Newsroom – Page 41 – Australian Friends of Tel Aviv University

A world first: Technology that restores the sense of touch in nerves damaged as a result of amputation or injury

Written by AUFTAU on 16 July 2021. Posted in Newsroom, Press release.

Cut your finger and lost your sense of touch? There’s hope yet.

Researchers have developed a sensor that can be implanted anywhere in the body, for example under the tip of a severed finger; the sensor connects to another nerve that functions properly and restores tactile sensation to the injured nerve.
This unique development is biocompatible (“human-body friendly”) and does not require electricity, wires, or batteries.

Tel Aviv University’s new and groundbreaking technology inspires hope among people who have lost their sense of touch in the nerves of a limb following amputation or injury. The technology involves a tiny sensor that is implanted in the nerve of the injured limb, for example in the finger, and is connected directly to a healthy nerve. Each time the limb touches an object, the sensor is activated and conducts an electric current to the functioning nerve, which recreates the feeling of touch. The researchers emphasize that this is a tested and safe technology that is suited to the human body and could be implanted anywhere inside of it once clinical trials will be done.

The technology was developed under the leadership of a team of experts from Tel Aviv University: Dr. Ben M. Maoz, Iftach Shlomy, Shay Divald, and Dr. Yael Leichtmann-Bardoogo from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, in collaboration with Keshet Tadmor from the Sagol School of Neuroscience and Dr. Amir Arami from the Sackler School of Medicine and the Microsurgery Unit in the Department of Hand Surgery at Sheba Medical Center. The study was published in the prestigious journal ACS Nano.

The researchers say that this unique project began with a meeting between the two Tel Aviv University colleagues – biomedical engineer Dr. Maoz and surgeon Dr. Arami. “We were talking about the challenges we face in our work,” says Dr. Maoz, “and Dr. Arami shared with me the difficulty he experiences in treating people who have lost tactile sensation in one organ or another as a result of injury. It should be understood that this loss of sensation can result from a very wide range of injuries, from minor wounds – like someone chopping a salad and accidentally cutting himself with the knife – to very serious injuries. Even if the wound can be healed and the injured nerve can be sutured, in many cases the sense of touch remains damaged. We decided to tackle this challenge together, and find a solution that will restore tactile sensation to those who have lost it.”

In recent years, the field of neural prostheses has made promising developments to improve the lives of those who have lost sensation in their limbs by implanting sensors in place of the damaged nerves. But the existing technology has a number of significant drawbacks, such as complex manufacturing and use, as well as the need for an external power source, such as a battery. Now, the researchers at Tel Aviv University have used state-of-the-art technology called a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) to engineer and test on animal models a tiny sensor that restores tactile sensation via an electric current that comes directly from a healthy nerve and doesn’t require a complex implantation process or charging.

The researchers developed a sensor that can be implanted on a damaged nerve under the tip of the finger; the sensor connects to another nerve that functions properly and restores some of the tactile sensation to the finger. This unique development does not require an external power source such as electricity or batteries. The researchers explain that the sensor actually works on frictional force: whenever the device senses friction, it charges itself.

The device consists of two tiny plates less than half a centimeter by half a centimeter in size. When these plates come into contact with each other, they release an electric charge that is transmitted to the undamaged nerve. When the injured finger touches something, the touch releases tension corresponding to the pressure applied to the device – weak tension for a weak touch and strong tension for a strong touch – just like in a normal sense of touch.

The researchers explain that the device can be implanted anywhere in the body where tactile sensation needs to be restored, and that it actually bypasses the damaged sensory organs. Moreover, the device is made from biocompatible material that is safe for use in the human body, it does not require maintenance, the implantation is simple, and the device itself is not externally visible.

According to Dr. Maoz, after testing the new sensor in the lab (with more than half a million finger taps using the device), the researchers implanted it in the feet of the animal models. The animals walked normally, without having experienced any damage to their motor nerves, and the tests showed that the sensor allowed them to respond to sensory stimuli. “We tested our device on animal models, and the results were very encouraging,” concludes Dr. Maoz. “Next, we want to test the implant on larger models, and at a later stage implant our sensors in the fingers of people who have lost the ability to sense touch. Restoring this ability can significantly improve people’s functioning and quality of life, and more importantly, protect them from danger. People lacking tactile sensation cannot feel if their finger is being crushed, burned or frozen.”

Dr. Maoz’s laboratory:

https://www.maozlab.com/

The article:

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsnano.0c10141

A New Tool for Combating Discrimination

Written by AUFTAU on 16 July 2021. Posted in Magazine, Newsroom.

After decade long study, the Kantor Center has published a special book edition on legislation against discrimination and racism around the globe.

The Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry recently completed writing four extensive volumes of legislation covering existing anti-discrimination laws on the grounds of racism, religion and ethnicity in all 195 countries of the world. Entitled “Legislating for Equality – a Multinational Collection of Non-Discrimination Norms.” It is the first time that researchers have mapped, examined and compared policies aimed at eradicating discrimination in each country.

The comprehensive initiative, led by Adv. Talia Naamat, legal researcher at the Kantor Center, involved in-depth examination of the countries’ constitutions, as well as international conventions and agreements. Universities and researchers from around the world contributed. Recognizing the value this work brings to the global stage, former Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova wrote the introduction to the volumes published by Brill, one of the world’s leading law book publisher.

From Antisemitic Laws to Racist Laws

“The study was born out of a practical need to combat antisemitism,” says Naamat, the editor-in-chief of the volumes. “We started working on it in 2011, when researchers approached us with questions about antisemitic legislation following a seminar on the subject. We’d receive questions such as where Holocaust denial was allowed and where it was forbidden.” Prof. Dina Porat, Head of the Kantor Center, recalls “One of the researchers mentioned the law in his country, when another researcher jumped in and pointed out that in his country the situation was different.”

The research quickly expanded, “We realized that we needed to review the information in a broader manner, looking at the general prohibition of discrimination and the combatting of all types of racism. Thus we began compiling the relevant constitutional clauses, parts of penal codes as well as the language of specific laws,” explains Naamat.

In the volumes, the authors sorted the countries according to continents. Obtaining the information was more straightforward for some continents than others. The highly organized and digitized nature of the information gathered from European countries made the research easier, while for continents like Africa and Asia they had to win collaborations with universities and other bodies in order to obtain the necessary data, translate the information to English and obtain the required translation certificates. Many of the laws had never before been published in English.

Israel and the World

Legislation, of course, does not necessarily reflect the actual situation on ground. The researchers consulted with annual reports from the U.S. State Department, among others, to assess the situation in each country. “We addressed such discrepancies in the footnotes. For example, if the constitution in a particular country stipulates that every citizen has the right to political organization, but we know the actual situation on ground is catastrophic and that there’s currently a civil war taking place there, then we’d address this in the comments,” notes Naamat.

And what is the current situation here in Israel? “We like to compare ourselves to Europe, and we do operate with a high standard for freedom of expression in Israel. The enforcement, however, is more severe in Europe, and the whole discourse is conducted differently here,” says Naamat. Porat adds, “While calling another person a ‘Nazi’ in Europe is an offence which may lead to punishment, here in Israel a person can use the word [unpunished] from morning to evening. We have this absurd situation whereby we [Israelis] demand that Europeans enforce it, while we do not have a single law on the subject ourselves.”

The Israeli discourse is more open than in Europe – for better or worse

Human Rights Violations Against Witches and Persons with Albinism

Our research showed that culture, form of government and attitudes towards religion greatly influenced legislation. “We were surprised to see that there are countries with harsh realities on ground, but with good constitutions. The constitutions of Saudi Arabia, Libya and Iran, for instance, appear very enlightened. If you had read the constitutions of any of these countries without preexisting knowledge about the country, you could mistake it for being all about equality and solidarity”, says Porat.

The degree of separation between state and religion was also a significant factor. “For example, in Iran where the Sharia law, a religious law, has been incorporated into the country’s otherwise secular laws. Other religious principles can be found, such as permitting the murder of a person who has raped or harmed another person,” notes Porat.

The volume about African countries shows how religion and culture influence legislation, for example through the persecution of witches and albino hunting. “We may expect legislation to be something that represents net justice, while in practice it is a product of what you and I believe and believe in. For example, there are religious principles that contradict human rights and the freedom of religion and worship. We have seen laws prohibiting the persecution of witches and albinos (there are places where being in the possession of an albino person’s limbs is considered a blessing), and the fundamental question arose as to when religious worship should be allowed and when religion violates human rights,” Naamat and Porat explain.

Leave them alone. An albino child anno 2021.

Legislation is Dynamic

The good news is that in most countries of the world laws are constantly being renewed and updated. The circumstances for enacting new laws vary. In 2008, the EU announced that all member states must align and enact anti-discrimination laws, which led to widespread legislation across the continent.

Porat and Naamat point to growing global immigration over the last decade as one of the main influences on changes in legislation: “We observed this in the early 1990s, when a big wave of immigration began. The USSR disintegrated, Germany united, waves of immigrants changed their direction and, and new questions emerged: Who is an immigrant? Who is a refugee? Who is a foreign worker? Who deserves what? The legislation was expanded and many new laws were introduced.”

“As immigration grew, so did racism, discrimination, and harsh expressions. The mass immigration to Germany led to the rise of neo-Nazism and the extreme right, which is actually a counter-reaction of those who ask ‘What about us? You care about the immigrants but what will happen with us?’” says Naamat.

Where Are We Headed?

The situation on ground may not look particularly bright in many places. However, these new books make the information accessible for all, openly presenting what is happening all over the world. The anthology could serve as a source of hope and pave the way for revolutions. “We are offering a tool that allows countries to compare their laws with those of other countries, and improve them. Such activity started as soon as the books were published. The secretary of the Jewish community in Greece received a copy and went on to check the existing laws in Europe against Holocaust denial. He told us that the information helped him promote an amended law in his country. And this will happen in other places,” predicts Porat.

Israel’s Supreme Court President Justice Esther Hayut receives the four volumes.

Porat presented the four volumes to Supreme Court President Justice Esther Hayut during a special visit to the country’s highest judicial officer. Chief Justice Hayut congratulated Prof. Porat on the academic achievement, noting that it adds an important dimension to the war on racism and discrimination against various peoples and groups in the world.

The meeting was also attended by former president of Tel Aviv University Professor Emeritus Yoram Dinstein who chaired the scientific committee that accompanied the work; former Deputy President of the Supreme Court Justice Prof. Elyakim Rubinstein and Supreme Court Justice Daphne Barak-Erez who were members of the accompanying committee; Adv. Talia Naamat and Celia and Jack Michonik who generously supported the work.

“Thank you, Your Excellency, on behalf of everyone present, for the time you have devoted to us and for the interest which you have shown our work. We hope that these volumes will contribute, albeit modestly, to the fight against racism-based discrimination in the world – an evil which is present in many countries and societies. And that’s consistent with the spirit of the values that our Supreme Court, of which we are proud, leads in your leadership,” said Prof. Porat excitedly.

Featured image: Prof. Dina Porat with the four volumes

TAU Medical Student to Swim for Israel at Summer Olympics

Written by AUFTAU on 16 July 2021. Posted in Magazine, Newsroom.

Andi Murez enhances her athletic performance at the Sylvan Adams Sports Institute.

“Most people tell me I’m crazy to be a professional swimmer and medical student, but I couldn’t give either up, so I tried to do both, not knowing whether I would succeed at either,” says Andrea “Andi” Murez during a break between training sessions at the University’s Sylvan Adams Sports Institute and the neighboring Sports Center. “I’m proud that I’ve given it a shot and prevailed.”

A Balancing Act

In 2017, California native Murez enrolled at TAU in the Sackler School of Medicine New York State/American Program. She has since completed her first two years in the MD Program that offers English courses for students from North America.

This will be 29-year-old Murez’s second Olympics; she previously represented Israel in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. With the Games in sight, the Israeli national record-holder in the 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle has taken a temporary break from her studies to focus on her Olympic aspirations. Following Tokyo, she will return to medical training and begin two years of clinical rotations at TAU-affiliated hospitals.

Training at TAU

Murez’s grueling routine in the final stretch to Tokyo consists of regular sessions at TAU facilities, including performance analyses at the Sylvan Adams Sports Institute, alongside teammates from Israel’s Olympic delegation and its national swim team.

Established in 2018, the Institute focuses on improving athletic capabilities in endurance sports: swimming, running, cycling, and triathlon. The Institute houses a state-of-the-art flume (counter-current) pool that helps swimmers improve their craft by testing factors such as limb function, movement symmetry and muscle fatigue.

Murez trains at the flume pool at TAU’s Sylvan Adams Sports Center (Photo: Moshe Bedarshi)

“Having Andi and other members of the Olympic team at the Institute is a realization of the Sylvan Adams Sports Institute’s mission, which is to enhance the abilities of Israel’s top athletes and nurture Olympic-level champions,” says the Institute’s Director, Prof. Chaim Pick of TAU’s Department of Anatomy & Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine.

“In a sport where every hundredth of a second matters, training sessions such as those performed at the Sylvan Adams Sports Institute—which could not have been done elsewhere in Israel—are vital for high-level swimmers such as Andi to evaluate and fine-tune their technique,” he adds.

WATCH: Murez trains at the flume pool at TAU’s Sylvan Adams Sports Center

For her part, Murez appreciates the variety of performance building options available at TAU. “Some people perform better in the flume pool, some in the open pool,” she says. “It’s great to have both for a holistic approach.”

Diving into Israel

In addition to her Olympic aims, Murez hopes to inspire other women along with potential olim to realize their dreams in Israel, particularly when it comes to athletics and higher education.

“Growing up, I never thought I’d swim for Israel—but it’s been great,“ says Murez.

Andi Murez is making waves in the pool and the classroom (Photo: Moshe Bedarshi)

The 17-time Maccabiah Games medalist credits formative experiences at the so-called “Jewish Olympics” for connecting her to Israel. Murez decided to make aliya following the 2013 Maccabiah, where a local counterpart drove home the exciting potential of living and swimming in Israel.

After undergraduate studies at Stanford University, she accepted a spot on the Israeli National Swimming Team and made aliya in 2014. Murez encourages others to follow similar paths. “It was a very welcoming experience,” she enthuses.” I love it here.”

She views swimming and medicine not as disparate endeavors, but as parallel tracks with many similarities. “The medical path is a long and rigorous journey, which takes patience and delayed gratification—two things I have experienced as a swimmer. When I was stressed in the classroom, I had swimming to fall back on,” she says. “When I’m stressed by swimming, I can focus on school to help me feel better.”

“The TAU faulty supported my passion for swimming and allowed me to take two years off of school to train for the Tokyo Olympics,” she notes. “I feel very fortunate that I found a great medical program to continue my studies.” Murez also nods to her classmates for their support. “In our program, I often studied in groups with classmates. If I fell behind on the material because of trainings, they would help me catch up,” she recounts. “They even came to a few swim meets to cheer me on!”

Following the 2021 Olympics, Murez plans to stay in Israel and pursue her professional swimming career alongside working as a physician. We wish Andi good luck and will continue to root for her in all her endeavors!

Murez will swim for Israel at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan (Photo: Moshe Bedarshi)

Featured image: TAU medical student and Olympic contender Andi Murez poolside at the University’s Sports Center (Photo: Moshe Bedarshi)

Digital Learning: TAU 1st in Israel According to International Ranking

Written by AUFTAU on 12 July 2021. Posted in Newsroom.

Tel Aviv University ranked first in Israel and among the leading international institutions for higher education in the 2021 rankings.

While American and European universities dominate the Emerging ratings, the group notes “the outstanding performance of Israel, notably disrupting the tables with institutions present in all digital categories”.

The aim of the ratings is to help ‘”shine a light on the global institutions who are championing digital education studies worldwide”, looking to identify higher education institutions with a strong focus on digital expertise and that are teaching transferable digital skills across the curriculum.

TAU secured the 22nd place out of 150 on the list of the world’s “Best Universities for Digital Learning 2021”. The Technion the second Israeli higher education institution to feature, as number 31. The Hebrew University follows, on 42nd place. Ben-Gurion University is number 60 and Bar-Ilan University number 81.

In addition to the overall ranking, the institutions were also ranked for:

Their digital entrepreneurship programs: Tel Aviv University was ranked 6thin the world, and first in Israel. Technion is number 25, The Hebrew University number 18, Ben Gurion University number 26 and Bar Ilan is not listed among the top 30.
Best data science degrees: TAU is listed as number 10, following The Hebrew University on 7th place. The Technion is listed as number 27 on the list (Bar Ilan University and Ben Gurion University are not listed among the top 30).
Best universities for online professional training and executive programs: Tel Aviv University is number 4, followed by The Technion on 20nd place, Ben-Gurion University on 21st place, Hebrew University on 22nd and Bar-Ilan on 27th place.
Best universitites for digital transformation: TAU is number 11, and is the only Israeli university to be listed among the top 30.

Methodology

According to the website, “This study is based on the data and results obtained from a vote of 3,400 digital professionals in nine countries (US, UK, Germany, Spain, France, China, India, Sweden and Japan), such as IT corporate executives, start-up executives, and young professionals who recently started their digital career. This is combined with a premium specific database providing precise information on higher education received by the 10,000 most active and influential executives of the world’s leading digital companies. Each institution is scored across six metrics covering the full scope of digital education (computer degrees, data science and AI degrees, digital training formats, digital entrepreneurship programs, online professional training and executive programs, and institutions with the most innovative learning formats) to determine its position in the ranking.”

New nanotech from TAU produces “healthy” electric current from the human body itself

Written by AUFTAU on 9 July 2021. Posted in Newsroom.

Approach allows for the charging of cardiac pacemakers using only the heartbeat, eliminating the need for batteries

A new nanotechnology development from an international research team led by Tel Aviv University researchers will make it possible to generate electric currents and voltage within the human body itself through the activation of various organs using mechanical force. The development involves a new and very strong biological material, similar to collagen, which is non-toxic and causes no harm to the body’s tissues.

The researchers believe that this new nanotechnology has many potential applications in medicine, including harvesting clean energy to operate pacemakers and other devices implanted in the body through the body’s natural movements, eliminating the need for batteries and the surgery required to replace them.

The study was led by Professor Ehud Gazit of TAU’s Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering and the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, along with his lab team, Dr. Santu Bera and Dr. Wei Ji.

Researchers from the Weizmann Institute and a number of research institutes in Ireland, China and Australia also took part in the study, which was published in Nature Communications.

“Collagen is the most prevalent protein in the human body, constituting about 30% of all of the proteins in our body,” Professor Gazit, who is also Founding Director of TAU’s Blavatnik Center for Drug Discovery, explains. “It is a biological material with a helical structure and a variety of important physical properties, such as mechanical strength and flexibility, which are useful in many applications. However, because the collagen molecule itself is large and complex, researchers have long been looking for a minimalistic, short and simple molecule that is based on collagen and exhibits similar properties.

“About a year and a half ago our group published a study in which we used nanotechnological means to engineer a new biological material that meets these requirements,” Professor Gazit continues. “It is a tripeptide — a very short molecule called Hyp-Phe-Phe consisting of only three amino acids — capable of a simple process of self-assembly of forming a collagen-like helical structure that is flexible and boasts a strength similar to that of the metal titanium.

“In the present study, we sought to examine whether the new material we developed bears piezoelectricity, another feature that characterizes collagen. Piezoelectricity is the ability of a material to generate electric currents and voltage as a result of the application of mechanical force, or vice versa, to create a mechanical force as the result of exposure to an electric field.”

The researchers created nanometric structures of the engineered material, and with the help of advanced nanotechnology tools applied mechanical pressure on them. The experiment revealed that the material does indeed produce electric currents and voltage as a result of the pressure.

Moreover, tiny structures of mere hundreds of nanometers demonstrated one of the highest levels of piezoelectric ability ever discovered, comparable or superior to that of the piezoelectric materials commonly found in today’s market, most of which contain lead and are unsuitable for medical applications.

According to the researchers, the discovery of piezoelectricity of this magnitude in a nanometric material is of great significance, as it demonstrates the ability of the engineered material to serve as a kind of tiny motor for very small devices. Next, the researchers plan to apply crystallography and computational quantum mechanical methods (density functional theory) in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the material’s piezoelectric behavior and thereby enable the accurate engineering of crystals for the building of biomedical devices.

“Most of the piezoelectric materials that we know of today are toxic lead-based materials, or polymers, meaning they are not environmentally and human body-friendly,” Professor Gazit says. “Our new material, however, is completely biological and suitable for uses within the body.

“For example, a device made from this material may replace a battery that supplies energy to implants like pacemakers, though it should be replaced from time to time. Body movements like heartbeats, jaw movements, bowel movements, or any other movement that occurs in the body on a regular basis will charge the device with electricity, which will continuously activate the implant.”

His current focus is on the development of medical devices, but Professor Gazit emphasizes that “environmentally friendly piezoelectric materials, such as the one we have developed, have tremendous potential in a wide range of areas because they produce green energy using mechanical force that is being used anyway. For example, a car driving down the street can turn on the streetlights. These materials may also replace lead-containing piezoelectric materials that are currently in widespread use, but that raise concerns about the leakage of toxic metal into the environment.”

Introducing the world’s thinnest technology – only two atoms thick

Written by AUFTAU on 2 July 2021. Posted in Newsroom.

Technological breakthrough from Tel Aviv University

The research team

The new technology, enabling the storage of information in the thinnest unit known to science, is expected to improve future electronic devices in terms of density, speed, and efficiency.
The allowed quantum-mechanical electron tunneling through the atomically thin film may boost the information reading process much beyond current technologies.
The technology involves laterally sliding one-atom-thick layers of boron and nitrogen one over the other – a new way to switch electric polarization on/off.

A scientific breakthrough: Researchers from Tel Aviv University have engineered the world’s tiniest technology, with a thickness of only two atoms. According to the researchers, the new technology proposes a way for storing electric information in the thinnest unit known to science, in one of the most stable and inert materials in nature. The allowed quantum-mechanical electron tunneling through the atomically thin film may boost the information reading process much beyond current technologies.

The research was performed by scientists from the Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Physics and Astronomy and Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Chemistry. The group includes Maayan Vizner Stern, Yuval Waschitz, Dr. Wei Cao, Dr. Iftach Nevo, Prof. Eran Sela, Prof. Michael Urbakh, Prof. Oded Hod, and Dr. Moshe Ben Shalom. The work is now published in Science magazine.

“Our research stems from curiosity about the behavior of atoms and electrons in solid materials, which has generated many of the technologies supporting our modern way of life,” says Dr. Ben Shalom. “We (and many other scientists) try to understand, predict, and even control the fascinating properties of these particles as they condense into an ordered structure that we call a crystal. At the heart of the computer, for example, lies a tiny crystalline device designed to switch between two states indicating different responses – “yes” or “no”, “up” or “down” etc. Without this dichotomy – it is not possible to encode and process information. The practical challenge is to find a mechanism that would enable switching in a small, fast, and inexpensive device.

Current state-of-the-art devices consist of tiny crystals that contain only about a million atoms (about a hundred atoms in height, width, and thickness) so that a million of these devices can be squeezed about a million times into the area of one coin, with each device switching at a speed of about a million times per second.

Following the technological breakthrough, the researchers were able, for the first time, to reduce the thickness of the crystalline devices to two atoms only. Dr. Ben Shalom emphasizes that such a thin structure enables memories based on the quantum ability of electrons to hop quickly and efficiently through barriers that are just several atoms thick. Thus, it may significantly improve electronic devices in terms of speed, density, and energy consumption.

In the study, the researchers used a two-dimensional material: one-atom-thick layers of boron and nitrogen, arranged in a repetitive hexagonal structure. In their experiment, they were able to break the symmetry of this crystal by artificially assembling two such layers. “In its natural three-dimensional state, this material is made up of a large number of layers placed on top of each other, with each layer rotated 180 degrees relative to its neighbors (antiparallel configuration)” says Dr. Ben Shalom. “In the lab, we were able to artificially stack the layers in a parallel configuration with no rotation, which hypothetically places atoms of the same kind in perfect overlap despite the strong repulsive force between them (resulting from their identical charges). In actual fact, however, the crystal prefers to slide one layer slightly in relation to the other, so that only half of each layer’s atoms are in perfect overlap, and those that do overlap are of opposite charges – while all others are located above or below an empty space – the center of the hexagon. In this artificial stacking configuration the layers are quite distinct from one another. For example, if in the top layer only the boron atoms overlap, in the bottom layer it’s the other way around.”

Dr. Ben Shalom also highlights the work of the theory team, who conducted numerous computer simulations “Together we established deep understanding of why the system’s electrons arrange themselves just as we had measured in the lab. Thanks to this fundamental understanding, we expect fascinating responses in other symmetry-broken layered systems as well,” he says.

Maayan Wizner Stern, the PhD student who led the study, explains: “The symmetry breaking we created in the laboratory, which does not exist in the natural crystal, forces the electric charge to reorganize itself between the layers and generate a tiny internal electrical polarization perpendicular to the layer plane. When we apply an external electric field in the opposite direction the system slides laterally to switch the polarization orientation. The switched polarization remains stable even when the external field is shut down. In this the system is similar to thick three-dimensional ferroelectric systems, which are widely used in technology today.”

“The ability to force a crystalline and electronic arrangement in such a thin system, with unique polarization and inversion properties resulting from the weak Van der Waals forces between the layers, is not limited to the boron and nitrogen crystal,” adds Dr. Ben Shalom. “We expect the same behaviors in many layered crystals with the right symmetry properties. The concept of interlayer sliding as an original and efficient way to control advanced electronic devices is very promising, and we have named it Slide-Tronics”.

Maayan Vizner Stern concludes: “We are excited about discovering what can happen in other states we force upon nature and predict that other structures that couple additional degrees of freedom are possible. We hope that miniaturization and flipping through sliding will improve today’s electronic devices, and moreover, allow other original ways of controlling information in future devices. In addition to computer devices, we expect that this technology will contribute to detectors, energy storage and conversion, interaction with light, etc. Our challenge, as we see it, is to discover more crystals with new and slippery degrees of freedom.”

The study was funded through support from the European Research Council (ERC starting grant), the Israel Science Foundation (ISF), and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST).

Want to Live a Long Life? Consider Investing in Your Marriage.

Written by AUFTAU on 2 July 2021. Posted in Newsroom.

Want to live a long and healthy life? For the men among us, TAU researchers’ best advice is to invest in our relationship.

As Harmful as Smoking

“Our study shows that the quality of marriage and family life has health implications for life expectancy. Men who reported they perceived their marriage as failure died younger than those who experienced their marriages as very successful. In other words, the level of satisfaction with marriage has emerged as a predictive factor for life expectancy at a rate comparable with smoking (smokers versus non-smokers) and physical activity (activity versus inactivity)”, said one of the study’s lead researchers, Dr. Shahar Lev-Ari, head of the Department of Health Promotion at TAU’s School of Public Health, Sackler Faculty of Medicine.

“Furthermore, it’s important to note that we observed a higher risk among relatively young men, under the age of 50. At a higher age, the gap is smaller, perhaps due to processes of adjustment that life partners go through over time.”

The study was based on extensive health data from more than 30 years of research that tracked the deaths of 10,000 Israeli men.

In addition to Dr. Lev-Ari, lead researchers from the School of Public Health at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine also included: Prof. Uri Goldbort from the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, who initiated and managed the long-term study, and Dr. Yiftah Gapner, from the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine. The article was published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.

As part of the study, the researchers conducted statistical analyses of a database launched in the 1960s. For 32 years, they tracked the health and behavior of 10,000 male Israel state employees, paying special attention to death from strokes and premature death in general.

At the beginning of the study, most of the participants were in their 40s. Since then, 64% died from a range of illnesses. “We wanted to analyze the data gathered longitudinally using various parameters to identify behavioral and psychosocial risk factors that can predict death from a CVA [a cerebrovascular accident or, in other words, a stroke] and premature death for any reason,” Dr. Lev-Ari explains.

Early in the 32-year-long study, participants were asked to rank their level of marriage satisfaction on a scale of 1 (marriage is very successful) to 4 (marriage is unsuccessful). To the researchers’ surprise, this scale would prove to be a predictive factor for life expectancy, highly similar to smoking and lack of physical activity. The number of deceased from a stroke was 69% higher among those who ranked their marriage satisfaction at 4 (i.e. marriage is unsuccessful) compared to those who ranked their marriage satisfaction very highly. The overall mortality was 19% higher among the unhappily married. The researchers note that the gaps were even larger among men who were relatively young (under 50) at the beginning of the study.

In addition, the researchers conducted a statistical analysis of all known risk factors contributing to death from cardiovascular diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, excessive BMI, and socioeconomic status. Here, too, the data showed that the relative risk of death for any reason among the unhappily married was 1.21 higher than among those satisfied with their marriages. This rate is similar to data cited in medical literature regarding smokers and those leading a sedentary life.

Your list of healthy habits just got a bit longer, guys. But remember, knowledge is power – and next time you go to the gym, perhaps you could make it a date?

The Faculty of Engineering Predicts: A Greener and Safer Future

Written by AUFTAU on 2 July 2021. Posted in Magazine, Newsroom.

Graduates of TAU’s School of Mechanical Engineering present innovative projects.

Just like every year, graduates of the School of Mechanical Engineering of The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering recently presented the projects they have been working on throughout their final year of studying towards their degree. A lot of ground was covered, with one project promising those suffering from nightmares after trauma to sleep peacefully, another offering a robot capable of disinfecting aircrafts from viruses, and other teams have developed drones designed and developed to transport defibrillators and first aid kits through areas that are either difficult or downright impossible to access from the ground. Seeing these original ideas makes it clear how the faculty’s motto is befitting for those who enter (and perhaps even more so for those who exit) its gates: “Those who fall in love with a problem are the ones who will find a solution to it.”

Thinking Within the Box

We use them every day, usually multiple times a day, but how much thought do we dedicate to the garbage bins in our homes? And, while we’re on the subject, have you ever thought to calculate how many garbage bags you dispose of every year? As environmentally-conscious people, Tal Kelmachter and Nimrod Ben-Yehuda have given this more than a little thought, and got inspired to design their very own garbage can.

The exterior part of the bin does not distinguish itself much from your standard garbage bin. The secret is hidden within the box: the uniqueness of this product is that it does not require a plastic bag, which is an environmental hazard. Nimrod explains, “We designed it as a stand-alone solution which does not require any special infrastructure, like drainage, water supply and electricity. Once you have emptied the contents of the garbage bin, an integral rinsing mechanism cleanses it on the inside, easily and quickly. The water is contained in a clean water container, and a mechanical pump forces the water through a system of pipes with a no-return valve to a system of sprinklers that showers the sides of the tin from the inside. The dirty water then flows into a dedicated water drawer which is easy to empty. The result is a garbage bin that remains clean and free of bad odors and contaminants.”

Tal adds, “During the past few years there has been increased awareness which has led to a growing trend of reducing plastic use and recycling. And yet, there is currently no product on the market that completely prevents the use of garbage bags. Nimrod and I managed to find a solution to this problem.”

Tal Kelmachter and Nimrod Ben-Yehuda with their green garbage bin, ECOCAN

Enjoy the Ride

A few minutes into Aviv Halachmi’s motorcycle drive to his girlfriend in Beer Sheva, his headset ran out of battery. The annoying experience motivated Aviv to form the ChargElmet team together with fellow students Tal Belilty and Itay Shulman.

“Motorcyclists attach a variety of electronic components to their helmets, such as hands free and camera, in order to enhance their riding experience. These utilities have batteries that require charging. We designed and built a system which uses the wind and the sun to produce green energy to charge gadgets from motorcycle helmets while you travel”, says Aviv.

Did the project become a smoother ride than Aviv’s trip to his girlfriend? Not at all. The team ran into plenty of difficulties along the way: “The system we created is multidisciplinary and contains a lot of engineering elements from various fields, not all related to mechanical engineering, such as electrical diagrams, electrical design including the investigation and selection of the appropriate cards and components and much more. So, we were forced to learn a lot while on the job. That being said, solving issues that arose throughout the process and accomplishing the end product brought us tremendous satisfaction,” he shares.

Aviv concludes, “For now, our invention is geared towards motorcyclists and improving their lives. In the future, we plan to expand the project to address all two-wheelers (bicycles, scooters…). On a macro level, our vision is to improve public awareness of green energy and to take part in the global trend of promoting and transitioning to renewable energy.”

Itay Shulman, Tal Belilty and Aviv Halachmi found a way to improve other motorcyclists’ lives

Hover and Save

This year, the presence of the drone stood out in the Innovate project (a cooperation between TAU and Elbit Systems Ltd), which encompasses several complementary projects on the subject of detecting, rescuing and making life-saving first aid accessible to those trapped under earthquake ruins.

May Davidovich and Ariel Drizin tell us about their part in the project:” We presented a design and a preliminary prototype for a robotic first aid release arm system, installed on a drone and controlled by a dedicated control system, making it easier for the rescue forces to maneuver among the trapped and offer them first aid. In the future, the project can be advanced by allowing for larger systems capable of carrying heavier kits.”

“Our premise was that the system we were planning would be part of a swarm of drones, including one that would scan and photograph the area, a parent drone that would carry a large number of kits, and drones that would know how to receive kits from the parent glider, bring these to the person(s) trapped and then to release the kit. The system will be controlled by an operator from his control room, who will receive information about the trapped, put together a suitable kit, bring it to the disaster stricken area, and release it as close as possible to the trapped.”

May recounts sleepless nights: “The system worked fine up until a few days before the project was to be presented. As we were putting the parts together, we discovered that we had made some measurement errors prior to the printing of the parts, which meant the components didn’t work properly together.”

“We also had to make several design changes and print the model three times before we achieved the desired result. We learnt that when you print the prototype, you need to consider the system in its entirety, which is hard to do before all the components arrive. It is a time-consuming process which requires a lot of planning in advance.”

“We hope that our invention will help streamline the process of rescuing people who are trapped. For instance, by taking measures and signaling back to the control room the severity of the physical condition of victims, so the rescue can be prioritized accordingly. There are many more potential usages, not necessarily related to rescue, such as grocery delivery from the supermarket.”

Extending their robotic arm. Ariel Drizin and May Davidovich.

Saving the Black Box

Did you know that every plane crash is investigated in depth to determine the cause of the crash? Yaniv Alon, Dor Cohen and Ido Rosenzweig designed a system to be ejected from a plane in the event of a crash, and which transmits location details and additional data, significantly reducing the radius of the search for a plane when contact has been lost.

“The system includes a smart box with electronics and internal controllers. When it recognizes that the plane is about to crash, it is ejected from the plane at high speed with the help of mechanisms that we developed. It then falls to the ground with a parachute and can weather any condition, on land or sea.”, explains Yaniv. He clarifies that the system is not meant to replace the black box, but rather it is meant to offer a better alternative to the aircraft transmission systems that exist today, which tend not to be resilient or ejected, and usually vary according to the aircraft systems.

They started working on the project already last year. After a thorough examination of the system’s weaknesses and failures they undertook significant adjustments and enhancements before presenting the product this year. “We encountered quite a few complications along the way, when deciding how to operate the mechanism, examining various alternatives, finding suitable components, communication with suppliers, delivery delays and manufacturing glitches, requiring us to do ping-pong between the workshop and the production. However, thanks to our combined creativity, determination, efforts and our dedicated project manager Danny Barko, we were able to create a functioning product.”, he says.

When asked how they think their invention will contribute to change our lives, Yaniv replies, “The two main problems those who investigate plane crashes are faced with today, are that the black boxes are not ejected and that they are not resilient, which means that they mostly disappear along with the the aircraft. Unproductive field searches can reach sums of around $155 million. A system is required that will allow for swift and effective investigations and save us a lot of resources and money. Our solution meets these requirements and might even end up saving lives by helping locating crashed planes and their black boxes, advancing the investigation of the failures that led to the planes’ crash and preventing similar future cases.”

Will they help find the black box? Ido Rosenzweig, Dor Cohen and Yaniv Alon

A world first: Targeted delivery of therapeutic RNAs only to cancer cells, with no harm caused to healthy cells

Written by AUFTAU on 1 July 2021. Posted in Newsroom.

Tel Aviv University’s Groundbreaking Technology:

The “door-to-door service” that delivers therapeutic RNA payloads directly to cancer cells and other diseased cells

The groundbreaking technology may revolutionize the treatment of cancer and a wide range of diseases and medical conditions.
Researcher Prof. Peer: “Our development actually changes the world of therapeutic antibodies. Today we flood the body with antibodies that, although selective, also damage healthy cells. We have now removed the uninfected cells from the equation, and, via a simple injection, succeeded in targeting only the cells that are inflamed at that given moment.”
The study was published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature.

Tel Aviv University’s groundbreaking technology may revolutionize the treatment of cancer and a wide range of diseases and medical conditions. In the framework of this study, the researchers were able to create a new method of transporting RNA-based drugs to a subpopulation of immune cells involved in the inflammation process, and target the disease-inflamed cell without causing damage to other cells.

The study was led by Prof. Dan Peer, a global pioneer in the development of RNA-based therapeutic delivery. He is Tel Aviv University’s Vice President for Research and Development, head of the Center for Translational Medicine and a member of both the Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, and the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. The study was published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature.

Prof. Peer: “Our development actually changes the world of therapeutic antibodies. Today we flood the body with antibodies that, although selective, damage all the cells that express a specific receptor, regardless of their current form. We have now taken out of the equation healthy cells that can help us, that is, uninflamed cells, and via a simple injection into the bloodstream can silence, express or edit a particular gene exclusively in the cells that are inflamed at that given moment.”

As part of the study, Prof. Peer and his team were able to demonstrate this groundbreaking development in animal models of inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and colitis, and improve all inflammatory symptoms, without performing any manipulation on about 85% of the immune system cells. Behind the innovative development stands a simple concept, targeting to a specific receptor conformation.

“On every cell envelope in the body, that is, on the cell membrane, there are receptors that select which substances enter the cell,” explains Prof. Peer. “If we want to inject a drug, we have to adapt it to the specific receptors on the target cells, otherwise it will circulate in the bloodstream and do nothing. But some of these receptors are dynamic – they change shape on the membrane according to external or internal signals. We are the first in the world to succeed in creating a drug delivery system that knows how to bind to receptors only in a certain situation, and to skip over the other identical cells, that is, to deliver the drug exclusively to cells that are currently relevant to the disease.”

Previously, Prof. Peer and his team developed delivery systems based on fatty nanoparticles – the most advanced system of its kind; this system has already received clinical approval for the delivery of RNA-based drugs to cells. Now, they are trying to make the delivery system even more selective.

According to Prof. Peer, the new breakthrough has possible implications for a wide range of diseases and medical conditions. “Our development has implications for many types of blood cancers and various types of solid cancers, different inflammatory diseases, and viral diseases such as the coronavirus. We now know how to wrap RNA in fat-based particles so that it binds to specific receptors on target cells,” he says. “But the target cells are constantly changing. They switch from ‘binding’ to ‘non-binding’ mode in accordance with the circumstances. If we get a cut, for example, not all of our immune system cells go into a ‘binding’ state, because we do not need them all in order to treat a small incision. That is why we have developed a unified protein that knows how to bind only to the active state of the receptors of the immune system cells. We tested the protein we developed in animal models of inflammatory bowel disease, both acute and chronic.”

Prof. Peer adds, “We were able to organize the delivery system in such a way that we target to only 14.9% of the cells that were involved in the inflammatory condition of the disease, without adversely affecting the other, non-involved, cells, which are actually completely healthy cells. Through specific binding to the cell sub-population, while delivering the RNA payload we were able to improve all indices of inflammation, from the animal’s weight to pro-inflammatory cytokines. We compared our results with those of antibodies that are currently on the market for Crohn’s and colitis patients, and found that our results were the same or better, without causing most of the side effects that accompany the introduction of antibodies into the entire cell population. In other words, we were able to deliver the drug ‘door-to-door,’ directly to the diseased cells.”

The study was led by Prof. Peer, together with Dr. Niels Dammes, a postdoctoral fellow from the Netherlands, with the collaboration of Dr. Srinivas Ramishetti, Dr. Meir Goldsmith and Dr. Nuphar Veiga, from Prof. Dan Peer’s lab. Professors Jason Darling and Alan Packard of Harvard University in the United States also participated. The study was funded by the European Union, in the framework of the European Research Council (ERC).

New Type of Prehistoric Human Discovered in Israel

Written by AUFTAU on 28 June 2021. Posted in Newsroom.

A new discovery by Tel Aviv University researchers may change the story of human evolution. The bones of an early human, unknown to science, were found at an excavation site near the city of Ramla. Researchers believe the remains represent one of the “last survivors” of an ancient human group that lived here at the Levant alongside Homo sapiens (modern humans) between 140,000 and 120,000 years ago.

Two teams of researchers took part in the dramatic discovery, published in the prestigious Science journal: an anthropology team from Tel Aviv University headed by Prof. Israel Hershkovitz, Dr. Hila May and Dr. Rachel Sarig from the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research and the Shmunis Family Anthropology Institute, situated in the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University; and an archaeological team headed by Dr. Yossi Zaidner from the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Until today, most researchers believed the small groups of Neanderthals arrived in the Levant from Europe about 70,000 years ago. The discovery of a new human group in this region, which resembles Pre-Neanderthal populations in Europe, challenges the prevailing hypothesis that Neanderthals originated from Europe, suggesting that at least some of the Neanderthals’ ancestors actually came from the Levant. In other words, TAU researchers are now suggesting instead that the famous Neanderthals of Western Europe are only the remnants of a much larger population that lived here in the Levant – and not the other way around.

Timeline: The Nesher Ramla Homo type was an ancestor of both the Neanderthals in Europe and the archaic Homo populations of Asia.

Another Piece to the Puzzle of Human Evolution

Prof. Israel Hershkovitz explains that the discovery of this new type of prehistoric human is of great scientific importance: “It enables us to make new sense of previously found human fossils, add another piece to the puzzle of human evolution, and understand the migrations of humans in the old world. Even though they lived so long ago, in the late middle Pleistocene (474,000-130,000 years ago), the Nesher Ramla people can tell us a fascinating tale, revealing a great deal about their descendants’ evolution and way of life.”

The important human fossil was found by Dr. Zaidner of the Hebrew University during salvage excavations at the Nesher Ramla prehistoric site, in the mining area of the Nesher cement plant (owned by Len Blavatnik) near the city of Ramla. Digging down about 8 meters, the excavators found large quantities of animal bones, including horses, fallow deer and aurochs, as well as stone tools and human bones. An international team led by the researchers from TAU and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem identified the morphology of the bones as belonging to a new type of earlier species, previously unknown to science. This is the first type of prehistoric human species to be defined in Israel, and according to common practice, it was named after the site where it was discovered – the Nesher Ramla Homo type.

WATCH: Researchers from TAU have identified a new type of early human at the Nesher Ramla site, dated to 140,000 to 120,000 years ago:

Neanderthals Made in the Middle East

“This is an extraordinary discovery,” notes Dr. Yossi Zaidner. “We had never imagined that alongside Homo sapiens, archaic Homo roamed the area so late in human history. The archaeological finds associated with human fossils show that Nesher Ramla Homo possessed advanced stone-tool production technologies and most likely interacted with the local Homo sapiens“. The culture, way of life, and behavior of the Nesher Ramla Homo are discussed in a companion paper also published in Science journal.

Furthermore, Prof. Hershkovitz explains that “Before these new findings, most researchers believed the Neanderthals to be a ‘European story’, in which small groups of Neanderthals were forced to migrate southwards to escape the spreading glaciers, with some arriving in the Land of Israel about 70,000 years ago. The Nesher Ramla fossils make us question this theory, suggesting that the ancestors of European Neanderthals lived in the Levant as early as 400,000 years ago, repeatedly migrating westward to Europe and eastward to Asia. In fact, our findings imply that the famous Neanderthals of Western Europe are only the remnants of a much larger population that lived here in the Levant – and not the other way around.”

Neanderthals and Sapiens Sharing Bed

Despite the absence of DNA in these fossils, the findings from Nesher Ramla offer a solution to a great mystery in the evolution of Homo: How did genes of Homo sapiens penetrate the Neanderthal population that presumably lived in Europe long before the arrival of Homo sapiens? Geneticists who studied the DNA of European Neanderthals have previously suggested the existence of a Neanderthal-like population which they called the ‘missing population’ or the ‘X population’ that had mated with Homo sapiens more than 200,000 years ago. In the anthropological paper now published in Science, the researchers suggest that the Nesher Ramla Homo type might represent this population, heretofore missing from the record of human fossils. Moreover, the researchers propose that the humans from Nesher Ramla are not the only ones of their kind discovered in the region, and that some human fossils found previously in Israel, which have baffled anthropologists for years – like the fossils from the Tabun cave (160,000 years ago), Zuttiyeh cave (250,000), and Qesem cave (400,000) – belong to the same new human group now called the Nesher Ramla Homo type.

“People think in paradigms,” says Dr. Rachel Sarig. “That’s why efforts have been made to ascribe these fossils to known human groups like Homo sapiens, Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis or the Neanderthals. But now we say: No. This is a group in itself, with distinct features and characteristics. At a later stage small groups of the Nesher Ramla Homo type migrated to Europe – where they evolved into the ‘classic’ Neanderthals that we are familiar with, and also to Asia, where they became archaic populations with Neanderthal-like features. As a crossroads between Africa, Europe and Asia, the Land of Israel served as a melting pot where different human populations mixed with one another, to later spread throughout the Old World. The discovery from the Nesher Ramla site writes a new and fascinating chapter in the story of humankind.”

The Nesher Ramla research team (left to right): Prof. Israel Hershkovitz, Marion Prevost, Dr. Hila May, Dr. Rachel Sarig and Dr. Yossi Zaidner.

Featured image: TAU’s Dr. Rachel Sarig, Dr. Hila May, and Prof. Israel Hershkovitz holding the Nesher Ramla fossils (photo: Tel Aviv University)

A world first: Technology that restores the sense of touch in nerves damaged as a result of amputation or injury

Cut your finger and lost your sense of touch? There’s hope yet.

A New Tool for Combating Discrimination