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.
Scientists at the Technion have come upon a surprising discovery that could help frustrated would-be fathers determine their fertility. If validated in humans, this discovery could lead to a reliable, fast, and simple method for diagnosing male infertility, and “could predict the success of assisted reproductive techniques such as IVF or evaluate the fertility of stud animals,” said Technion Professor Benjamin Podbilewicz. The result came unexpectedly, when baby hamster kidney cells surprisingly merged into a single giant cell with multiple nuclei. Scientists discovered that the ability of mice sperm to merge those cells corresponded to the sperm’s fertilizing potential –…
Kfar Aza resident Neta Portal woke up to the sound of warning sirens in her apartment with her partner Santiago on the morning of October 7. Despite hiding out in their safe room, terrorists penetrated the door with bullets before throwing a grenade that forced Neta and Santiago to flee from the apartment through a window. While escaping, Neta retained seven gunshot wounds to her legs while Santiago suffered from a gunshot to his back. The couple was ultimately rescued and treated in the hospital, but both still have a long way to go to heal. Now, Neta is back…
The Technion is the leading university in Israel and Europe, and one of the top 100 in the world for registered patents in the United States. The National Academy of Inventors just released its report for 2023, based on data from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The Technion filed 48 patents in the past year, ranking the University 65th in the world and first in Israel and Europe. This marks a rise of three places from 2022 when the Technion was ranked 68th in the world. When adjusting for the number of faculty, the Technion ranks 20th in…
Professor Daniella Raveh became dean of the Technion’s Faculty of Aerospace Engineering on January 1, 2024. She is the first woman to have obtained this position at the University. An alumna of the Faculty, she graduated with honors and went on to earn both a master’s and Ph.D. degree at the Technion. She became a prominent researcher and a popular lecturer in the Faculty. “I’m honored to become the dean of the Faculty where I once studied, and where I have spent many years conducting research and teaching,” said Prof. Raveh. “Aerospace engineering is a field suitable for both men…
Researchers in the Technion’s Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering and Rappaport Technion Integrated Cancer Center have developed a new patented technology to treat tumors. They estimate it could accelerate the development of personalized treatments for various types of cancer. Typical cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation, often cause serious side effects, because in addition to attacking the cancerous cells, they damage healthy ones. Moreover, certain types of cancer don’t respond well to chemotherapy. Professor Alejandro Sosnik and doctoral student Ivan Zlotver have developed a treatment that combines sonodynamic therapy with a special formula of nanoparticles. Sonodynamic therapy is…
Soon, cancer patients will have an additional treatment option, moving away from relying solely on chemotherapy, which often has deleterious side effects. The current one-size-fits-all approach to treating many diseases will soon be replaced by personalized (or precision) medicine. Essentially, the patient’s DNA will be sequenced, to analyze subclass diseases and identify the cause of the mutation. With a better understanding of disease mechanisms, patients can be diagnosed with great precision and the treatment can be tailored specifically to the target. For breast cancer alone, there will be more than 20 drugs designed to cure each specific type. Thai PBS…
The Technion has made remarkable progress in increasing its number of female students over several decades. This year, half of all new undergraduate students are women. The share of women pursuing advanced degrees is also on the rise. To ensure the University continues to attract and enroll more women, a survey among female students and alumnae was taken, which revealed the need for nursing and lactation rooms throughout the campus. As a result, 18 nursing rooms were installed in each faculty, as well as in the Technion Student House and the Ulman Building, where all first-year students have classes. “The…
In December, the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology will celebrate 100 years. Looking at the list of achievements over the years makes you realize how significant its contribution to the state’s development has been – and still is. “For many years we were essentially the only engineering school in the country, and to this day we are the only technological university,” the Technion president, Prof. Uri Sivan, tells Israel Hayom in a special interview. “To a large extent, we shouldered the burden of founding the state on our shoulders, and over the years we have all reaped the rewards for this….
In a study conducted at the University of Twente, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and the Open University of Israel, researchers have developed a novel approach to address the environmental challenges posed by perchlorate salts, which have been identified as persistent pollutants with potential impacts on human health. The researchers published their findings in an article titled “Selective Perchlorate Sensing Using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy with Self-Assembled Monolayers of semiaza-Bambusurils,” in the journal Chemistry—A European Journal. Perchlorate salts are a type of anion—slightly negatively charged molecules—which have raised concerns due to their ability to interfere with the proper functioning of the thyroid gland, leading to…
Researchers at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa have developed a new tool to determine whether a cancer patient is predisposed to an advanced kind of treatment called immunotherapy. The immune system contains “checkpoints” to prevent it from attacking cancer cells too strongly, as this would also potentially damage nearby healthy cells. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) suppress this action and allow the immune system to attack the cancer cells, but they are only effective in less than 40 percent of patients and tools currently being used to predict the drug’s efficacy are not completely accurate. Keep reading at nocamels.com.
Three Israeli research projects have won a $1 million prize for initiatives tackling the climate crisis. The prize is designed to advance groundbreaking innovation and research that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Climate Solutions Breakthrough Research Prize is awarded by the Jewish National Fund of Canada with the support of Keren Kayemet LeYisrael (KKL-JNF), with each making a matching contribution to the prize money. The prize was also awarded in conjunction with Startup Nation Central, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting Israeli innovation. The winners are: Prof. Shany Barath and Prof. Yechezkel Kashi from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, who developed…
It’s come to this. With Earth at its hottest point in recorded history, and humans doing far from enough to stop its overheating, a small but growing number of astronomers and physicists are proposing a potential fix that could have leaped from the pages of science fiction: The equivalent of a giant beach umbrella, floating in outer space. The idea is to create a huge sunshade and send it to a far away point between the Earth and the sun to block a small but crucial amount of solar radiation, enough to counter global warming. Scientists have calculated that if…