The University of Haifa. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Israel’s Council for Higher Education (CHE), the government agency overseeing colleges and universities just unveiled “The New Campus Vision,” aiming to expose students and faculty from all disciplines to the worlds of entrepreneurship and innovation. The initiative also seeks to get Israel’s campuses on par with other nations, especially the United States, where many colleges and universities have long-established centers for entrepreneurship and innovation.
The Israeli plan intends to change the face of the Israeli campus to one that fosters an Innovative work environment of creativity and collaboration; breaks down barriers across all disciplines, as well as between students and faculty, so that students become entrepreneurial learners; and promotes multidisciplinary brainstorming and collaboration between students and researchers.
The $27.7 million project will be put into place over five years at 10 select colleges and universities from Israel’s north to south, including Hebrew University, the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, and Azrieli College of Engineering, all in Jerusalem; Tel Aviv University, Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art, and Afeka Academic College of Engineering, all in Tel Aviv; The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Haifa University, both in Haifa; ORT Brauda College of Engineering in Karmiel; Tel Hai College in the Galilee; the Holon Institute of Technology in Holon; Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan; Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheva; Sapir Academic College in Sderot; and Ariel University in Ariel.
“The New Campus vision seeks to promote the concept of innovation, create an entrepreneurial culture, and change the face of the academic campus,” said chairperson of the CHE’s Planning and Budgeting Committee Professor Yaffa Zilbershats.
Yaffa Zilbershats. Credit: Israel’s Council for Higher Education.
The new centers will bring in Israel’s leading researchers from across multiple businesses and industries, and feature cutting-edge gatherings like hackathons and meet-ups to stimulate collaboration and creativity.
Students from all parts of campus will be trained in entrepreneurship, said CHE officials, and will work with lecturers, researchers and professional mentors to promote trailblazing ideas and cutting-edge projects that will impact Israeli society and beyond.
“Rapid changes in technology require that academia make the necessary adjustments, and integrate the world of innovation and entrepreneurial thought into every academic institution in Israel,” stated Zilbershats.
The first centers will be organized and go into effect starting in the coming 2019-20 academic year.
Marcelle Machluf, child of a Moroccan immigrant who couldn’t read or write, is looking for investors for what could be a revolutionary tumor drug-delivery platform
Article by Shoshana Solomon, published on Timesofisrael.com on July 8, 2019.
Prof. Marcelle Machluf at her lab in the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (Courtesy)
When Marcelle Machluf was 16, her chemistry teacher told her she had no chance of succeeding in the field. Little did the teacher know that her student, who used to accompany her Moroccan immigrant mother after school to help her clean offices, would go on to complete postdoctoral studies at Harvard Medical School and then lead the Faculty of Biotechnology at Israel’s Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.
Machluf uses chemistry in her work all the time, she said in a recent interview with The Times of Israel. And in her first year of biology studies, which was almost all chemistry, “I excelled in all the classes,” she said with a laugh, sitting in her office adjacent to the lab she runs at the Technion.
Machluf, 56, dean of the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering at the Technion, is a globally recognized name in the fields of drug delivery, gene therapy, cellular therapy and tissue engineering. She has published over 60 articles and book chapters, and has seven patents in the process of being registered.
Now, the soft-spoken scientist is on the cusp of perhaps the biggest gamble of her career: the creation of a drug delivery system that she hopes will shrink the deadliest forms of cancer — lung, brain and pancreatic tumors. Animal testing has shown support for her theory, and she is getting ready to take the next step.
The Technion’s Prof. Marcelle Machluf, left, at her lab in Haifa with a lab assistant, June 19, 2019 (Shoshanna Solomon/Times of Israel)
“The technology is ready and is working in animals,” she said. “Now I am setting up a company to prepare it in industrial clinical quantities to start tests on humans.”|
Machluf is in talks with investors to raise the funds needed to do this, and if she succeeds, she expects to start the Phase I clinical trial in three to four years.
In her work, Machluf and her team at the Technion lab use mesenchymal stem cells. These cells, found in all humans, play multiple roles in the body, differentiating into a variety of cell types. They are also hypo-immunologic and thus don’t provoke an immune system reaction when transferred from one person to another.
Previous research has found that these cells help cancerous cells hide from the immune system, allowing the cancers to thrive and grow to a size that makes it impossible for the immune system to later attack.
“These cells have a big role in what we call modulating the inflammatory response, and a tumor is a big inflammation that cannot be cured,” Machluf said. So these cells, which are “good cells” because they can generate bone, cartilage, fat and other cells, play a deathly role in helping tumor cells grow.
Machluf and her team assumed there must be something in their membrane that allows them to communicate with the tumor and allows the tumor to control them.
“Otherwise why do they stick to the area of the tumor and don’t leave?” she said.
It is this assumption that led them to the development of their new drug delivery platform.
As a first step, the researchers separated the membranes from the cells.
“How do you do that? You kill the cell. You render it a ghost,” Machluf said. “You take the cell and you spill out all of its content… so it is now an empty balloon. And you leave only the membrane.”
These cell-less membranes can interact with the tumor cells, but because they are devoid of an inside, they won’t do what the tumor instructs.
The researchers then loaded these empty membranes with cancer drugs for a variety of conditions and injected them into animal patients.
Once injected into the bloodstream, the “nano-ghosts” were able to “identify the tumor, hook to the tumor and deploy their drug into the tumor cells, and the tumor cannot do anything about it,” Machluf said.
An illustration of the nano-ghost cells developed by Technion’s Marcelle Machluf (Courtesy)
Thus was born a drug delivery system which is a “universal carrier” — it can target multiple cancers at different stages with diverse drugs, which it can release solely into the tumors without affecting surrounding tissue.
The trials were done on four types of tumors in animals, including some cancers that are considered untreatable, Machluf said: pancreatic tumors, prostate and breast cancers, and a very severe form of lung cancer.
The results were impressive. The tumors went down in size with just one shot of nano-ghosts filled with the appropriate drugs, Machluf said. “For each tumor we chose the drug. One injection reduced the size of the tumor significantly, I am talking about 80%-85%.”
For the pancreatic tumor, the nano-ghosts carried a drug that rendered the cancer more sensitive to chemotherapy, she said, thus making it more susceptible to treatment.
Now the team is starting to test the nano-ghost theory on brain tumors in animals, she said.
Last year Machluf was selected to light a torch at Israel’s 70th Independence Day Celebration, in acknowledgement that she is behind “one of the sixty most promising technologies ever developed” in Israel.
“Nothing is impossible,” she said at the ceremony. “Only the sky is the limit.”
In 2018, Technion’s Prof. Marcelle Machluf was selected to light a torch at Israel’s 70th Independence Day Celebration, as being behind “one of the sixty most promising technologies ever developed” in Israel (Muki Schwartz)
Machluf immigrated to Israel from Morocco at the age of one with her mother and grandmother. The three lived in Ashdod, in a 48-square meter apartment (517 sq feet); none initially spoke the language. Her mother, a seamstress, earned a living by cleaning offices and schools and Machluf used to go with her to help after school. After her mother was injured, an 11-year-old Machluf did most of the cleaning work, together with her mother’s friend.
Her mother, said Machluf, hadn’t gone to school and couldn’t read or write, but did everything for her family, from painting the walls of their one-and-a-half-bedroom apartment to bringing in an income. “She cooked and she took care of me,” she said. “She always told me: without education you are nothing. You need to pursue an education.”
Prof. Marcelle Machluf, right, with her mother Alice Abitbole (Courtesy)
So Machluf invested a lot of time in her studies, but she was also lucky, she said, because she really loved learning. “You need to have the will. Because if you don’t have the will, even if you have all the means, you can’t force someone to do what they don’t want to do. I had the will; I had the motivation.”
Machluf dreamed of being a doctor, but didn’t get accepted to medical school in Israel. So, she opted for biology studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and soon fell in love with the field and the research lab. She went on to earn a master’s degree and doctorate in biochemical engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and a post-doctorate at Harvard.
Being a female researcher was not easy, she said, and being of Mizrahi — or Eastern — origin, when most of academia was dominated by men of Ashkenazi descent, was even more challenging, she said. Ashkenazi Jews have roots in Germany, France and Eastern Europe; Mizrahi Jews come from the Middle East of North Africa.
Poor odds
Climbing up the career ladder is difficult “because a woman has always the conflicts between family and career,” she said. “And always, when someone gives up on their career, it is usually the women to support their husbands.”
Her husband, she said, a driving instructor, was happy to take the backseat and let her forge ahead in her career.
Though Machluf is confident in her nano-ghost theory, she admits it faces a lot of skepticism in the academic, corporate and research world.
Hers is an”outside-the-box approach,” she said, “not the typical system that everyone is studying” to combat cancers.
Current cancer treatments involve radiotherapy and chemotherapy, usually conveyed via intravenous infusion. The cancer drugs that are available can be extremely effective, but they also cause damage to healthy tissues. Targeted drug delivery has thus become a major thrust of recent research, but existing solutions are limited to certain kinds of cancer at particular stages. Hence a universal carrier for targeted drugs, like that proposed by Machluf, would be a major breakthrough in cancer research.
Many drug delivery researchers use polymers or other substances to carry their medications. These do not necessarily target just the cancer, Machluf said.
Her product, she said, would be a new player in the market with the potential to take “a big chunk” of the existing research market.
Colleagues are calling her research “too good to be true,” she said, and pharma giants like Merck and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., to whom she showed her findings, have declined to fund her studies, saying the research is still in very early stages and does not fit their mainstream approach to cancer.
She admits that huge challenges and questions lie ahead. Large numbers of nano-ghosts will have to be produced for the clinical trials, and how the human body will react to these particles is also a huge unknown.
Any side effects in humans will be discovered only during clinical trials, she said. “In animals, we don’t see side effects. It doesn’t accumulate in other organs, it doesn’t have toxicity, it doesn’t affect the body in terms of negative effect. So, I don’t know. We need to wait for clinical trials. ”
The chances of success for a venture like hers are “very low,” she admits. Much depends on funding and on how much you believe in and push the technology, “regardless of the negative feedback that you get.”
Meanwhile, Machluf has licensed the technology from the Technion and is now looking for investors to start her clinical trials. She is negotiating with venture capital funds and a major Technion donor, Ed Sattell, has donated $2 million to Machluf’s research.
If she gets the money she needs, she will work on creating industrial amounts of the product to use for human trials. In parallel, she needs to figure out which cancer she wants to tackle first and with which drug.
To make this decision, she will assemble a committee of oncologists, clinicians, industrial oncologists and pharmacologists to come up with an answer.
She will not have the money to work on parallel cancer conditions, she said. A clinical trial with one kind of tumor and one kind of drug will cost, just for Phase I of three phases, some $3 million.
“Before investors invest more money, they need to believe. I need to show them this evidence… show them that it works” in humans, she said.
Having returned a week ago from Israel, I remain impressed by its strengths as a place to start companies.
Article by Peter Cohan, published on Forbes.com on May 26, 2019.
Beautiful view of Tel Aviv in Israel. Pixabay.
Yet Israel strikes me as somewhere in the middle of a transformation — from a nation that starts and sells companies to the likes of Google and Intel to one that hosts its own publicly-traded world-transforming industry leaders — on the order of Facebook and Google.
My visit to Israel was part of a Babson College Israel Startup Strategy Elective Abroad for 22 undergraduates. The first part of the course was classroom learning focused on three questions:
1. Why does private capital flow more to some countries than others? (based on Capital Rising, which I co-authored with Srini Rangan)
2. Why do a few regions host most of the startups and what should the rest do about it? (based on my 13th book Startup Cities); and
3. Why do a few startups succeed while most fail? (based on my 12th book, Hungry Start-up Strategy).
The second part of the course — which wrapped up May 19 — was a visit to Israeli startups, investors, accelerators, and government officials — along with cultural activities.
In the third part of the course, student teams conduct six-week consulting projects with startups in a startup incubator called 8200 Impact who are seeking help with their growth strategies.
How Israel Changed Its Narrative
Israel’s Startup Nation narrative has been well-established in many minds — due in part to the success of the 2009 eponymous book. To counter the image of the country as a source of endless conflict, many now see Israel as an extraordinary entrepreneurial success story, Mike Bargman, CEO of Headline Media, a Tel Aviv-based PR firm said during our May 15 meeting.
The 71-year-old nation of nine million people has in the space of a few decades turned itself into a country with more IPOs per capita than any other.
Since most everyone enters the military before starting university, Israel trains people to lead others and — for the elite who are selected for its 8200 and 8100 units (analogous to our NSA) — gives them a deep knowledge of technologies that can form the basis of new companies.
Israel’s leading universities and research institutes — such as the Technion, the Weizmann Institute, Hebrew University, and Tel Aviv University — also supply intellectual property that finds its way into startups.
Israel faces many handicaps — it has a small local market, it’s surrounded by hostile countries, it lacks natural resources, and it has limited venture capital — particularly to fund the growth needed to go public.
Yet it has overcome many of these challenges. By developing technology in Israel and bringing on talented country managers, its companies have been able to gain share in huge markets for cybersecurity. On May 16, Andy David of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that 20% of the world’s 2,200 cybersecurity companies are in Israel.
The Israeli government continues to fund research partnerships with countries around the world to bring more corporate and venture capital into Israel. For example, the Israel Innovation Authority spends $500 million a year to fund innovation, Les Abelson told us on May 16.
That money — which is matched by partners in other countries — is paid out in $400,000 grants to startups — in industries including cybersecurity, life sciences, and nanotechnology. For every $1 invested, Abelson believes that the Israeli economy gets back $5 to $10. As he said, “We lose 70% of the money we give out — which creates valuable learning — but 30% we get back in royalties.”
I have been following one of Israel’s early public technology companies, cybersecurity technology provider Check Point Software, for nearly two decades.
As I wrote in April 2018, Check Point CEO, Gil Shwed told me that he wants the company to grow faster than its 7% five-year average. But over a year later there is more work to be done. In the latest quarter, Check Point reported 4% revenue growth — though Shwed seemed happy that its “subscriptions including advanced solutions for Cloud and Mobile as well as SandBlast Zero-day threat prevention” were up 13%.
We also visited with website development service, Wix, which grew at an impressive 27% rate in the latest quarter. On May 20 I wrote about why its organization and management processes bode well for its future.
People we met were proud to discuss the sale of Israeli companies to U.S. giants. Examples include Google’s 2013 acquisition of mapping service Waze for an estimated $1.3 billion and Intel’s $15.3 billion takeovers of autonomous vehicle control technology supplier Mobileye.
Can Israeli Entrepreneurs Run the Marathon?
This brings me to what I believe is the most significant transformation that Israel must undertake — from a creator of business leaders whom I call sprinters — who can turn an idea into a company that gets acquired — to a nation of marathoners — who take such companies public, generate revenues in the billions of dollars, and keep growing at 20% or more. (I spelt out the differences between such leaders in my new book, Scaling Your Startup).
This matters because if Israel can produce more marathoners, it can host more pillar companies — locally-headquartered, public companies that invest in local startups — to create more local jobs and provide tax revenue to help fund the build-out of infrastructure needed to reduce the traffic and housing crunch that accompanies Israel’s current economic success.
Is Israel Germinating the Next Amazon or Facebook?
This is hard to do — and at the moment there seems to be a lull in new Israeli marathoner candidates. As Bloomberg reported, the number of recent Israeli IPOs has tailed off. After 17 in 2014, there were only six in 2016 and eight in 2018. As of March 2019, there were seven — in payments, cybersecurity, ridesharing, and other fields — that Bloomberg considered being in the IPO pipeline.
Indeed, since then one of the companies — cybersecurity supplier Tufin Software — has gone public. On April 12, Tufin sold shares on NASDAQ at $21 — about where its stock sits now — yielding a $698 million market capitalization on 2018 sales of $85 million up 30% from the year before and a $4.3 million loss, according to YahooFinance.
Another IPO aspirant, Gett Taxi, a ride-hailing service — recently raised $200 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, according to TechCrunch, and expects to go public in 2020. It would probably be better for Gett if by then shares of Uber and Lyft have risen from their current dismal levels.
In March 2018 I met with Shlomo Kramer, who helped found many Israeli companies that went public including Check Point, Imperva, and Palo Alto Networks. Kramer — co-founder and CEO of a new startup, Cato Networks– told me that Israel is trying to build companies to last — and to that end he is mentoring first-time Israeli entrepreneurs.
Meanwhile, Israeli startups are germinating in fields such as “transportation, foodtech, femtech [technology for women’s health and other needs], and cannatech [cannabis-related startups],” said Bargman.
While there do not seem to be any Israeli companies in the making with the potential to scale like Amazon, Facebook or Google, $900 million venture capital firm, Vertex Ventures, has funded some other big winners with a more narrow focus.
For example, as Emanuel Timor, General Partner, pointed out in a May 15 interview, Vertex has backed publicly-traded solar energy electronics supplier, SolarEdge — which sports a $2.6 billion market capitalization on sales of $937 million, up 54% in the last year, and a 14% net profit margin. And Vertex backed anti-vehicle hacking supplier, Argus Cyber Security, was acquired in 2017 for $400 million by German automobile industry supplier, Continental.
Timor sees opportunity in many areas. As he said, “We are investing in cloud platforms, security, big data, digital transformation, automotive, fintech, digital health, and AI.”
Attacking Global Markets Through Critical Infrastructure Control
Of all the companies we met, it strikes me that mPrest, a maker of complex control systems used in an array of industries, could become a large company that leads the world.
As a private company, I don’t know its revenues or growth rate. But since it has raised $30 million in rounds led by venture capital firm, OurCrowd, and including investments from GE Capital and New Zealand energy utility, Vector, according to CrunchBase.
As I wrote last July, mPrest is best-known for providing key technology for Israel’s so-called Iron Dome — a system intended to keep missiles headed to Israel from harming people or property.
I am impressed that mPrest has been able to extend its expertise in such control systems to other industries. As CEO Natan Barak said on May 15, mPrest’s technology is used in “border control, critical facilities, water, smart agriculture, connected cars, smart cities, power, and oil and gas.” Barak’s mantra is “flexibility is the name of the game.”
While mPrest has competitors, it often wins against them. As Barak said. “We beat Raytheon and Lockheed Martin for a contract award in the UK. That’s because the commercial world is looking for a cloud-based application. Our competitors require customers to take out the old and install the new. Our solution [is better and more cost-effective] because it works on top of what they have already.”
mPrest has technical expertise that’s useful to many industries around the world. Yet its investors do not venture capital firms — who typically seek rapid growth followed by a quick exit. And Barak was not clear about the company’s exit strategy.
OurCrowd expects Mprest to either go public or be acquired due to its growth from fast-growing commercial markets. As CEO Jon Medved said on June 5, “OurCrowd hopes to profit as investors in Mprest as it transitions from a defence solution provider for Iron Dome…to a commercial provider of software for utilities [and] Smart Cities.”
If more Israeli startup marathoners such as Shwed emerge, I will be excited to talk with them. In the meantime, it remains to be seen whether the CEOs leading Israel’s 2019 crop of IPO candidates will be among them.
“Hashem made wild beasts of every kind and cattle of every kind, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. And Hashem saw that this was good.” Genesis 1:25 (The Israel Bible™)
Article by Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, published on Technion.ac.il on May 20, 2019.
(Photos courtesy of Prof. David Zarrouk)
It flies like Superman, crawls through small spaces like a cockroach, delivers packages like your favourite pizza-shop messenger and drives like a Formula One World Champion. The world’s first experimental robot drone that soars into the sky like a typical quadcopter, drives on tough terrain and squeezes into tight niches using the same motors, has been developed by imaginative and skilled researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Beersheba.
(Photos courtesy of Prof. David Zarrouk)
The hybrid FSTAR (flying sprawl-tuned autonomous robot) is due to be introduced at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2019 in Montreal, Canada on May 20. It was developed in BGU’s Bio-Inspired and Medical Robotics Lab by Prof. David Zarrouk, a senior lecturer in BGU’s department of mechanical engineering and head of the Bio-Inspired and Medical Robotics Lab, together with his graduate student, Nir Meiri.
The department was among the first established in the nearly 50-year-old university. The first class graduated in 1970, and many of them remained in the Negev to work.
Its research focuses on modelling, designing and manufacturing of unique robots, including miniature crawling robots and serial crawling robots for search & rescue applications, space, maintenance, agricultural and medical purposes. They specialize in designing minimally actuated robots that are easy to control and operate, as well as on modelling the interaction between robots and slippery and compliant environments. Our manufacturing techniques include machining, laser cutting, and 3D printing.
FSTAR can fly over obstacles or run underneath them. The sprawl, which adjusts from a flat configuration to 55 degrees, makes it possible for the bug-like robot to transform its movement from a flying quadcopter to a car-like robot. It also adjusts its width to crawl or run on flat surfaces, climb over large obstacles and up closely-spaced walls, or squeeze through a tunnel, pipe or narrow gaps.
It can run on the ground at a speed of up to eight feet per second (2.6 meters per second). That – combined with low energy consumption using the same motors – makes FSTAR ideal for a broad range of applications that may need a longer work time.
Possible commercial uses are package deliveries, since it can quickly fly to a target zone and then drive using its wheels safely and quietly to reach the recipient’s doorstep. FSTAR can also be used for search and rescue applications as it can fly over various obstacles and crawl between or underneath cracks where a regular drone cannot fly. The robot can also be used for agriculture, maintenance, cleaning, filming, entertainment, law enforcement and anti-terrorist applications.
“We plan to develop larger and smaller versions to expand this family of sprawling robots for different applications, as well as algorithms that will help exploit speed and cost of transport for these flying/driving robots.”. Zarrouk noted.
Zarouk earned his master’s degree in stochastic mechanics and doctoral degree in medical robotics at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. Between Aug. 2011 and Oct. 2013, he did a postdoctoral fellowship at the biomimetics and millisystems lab at the University of California at Berkeley, working on miniature crawling robots. He received many prizes for excellence in research and teaching, including a Fulbright fellowship, Fulbright-Ilan Ramon postdoctoral Fellowship, Hershel Rich Innovation award and an Alfred and Yehuda Weisman prize for consistent excellence in teaching.
His research was supported in part by the Helmsley Charitable Trust through the Agricultural, Biological and Cognitive Robotics Initiative (ABC Robotics) and by the BGU Marcus Endowment Fund. The Marcus legacy gift, of over $480 million, was donated in 2016 to American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev by Dr. Howard and Lottie Marcus. The donation is the largest gift given to any Israeli university and is believed to be the largest gift to any Israeli institution.
The ICRA conference is bringing together the world’s top researchers and most important companies to share ideas and advances in the field. Many of the most important developments in robotics and automation have historically been first exposed at ICRA, and 2019 will take this trend one step further. As the practical and socio-economic impact of our field continues to expand, the role of industry-centered activities has grown and will be a critical aspect of the meeting.
“Today we award prizes for excellence in teaching, research and innovation and honour researchers who have received grants from the European Research Council (ERC).” said the host of ceremony Prof. Steven Frankel of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. “We are grateful to the people, the families, the foundations, and the organizations that fund the prizes. For us, it is an opportunity to cherish excellence and nurture excellent research to help tackle the challenges of modern life and to advance science and technology.”
“We are the tip of the iceberg of research,” said Associate Prof. Mirella Ben-Chen of the Faculty of Computer Science, speaking on behalf of the award winners. “Research is not the work of a single researcher but the result of close and long-term collaborations. I thank the generous donors who support research and the development of new ideas, as well as the other people without whom our research would not have been possible: Graduate students, who do most of the work in practice; laboratory managers and other technical personnel; and the people who keep our sanity and remind us that there is life outside the laboratory – spouses, family, and friends.”
This year was the first time that the Mauerberger Foundation Fund (MFF) Research Award for Transformative Technologies for Africa was awarded. The prize is intended to strengthen academic ties and the exchange of information between researchers in Israel and in Africa and to harness new technologies for the benefit of humanity. The award is open to researchers from the Technion and other universities in Israel.
Prof. Emeritus Uri Shamir of the Technion’s Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering headed the professional evaluation committee, which submitted its recommendations to the MFF’s management committee. He said that the committee received eight proposals, from which two research groups were selected: From the Technion – Prof. Yehuda Agnon, Associate Prof. Mark Talesnick and Dr Guy Ramon. From the University of Ben Gurion in the Negev – Prof. Yoram Oren, Prof. Zeev Ronen, and Prof. Jack Gilron.
Jonathan Yach, a trustee of the fund, said that: “Technology and high-tech are wonderful things… our grandfather, Morris Mauerberger, founded the award to make technology available to people who do not normally enjoy it. As noted, this is the first year that the prize was awarded, and this year we focused on water. Water is a vital resource, and as the biologist, Sylvia Earl said: ‘There may be water without life, but there can be no life without water.’”
The Technion’s Vice President for External Relations and Resource Development Prof. Boaz Golany thanked Jonathan Yach, Stephen Seiden and Renie Carniol for being “the next generation of Friends of the Technion.”
The Cooper Award for Research in Excellence
Awarded to Prof. Shaul Markovitch of the Faculty of Computer Science for the development of a new methodology for automatic processing of natural languages.
The Diane Sherman Prize for Medical Innovations for a Better World
Awarded to Prof. Jackie Schiller of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine for her contribution to understanding the dynamics of the basic computational units in the brain.
The Norman Seiden Prize for Academic Excellence
Awarded to Associate Prof. Guy Bartal of the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering for the development of nanoscale “Nano-Hedgehogs of Light” that pave the way for new applications in information processing, transmission, and storage. Steven, the son of Norman Seiden, explained that the prize was created in honour of his father’s 90th birthday and said that “unfortunately my father was unable to attend the ceremony this year, but it is important for us to note that the Technion has been, and still is, a central part of his life.”
The Henry Taub Prizes for Academic Excellence
Awarded to Prof. Efrat Lifshitz of the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry for her achievements in the development of nanoscale semiconductors and magnetic materials, including quantum wells and semiconductor nanoparticles; to Prof. Oded Béjà of the Faculty of Biology for the discovery of a new family of rhodopsin – light-sensing proteins; to Associate Prof. Mirela Ben-Chen of the Faculty of Computer Sciences for her achievements in algebraic representation of geometer information; to Assoc.Prof. Alex Leshansky of the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering for his theoretical contribution to understanding the movement of artificial nanometer swimmers; to Associate Prof. Dan Mordehai of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering for his achievements in calculations relating to nanocrystals; and to Assoc.Prof. Meytal Landau of the Faculty of Biology for discovering the mechanism of attack of the violent bacteria “Staphylococcus aureus.”
The Uzi and Michal Halevy Innovative Applied Engineering Award
Awarded to Asst.Prof. Yoav Shechtman of the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering for his work on the subject – High Throughput Three-Dimensional Multicolor Localization.
The Uzi and Michal Halevy Innovative Applied Engineering Research Grants
Awarded to Asst.Prof. Amir Gat of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering for his work on Etafoils – Morphing airfoil skins and to Associate Prof. Gilad Yossifon for innovative technology for the analysis of sperm sampling and screening of live sperm cells.
The Hilda and Hershel Rich Technion Innovation Awards
Prof. Assaf Schuster and Mr Ilya Kolchinsky of the Faculty of Computer Science, to Prof. Gershon Elber and to Fady Massarwi of the Faculty of Computer Science, to Asst.Prof. Shai Berlin of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, to Prof. Hossam Haick and Mr Mohamed Khatib of the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering, and to Asst.Prof. Michal Rahat of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine.
European Research Council Grants
Noted recipients: Assoc. Prof. Ronen Talmon of the Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Asst.Prof. Yuval Filmus of the Faculty of Computer Science, Asst.Prof. Yoav Shechtman, Prof. Shulamit Levenberg and Prof. Amit Meller of the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering and Assoc. Prof. Kinneret Keren and Assoc. Prof. Oren Cohen from the Faculty of Physics.
Innovative technology developed by researchers at the Technion and Kahn-Sagol-Maccabi Research and Innovation Institute at Maccabi Healthcare Services (KSM) is expected to improve and make more efficient the giving of antibiotic treatments. It will also hinder the development of resistant bacteria. The technology, which was presented in a study published in Nature Medicine, was made possible by a unique collaboration between the KSM Institute of Maccabi, headed by Professor Varda Shalev, and Technion researchers Professor Roy Kishony and Dr. Idan Yelin.
The use of antibiotics globally is extensive and leads to bacteria developing antibiotic resistance. As a result, antibiotics lose their effectiveness, leading to concerns that in the future, bacterial infections will become refractory to antibiotics. Infections that are now considered mild and not dangerous will become treatment resistant and deadly.
One of the factors that speed up the evolution of antibiotic resistance is the widespread use of broad-range antibiotics, drugs designed to kill a wide spectrum of bacteria. Reducing this dangerous trend can potentially be achieved by prescribing antibiotics specifically aimed at the infection causing bacteria for each particular patient.
Prof. Roy Kishony, one of the leading experts in the field of antibiotic resistance, developed methods for genetic mapping of bacterial resistance to antibiotics. These techniques make it possible to predict the resistance of a given bacterium to various antibiotics in the present and, even to the level of resistance that bacteria may develop in the future.
Prof. Varda Shalev
The current study focused on a specific type of infection – in the urinary tract – which affects more than half of women at some time during their lives. These infections involve various bacteria, including Klebsiella pneumoniae, E. coli, and Proteus mirabilis.
In the joint study conducted by the Technion and researchers at the KSM Institute of Maccabi, a system was developed to help the doctor choose the optimal antibiotic for treating urinary tract infections. The researchers found that antibiotic resistance levels were different for each patient and that a certain antibiotic will be effective in one patient and not in another.
The reasons for this are related to each patient’s personal characteristics and medical history.
“It is now possible to computationally predict the level of bacterial resistance for infection-causing bacteria,” said Dr. Yelin. “This is done by the weighting of demographic data, including age, gender, pregnancy or retirement home residence, together with levels of resistance measured in the patient’s previous urine cultures as well as their drug purchase history.”
The study is a significant step in the innovative field of medical studies based on machine learning and Big Data. Prof. Kishony emphasized that the study was made possible thanks to the cooperation with Maccabi.
“The collaboration between Maccabi and the Technion – one of the most innovative research institutes in the world – and the combination of deep understanding of medicine, Big Data and innovative research methods has enabled a real breakthrough in the field of antibiotic resistance,” said Prof. Shalev. “We look forward to continued fruitful cooperation with the Technion and Prof. Roy Kishony.”
Dr. Idan Yelin
The study analyzed more than five million cases of antibiotic purchases made over 10 years and measurements of antibiotic resistance in more than 700,000 urine cultures. A sophisticated algorithm was able to find a clear link among the various data and thus predict the level of antibiotic resistance for each infection and provide a recommendation for the best type of antibiotics. The researchers found that the use of the technology could reduce the likelihood of choosing the wrong medication by about 40%. Therefore, they estimate that this system will contribute greatly to the global effort to delay the “resistance epidemic.”
Prof. Varda Shalev, who was elected in 2018 to the 100 Most-Influential lists of The Marker newspaper, is a professor of medicine at Tel Aviv University and director of the KSM Research and Innovation Institute. The Institute is based on the professional knowledge of the best researchers and Maccabi’s unique database. Since its establishment, hundreds of studies have been carried out that have contributed to far-reaching improvements in the medical treatment provided to the community. The Institute studies Maccabi’s database, which includes hundreds of millions of doctor visits, various types of lab samples and other medical data. It maintains long-term cooperation with researchers at the Technion, with the aim of developing new ways to analyze medical data and its application to the welfare of patients.
Prof. Roy Kishony is a member of the Technion Faculties of Biology and Computer Science, and the head of the Lorry I. Lokey Interdisciplinary Center for Life Sciences and Engineering. His research has been published in leading journals, including Nature and Science, focusing on the development and prevention of antibiotic resistance.
Technion researchers, in collaboration with Japanese and American scientists, have developed an innovative strategy for eliminating cancer cells. The research was recently published in Nature Chemistry by Professor Ashraf Brik of the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry at the Technion, Prof. Hiro Suga of the University of Tokyo, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry and Distinguished Prof. Aaron Ciechanover of the Technion’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, and Prof. David Fushman of the University of Maryland’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
Article by Kevin Hattori, published on Ats.org on June 25, 2019.
Professor Ashraf Brik
The new study is a dramatic milestone in the application of the discovery of the ubiquitin system that led to the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Distinguished Professors Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover, and Dr Irwin Rose. The trio of researchers discovered how unique proteins, which they called the “ubiquitin proteins,” label defective proteins with a “death tag” that leads to their breakdown in protease, also known as the “cellular garbage can.”
It is now clear that the proper functioning of the ubiquitin system is essential for the healthy functioning of the organism, not only in the context of the breakdown of used proteins but also in many other functions. Disruptions in this system cause serious diseases, including various cancers, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease), cystic fibrosis, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurodegenerative disorders.
The new strategy, based on a combination of the production of ubiquitin chains (left) and the formation of large libraries of cyclic peptides (center), and the atomic composition of one of the cyclic peptides
The discovery of ubiquitin paved the way for a new field of research, and many research groups around the world have been working on the ubiquitin system and harnessing it for developing innovative medical treatments. To date, four such drugs have been approved for the treatment of cancer in general and multiple myeloma in particular. These drugs have already saved the lives of many people around the world, but according to Prof. Brik, “the progress in the study of the ubiquitin system and the development of drugs based on its understanding are very slow relative to its potential.”
The first stage in the normal natural activity of the ubiquitin system is the creation of chains of ubiquitin (polyUB chains) that later label the proteins to be broken down. The problem is that when cancer develops in the body, cancer cells know how to carry out manipulation in the ubiquitin system and exploit it for survival and proliferation.
The strategy developed by the group headed by Prof. Brik was designed to neutralize the ability of the malignancy to perform the same manipulation. This strategy is based on an unprecedented combination of Prof. Brik’s skill in producing ubiquitin chains using advanced chemical methods and Prof. Suga’s method of creating very large libraries of molecules called cyclic peptides. As part of the collaboration, the researchers discovered how these cylic peptides bind to the ubiquitin chains and thus inhibit the breakdown of proteins that help the cancer to grow and thrive. They believe the strategy they have developed will pave the way for new types of anticancer treatment based on cyclic peptides.
Prof. Ashraf Brik holds the Jordan and Irene Tark Chair in the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry. The current study is supported by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Miriam and Sheldon Adelson Foundation, the Israel Science Foundation (ISF), the Germany-Israel Foundation for Research and Development (GIF), and the Israel Cancer Research Foundation (ICRF).
Does every Jewish mother want her son to become a doctor? Not always. If you’re a member of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Israel, where many young men are expected to spend their days learning Torah full-time, many mothers in these communities would much rather say, “my son the rabbi” than “my son the doctor.”
Article by Sam Sokol, published on Forward.com on July 3, 2019.
Meet Israel’s First Hasidic Med School Student
And while there are ultra-Orthodox doctors, many of whom immigrated from abroad or found religion later in life, a Hasidic doctor who grew up in a local Hasidic community is as rare as a unicorn.
For Yehuda Sabiner, the path to medical school was an unorthodox one. The son of the dean of a Hasidic Gur yeshiva in Jerusalem, Sabiner, now a 29-year-old father of three, said that he has wanted to enter the medical profession since he was four years old when he innocently asked his paediatrician what he would have to do to become an MD.
When he told his parents that he wanted to be a doctor, they saw it “as a cute thing that children say,” he recalled. But when he continued insisting on his chosen profession at age 16, it ceased being amusing and became a source of concern for members of his family.
Sam Sokol
“As I grew up, I saw you can do it as a religious mission, as hesed [lovingkindness], which is very important part of the Jewish tradition. My mother had tears in eyes and said ‘I thought we passed the hard times,’” Sabiner told the Forward. But as he continued in yeshiva, getting high marks in Talmud and appearing to be on track to eventually become a rabbi or a religious court judge, his parents began to relax, although he would occasionally bring up the subject of medicine throughout.
While the ultra-Orthodox world is anything but monolithic, its overall workforce participation is significantly lower than in the national-religious and secular sectors, and many members of the most fervent Haredi communities shun secular studies and higher education.
According to figures released by the Israel Democracy Institute in December, some 45 percent of Haredim live in poverty and just under half of Haredi men are unemployed. Employment figures tend to be lower among members of “Lithuanian” or non-Hasidic Haredim. Despite these figures, however, there has been an increase in the number of Haredim studying for professional careers and the average Haredi monthly income increased by eight percent between 2015-16, “reflect[ing] a rise in ultra-Orthodox salaries among those employed,” according to the IDI. These gains can be credited to the “rise in the number of well-educated members of the ultra-Orthodox community and the advancement of ultra-Orthodox workers in the labor market (as a result of a combination of appropriate skills and education, and government programs).”
Sabiner’s dreams did not fade after his marriage. When he again announced that he intended to become a doctor, his parents replied that it was an issue for him and his wife to handle, while his new bride broke out crying.
“It almost destroyed our marriage,” he recalled, describing how her wife had thought she was marrying a future rabbi.
However, she soon had a change of heart and “came to me with tears in eyes, still upset, and said she won’t be the one to destroy my dream.”
Enrolling in a academic preparatory program run by the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Sabiner worked hard to make up all of the education that he missed attending a Haredi school. “I didn’t know anything, even the ABCs, [certainly] not to write or read in English,” he said. Studying late into the night, his wife helping him, and he gradually began to approach the level of education necessary to undertake medical studies.
After he left the Technion’s Haredi program and integrated into their primary track together with secular students, social life was initially awkward but he was soon accepted by his peers as just another student.
“The beginning was very strange,” he recalled. “It already began in the entrance of the building. The guard stopped me and wouldn’t let me go in: ‘What are you doing here?’ Girls were terrified to sit next to me, but after two weeks the ice melted and I have probably the best fiends of my lifetime here.”
Back in the Hasidic community, Sabiner initially kept his studies secret, but after he let the cat out of the bag he said he was surprised by the response.
“I give classes in my shul about halacha and ethics and medicine,” he said. “I cannot say that I’ve had any problems in the last couple of years.”
And despite their initial reluctance to support his dream, once he had chosen his path, Sabiner said that his parents became his biggest supporters, both financially and emotionally, giving him the breathing room to finish his studies.
Overall, he said, the majority of Gerrer Hasidim are in the workforce so his decision to work wasn’t as surprising to people as his choice of career, and he thinks that there is definitely a desire by many of his contemporaries to enter higher education and the professions.
Sam Sokol
“Almost from the beginning, I received emails and phone calls from the whole spectrum of the Haredi community, asking how to get into medical school,” he said, adding that he believes efforts to force the Haredim to include secular subjects in their school curricula would probably backfire. “Attempts to force change are creating a reaction of negativism and can destroy the willingness for revolution in our community. I really think it’s a process that’s continuing and we must minimize the intervention so that it will be successful.”
And despite their initial reluctance to support his dream, Sabiner’s parents have since become his biggest supporters, both financially and emotionally, giving him the breathing room to finish his studies.
Sabiner, who is in the final stages of his medical degree, has a message for his fellow Haredim.
“We are not cola bottles from the factory, where all the bottles come in the same shape and color. Everybody is an individual and if you want something you should dream the highest [dreams] and do your best to achieve it whether it’s being a rosh yeshiva or doctor or lawyer,” he said.
Sam Sokol is a freelance journalist based in Israel. A former Jerusalem Post and IBA News correspondent, he is the author of ‘Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews: Antisemitism, Propaganda, and the Displacement of Ukrainian Jewry’.
JTA contributed to this report
This story “My Son The Doctor” was written by Sam Sokol.
I want to be a doctor, not a rabbi’: how Israeli ultra-Orthodox are being drawn into work. Traditionally, Haredi men have not joined the labour force. That is starting to change
Article by Harriet Sherwood, published on theguardian.com on September 10, 2018.
Medical student Yehuda Sabiner in class: ‘In the end 99% of people were encouraging me.’ Photograph: Rami Shlush
From the age of three, Yehuda Sabiner harboured a secret ambition to become a doctor. But it seemed unlikely to be fulfilled: he was raised in one of the strictest ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in Israel.
His education was limited to religious study, first at a private school that barely taught mainstream subjects and later at a yeshiva, a religious school, where he spent 14 hours a day studying Jewish texts. Sabiner, a bright boy and an outstanding student, was earmarked to become a leading rabbi.
But he never forgot his dream. When he was 21 he confessed his ambition to his new wife. She was horrified: she had married him on the understanding that he would be a rabbinical leader. Also, he had no knowledge of science. But Sabiner’s yearning would not go away.
Now 28, Sabiner is embarking on the final year of his medical degree. He will be the first person born and raised in a Haredi community in Israel to become a mainstream doctor, and he plans to specialise in internal medicine.
Sabiner has benefited from a pioneering scheme at the Technion university in Haifa to draw young ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, Jews from largely closed communities into mainstream education and then into the workforce.
The numbers are still tiny – about 60 out of a total student population of 10,000. “But the idea is to bring the number to 200 within five years, and to 400 within 10 years,” said Prof Boaz Golani, a vice-president of the university. “Engaging the Haredi community is important for Israel. Having a civil society where entire segments live in their own world and with little interaction with others is not healthy. It’s a recipe for tension and animosity.”
Sabiner has dreamed since the age of three of becoming a doctor. Photograph: Rami Shlush
In 2017 the number of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel rose above one million for the first time, accounting for 12% of the population. By 2065 they are expected to make up a third of Israel’s population.
Traditionally, Haredi men are not economically active. Many spend their time in religious study, relying on state benefits to support their large families, which average almost seven children. But in recent years the Israeli government and educational institutions have taken steps to integrate the Haredi population into colleges and workforces.
“There was a concentrated effort launched a few years ago by the ministry of transport, which needed more engineers,” said Golani. If the Technion could get Haredi students on to its courses, jobs could be guaranteed.
“We knocked on the doors on yeshivas in Bnei Brak [an overwhelmingly ultra-Orthodox town near Tel Aviv]. We found a few rabbis ready to talk to us. The idea was to take young men who had the brain and intellect to meet the scientific admission criteria, and who were not perceived as chief rabbis of the future.
“We said we would not try to force any change of lifestyle of students, such as [strict] dress codes or praying. We kept a low profile.”
The Technion team identified 37 young men for a pre-university programme run from an anonymous rented warehouse in Bnei Brak. Over the course of 18 months, teachers tried to close a 12-year education gap to bring the Haredi men up to the standard of high school graduates.
They studied from 8 am to 10 pm. “It was like a Bootcamp, very intensive,” said Golani. “But they brought from the yeshivas an ability to study hard, to focus, to apply logic, so we built on these skills.” At the end of the programme, about half were admitted to the Technion; they graduated this summer.
Bringing the students up to the required educational standard was not the only challenge. Gender segregation, a norm in Haredi communities, was a big issue, Golani said. “We told them upfront that we would not allow gender segregation on campus, no way. We suggested they arrive at class 10 minutes early and sit together, and they accepted that. We also told them that we have female professors, and we will not tell them they can’t teach certain students. They accepted that too.”
Another key issue was the use of the internet. “So each [Haredi student] carries two phones: a kosher phone, with no apps, and a regular smartphone. On that, there is an app which tracks the history of all addresses browsed and sends a report of every website visited a designated person in their community.”
Some students have been ostracised by their communities. “One girl was boycotted by her friends. Someone else told me he was hiding for years, lying to his wife and family, telling them he was studying at another yeshiva when he was at the Technion.”
The university also runs programmes aimed at encouraging Arab students to enrol. “That tends to be easier because their communities are eager to see them again top-quality education and so the community resistance is much lower,” said Golani.
It was essential to integrate “untapped resources” – meaning Arab-Israelis and ultra-Orthodox Jews – into the economy, he added. “The economy of Israel is largely based on the hi-tech sector. It’s the locomotive that carries the entire train of the Israeli economy. But we just don’t have enough people. Israel is a small country; we’re not India or China.”
Sabiner is now in the final year of his medical degree. Photograph: Rami Shlush
When Sabiner embarked on the challenge of becoming a doctor, initially he faced scepticism. “I was told it was impossible for me to catch up [academically] and to be accepted, that I would never make it as a doctor,” he said. But staff at the Technion “believed in me when no one else did”.
“I was sure this was the only thing I want to do in life. I studied day and night, with a baby on my shoulder and my wife studying with me. I finished [the pre-university programme] with 99% in every field, and I was accepted [on the medical course].
“In the beginning, I kept it as a secret, only my close family knew. But then it became a known secret and I was under the microscope. In the end, 99% of people were encouraging me.”
Now that the end is in sight, he wants to encourage other Haredim to follow suit. “When I started the journey I said I don’t want to be a single episode. So I opened a group on social media telling other Haredim how they could become a doctor. Now we have 35 more in medical school.”
Attitudes were changing, he said, with more integration and mutual understanding. “People understand we’re not a bottle of Coca-Cola on a production line, we’re individuals. If you want to do medicine, you should do medicine, and if you want to be a lawyer, you should be a lawyer. And if you want to study the Torah, go for it.”
Yehuda Sabiner – Haredi, soon-to-be MD
Article by Shlomo Maital, published on Jpost.com on December 18, 2018.
Yehuda Sabiner: Doctor in training (RAMI SHLUSH / TECHNION)
IN THE world of hi-tech start-ups, especially biotech, “proof of concept” is crucial. It means showing that an idea (device, or drug) does what it claims to do.
My new friend Yehuda Sabiner is a Gur Hasid, in the final year of medical studies at the Technion. In a few months, he will be Yehuda Sabiner, MD. Gur (or Ger) Hasidim is the largest Hasidic group in Israel and originated in Góra Kalwaria, Poland.
Sabiner is proof of concept that Haredim can become doctors, or for that matter, economists, scientists, engineers, or anything. With the ultra-Orthodox now comprising 11% of Israel’s population, and are ultimately projected to rise to one-third within two generations, it is vital we integrate them into productive employment.
Despite his crammed schedule – in addition to his studies, he works as a physician’s assistant in the emergency medicine department of Ichilov (formally known as the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center) – Sabiner took time to answer a series of questions. Here, in his own words, is the tale of his journey:
“I am beginning my final year of medical studies at Technion. I am certainly proud of the divine gift given to me, to reach the end of this long, difficult journey, with many challenges, lots of ups and downs and high uncertainty.
“As a child, young yeshiva student and as a Gur Hasid, I’ve evolved into a successful medical student about to become a medical doctor, one who has retained his Hasidic identity as a family man, father of three, with strong involvement in my Haredi community in health matters and matters related to higher education.
“I recently facilitated a conference on Haredim in Medicine, sponsored in part by Yedidut Toronto (Jerusalem). Prof. Karl Skorecki, head of Technion’s Rapaport Institute, Faculty of Medicine, and head of R&D at Rambam Medical Center, spoke at the conference. Prof. Skorecki was recently appointed Dean of Bar-Ilan University’s School of Medicine. His fascinating presentation focused on Jewish aspects of medical breakthroughs in genetics.
“Following his talk, I gave a detailed lecture about medical studies in Israel and about the role and journey of the doctor and the value-added of medical doctors from the Haredi sector.
“When I was growing up, from about the age of three, every boy dreamed about what he wanted to be when he grows up. Some imagined becoming soldiers and policemen, some wanted to be firemen and contractors. It does not matter that these dreams of small boys are of little consequence because their concept of the world is still not well-formed and they do not yet have the right perspective about the importance of various aspects of life.
“I grew up in the Har Nof neighbourhood of Jerusalem and when ill, I visited the very special children’s clinic run by Dr Jacob Schapiro, a graduate of Yeshiva University, and Dr David Matar (a Harvard graduate). These two distinguished paediatricians, with extraordinary compassion and rare professional abilities, had an excellent research lab, as well as their clinic. For me, from a very young age, they were an inspiration as role models to emulate.
“Except for them, I had no connection with any doctors; in fact, I was the first in my family to gain higher education for generations and perhaps for all time. Only lately did I hear about a distant cousin who recounted that my great-great-grandmother in Poland wanted to study medicine in Vienna, but family matters did not make it possible.
“In the first meeting with my future wife, Rachel (first of two “dates” in the shidduch or matchmaking process), I said I cannot promise to remain in yeshiva all my life, and if not, I will look into other options. I assume that all the information my future wife gathered about me during the early phase of the shidduch ”investigations” – that I was a serious Torah student in a well-known yeshiva, known for producing future rabbinical leaders – dulled the warning lights that should have been lit when I made this statement. To make a long story short, nine months after our wedding, I brought up the subject of becoming a doctor. In any event, for many couples in the Haredi society to which I belong, this revelation could have been a sufficient trigger for breaking up the marriage, especially at such an early stage. And to judge by the intensity of the tears and distress I caused, I think we were not far from it.
“To my good fortune, after the ‘Big Bang’ my dear wife approached me and said that she was impressed by my sincerity and purity of intentions and that she knew I would not relent unless I achieved them. So, she gave her consent to my medical studies, subject to the approval of an important adviser respected by both of us.
“The hardest part of my studies was the machine [preparatory course], and especially, language studies and math. While for physics, every law was explained in-depth, in math, because time was so short, we were bombarded with a multitude of rules without real explanations, and as a former yeshiva student who was accustomed to spending hours debating the logic of laws, this was very hard for me to digest…but in the end, I succeeded in this, too. Half of the machine participants dropped out.
“I was in the first such machine class at the Technion for Haredim, so there was a very little past experience for the Technion to draw on about how to realize their students’ full potential. Many dropped out, after seeing their grades in the first trimester’s exam, the first of three such exams – and they panicked. I don’t know what has become of those who dropped out but I am certain some of them could have completed the machine successfully if they had continued and invested their full effort in it.
“The toughest part of my studies was, as I mentioned, the machine and catching up on math. At the end of a long day of studies, stretching into the wee hours of the morning, my wife would sit with me and help me to understand my homework. Parenthetically, Haredi women finish high school with the equivalent of at least three credits of math, English, history and other subjects.
“At this stage of my studies, while my wife was in the middle of her own intense studies as a practical architectural engineer and interior designer, we became parents of a baby girl. Nonetheless, she was extremely dedicated to actively helping me as I caught up on very basic studies, which were very challenging for me.
“So far, in all my medical studies, in various departments and specialities, I was most fascinated by internal medicine; it ideally combines the anamneses [intake] and diagnosis, a holistic view of the patient and synergy among the various organs of the body. (Note: Every internal medicine department in Israel is severely understaffed.)
“I think one needs to know how to continually learn, and not to try to escape to some super-specific sub-speciality where you lose the unfathomable beauty and major challenge of sleuthing until you find the right diagnosis and help with a cure or relieve the patient’s symptoms.
“I hope internal medicine will be reorganized and that specialities in Integrative Medicine will be created to train ‘case managers’ for multidisciplinary ailments throughout the hospital. In other words, create a different discipline instead of one that at present is unattractive.
“We indeed live in a time of major change in the Haredi community. It’s hard to predict, but we see more and more mainstreamed Haredi men and women, slowly but surely integrating into many quality occupations, as a result of some individual initiatives. It is noteworthy to mention the contribution from two organizations that catapulted the Haredi academics several light years ahead: Keren Kemach (Kemach Foundation) and Yedidut Toronto.
“A few years ago, I myself established an organization called Haredim in Medicine, which aims at increasing awareness and assistance in integrating Haredi men and women in medical studies in Israel. Today, we can safely say that the numbers are growing and the trend is upward. Slowly, I am broadening the organization’s horizons to foster research excellence among future Haredi doctors, to create interfaces and to help solve medical, cultural, and halachic problems of Haredim, through research and awareness.
“There is much more work to be done in this area, but I am certain that with G-d’s help, we will see a better world, where the best of our Haredi boys and girls will join the vanguard of science, economics and medicine, in Israel.
“EIGHT YEARS of intense study poses extraordinary economic challenges to a family of five. Our immediate family helps with preparing food and looking after the children.
“The State of Israel as a nation cannot forego the professional cooperation of 11% of its population (Haredim). It is natural that in such a large population, splendid medical clinicians, great inventors and developers of medicines, successful managers, etc. can emerge.
“The Haredi community, with its halachic and cultural complexity, has developed over time unique medical challenges that demand treatment and solutions. Sometimes increased awareness is needed, and other times, solutions and compromises. But it is clear, all of this will be done far better and more efficiently when there are those closely connected with the two interfaces, medicine and Haredim, through community medicine.”
FOR EXAMPLE, Sabiner provided me with data showing that only half of Haredi women over 40 receive regular mammograms for early detection of breast cancer, compared with 80% of non-Haredi women.
According to Nitza Kasir and Dimitry Romanov, of the Haredi Institute for Leadership Research, Haredim will comprise almost a third of Israel’s population by the year 2065. And unlike other forecasts, demographic projections tend to be accurate. The inexorable conclusion is that Israel cannot afford to neglect Haredi minds – those who do not find their calling in yeshiva but seek secular education.
My S. Neaman Institute colleague Dr Reuven Gal, formerly an IDF chief psychologist, heads a successful program, “Shiluv Haredim,” which integrates Haredim into society and the workforce. In his recent study, Gal observed that some 30% of Haredim said they would be “happy to see, to a greater extent, Haredim studying in higher education” and a quarter of Haredim are not opposed to “core studies” (math and English) in Haredi schools.
For those who say this is still a minority of Haredim, Gal responds that “only 15 years ago those responding positively to similar questions were one in ten, or even less.” Change indeed is underway among the ultra-Orthodox.
Dr Gal told me, “I met Yehuda in the summer of 2012, toward the end of his first year of studies. He was at that time the first Hare- di student aiming at graduating from medical school in Israel. I must admit – I was not 100% sure he would succeed in reaching this goal. But he was. The list of the obstacles and difficulties he had to overcome, just to reach that point, and those he had yet to face was endless. But he was, in his shy and quiet way, so confident!”
“At that meeting – with several other Hare- di students at the Technion – Yehuda made a statement. ‘We shall become a model for much Haredi youths. We are going to speak about the Technion in our synagogues, we’ll tell the others at the Kollel (yeshiva for adults) that by earning an academic degree they will gain a reputable entry-ticket to quality jobs and thus will be able to make a living to support their families – and at the same time, not to forsake their faith and way of life.’
Sabiner poses for a photograph outside the of Rapaport Family Medical Sciences Building (RAMI SHLUSH / TECHNION)
“I salute Yehuda,” Dr Gal said, “for his persistence, his devotion, his faith. He is a Nachshon, a spearhead in front of a huge camp of Haredim who yearn to walk the same road but are frightened. Men like Yehuda give them the courage and the example that they can do it as well.”
In an article about Sabiner in the British daily The Guardian, Technion Vice President Boaz Golany noted how Haredim in the Technion machine studied long hours, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. “It was like a boot camp,” he said, “but they brought from the yeshivas an ability to study hard, to focus, to apply logic; so we built on these skills.”
It all began with a program called Hala- mish, in 2007, and gradually grew, with financial support. Backed by Iscar CEO and philanthropist Eitan Wertheimer, Halamish supported pioneering Haredi students seek- ing to learn a profession.
Today, after 18 months of machine studies, Haredim who never studied science and English and have only learned rudimentary mathematics are brought up to speed and the majority are accepted to the Technion. Graduates now work as engineers in hi-tech companies and some are pursuing advanced degrees.
I have spent the past 40 years at the Technion and have admired, studied and recounted the amazing hi-tech contributions of its graduates and faculty members, to Israel and the world. But there is a special place in my heart for those bold Technion leaders and instructors who undertook the impossible – taking in ultra-Orthodox men who know no math, English, physics or chemistry, and in 18 months bringing them up to speed sufficiently to enter the Technion. And, of course, it is these bold, pioneering Haredim themselves who aspire to college degrees, who deserve the warmest embrace.
Impossible? For example, I once wrote about A., who graduated from Technion as a civil engineer. In his first machine class, he raised his hand and asked the instructor, what is that cross you wrote on the board? It was an “x” and the teacher was explaining algebra. A. had no idea. Many years ago, the historically black (African-American) colleges in the US raised funds with a powerful slogan: “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” This applies to the growing ultra-Orthodox community. These sharp minds honed on Talmud studies are a priceless resource.
Lately, Yehuda told me about his second day at a family medicine clinic in Bnei Brak, a mostly Haredi city, the start of a monthlong assignment. He was hesitant to be assigned to Bnei Brak, not knowing how the people would react. After all, patients tell doctors their most intimate secrets and issues – and he, Yehuda, is a member of their community – perhaps even someone they meet on the street. But, he said, after their initial surprise at seeing a Haredi physician, patients’ reactions were highly positive and fully cooperative.
Yehuda Sabiner, Gur Hasid, soon-to-be MD, is a precious proof of concept. And many others will follow in his path.
First Israeli-Born Hasidic Doctor Blazes New Trail in Medicine!
Dr. Yehuda Sabiner.
The new doctor wants to encourage other members of the religious world to help their communities by entering the field.
Dr. Yehuda Sabiner is the first Israeli-born member of the ultra-Orthodox community to graduate from medical school. His success, against the odds, is encouraging many religious and non-religious people to reach for their dreams.
He was inspired by two outstanding physicians as a young child, deciding at an early age that he wanted to be like them as an adult, even though there had never been an ultra-Orthodox doctor in Israel before.
“When I was a child, I had in Jerusalem two very special pediatricians…[who] were both very special in their profession but also in terms of being a mensch [a good person], in compassion and empathy to their patients,” he told Jewish Home LA. “But as I grew up, I also understood that the field is very attractive…you have to be very smart to understand this stuff, and you must be curious about it, and it’s one of the fields…you can provide so much help and chessed [kindness] to members of your community, to human beings.”
As a child, Sabiner received an ultra-Orthodox education as a member of the Gerrer Hasidic sect. This meant that he studied Torah full time and did not formally learn math, chemistry, English, or physics. He did, however, learn discipline and how to study intensely for as much as 14 hours a day.
At 16 years old, Sabiner and his peers embarked on a challenge trying to “study[] five hours in a row without going to drink, or to talk, or to the bathroom.”
Sabiner credits his Jewish education for “exercising his brain” with deep Torah studies that taught him to ask questions and find solutions.
“When you see a case of a patient, a medical case, you always try to challenge the first diagnosis, you try to challenge people who said something else, to see, is it still possible? Still true?” he told Jewish Home LA.
In 2011, he was accepted into an 18-month special program at the Technion designed to fill in the educational gaps of intelligent and determined religious students in order to facilitate their rapid entry into conventional degree-track higher education. Sabiner was one of 67 students accepted into the program and one of only 17 who completed the rigorous course.
Today, the graduate of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and doctor of internal medicine says, “I enjoy the big picture aspect of it and how it’s multi-disciplinary.”
The doctor is soon starting his six-year internship at Israel’s largest hospital, Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv, according to the Jewish United Fund. His goal is to give back to his community, which supported him despite his unconventional career path.
Encouraging others to pursue their dreams and potential, Dr. Sabiner said, “There are very, very, very talented people among us—boys and also girls—and they should get the full potential of whatever they want to be. I really don’t care if it’s as a rabbi, a rosh yeshiva [head of a religious institution], a lawyer, a doctor—any way you choose, you should do the best you can.
“I am far from being a genius,” he told Jewish Home LA. “It’s not easy, it’s not easy for anyone, especially someone who has never studied general sciences, but still it is possible, and once you know it’s possible, you can do it.”
In addition to being a doctor, Sabiner, 29, is also founder and chairman of an ultra-Orthodox professional organization called Haredim in Medicine, which helps religious people join the medical field by helping them overcome cultural barriers.
Thus far, 35 ultra-Orthodox Jews are attending medical school in Israel, following in Sabiner’s footsteps.
Israel’s first home-grown ultra-Orthodox doctor in midst of coronavirus fight
Dr. Yehuda Sabiner. (YouTube/N12/Screenshot)
Dr. Yehuda Sabiner started his internship at the country’s first dedicated coronavirus ward.
By Paul Shindman, World Israel News.
Israel’s first home-grown ultra-Orthodox doctor has landed in the trenches of Israel’s coronavirus fight, Channel 12 news reported Saturday.
On the first day of his internship at the Tel Hashomer hospital near Tel Aviv, Dr. Yehuda Sabiner, 29, said a senior doctor called him over and said the department was transitioning to become Israel’s first ward dedicated exclusively to coronavirus patients.
“She said I could refuse,” Sabiner told Channel 12. “I thought once or twice and told her I’m OK with that, let me just ask my wife, who said to me straight out wherever you are, whatever they ask of you that’s your job.”
It turned out that 70 percent of the patients in Ward C, the corona ward, are fellow members of the ultra-Orthodox community from the hard-hit city of Bnei Brak and Sabiner knows some of them personally.
Emerging last Wednesday after spending several days in the ward to minimize exposure to others, Sabiner said his last overnight went well and he was excited to be able get a special short leave to go home for a short time to celebrate Passover with his family.
“There was also a bit of drama during the night,” Sabiner said, during which doctors needed to stabilize some patients and “for the meantime to defeat the angel of death.”
As a young child Sabiner was so impressed with his family doctor he made his mind up to make it his life goal to become a physician.
In his youth, he studied Torah all day, and when he told his rabbi his goal was to be a doctor, the rabbi’s response was he needed to see a psychiatrist, Sabiner recounted.
Sabiner said his rabbi told him, “It’s not realistic, you won’t be accepted, you are unable, you can’t go in opposition to your community.” However, he persevered and became the first ultra-Orthodox Jew to come out of Israel’s yeshiva world and graduate from medicine, getting his degree from the prestigious Technion University in Haifa.
All other ultra-Orthodox doctors in the country got their medical degrees abroad and immigrated to Israel, Sabiner said.
When the coronavirus outbreak turned serious and his children’s school was still holding classes, Sabiner called the principal and explained the gravity of the situation after which the school closed its doors.
As the outbreak worsened and the religious community was still not fully accepting health directives before the Purim holiday, Sabiner arranged to meet Rabbi Yitzhok Zilberstein, one of the more prominent and respected leaders in Bnei Brak.
After only five minutes of explanation, the rabbi issued “a very extreme proclamation” to help keep people at home, Sabiner said. “If that ruling hadn’t come out in time, the catastrophe we are in today would have been much, much, bigger.”
Sabiner will not have much time off in the coming months. With its dense population and tradition of group prayers and large gatherings for both weddings and funerals, total closures were only imposed after Bnei Brak became Israel’s most infected city.
Article by Abigail Klein Leichman, published on Israel21c.org on May 21, 2019.
Tal-Ya’s trays catch every drop of dew. Photo: courtesy
Food security is a critical concern as the global population expands and natural resources dwindle. Smart solutions for more efficient farming, hardier crops, alternative sources of nutrition, and safer food packaging and storage are essential.
No other single country – certainly not one as young and as tiny as Israel – has contributed more breakthroughs to this area than Israel.
Since the 1950s, Israelis have not only been finding miraculous ways to green their own desert but have shared their discoveries far and wide.
Here are 12 major ways Israel helps feed the world.
1. Drip irrigation
Senegalese farmers learning how to install the Tipa irrigation kit. Photo courtesy of MASHAV
While the concept of drip irrigation existed well before Israeli statehood, it was revolutionized by Israeli water engineer Simcha Blass in the 1960s and continues to transform farming across the globe.
Blass’s slow-release tubing formed the basis of the world-renowned Netafim company (sold for $1.5 billion to Mexichem in 2017) and other Israeli drip-irrigation and micro-irrigation businesses whose solutions are used worldwide.
One example of how Israeli drip irrigation has impacted food supply in foreign countries is Tipa (Drop), a kit that enables gravity to irrigate when there is no water pressure in rural areas. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has provided Tipa kits to hundreds of famers in Senegal, Kenya, South Africa, Benin and Niger.
An average of 70% of the world’s water goes toward irrigation, partly because some areas still use wasteful flood irrigation. Israeli ag-tech companies such as CropX, Saturas, Manna and SupPlant help customers across the world implement efficient drip irrigation programs to use less water and produce more and better crops.
Innovation in drip irrigation is constantly evolving. In February 2019, Netafim signed a three-year research collaboration agreement with Bayer and Ben-Gurion University’s tech-transfer company regarding soil research, digital prediction tools and state-of-the-art Netafim technology to establish best practices for using drip irrigation as a precise root-delivery system.
2. Getting more grain to market
Photo courtesy of GrainPro
About one-third of the food produced for human consumption globally is lost or wasted each year. In low-income countries, most of that loss happens in the early and middle stages of the production chain. One problem is that the majority of newly harvested grains and pulses get ruined by pests and mold before reaching the market.
Israeli-designed GrainPro Cocoons provide a simple and cheap way for African and Asian farmers to keep their grain market-fresh.
The huge bags, invented by international food technology consultant Prof. Shlomo Navarro, keep both water and air out. They’re used in about 100 countries including in Africa, Latin America and the Middle and Far East.
Amaizz launching a pilot in Bihar, India, with the Syngenta Foundation. CEO Aviram Tenenbaum is in the purple shirt. Photo: courtesy
Tel Aviv‐based Amaizz solves a problem for sub-Sahara African and Indian farmers when drying grains such as corn, which are subject to toxic fungal infestation as well as destruction by insects and other animals.
Amaizz offers protected electric or solar modular drying, disinfection, and storage units that keep out pests and prevent fungus. The company also makes cool storage units for any type of grain, in addition to barley and maize threshers that cut down on time, labor and grain damage.
In 2016, Amaizz won the Israeli Grand Challenges Program for improving post-harvest handling and storage, and saving up to 50% of the losses caused by mishandling and depreciation.
As one of six Israeli startups chosen for the 2018 India-Israel Bridge to Innovation program of the Israel Innovation Authority at the initiative of both countries’ prime ministers, Amaizz now is conducting pilots with key players in the Indian market.
3. Saving mangoes from fruit-fly devastation
Biofeed’s FreeDome lures on a mango tree in Tamil Nadu, India. Photo: courtesy
Mangoes provide a livelihood for thousands of farmers in developing countries. However, many mango growers in India, the Americas and West Africa have simply given up in the past few years because such a high percentage of their crops were ruined by various species of fruit flies.
That situation is being dramatically reversed by a novel product from Israel’s Biofeed, another of the six startups in the 2018 India-Israel Bridge to Innovation program.
The startup’s FreeDome line of no-spray, environmentally friendly lures contain an organic customized mix of food, feeding stimulants and control or therapeutic agents delivered by a patented gravity-controlled fluid release platform to kill the tiny flies.
Biofeed has demonstrated an overall decrease of Oriental fruit-fly infestation from 95 percent to less than 5% in a pilot test with Indian mango farmers, while a pilot program in Togo reduced infestation in various areas from 88-95%.
4. Precision agriculture
Taranis CEO Ofir Schlam using the app in the field. Photo: courtesy
Israel’s large and growing precision ag-tech sector comprises more than 450 companies offering advanced data-collection and analysis technologies for more efficient and productive farming.
Here are just four examples of Israeli precision-ag companies whose solutions are used across the globe:
AgriTask lets farmers integrate all their agricultural data from multiple sources (imaging, weather stations, in-field sensors, etc.) on one platform, accessible via a mobile app.
Croptimal performs real-time accurate tests of plant tissue, soil and water in the field, dramatically reducing the standard analysis procedure from 10 days to less than an hour.
Taranis combines high-resolution aerial imaging with computer vision and artificial intelligence to show farmers what’s happening in their plots down to the insect and leaf level, and analyzes that data to provide decision-making support.
Prospera makes a digital farming system that collects, digitizes and analyzes vast amounts of data to help growers control and optimize their production and growing systems.
5. Saving strawberries (and much more)
Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu-owned Bio-Bee breeds and exports several species of beneficial insects and mites for biological pest control, and bumblebees for natural pollination, to more than 50 nations from India to Chile.
The company’s top seller worldwide is the tiny BioPersimilis, a highly efficient enemy of the spider mite, a devastating agricultural pest.
BioPersimilis is used by most of California’s strawberry farmers (BioBee’s single largest market) and by growers of peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, corn, cucumber, melon, eggplant and ornamental flowers in order to reduce the amount of pesticides they use by up to 80 percent.
5. Helping more farmers export crops
Farms can’t export unless they comply with complex and frequently changing government regulations in target countries regarding details including water, fertilizer, pesticides, plant protection, safety and labor conditions.
That’s a daunting challenge for small farms especially, which must be part of larger cooperatives if they want to sell abroad.
The unique cloud-based AKOLogic farm management system from kibbutz-based Agricultural Knowledge On-Line (AKOL) gives farmers constantly updated regulatory guidelines on a single dashboard. If a customer wants to sell in Walmart, AKOLogic automatically applies the relevant US regulations to the growing plan.
The AKOLogic system helps farmers manage any kind of crop according to any country’s import regulations. Photo: courtesy
“For each container they receive, buyers need to know that everything was done according to regulations. Now all the documentation is in one place in real time automatically, with full traceability from field to market,” says CEO Ron Shani.
The system also helps farmers manage resources, administrative processes and daily functionality with calendars, checklists, reports, maps and digital document storage. Farming cooperatives can use the platform to assist and manage member growers.
Soft-launched in January 2015 in Israel, the system is now used by half of Israel’s farmers. The first overseas pilot of AKOLogic, in Angola in cooperation with the International Bank, enabled a cooperative of small farmers to export crops to Europe for the first time.
The company is now working with local partners in Balkan countries to enable small traditional farms to sell their crops in the European Union; and is seeking strategic partners to help implement AKOLogic in China, Singapore and South America. The system also is being implemented through a partner at heavily regulated medical cannabis farms in Israel and elsewhere.
6. Squeezing every drop of water from the air
Not every brilliant solution has to be high-tech. Tal-Ya Water Technologies makes a reusable plastic tray to collect dew from the air, reducing the water needed by crops or trees by up to 50 percent.
In January 2019, academicians from Punjab Agriculture University, India, came to see Tal-Ya in use at the Arava R&D Center in Israel. Photo: courtesy
The square serrated trays, made from non-PET recycled and recyclable plastic with UV filters and a limestone additive, surround each plant or tree. With overnight temperature change, dew forms on both surfaces of the Tal-Ya tray, which funnels the dew and condensation straight to the roots. If it rains, the trays heighten the effect of each millimeter of water 27 times over.
Inventor and CEO Avraham Tamir told ISRAEL21c that the trays also block the sun so weeds can’t take root, and protect the plants from extreme temperature shifts. “Farmers need to use much less water, and in turn much less fertilizer on the crop,” which translates to less groundwater contamination.
7. Dairy farming
Hof Hasharon Dairy Farm, SAE Afikim (Afimilk) and SCR Precise Dairy all make advanced systems for herd management, monitoring and feeding used on dairy farms worldwide. MiRobot makes robotic milking systems that enable cost-effective, uniform milking and post-milking procedures.
In the past 10 years, Asian countries including Vietnam and China have been investing heavily in setting up dairy farming enterprises, and they rely on Israeli experience, expertise and equipment to do so.
8. Something fishy going on
The aquaculture industry is growing an average of 6 percent annually to meet ever-rising demand for fish and seafood.
But with more than half the fish consumed around the world grown on farms where fish are crowded into tanks and given massive amounts of antibiotics, hormones and pesticides, there’s an urgent need for sustainable and healthful solutions for commercial fisheries.
Israel has several such solutions on the market; we’ll look at one new and two veteran companies.
The newer company is GiliOcean Technology, whose Subflex system enables farmers to raise fish safely in open water, where oxygen levels are ideal and the natural micro-elements help the fish grow faster and healthier without antibiotics. GiliOcean also offers machine-learning algorithms and big-data analytics for precision aquaculture.
AquaMaof Aquaculture Technologies works with customers in 50 locations across the world to design, build and maintain technologically advanced sustainable indoor fish farms. AquaMaof built the largest industrialized tilapia farming facility in Europe, and now is working with a Norwegian client to build the world’s largest indoor salmon aquaculture facility, in Newfoundland, Canada.
BioFishency developed a plug‐and‐play all-in-one water treatment system for aquaculture. The system increases fish productivity, has a minimal ecological footprint, enhances water conditions and significantly grows profitability.
Since its founding in March 2013, BioFishency has installed its systems in countries such as Norway, Denmark, China, India, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Congo and Iraq. In November 2018, Biofishency won first place in the Fishtech Awards held in China. In March 2019, the company raised $2.4 million.
9. Hardier seeds for more and better crops
Seed breeding has been an Israeli specialty since the beginning of the state. Israeli scientists in academia, industry and the government’s Volcani Center Agricultural Research Organization have made many types of seeds more nutritious, high-yield and flavorful, and resistant to drought and disease; and have developed new fruit and vegetable varieties.
Equinom develops several varieties of hardy high-protein seeds. Its new patented sesame variety is set to open new markets for the cultivating this iron- and calcium-rich seed. The global sesame market is worth $9 billion annually.
Sesame ready for harvest. Photo courtesy of Equinom
Equinom’s sesame seeds have an enhanced nutritional profile and are shatter-resistant so that they can be harvested by machine. The need to harvest sesame by hand has kept the crop from reaching its full potential at market, and leads to much of the crop being lost to contamination as the pods shatter on the ground.
Hazera Seeds, a top Israeli seed company selling internationally under parent company Limagrain, has headquarters in Israel and in The Netherlands, with subsidiaries in 12 countries and an extensive distribution network in over 100 additional markets. Hazera recently opened new screening and trial stations in The Netherlands, Mexico and Turkey.
Origene’s booth at Agritech, May 2018, Tel Aviv. Photo: courtesy
Another major Israeli seed breeder, OriGene Seeds, breeds vegetables for markets in more than 25 countries. OriGene specializes in R&D of the cucurbit family, which includes melons, cucumbers, squash, and pumpkins. The company also has a new tomato-breeding program active in southern Mexico.
10. Next-gen packaging extends shelf life
Xgo FreshLid extends the shelf life of fresh cherries shipped from South America to China. Photo courtesy of StePac and Tadbik
Pre-market food spoilage is a huge source of food waste throughout the world. Several Israeli companies are using cutting-edge materials to make sure more food gets to hungry consumers.
StePac and Tadbik jointly developed Xgo FreshLid, a “modified atmosphere” re-sealable lidding film, to extend the shelf life of fresh cherries from Chile and Peru on their journey from farm to fork – as far away as China.
StePac Xflow packaging for blueberries, spring onions and green beans reduces the amount of plastic used by up to 40%, while extending shelf life by improving air flow.
Valentis Nanotech is testing nanocrystal cellulose (CNC), made from abundantly available cellulose, in a coating that adds strength, UV blocking and antibacterial properties to food packaging.
Melodea is putting CNC into customized transparent gel package coatings for paper packages and cartons that are biodegradable, extremely strong and oxygen-resistant to extend the shelf life.
Active Pak, now being commercialized through the SN2E (Startup Nation Enterprise) national tech-transfer company, uses a patented process to permeate thermoplastic packaging materials with a nontoxic nanocompound containing antimicrobial essential oils to extend shelf life of fruits and vegetables.
11. Alternative protein
Filling an urgent need for cheaper, more healthful, sustainable and less polluting sources of protein, Israeli companies are piloting products made from insects, legumes and plant-based or cultured meat.
Flying Spark makes a protein powder and unsaturated oil derived from the larvae of fruit flies; and the multi-award-winning Hargol makes protein powder from farmed grasshoppers.
Chickpea-based protein concentrate, (meat substitutes) providing a neutral-taste vegan protein that’s allergen-, gluten- and GM-free for use in a large assortment of foods, is made by InnovoPro and ChickP.
Amai Proteins designed what it calls the world’s sweetest protein, meant to replace sugar in food without raising blood sugar or insulin levels. Amai uses cloud-computing-based computational protein design coupled with yeast fermentation production to match sweet proteins that grow along the equatorial belt to the mass food market.
Still in development are realistic plant-based meat substitutes from Jet-Eat, SavorEat and Rilbite; and “clean” cultured meat manufactured from animal cells by startups including Future Meat Technologies, Aleph Farms and SuperMeat.
12. MASHAV: Teaching how to grow more and better food
A MASHAV intensive fish-farming class for professionals from 15 countries, January 2019. Photo copyright MASHAV-MATC
Israel has always made it a priority to share its technological advances with developing countries in Africa, Asia/Oceana, central Europe/Eurasia, the Middle East and Latin America/Caribbean. The primary address for this activity is the Foreign Ministry’s MASHAV – Israel’s agency for international development cooperation.
Over the years, more than 280,000 professionals have participated in MASHAV courses in a wide range of languages and subjects including agricultural best practices aimed at transforming subsistence-oriented dairy and produce farms into market-oriented agribusinesses.
Some of the agricultural projects MASHAV operates in partner countries include training in low-cost family-farm food security; demonstration farms and extension services; small-scale pilots of better environmental practices; technology-based agribusiness enterprise development; agribusiness consultancy and technical services; and more.
Trainings are held in the target countries as well as in Israel.
This January alone, MASHAV hosted extension officers, agricultural university instructors and agro-technology experts from eight Russian-speaking countries to transfer the latest Israeli research on boosting production and product quality; and participants from 15 countries to examine proven Israeli strategies and technologies to meet production, economic and ecological challenges in intensive fish farming.
Other courses planned in 2019, in English and French, touch on subjects including agricultural education in African primary and secondary schools; intensive vegetable production; agribusiness tools for the rural African women; and agricultural development in arid regions.
The legendary physicist of our generation, Prof. Stephen Hawking of Cambridge University, has
been proved right by a Technion experiment that used its unique sonic black hole in a lab to prove the theory of Hawking radiation.
The University of Haifa. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Yaffa Zilbershats. Credit: Israel’s Council for Higher Education.
The Technion’s Prof. Marcelle Machluf, left, at her lab in Haifa with a lab assistant, June 19, 2019 (Shoshanna Solomon/Times of Israel)
An illustration of the nano-ghost cells developed by Technion’s Marcelle Machluf (Courtesy)
In 2018, Technion’s Prof. Marcelle Machluf was selected to light a torch at Israel’s 70th Independence Day Celebration, as being behind “one of the sixty most promising technologies ever developed” in Israel (Muki Schwartz)
Prof. Marcelle Machluf, right, with her mother Alice Abitbole (Courtesy)
(Photos courtesy of Prof. David Zarrouk)
Prof. Varda Shalev
Dr. Idan Yelin
The new strategy, based on a combination of the production of ubiquitin chains (left) and the formation of large libraries of cyclic peptides (center), and the atomic composition of one of the cyclic peptides
Meet Israel’s First Hasidic Med School Student
Sam Sokol
Sam Sokol
Sabiner has dreamed since the age of three of becoming a doctor. Photograph: Rami Shlush
Sabiner is now in the final year of his medical degree. Photograph: Rami Shlush
Yehuda Sabiner: Doctor in training (RAMI SHLUSH / TECHNION)
Sabiner poses for a photograph outside the of Rapaport Family Medical Sciences Building (RAMI SHLUSH / TECHNION)
Dr. Yehuda Sabiner.
Dr. Yehuda Sabiner. (YouTube/N12/Screenshot)
Senegalese farmers learning how to install the Tipa irrigation kit. Photo courtesy of MASHAV
Photo courtesy of GrainPro
Amaizz launching a pilot in Bihar, India, with the Syngenta Foundation. CEO Aviram Tenenbaum is in the purple shirt. Photo: courtesy
Biofeed’s FreeDome lures on a mango tree in Tamil Nadu, India. Photo: courtesy
Taranis CEO Ofir Schlam using the app in the field. Photo: courtesy
The AKOLogic system helps farmers manage any kind of crop according to any country’s import regulations. Photo: courtesy
In January 2019, academicians from Punjab Agriculture University, India, came to see Tal-Ya in use at the Arava R&D Center in Israel. Photo: courtesy
Sesame ready for harvest. Photo courtesy of Equinom
Origene’s booth at Agritech, May 2018, Tel Aviv. Photo: courtesy
Xgo FreshLid extends the shelf life of fresh cherries shipped from South America to China. Photo courtesy of StePac and Tadbik
A MASHAV intensive fish-farming class for professionals from 15 countries, January 2019. Photo copyright MASHAV-MATC