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.
Imagine this: One day you wake up to find the steering wheel that had been on one car in your garage is now on your other car, and the parking brakes are also interchanged. According to research conducted by Professor Noam Ziv, something very similar is happening in our brains, because the parts that make up our synapses are constantly moving. This brain research, which could have implications for memory loss and aging, is just one of the many exciting projects underway in the new Technion Human Health Initiative (THHI), headed by Prof. Ziv. As the global population skews older,…
When clinical pathologists look at images of cells from a patient biopsy, they perceive things the rest of us cannot. Where we see bright pink blobs and dots of purplish blue, they can make out the hallmarks of cancerous disease. But show the same images to a computer souped up with artificial intelligence in Professor Ron Kimmel’s Geometric Image Processing Lab at the Technion, and it can discern data that is invisible even to the most highly trained human eye. The Technion is the top-ranked institution for machine learning in Europe and the Middle East. Prof. Kimmel’s group is investigating…
The rate of childhood peanut allergies from birth to 18 years old is three to four times higher compared to 20 years ago. Those with a severe allergy can be sent into anaphylaxis just by smelling the legume. This can be especially problematic for those with allergies in Israel, as the country does not have standardized regulations that require uniform labeling of allergens on food packaging. But Technion alumna Dr. Mona Kidon may have a solution to this issue. She has created an immunotherapy that permits young peanut allergy sufferers to build up immunity to peanuts until they can ultimately…
Evan Jordan can tell when you are stressed, even though he’s never met or interacted with you. An assistant professor of health and wellness design at Indiana University’s School of Public Health-Bloomington, Jordan and his team use GPS tracking to find connections between a person’s environment and their mental health. The data could be stunningly revealing. Why? Because where we are in the world and how much we move is a big indicator of our mental health. Studies suggest that if we take a lot of walks to the park, we’re statistically less likely to have anxiety and depression. If…
Increasing the global food supply while protecting the environment is one of the world’s most pressing challenges. Technion is heavily invested in meeting this challenge, perpetuating Israel’s dominant position in the FoodTech revolution. “Eradicating world hunger and improving food security are among the main challenges facing humanity in the 21st century, as defined by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals,” notes Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan. “The Technion has the only faculty in Israel for research in food engineering, a faculty that leads the Israeli FoodTech industry.” The Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering at the Technion is also one of…
An Israeli startup has developed a wearable device that can predict the likelihood of an imminent stroke through changes in the carotid artery’s blood flow, potentially helping early intervention and preventing disablity. Strokes are most commonly caused by a clot blocking the essential supply of blood to the brain, and according to the World Health Organization are the second leading cause of death and the leading cause of disability across the globe. Over 100 million people have experienced a stroke worldwide, with one in four adults experiencing one in their lifetime. And for 50 percent of them, that means some form of…
When serial medical device inventor Dvir Keren became interested in developing a minimally invasive way to fill in bald areas caused by androgenetic alopecia — common in both men and women — he did not realize he’d be establishing a femtech company. But that’s what Hairstetics became, for the simple reason that 85 percent of women with androgenetic alopecia are not benefiting from natural hair transplantation procedures for what is called “male-pattern baldness” in men. “At the beginning, he was thinking about males,” says Hairstetics CEO Oren Ne’eman. “But when recruitment for clinical studies started, a lot of women came.” Keren learned that androgenetic alopecia in…
There are thousands of kinds of bacteria – microscopic, single-celled organisms that are among the earliest known life forms on earth and live in every possible environment all over the world. They might be airborne or found in water, plants, soil, animals and even humans, where some cause dangerous diseases such as salmonella, pneumonia, meningitis, tuberculosis, anthrax, tetanus and botulism. However, many bacteria, including the ones that comprise the human gut microbiome, do good rather than harm. Bacteria can even be turned into tiny factories that manufacture needed products. Now, researchers at the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering at…
The weight-loss market is, pun perhaps intended, huge. Recent years have seen the advancement of dieting drugs, but many of these include painful injections and a whole slew of side effects. An Israeli startup, meanwhile, enables people interested in losing a moderate amount of weight to take a pill that leaves them feeling full without drugs. “The idea was to develop a product that can be swallowed through the mouth and which opens up in the stomach to apply pressure on the stomach wall and so produce a feeling of satiety,” Epitomee CEO Dr. Dan Hashimshony tells ISRAEL21c. “That’s something that’s easy…
Personal sensing data could help monitor and alleviate stress among resident physicians, although privacy concerns over who sees the information and for what purposes must be addressed, according to collaborative research from Cornell Tech. Burnout in all types of workplaces is on the rise in the U.S., where the “Great Resignation” and “silent quitting” have entered the lexicon in recent years. This is especially true in the health care industry, which has been strained beyond measure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stress is physical as well as mental, and evidence of stress can be measured through the use of smartphones, wearables…
A medical breakthrough now allows doctors to freeze early-stage breast tumors – with no surgery, no scarring, no general anesthetic and no tissue removal. The entire procedure can take as little as 40 minutes. Patients can go straight home after its done, and are spared the painful recovery process. The idea of using an extremely cold liquid to freeze and destroy abnormal tissue – or cryoablation – isn’t new. Doctors have been doing it in hospitals for the last 30 years. But IceCure Medical, an Israeli startup, has developed technology that allows physicians to perform the procedure at their own office,…
The world’s smallest heart pump, which was developed by an Israeli startup, is now being used in the treatment of two heart patients in New York as part of an FDA-approved study. The study is the first step to securing approval for the use of Magenta Medical’s Elevate heart pump in the US. It will evaluate the device’s safety and feasibility in providing temporary support during procedures used to open clogged arteries in the heart. The Elevate pump can support the heart’s activity, and even temporarily replace the organ for several days by opening clogged arteries of cardiac patients, and reducing…