reconstruct how the viruses underwent diverse acclimation processes throughout their evolutionary development to adapt to different hosts.

In analyzing their findings, the researchers were able to identify viruses suspected of infecting various pathogenic microorganisms, thus enabling viruses to control them. “The system we developed makes it possible to perform in-depth evolutionary analyses and to understand how the various RNA viruses have developed throughout evolutionary history,” explains Prof. Gophna. “One of the key questions in microbiology is how and why viruses transfer genes between them. We identified several cases in which such gene exchanges enabled viruses to infect new organisms.”

“Furthermore, compared to DNA viruses, the diversity and roles of RNA viruses in microbial ecosystems are not well understood. In our study, we found that RNA viruses are not uncommon in the evolutionary landscape and, in fact, that in some respects they are not that different from DNA viruses. This opens the door for future research, and for a better understanding of how viruses can be harnessed for use in medicine and agriculture.”

Featured image: The researchers (from left to right): Uri Neri and Prof. Uri Gophna

Could a Drone Save Bats from the Terror of Wind Turbine Blades?

Written by AUFTAU on 19 December 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

Every year, wind turbines around the world kill millions of bats and other flying animals that fly into the turbine’s blades. A new study by Tel Aviv University and the University of Haifa offers an original solution to the biological challenge of wind turbine operation and helps prevent harm caused to flying animals, in particular bats: a unique drone-mounted technology that transmits a combination of ultrasonic signals and lights. This deters the bats and leads them to fly at a higher altitude, outside the danger zone, thereby allowing the turbines to continue to operate efficiently and continuously.

“Our study was the first in the world to combine these technologies – RADAR, LIDAR and high-altitude acoustic recorders – to track bats.” Yuval Werber

Innovative Bat Tracking and Signaling

The study was conducted under the leadership of doctoral student Yuval Werber of the Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology at the University of Haifa and his two supervisors, Prof. Yossi Yovel, head of Tel Aviv University’s Sagol School of Neuroscience and faculty member of the School of Zoology, and Prof. Nir Sapir, the Head of the Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology at the University of Haifa, and in collaboration with the company WinGo Energy and the entrepreneur Gadi Hareli. The article was published in the journal Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, and the study was funded by a research grant from the Israeli Ministry of Energy.

“Wind turbines are considered a promising technology in the field of renewable energy, but their operation involves a variety of biological challenges,” explains Prof. Yossi Yovel. “Today, the only solution to prevent the death of bats is to stop turbine activity at times when the bats are expected to be particularly active. But such interruptions reduce the turbines’ efficiency and the amount of energy they can produce.”

“The advantage of the drone is that it is in constant motion and transmits a combination of visual and acoustic signals designed specifically for bats, warning them of danger. When signals are stationary and constant, animals tend to get used to them and eventually ignore them.”

Yuval Werber shares that, “the study, which is part of my doctoral thesis, was conducted in the Hula Valley, an area with a lot of bat activity. We operated the drone at a height of 100 meters – the average height of the center of a wind turbine, and in motion along a path of about 100 meters, back and forth.”

“To track the bats’ activity, we used RADAR located on the ground, which allowed for tracking at a height of 100 meters and above, and we added a LIDAR device – a laser-based tool that is used to detect objects at short distances, mainly in the automotive industry – for tracking at a lower height. At the same time, we made acoustic recordings of the bats in flight, using receivers placed at three different heights: one meter, 150 meters, and 300 meters. We used a blimp to elevate the receivers. Importantly, our study was the first in the world to combine these technologies – RADAR, LIDAR and high-altitude acoustic recorders – to track bats.”

“On the one hand, it prevents the killing of bats, and on the other hand, it enables the operation of the turbine and the production of green energy in a safe, continuous and efficient manner.” Prof. Yossi Yovel

Effective Bat Repeller

Using a variety of monitoring methods, the researchers compared the bats’ normal activity with their activity in the presence of the drone carrying the deterrent device. The findings were unequivocal – the device succeeded in keeping the bats away. With the drone’s presence, the bats’ activity underneath it decreased by about 40 percent, at a distance of up to about 400 meters. On the other hand, their activity increased above the drone’s altitude of 100 meters, up to 800 meters.

“It appears that the device is effective in repelling bats from its immediate environment – the bats sense the visual and ultrasonic signals it emits and choose to fly over it, as we had hoped,” says Prof. Yovel.

“We hypothesize that if the device is activated near a turbine, it will lead the bats to fly over the turbine and out of harm’s way. This is an effective and easily-implemented solution that is reasonably priced, with great benefit to all parties: on the one hand, it prevents the killing of bats, and on the other hand, it enables the operation of the turbine and the production of green energy in a safe, continuous and efficient manner. We intend to carry out a follow-up experiment on a wind turbine site, in order to test the efficiency of the device under these conditions.”

Breakthrough in the Field of Controlled Drug Delivery

Written by AUFTAU on 16 December 2022. Posted in Newsroom.

In a world first, researchers found a way to control the encapsulation and release of molecules by exposure to UV light. The technology will advance the development of controlled release delivery systems for drugs and biomaterials.

Efficient encapsulation of molecules is considered a major technological challenge. The new technology, which allows for efficient encapsulation and high loading capacity of molecules, might address this need. The researchers estimate that the technology will lead to further development of delivery systems for controlled release of biomolecules and drugs in the body by external stimuli, using light.

Inspired by Measles

The research was led by PhD student Itai Katzir and supervised by Dr. Ayala Lampel from Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research at The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University The study was published in the prestigious journal “Advanced Materials”.

The researchers explain that the new technology is inspired by viral compartments formed by the measles virus. Following infection of the host cell, the virus forms compartments that host all the reactions involved in the formation of new viral particles, a process which gives these compartments their name: viral factories. Recent studies show that these viral factories are in fact dynamic and liquid-like structures that are formed inside the host cell through a process called liquid-liquid phase separation.

Inspired by the viral protein, which is responsible for the formation of these factories, the researchers designed a “peptide” (= a short minimalistic protein) which forms compartments that resemble viral factories for encapsulation of biomolecules.

In addition, the researchers incorporated a unique element to the peptide sequence that enables a control of the encapsulation and release of molecules by irradiating the compartments using UV light.

“This technology opens opportunities for biomedical and biotechnological applications including encapsulation, delivery and release of drugs, protein, antibodies or other therapeutic molecules.” Dr. Ayala Lampel

Opens Opportunities for Biomedical and Biotechnological Applications

“Our goal was to engineer liquid-like compartments from a complex of peptide and RNA molecules that will enable efficient encapsulation of various biomolecules while keeping their native structure,” explains Dr. Lampel.

“The designed peptide and RNA form liquid-like compartments that resemble viral factories. We further developed these compartments to be stimuli-responsive by incorporating a protecting group to the peptide sequence that is cleaved following UV irradiation. The peptide with the photocleavable protecting group forms compartments with RNA, that have higher encapsulation efficiency for various molecules compared to compartments without the protecting group. We showed that by exposing the compartments to UV light and releasing the protecting group, we can control the release of encapsulated biomolecules.”

“Another unique property of this system is the high permeability and loading capacity of the encapsulated molecules, which is limited in part of the current technologies,” adds Dr. Lampel. “Thus, this technology opens opportunities for biomedical and biotechnological applications including encapsulation, delivery and release of drugs, protein, antibodies or other therapeutic molecules.”

Featured image: Dr. Ayala Lampel from TAU’s Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research

Tag: Life Sciences

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