Scientists at the Technion โ Israel Institute of Technology have developed an artificial intelligence tool that can predict a person’s risk of heart failure up to five years before symptoms appear.
The breakthrough, published in the journal npj Digital Medicine, could help doctors identify high-risk patients much earlier, allowing treatment to begin before serious damage is done.
Heart failure affects around 64 million people worldwide and is one of the leading causes of illness and hospital admissions, particularly in older adults.
The AI model analyses data from a routine 24-hour heart monitor (Holter ECG) and can detect tiny warning signs that are invisible to the human eye.
Professor Joachim Behar, who led the research at the Technion’s Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, said: “By identifying people at risk years before heart failure develops, we have an opportunity to intervene earlier, improve patients’ quality of life and potentially save lives.”
The model was developed using around 70,000 routine heart-monitoring tests from Leumit Health Services and was created in collaboration with researchers and clinicians from Rambam Health Care Campus, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and other leading Israeli medical institutions.
The researchers hope the technology could eventually become part of routine healthcare, helping prevent heart failure before it starts.
Not long ago, artificial intelligence felt like something out of science fiction: It lived in futuristic movies and speculative headlines. Today, itโs woven quietly into our daily routines. AI helps us decide where to eat dinner, flags unusual health symptoms, and even drafts our emails.
But while AI has changed daily life, its impact within research universities may be even more profound. At the Technion, a revolution is unfolding. AI is not just another tool in the academic toolbox. It is transforming how research is done and how quickly discovery happens.
Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan describes AI as a kind of โsuperbrain,โ one we are all connected to. This superbrain can process staggering amounts of information, recognize patterns humans would miss, and solve problems at speeds that were unimaginable just a few years ago. For researchers, whose work depends on thinking, analysing, and discovering, AI has become an extension of their own minds.
A Tectonic Shift in Research
Across campus, researchers in fields as diverse as medicine, biology, physics, and mechanical engineering are integrating AI into their daily work. Tasks that once required months or even years of painstaking effort can now be completed in hours. Calculations once done by hand or simulations that took weeks to run are now executed almost instantly.
Prof. Mark Silberstein of the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computing Engineering believes this transformation is only beginning. โWeโre seeing a tectonic shift in academic research,โ he said. โSoon, everyone will be using AI for one thing or another.
AI Revolution | Prof. Mark Silberstein
Within a year, he predicts, AI tools will be fully embedded in research across disciplines, and many researchers will build their own custom AI systems tailored to their work. The pace of change, he said, will only accelerate.
What does that look like in practice?
From the Test Tube to the Computer
For generations, scientific breakthroughs were born in laboratories filled with microscopes, test tubes, and experimental animals. Today, many of those experiments are beginning not in physical labs, but inside computers.
Ofer Strichman, professor of computational logic and computer science in the Faculty of Data and Decision Sciences, has watched this evolution firsthand. โEvery year we recruit new faculty,โ he explained, โand you can see how more and more scientists are computational experimentalists. Theyโre doing their research in the computer.โ
AI revolution | Prof. Ofer Strichman
Imagine developing a new drug. Traditionally, scientists tested one compound at a time, often beginning with animals. Itโs slow, expensive, and limited. Now imagine creating a detailed digital simulation of a human organ, a โvirtual organ,โ and testing not just one molecule, but millions of combinations. AI can analyze the results, identify the most promising candidates, and dramatically narrow down what needs to be tested in the lab. Instead of replacing laboratory work, computers supercharge it. Scientists can explore possibilities that would be impossible to test physically, then return to the lab with sharper focus and better odds of success.
Picture a physicist, for instance, trying to predict how 1,000 celestial bodies will move over the next 1,000 years. The math quickly becomes overwhelming. But with powerful computers, each celestial body can be modeled digitally, with the system calculating how every object influences the others. The simulation unfolds in virtual space, revealing patterns no human could calculate by hand.
โNowadays,โ Strichman said, โthe more computing power you have, the better your research results will be. Like having a bigger telescope, computers allow us to see farther.โ
Why Computing Power Matters
Behind every AI breakthrough lies a less glamorous but absolutely essential ingredient: computing power.
For more than 30 years, the Technion has operated a high-performance computing (HPC) facility: essentially a warehouse filled with powerful servers. These systems have long supported researchers running complex simulations, particularly in fields like physics and engineering.
3D render of High Performance Computing Building on Technion campus in Haifa
Traditionally, these computers relied on components called central processing units, or CPUs. You can think of a CPU as the brain of a computer. The Technion currently operates about 6,500 CPUs, and researchers typically wait just a couple of minutes to access one. But AI demands something different.
Modern AI systems rely heavily on graphics processing units, or GPUs. Originally designed to render video game graphics, GPUs are uniquely suited for the kind of massive, parallel calculations that AI requires. While a CPU handles tasks sequentially, a GPU can perform many calculations simultaneously, making it dramatically faster for AI workloads. The difference is enormous.
GPUs are not only expensive (each unit can cost around $250,000) but they also require specialized infrastructure. They consume large amounts of electricity and generate extraordinary heat, demanding sophisticated cooling systems and advanced networking to allow thousands of units to communicate seamlessly. The Technion currently has only 72 GPUs, which is far from sufficient. Researchers can wait four hours or more for access to one. In a world where speed determines competitiveness, those hours matter.
A Global Race
Around the globe, countries, universities, and technology companies are racing to dominate the AI frontier. Success depends not only on talent and ideas, but also on infrastructure. The institutions that build the most advanced computing systems gain a powerful edge in research, innovation, and economic development.
โThere is an arms race among countries and universities to achieve AI dominance. To be at the forefront of this field, we need to strengthen the capabilities we have at the Technion.โ
Prof. Mark Silberstein
At present, many Technion researchers must rely on industry partnerships to access advanced GPU systems because the University lacks sufficient in-house capacity. While collaboration with industry can be valuable, dependence creates limitations.
Complicating matters, Israelโs recent war with Hamas forced national and institutional priorities to shift and long-term infrastructure investments were necessarily delayed. Now, as the country looks toward rebuilding and strengthening its future, expanding AI infrastructure has become a strategic priority.
The Technion is taking a major step forward with the construction of the Martin and Grace Druan Rosman High-Performance Computer Data Centre. The facility is nearing completion and will provide a state-of-the-art home for next-generation computing.
Supported by Dr. Martin Rosman and Grace Druan Rosman through the American Technion Society, the new centre includes advanced electrical systems, cutting-edge cooling technologies, and high-speed communications networks โ all designed specifically to support powerful GPU-based systems. In simple terms: The building will be ready for the AI era.
Martin and Grace Rosman unveiling the supercomputing centre, 2023
High Stakes for Israel
For Israel, the implications extend far beyond campus. Israelโs reputation as the Startup Nation rests heavily on the strength of its scientific institutions. Many of the countryโs most successful technology companies trace their roots to Technion labs and classrooms. The engineers and entrepreneurs trained here help power Israelโs economy.
If the Technion falls behind in AI research infrastructure, the ripple effects could be significant. Conversely, if it leads, the impact could be transformative: accelerating medical breakthroughs, advancing clean energy solutions, strengthening national security, and fueling new industries.
โThe Technion is committed to educating the best engineers in the world, the most capable entrepreneurs,โ Silberstein said. โIsraelโs brainpower is our competitive advantage.โ
The AI revolution is here and itโs reshaping science, education, and industry. At the Technion, the question is not whether AI will transform research because that transformation is already underway. The question is how boldly and how quickly the University can build the infrastructure needed to lead.
Concrete shapes the world you live in, but its environmental toll is massive.ย Imagine, though, if the buildings around you could grow and breathe, helping to heal theย planet. This isnโt science fiction. Itโs the vision of CyanoCement. Developed by researchers from the Technion,ย Israelย Institute of Technology, this innovative biocement uses ancientย microbesย to redefine how we think about construction materials.
At the heart of CyanoCement are cyanobacteria, tiny photosynthetic organisms responsible for Earthโs first oxygen-rich atmosphere. By leveraging these extraordinary capabilities, the teamโPerla Armaly, Yuval Berger, Lubov Iliassafov, Keren Rosenblau, Yechezkel Kashi, and Shany Barathโcrafted a process where these microbes bind minerals and precipitate calcium carbonate, creating a solid without high emissions.
This biocement doesnโt just end its environmental work once installed. It continues to capture carbon dioxide from the air, actively working against the problem of atmospheric carbon. Unlike conventional methods, CyanoCement turns construction into part of the solution.
The material is designed for facades,ย interiorย panels, and decorative structures. By focusing on non-load-bearing elements, the team keeps the projectโs ambitions grounded, managing expectations with scientific precision.
Visible Green: A Living, Breathing Material
The green hue of CyanoCement isnโt painted on. Itโs the color of lifeโindicative of the cyanobacteria within. The design makes environmental benefits visible, offering a reassuring sign that sustainability is working, right before your eyes.
This innovative project emerged from the Disrupt Design Lab at Technion, in collaboration with the Applied Genomics Lab, marking a significant crossover between architecture and biology. Itโs a fusion rarely seen, yet wholly necessary for the future of sustainable design.
For a unique blend of nature and architecture, explore how theย Sofia Pavilion blends urban landscapeswith natural elements.
CyanoCement was honored with the Green Productย Award, celebrated for its meaningful impact and robust research. Itโs not just talkโthis material has substance and intention.
Learn how ancient materials are making a comeback withย Finnish designers crafting fashionย from shipwreck timber.
As we think about the future of architecture and sustainability, itโs time to reconsider the role of construction. CyanoCement poses a radical idea: buildings that are not only structures but contributors to the atmosphere. An idea thatโs difficult to ignore once it takes root in your mind.
For decades, theย Energy Tower by Dan Zaslavskyย was one of the most audacious clean-energy ideas never built. And it was the first story we covered when Green Prophet was founded in 2007!
Dan Zaslavsky date unknown
Conceived by Dr. Phillip Carlson and championed by Professor Dan Zaslavsky of the Technion in Israel, the Energy Tower proposed something almost magical: spray seawater into the top of a giant desert tower, cool the hot air, let it plunge downward at high speed, and generate electricity through turbines at the base. The hotter and drier the desert, the better it would work. Zaslavsky envisioned towers over 1,000 metres tall rising from the Negev, Jordan Valley, and Red Sea region, generating power day and night while potentially producing fresh water.
The Energy Tower
The idea never made the leap from drawings and engineering studies to full-scale construction. We have the original PDF proposal and science โ>ย LINK HERE
Theย UN advertised its potential in 2001ย but noted then that the $20M USD cost to build it was limiting. But nearly two decades after most people stopped talking about it, the concept is quietly evolving in two unexpected places: China and Iran. The concept let dreamers dream and doers do โ figuring out more pleasing designs and engineering.
The Downdraft Energy Tower
China turns the Energy Tower into a climate machine
The Chinese methane paper, on the other hand, is much closer to the original Energy Tower because it explicitly describes spraying water into the top of the tower to create the downdraft, exactly as Carlson and Zaslavsky envisioned.
In 2023, researchers from the University of Edinburgh, Wuhan University of Technology and other institutions revisited the downdraft Energy Tower concept with a new purpose: removing methane from the atmosphere. Their study proposed that the humid air released from a downdraft tower could increase the formation of hydroxyl radicals, the atmosphereโs primary cleanser and the main natural sink for methane.
Downdraft Energy Tower (DET)
The researchers estimated that a tower 1,200 metres high and 400 metres in diameter could generate roughly 380 MW of electricity while simultaneously helping remove atmospheric methane. They calculated that a single Jordan-based tower could remove approximately 12.5 tonnes of methane per day under ideal conditions.
Whether those numbers hold up in practice remains to be seen. No commercial-scale downdraft Energy Tower has yet been built. But the research marks a remarkable shift. The tower is no longer viewed merely as a power plant. It is being reimagined as a tool for climate remediation.
Iran transforms the tower into a vertical oasis
Iranian Energy Tower
Meanwhile, a team of Iranian architects received an Honorable Mention in the 2025 Skyscraper Competition for their โRegenerative Towerโ proposal on Iranโs Makran coast.
Unlike Zaslavskyโs energy-focused concept, the Iranian project imagines the tower as an entire ecosystem. The design combines wind energy generation, atmospheric water harvesting, food production, housing and climate adaptation in a single 200-metre structure.
The towerโs twin wind shafts generate energy. A butterfly-like exoskeleton captures moisture from the air. Vertical farms produce vegetables, fruit and medicinal crops. Residential rings provide shaded housing inspired by traditional Baluchi architecture. The project claims it could generate up to 15,000 litres of water per day while recycling nearly all of its water in a closed-loop system.
Iranโs Energy Tower
Although the project does not explicitly employ the classic evaporative downdraft system developed by Carlson and Zaslavsky, its philosophy is strikingly similar: use desert heat, wind and humidity not as obstacles but as resources.
What links these projects is not simply a tower. It is a way of thinking.
Carlson and Zaslavsky believed deserts should not be viewed as barren landscapes waiting for resources to be imported. They believed deserts themselves contained enormous untapped energy. Heat, dryness, wind and seawater could be transformed into electricity, water and prosperity.
Chinaโs methane-removal research expands the concept into the realm of climate engineering. Iranโs Regenerative Tower expands it into urban design and community resilience.
Neither project has yet delivered a functioning tower. But both suggest that Zaslavskyโs dream may have been ahead of its time. From the engineering literature, Carlson appears to have been an American engineer/inventor, and the concept emerged in the United States before being adopted and extensively studied in Israel during the 1970sโ1990s. The Israeli work is much better documented than Carlsonโs own biography.
Nearly half a century after its invention, Dan Zaslavskyโs giant Energy Tower may finally be finding its moment.
Technion-developed technology allows patients to detect dangerous sleep disorders from home using a simple wearable device and artificial intelligence, eliminating need for costly lab tests.
Nearly 40% of the global population suffers from sleep-related disorders, according to the World Health Organization. Among the most serious, and often undiagnosed, conditions is sleep apnea, a disorder estimated to affect nearly one billion people worldwide.
Diagnosing sleep apnea traditionally requires an overnight stay in a specialised sleep laboratory, such as the facility at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.ย
Patients are connected to multiple sensors that monitor brain activity, breathing patterns, heart rate, and oxygen levels throughout the night. The process is complex, expensive, and often inaccessible, with costs ranging from $1,170 to $11,700 depending on the clinic.
An Israeli startup, Sleep AI, aims to change that. Developed by researchers at the Technion, the technology uses a lightweight oximeter linked to a mobile app and powered by artificial intelligence. Patients can complete the test from home by simply wearing the device overnight while data is uploaded to the companyโs cloud platform for analysis.
Within minutes, physicians receive a detailed medical report that not only evaluates sleep quality, but also maps sleep architecture, identifies signs of sleep apnea, and assesses cardiovascular risks linked to nighttime oxygen deprivation.
Unlike consumer smartwatches, Sleep AI is designed as a medical-grade diagnostic tool. In clinical testing conducted in sleep centres, the system demonstrated an overall accuracy rate of 89% for detecting sleep apnea, rising to 99% for moderate and severe cases.
The company is now pursuing international regulatory approvals with the goal of making sleep apnea diagnosis faster, cheaper, and more widely available โ potentially even covered by health insurance in the future.
By moving diagnosis from the sleep lab to the home, Sleep AI hopes to make sleep health screening a routine part of modern medical care.
Researchers at the Technion have discovered how changes in genetic regulatory sequences can lead to alterations in the form and structure of animals โ even when genetic regulatory systems are stable and resistant to change. The study, published in Science Advances, was led by Dr. Ella Preger-Ben Noon and Ph.D. candidate Areej Said-Ahmad from the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine.
Dr. Ella Preger-Ben Noon (on the right) and Ph.D. candidate Areej Said-Ahmad
Photo Credit: Rami Shelush
The loss of morphological traits is a common phenomenon in evolution. Well-known examples include the loss of legs in snakes and the loss of eyes in cavefish. In many cases, such changes do not result from the loss of the genes responsible for these traits, but rather from changes in how those genes are regulated during development. However, many developmental genes are controlled by multiple regulatory sequences with overlapping activity, forming a stable and robust regulatory system.
This study addresses a fundamental question in biology: how do organisms change form over the course of evolution despite the presence of stable genetic regulatory systems? These systems rely on DNA sequences known as enhancers, which activate genes at precise times, levels, and locations during development. Enhancers often act redundantly, so that if one is impaired, others can compensate and maintain proper gene expression. This redundancy confers stability and resistance to change, but also raises a paradox: how do changes in gene expression still occur, leading to alterations in the shape and structure of organs?
To address this question, the researchers focused on Drosophila flies, particularly the species Drosophila sechellia, in which tiny hair-like structures (trichomes) have disappeared from the larval body during evolution. This trait is controlled by the shavenbaby gene, whose expression is regulated by multiple enhancers. Contrary to expectations that such a system would protect gene expression from change, the researchers found that four different enhancers of shavenbaby lost their activity over the course of evolution, each through a distinct mechanism.
Image: Closely related fruit flies can look quite different because of how a single gene is turned on or off. The larvae on the left have dense rows of tiny hairs, while those on the right have lost many of them. This difference comes from changes in how the shavenbaby gene works during early developmen
Through detailed DNA sequence analysis and functional experiments, the researchers found that the loss of enhancer activity occurred via different molecular mechanisms, including deletion of essential sequences, loss of binding sites for activators and gain of repressor binding sites, acquisition of a silencer, and even the unmasking of pre-existing repression. In other words, the same evolutionary outcome โ the loss of gene expression โ was achieved through different molecular pathways within the same genomic region.
These findings demonstrate that the same evolutionary outcome can arise through multiple routes. The presence of multiple enhancers, while they contribute to stable gene expression, also creates points of vulnerability where mutations can reduce their activity. The study shows that stability does not necessarily act as a barrier to evolution, as there are diverse molecular ways to circumvent it. These insights are relevant to a wide range of biological systems and deepen our understanding of how variation in form and structure arises in nature.
For generations, observant Jews accepted certain culinary boundaries as fixed. Butter on a burger? Impossible. A creamy cappuccino after a meat meal? Out of the question. Cheeseburgers were perhaps the most famous symbol of what Jewish dietary law forbids.
Today, science is quietly dismantling those assumptions.
In laboratories and food technology start-ups across the world, researchers are reimagining the foods we eat. Plant-based milks, precision-fermented dairy proteins and cultivated meats are no longer futuristic curiosities; they are appearing on supermarket shelves and restaurant menus, reshaping both the food industry and religious practice.
At the heart of this revolution is Israel, the worldโs original start-up nation. In 2024, Israel became the first country to approve the sale of cultivated beef to consumers. By 2026, it ranked second only to the United States in alternative protein investment, attracting more than $1.3 billion in venture capital.
One of the scientists helping to drive this transformation is Professor Uri Lesmes of Technion โ Israel Institute of Technology, where he is training a new generation of food engineers to tackle problems others consider impossible.
Milk Without a Cow
Among the innovations that excite Lesmes most is Remilk, a company co-founded in part by two of his former students.
โItโs a proper alternative to cowโs milk,โ Lesmes explains. โAnd quite distinct from soy milk, which isnโt dairy.โ
Remilkโs product is made through precision fermentation. Scientists identified the genes responsible for producing milk proteins in cows and inserted them into yeast. As the yeast ferments and multiplies, it produces proteins that are biochemically identical to those found in conventional milk.
The result is genuine dairy protein, but without the cow.
According to the company, the milk contains no cholesterol, lactose, hormones or antibiotics. Yet its molecular structure is the same as that of traditional dairy.
In Israel, Remilk and its competitor Cow-Free are already being produced at scale. Their absence from European shelves is not due to scientific limitations, Lesmes says, but regulatory ones.
โMany regulations in Europe are yet to catch up on such rapid innovations.โ
For observant Jews, however, the implications are extraordinary. Because these products are not derived from animals, rabbinic authorities have ruled them to be parev โ neither meat nor dairy. Suddenly, the once-forbidden cheeseburger becomes a halachic possibility.
Teaching Through Beer
While Lesmesโ research is transforming global food systems, he is equally passionate about teaching.
One of his most imaginative projects combines food science, entrepreneurship and rehabilitation. Working with Beit Halochem (House of Warriors), Lesmes developed a course in which students are paired with wounded veterans and given 1,500 shekels โ roughly ยฃ360 โ to brew 25 litres of beer.
The teams use Technionโs facilities to create their own recipes, brands and production processes. At the end of the course, a professional panel judges the beers in a blind tasting.
โItโs a huge celebration,โ Lesmes says with a smile, โwith a lot of beer.โ
One group attracted national attention when they created a beer called HEROES. The label featured the faces of four fallen friends and family members, transforming a scientific exercise into a moving act of remembrance.
Feeding Soldiers in Wartime
Like every Israeli, Lesmesโ life changed after the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023.
Though exempt from military service since 2015, he felt compelled to contribute.
โLike everybody, I wanted to chip in,โ he recalls.
He contacted friends in the Israel Defense Forces and offered his expertise in nutrition and food engineering. The army accepted, and Lesmes became a consultant tasked with improving meals for frontline soldiers.
The outcome was a range of sterilised pouch meals that could withstand battlefield conditions while providing comfort and nutrition. Menu options included shawarma, mujaddara โ a Middle Eastern rice and lentil dish โ and tofu-based meals.
In wartime, food becomes more than sustenance. It becomes a source of morale, familiarity and resilience.
Nutrition for an Ageing World
Lesmes is also focused on another pressing challenge: global ageing.
โOne cannot avoid the fact that the world is ageing,โ he says.
At Technion, this demographic shift is treated as a grand challenge. Lesmes and his colleagues are redesigning everyday foods to meet the nutritional needs of older adults, many of whom struggle to consume enough calories and protein.
One product he highlights with particular pride is a reformulated breakfast cereal.
โWeโre giving it a higher protein content and a higher calorific content, and we cut down on sugar by almost five times to make space for the other things,โ he explains. โYou have to make every bite count.โ
He describes this approach as โhealth by stealthโ โ improving nutrition without requiring consumers to change their habits or preferences.
The concept has proven effective before. In the United States, the fortification of bread with folic acid dramatically reduced neural tube defects in newborn babies. Lesmes believes similar strategies can enhance quality of life for ageing populations around the world.
A Culture of Solutions
What distinguishes Technion, Lesmes says, is its mindset.
โWeโre trained to think about what other people are missing, or what they think is impossible โ and then we try to do it.โ
It is a philosophy rooted in practical optimism.
โI was taught not to talk about problems, but to talk about solutions,โ he says. โAnd weโre looking for solutions to things that people are yet to identify as problems.โ
That ethos has helped turn Israel into a global centre for food innovation. From dairy without cows to meat without slaughter and cereals designed to combat malnutrition, scientists are redefining what food can be.
Science in Service of Humanity
For Lesmes, the ultimate goal is not novelty for its own sake, but human wellbeing.
โMy responsibility is to make more products which contain everything, so that people have better choices,โ he says.
Then he offers a reflection that captures both his humility and his ambition.
โLife is not perfect. But through science, we can try to shed light on things we donโt understand, so that we can make them better for everyone.โ
It is a sentiment that resonates far beyond the laboratory.
In an era defined by environmental pressures, health challenges and changing traditions, the foods of the future are being shaped by people willing to question what is possible.
And sometimes, that future tastes remarkably like a cheeseburger.
Deciding whether to administer chemotherapy after surgery is one of the most challenging questions in early-stage breast cancer care. While chemotherapy can reduce the risk of recurrence, most patients do not benefit from it and may experience significant short- and long-term side effects. The central challenge is identifying, at the time of diagnosis, which patients are likely to benefit and which are not.
Researchers from the TechnionโIsrael Institute of Technology, together with collaborators from leading medical centres in the United States and Europe, have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model that predicts both the risk of breast cancer recurrence and the likelihood that a patient will benefit from chemotherapy. The model analyses routine pathology slides taken at diagnosis, offering a fast, widely accessible alternative to costly genomic tests.
The study was recently published in The Lancet Oncology and presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) conference. It is the first AI model of its kind to be validated in a large, randomized clinical trial.
Addressing a global clinical need
Each year, approximately 2.3 million people worldwide are diagnosed with breast cancer, including about 300,000 in the United States and 5,000 in Israel. Today, genomic tests such as Oncotype DX are commonly used to guide chemotherapy decisions, but these tests are expensive, can take weeks to return results, and are unavailable to many patients globally. Their predictive accuracy is also limited, leading to both unnecessary chemotherapy and missed treatment opportunities.
The Technion-led AI model aims to address these limitations by using information already available in standard pathology samples.
How the model works
The system analyses high-resolution digital images of tumour tissue stained and examined as part of routine pathology. Using deep learning, it evaluates multiple regions of theย tumour and its microenvironment, identifying visual patterns associated with cancer behaviour, including cell division, tissue structure, immune response, and features linked to treatment sensitivity or resistance.
“These are complex biological signals that the human eye cannot consistently quantify,” said Dr. Gil Shamai of the Technion’s Geometric Image Processing Laboratory, who led the study. “The model integrates many subtle cues to generate a score that reflects both recurrence risk and expected benefit from chemotherapy.”
Prof. Ron Kimmel, head of the laboratory in the Henry and Marilyn Taub Faculty of Computer Science, explained the concept: “Instead of testing genes, we look directly at the tissue. Just as eye color can be determined by looking at the eyes rather than analyzing DNA, our system extracts a visual signature from pathology images that informs optimal treatment.”
Clinical use and validation
Clinically, the process is straightforward. After diagnosis, the existing tissue sample is digitally scanned and securely analyzed by the AI system. Within minutes, the model produces a numerical score that supports shared decision-making between oncologist and patient.
While the system’s internal decision-making cannot be fully explained in simple rules, its performance has been rigorously validated. The researchers were granted rare access to tissue samples and clinical data from the TAILORx trialโone of the largest randomised breast cancer studies, involving more than 10,000 patients who were randomly assigned to receive chemotherapy or not.
“Using data from a randomised trial allowed us to test whether the model truly predicts benefit from chemotherapy, not just recurrence risk,” said Dr. Shamai.
According to Prof. Dvir Aran of the Technion’s Faculty of Biology, a co-leader of the study, “This is the first AI model shown to predict treatment benefit in breast cancer directly from pathology samples.”
The model was further validated on thousands of patients from hospitals in Israel, the United States, and Australia, including Carmel, Emek, and Sheba Medical Centres, demonstrating consistent performance across different populations, equipment, and health care systems.
Fast, affordable, and globally scalable
Unlike genomic tests, the AI-based assessment requires no additional tissue, laboratory processing, or waiting period. It can be performed in minutes in any pathology lab equipped with a digital scanner and internet access.
“In developing countries, where genomic testing is largely unavailable, this tool could dramatically expand access to personalised cancer care,” said Prof. Aran. “In high-income countries, it could reduce costs, shorten diagnosis time, and improve decision accuracy.”
Looking ahead
The research team is now advancing steps toward clinical implementation in Israel and preparing clinical trials in Brazil and India, where the potential impact is particularly large. The researchers are also working to further improve the model and extend it to additional treatments and cancer types where aggressive therapy decisions are made under uncertainty.
Based on these impressive results and the knowledge accumulated over years of groundbreaking research, the researchers now intend to establish a company that will develop tests making them significantly more accessible, accurate, and faster compared to those currently in use worldwide.
The study was led by Dr. Gil Shamai, Prof. Ron Kimmel, and Prof. Dvir Aran, in collaboration with oncologists and pathologists from institutions including Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Mount Sinai Medical Center, the University of Chicago Medical Center, and IPATIMUP Medical Center in Portugal.
In addition to fatigue and increased hunger, living with constant sleep deprivation and stress has other effects, some long-term. Experts explain the risks โ and how to limit the damage, or at least some of it
By now, this has become a daily challenge: how many hours of sleep can one get in a night riddled with air-raid alerts, racing to shelter and attempts at shuteye before being woken up again. And not just how many hours in total, but also how long one can sleep uninterrupted. All this comes before the real challenge โ staying awake during the day, functioning as normally as possible and perhaps even forgetting โ until the next siren โ that this is an open-ended state of emergency.
This reality has direct and indirect health implications, some immediate and clearly felt in the ability to function and in planning and concentration. In the longer run, this stressful reality, marked by constant alertness and sleep deprivation, could have a cumulative effect on other bodily systems, including the immune and cardiovascular systems, as well as mental health.
“The professional term for what has been happening now is ‘sleep deprivation’ due to air-raid alerts,” says Prof. Yaron Dagan. “This deprivation harms two main things: one is cognitive โ that is to say, everything related to thinking, perception, problem-solving, concentration and memory; the other is emotional โ people are gloomier, less patient, and generally in a worse mood, which sometimes results in reckless decision-making.”
Dagan, director of the Institute for Sleep Medicine at Assuta Medical Centers, explains that healthy sleep is crucial for waking life, particularly for our cognitive system, “which reboots brain memory in order to clear it for the next 24 hours. This activity takes place in several areas in the brain, and without uninterrupted or adequate sleep โ the processes served by sleep are impaired.” One stage of sleep, he emphasises, is crucial for emotional processing, learning and memory formation. “This stage occurs in 90-minute cycles, and with sleep deprivation it’s disrupted, affecting our thinking and behaviour when awake.”
Is there anything that can be done, considering that it is entirely unclear how long this routine will continue? Perhaps a nap here and there? “In principle, sleep is not a bank โ you cannot not sleep for a week and then fill the deficit by sleeping for a week,” says Dagan. “What we recommend is what’s called a ‘combat nap’ โ a planned 30-45-minute nap to replenish your batteries. Even if someone can’t doze off, simply lying down, closing one’s eyes and relaxing is enough. This is the best way to deal with this sleep deprivation. It cannot fully replace nighttime sleep, but it certainly helps you feel refreshed.”
Proper or healthy sleep is not just a matter of quantity; uninterrupted sleep is just as important as getting enough hours. “Sleep that is too short or interrupted โ both have the same effects and cause the same harm as sleep deprivation,” explains Prof. Giora Pillar, head of the sleep clinic in Clalit Health Services’ Haifa District and sleep researcher at the Technion’s Faculty of Medicine. “There have been studies on this. In one, students were allowed to sleep for eight hours, but their sleep was interrupted. The damage was found to be the same.”
A vicious cycle
The immediate effects are not limited to fatigue and exhaustion. Along with sleep deprivation, unending stress is not only mental but also physiological, affecting many bodily systems. When a person remains alert for an extended period, high levels of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline are secreted. Chronic exposure to these hormones can harm the immune system, increase inflammation and blood pressure and impair cardiovascular function. In addition, stress has been linked to sleep disorders (creating a vicious cycle) and to the worsening of chronic diseases such as asthma and diabetes, as well as to an increased risk of heart disease. Over time, this condition may erode physiological systems and cause an overall deterioration in health.
Over the past two and a half years, with one operation following another and one air-raid siren after another, stress has become a familiar term. In general, it refers to a physical and emotional reaction to threatening or dangerous situations โ not just wartime or physical danger, but also everyday pressures such as work overload, mental overload or difficulties in other aspects of life. In today’s reality, however, it’s almost impossible to isolate stress fromย sleep deprivation. “Stress is a mediating factor,” says Prof. Pillar. “It causes sleeplessness in itself, as well as many other complications.”ย
In many respects, the symptoms of stress and sleep deprivation overlap or reinforce one another. In part, this connection is evident in eating patterns. Like stress, sleep deprivation is a risk factor. When sleep is reduced, levels of ghrelin (the hunger hormone) soar, while levels of leptin (the satiety hormone) fall. The result is increased hunger, especially for high-calorie, sugary and fatty foods. A 2004 study released by researchers from the University of Chicago demonstrated this clearly. The researchers hypothesised, based on their findings, that the body interprets sleep deprivation as a state of energy deficit โ even if that’s not exactly the case.
Chronic overeating under such conditions can lead to weight gain, increased insulin resistance and a higher risk for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other metabolic disorders. In addition, ongoing caloric excess, driven by fatigue, also hinders the body’s ability to regulate metabolism and balance energy.
And the list of risks does not end there. According to Pillar, sleep deprivation also affects the immune system. “Sleepless patients or patients who sleep poorly, that is to say: people who suffer from chronic sleep disorders, are already suffering from irreversible complications,” he warns. “We will see higher rates of high blood pressure, more cases of metabolic syndromes, more diabetes, more obesity, more strokes and more cancer.”
To a certain extent, these symptoms are reversible, as reality has proven. “Soldiers who sleep too little and then sleep through the weekend are not at risk in the long term,” Pillar illustrates. “Medical interns who sometimes work two 26-hour shifts a week make up for lost sleep and don’t develop long-term complications. That is to say, it’s reversible โ up to a point.”
However, given the current reality, which has already lasted more than a week and even a fortnight, the question becomes where the line lies beyond which the damage becomes irreversible, or only partly reversible. This is a crucial question. “We are already seeing patients whose diabetes is no longer balanced,” he says, “or who have high blood pressure.”
Aย 2016 studyย published in the International Journal of Cardiology found a clear link between sleep duration and coronary heart disease. The findings indicate that people who sleep seven to eight hours per night are at low risk, with every one-hour reduction associated with an 11 percent increase in the risk of heart disease. These findings were reaffirmed last November in another study, published in BMC Cardiovascular Disorders, which indicated that people who sleep six hours or less are at almost twice the risk of dying from kidney or heart disease compared with those who sleep longer.ย
An immune system out of balance
Over the past two decades, many studies have examined the link between sleep quality and immune system function. Among other findings, people who sleep less than six hours a night produce fewer antibodies after vaccination; on the morning after a sleepless night, a significant increase is seen in the production of inflammatory cytokines โ proteins secreted by immune cells in response to infection or injury; and, in general, proper sleep strengthens anti-inflammatory and anti-viral reactions, while inflammatory signals from the immune system affect the structure and depth of sleep.
According to a 2019 study published in Nature Reviews Immunology, sleep deprivation increases activity in the sympathetic nervous system (responsible for the body’s response in situations of threat and danger), which in turn raises stress hormone levels and releases inflammatory cytokines. It was found that in chronic sleep disorders, the overall level of inflammation in the body increases, while antiviral responses grow weaker.
“Sleep deprivation is documented as one of the main biological factors affecting the immune system (when not diseased),” says Prof. Cyrille Cohen, head of the laboratory of immunology and immunotherapy and dean of Bar-Ilan University’s Faculty of Life Sciences. “In principle, conditions such as stress and sleep deprivation do not weaken every component in the immune system but rather cause an imbalance in its function.” He says this may manifest in several ways. “For instance, you’re at a slightly higher risk of certain infections, mainly respiratory โ and the recovery process may also be slower.” However, Cohen emphasizes that “the effect is usually mild, and varies greatly from person to person.”
In 2011, Cornell entered into an academic partnership with the Technion โ Israel Institute of Technology to compete for an ambitious goal: build an innovative New York City campus to educate a new generation of tech leaders, conduct breakthrough research and development, inspire startups and propel the city to becoming a global hub for the tech industry. Beating national competitors in the bidding process, Cornell and the Technion won the opportunity to create Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island. Without the Technion, there would be no Cornell Tech.
Nearly 15 years later, Cornell Tech has educated more than 2,700 students and undertaken groundbreaking research on AI and other new technologies.
Critical to this mission is the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, created through the unique academic partnership between Cornell and the Technion without a financial obligation from either university to the other. The Jacobs Institute brings together engineers, computer scientists, designers, clinicians and entrepreneurs to develop new technologies, launch startups and generate real-world impact through three research hubs focused on health, media and urban challenges. As is the case at most American universities, all of this research is supported through private philanthropy and competitive grants from U.S. government agencies. At the Health Tech Hub, faculty and students are building machine-learning systems that predict disease progression and assist clinicians with diagnosis and treatment, particularly in areas like cardiology, radiology and emergency care. In the Connective Media Hub, researchers study how digital platforms shape the way information spreads, communities form and public conversations evolve. Within the Urban Tech Hub, researchers explore how advanced data science can improve infrastructure โ from housing and transportation to energy systems and climate resilience. Through programs like the Urban Innovation Fellows initiative, researchers work directly with agencies across New York City on challenges ranging from sanitation and procurement to transportation and housing policy.
