The Technion’s story has been intertwined with Israel’s for more than a century, from laying the foundations for a new nation to shaping its future.
An estimated 37 million people worldwide suffer from chronic kidney disease (CKD), with more than 2 million of them receiving dialysis as treatment. 90% of those on dialysis spend half their remaining lifetime hooked up to the machines and traveling to and from their dialysis clinic. In the interest of improving the quality of life for people with CKD, medical equipment manufacturer LiberDi has created an at-home system that could replace traditional in-clinic dialysis. Led in part by company CEO and Technion alumnus Hezekiah Tsoory, LiberDi’s Digital Dialysis Clinic uses peritoneal dialysis, a cheaper and less invasive method that utilizes…
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women, and one common complication of the condition is a buildup of fluid around the heart. Similarly, renal failure affects 2 million people worldwide, and also causes excess fluid retention in the body. Retaining fluids can cause capillary damage, swelling, breathing difficulties, and mobility problems, and current methods for treating this buildup can have negative side effects. To help solve this pressing issue, AquaPass Medical – founded and led in part by company CTO and Technion alumnus Yaacov Nitzan – has created a suit that comfortably removes fluid…
The Technion Human Health Initiative Brings Medical Research and Technology to the Next Level It takes a village of scientists to tackle the increasingly complex health and medical issues of our time. The Technion is assembling a venture to do just that. Learn about the new Technion Human Health Initiative (THHI), a gathering of Technion […]
Valvular heart disease is the term used to describe when any valve in the heart is damaged or diseased. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 2.5% of the U.S. population has valvular heart disease – but it is more common in older adults. When any of the heart’s valves are diseased, they are unable to fully open or close to allow proper blood flow from one area of the heart to the next or in the correct direction it needs to move. In more severe cases, treatment can require open heart surgery. A new alternative…
Did you know less than 1% of most chemotherapy administered as oral or injected medicines reaches the tumor, while the remainder ends up circulating through the body? Precision medicine, often delivered by nano-carriers, attempts to get around this problem by targeting the tumor while bypassing healthy tissue, avoiding the collateral damage caused by chemotherapy. Now, Technion researchers have developed an advance in precision drug delivery that is even more effective, while potentially reducing the unwanted side effects of chemotherapy, such as nausea and hair loss. Their new precision dosing technology is akin to an automated robot-chemist/robot-pharmacist system that formulates and…
Mankind has long yearned to turn back the hands of time. Now after 20 years of research, scientists at the Technion and Haifa’s Rambam Health Care Campus, along with colleagues in England and Germany, have found a way to make aged human skin young again. In a study where elderly human skin was grafted onto young mice, the scientists proved that the aging process could be reversed in the skin and other organs by inducing a change in the molecular structure. If aging is “ultimately a fatal disease whose progress can be slowed and reversed,” wrote the authors in Science…
Pictured Above / Professor Reut Shalgi Researchers at the Technion’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine have discovered that the body has the capability of curing various neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s, and ALS. Unfortunately, however, the body often fails to detect the problem and activate the solution. Professor Reut Shalgi likened the situation to computer troubleshooting. Often you don’t recognize at first that something is wrong with your computer. And when you do, finding the solution is hit or miss. “It is the same with our cells,” she said. “They do not always realize there is a problem, or know how…
Researchers at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, in collaboration with researchers from Le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Toulouse, France, discovered an artificial molecule that may inhibit the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The molecule breaks down the toxic chemical complex Cu–Aβ, inhibiting the cell death that is thought to be related to Alzheimer’s. The study was led by Professor Galia Maayan and doctoral student Anastasia Behar from the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry, in collaboration with Professor Christelle Hureau from the Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination du CNRS.
Meteoric progress has been made in the world of deep learning and artificial intelligence. Yet there are virtually no medical products on the market that tap into AI’s life-changing potential. Until now. Professor Yael Yaniv of the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering joined forces with the research groups of Professors Alex Bronstein and Assaf Schuster of the Henry and Marilyn Taub Faculty of Computer Science to develop an AI-based system that analyzes electrocardiograms (ECGs) and automatically detects heart disease. The electrocardiogram, developed more than a century ago, provides important information on conditions affecting the heart. It is a quick and non-invasive…
In her lab in the Allen and Jewel Prince Center for Neurodegenerative Disorders of the Brain, Technion Associate Professor Simone Engelender is focusing on the molecular mechanisms driving neurodegeneration, particularly in Parkinson’s disease. Although palliative treatments do exist, there is currently no cure for this disease, whose symptoms can range from rigidity to tremors to dementia. Parkinson’s disease triggers the degeneration of a specific brain region called the substantia nigra, where an abnormal protein known as alpha-synuclein accumulates. Prof. Engelender and her team are studying how this accumulation occurs on the molecular level and the problems to which it can…
An ATS – Southern California Webinar In this interactive virtual event for the ATS – Southern California community, Associate Professor Shai Shen-Orr ’00, who visited our region in 2019, updates us on how his pioneering research unlocks the potential for personalized medical treatments and sheds light on “immune age” as a better measure of health […]
Relive this lively discussion about the mind-body connection with Associate Professor Asya Rolls M.Sc.’02. An expert in sleep deprivation and brain research, Prof. Rolls explains how positive thinking can boost healing and immunity, impacting even the body’s ability to fight off cancer cells. Learn more about Prof. Rolls’ fascinating research by clicking the video above. […]