Category: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

3D printed biodegradable implants

Researcher: Prof. Shulamit Levenberg

In severe nerve injuries, major gaps are formed within the tissue and the axons in the spinal cord fail to regenerate. This failure is related to the formation of cystic cavities within the injury site. Unlike healthy extra-cellular matrix, the...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

A novel cancer immunotherapy approach

Researcher: Prof. Tomer Shlomi

Cancer immunotherapy shows poor clinical results in many cancer types, due to deprivation of required metabolic nutrients from T cells - tumors compete with T cells for the same essential nutrients including glucose and amino acids. Once T cells arrive...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

A pharmacological Trojan horse approach to eradicate multidrug-resistant cancer

Researcher: Prof. Yehuda G. Assaraf

The frequent emergence of anticancer drug resistance continues to be a major impediment towards curative chemotherapy of various human cancers. Multidrug resistance (MDR) to multiple anticancer drugs is perhaps the most extensively studied major mechanism of anticancer drug resistance. MDR...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

An ultra-sensitive nanopore biosensors for detection of KRAS mutations in colorectal cancer

Researcher: Prof. Amit Meller

One of the main challenges impeding genomic-based disease identification and characterization stems from the fact that related analytes, such as pathogens genes and cancer biomarkers, are present in extremely low concentrations in biomedical samples. Thus, currently, most clinical genomic identification approaches...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Anti-microbial peptides

Researcher: Prof. Noam Adir|Prof. Sima Yaron

New antibiotics are a necessity in today’s modern medicine due to the increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistant strains of pathogenic bacteria. There are many attempts at providing new antibiotic drugs by either modification of existing drugs or by finding new...
Categories: Food and Agriculture|Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Antibacterial treatment using aminoglycosides as catalytically disable bacterial ribosome

Researcher: Prof. Timor Baasov

The emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogens that are resistant to most currently available antibiotics is a significant clinical problem. The development of new antibacterial agents and novel approaches is therefore extremely important. One innovative approach is the development of catalytic antibiotics:...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Antimetastatic, non-anticoagulant heparanase inhibitors

Researcher: Prof. Israel Vlodavsky

Glycosidase enzymes have emerged as a potential target for anticancer drug development due to the glycosidases’ ability to catalyze the hydrolysis of glycosidic bonds in complex sugars and the vital role the enzymes play in cellular functions. The hydrolysis of...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Biological glue

Researcher: Prof. Eyal Zussman

The present technology provides a method for generating a fiber from a globular protein, such as albumin, by electrospinning. Thus, albumin fibers and fabrics may be produced and used for wound dressing or for in/ex vivo tissue generation. Advantages Albumin...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Biosurgery based on enzymatic collagenase

Researcher: Prof. Avi Schroeder

Overexpressed extracellular matrix (ECM) in liver fibrosis limits drug penetration into the tumor and is associated with poor prognosis. Collagen, a triple-helix protein, is the main structural component in such diseases. Collagen viscoelastic properties play a major role in constructing...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Bone Marrow-Targeted Nanoparticle Therapy

Researcher: Prof. Yuval Shaked |Prof. Avi Schroeder

Bone marrow-targeted liposomes (BMTL) represent a novel nanomedicine platform designed to enhance the delivery of therapeutic agents specifically to the bone. This technology utilizes nanoparticles conjugated with AMD3100 (Plerixafor®), a CXCR4 antagonist, enabling precise targeting of CXCR4-expressing cells in the...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Brain modulation for immune system regulation (specific to the reward system)

Researcher: Prof. Asya Rolls|Prof. Lior Gepstein

We show in mice that through activation or inhibition of the dopaminergic neurons in the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) in the brain we can alter the immune response. We can control the activity of distinct immune cell lineages, and in...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Cancer immunotherapy by nanoparticle-based magnetic support in T cells

Researcher: Prof. Tomer Shlomi|Prof. Yoram Reiter

Cancer immunotherapy shows poor clinical results in many cancer types. A potent suppressor mechanism is the deprivation of required metabolic nutrients from T cells. Tumors compete with T cells for the same essential nutrients including glucose and amino acids, and...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Cancer multidrug resistance diagnostic method for personalize chemotherapy

Researcher: Prof. Yehuda G. Assaraf

The present technology provides a quick and reliable test to identify multidrug resistance in cancer cells and personalize chemotherapeutic drug treatment. Imidazoacridinones (IAs) are a novel class of fluorescent molecules which differ in their residues and are recognized and extruded...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Catalytic Systems for Enantio-Selective Enrichment

Researcher: Prof. Yaron Paz

Chirality is an unusual aspect of chemistry, a seemingly minor detail with surprisingly far-reaching consequences in physical, chemical, and biological systems. Approximately 50% of drugs on the market today contain at least one chiral center. Many of these compounds exhibit...
Categories: Chemistry and Materials|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

CCL1-CCR8 antagonists (antibodies or small molecules)

Researcher: Prof. Nathan Karin

One of the four CCR8 ligands, CCL1, produced by CCR8+CD4+FOXp3+ regulatory T cells (Treg) that are major drivers of immune regulation, potentiates their suppressive activity via induction of CCR8, FOXp3, CD39, Granzyme-B, and IL-10 in a positive feedback mechanism, making...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Cell fusion or destruction using nanoparticles and laser

Researcher: Prof. Dvir Yelin

The present technology involves the use of nanoparticles and laser light to manipulate selected cells for cancer therapy, tissue regeneration and drug production. The invention describes a method for specific cell manipulation. Gold nanoparticles are coated by a layer of...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Compositions and methods for diagnosing and treating an inflammation

Researcher: Prof. Nathan Karin

The present patented technology relates to a peptide comprising an epitope within the macrophage scavenger receptor B-I, a method of using the same, and an antibody that binds to the epitope. Scavenger receptors are cell surface proteins, typically found on...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Crystals for compounds entrapment and slow release

Researcher: Prof. Boaz Pokroy

Drug delivery with slow release systems main limitation is control over the dissolution rate of the encapsulating material as well as leaching of the active material from the encapsulation. Bio-inspired approach in which drugs are entrapped within a crystalline lattice...
Categories: Chemistry and Materials|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Detection of single and multi-center chiral molecules

Researcher: Prof. Oren Cohen

Identifying chirality of molecules especially with multiple chiral centers is crucial to the pharmaceutical industry as chirality affect activity, efficacy and even pose safety issues. Currently the molecules chirality identification methods rely on weak signals and requires expensive equipment. Multiple...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology|Physics and Electro-Optics

Determining responders to inflammatory bowel disease treatment

Researcher: Prof. Shai Shen-Orr

Current treatment of Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) is an empiric process, which involves decisions based on the response to therapies by the average patient, without taking into account the basic differences between patients, their specific immune status at a given...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Developing a novel powerful treatment for inflammatory diseases

Researcher: Prof. Esther Meyron-Holtz

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) can be debilitating, causing long-term, impaired gastrointestinal structure and function. Until now, no cure has been found and existing treatments can have strongly detrimental side effects. Iron is an essential nutrient that participates in many central...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Development extracellular arteries skeleton with a small diameter vascular tissue engineering

Researcher: Prof. Marcelle Machluf

Heart failure is a key factor in morbidity and mortality in the western world. Heart muscle tissue differentiates shortly after birth, with the result that cardiac cells lose their ability to divide. As a result, the heart muscle tissue cannot...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Enzyme mediated fibronectin inhibition for treatment of fibrosis

Researcher: Prof. Peleg Hasson|Prof. Haguy Wolfenson

Fibrosis is the abnormal accumulation of fibrous extracellular matrix, causing a group of conditions known as fibrotic diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, systemic sclerosis and scleroderma. Fibrosis can be a primary condition or a secondary response, as well as promote...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Extracellular matrix-based cardiac scaffolds for cardiac tissue regeneration

Researcher: Prof. Marcelle Machluf

Cardiovascular diseases and myocardial infarction (MI) in particular are the leading cause of death in the developed world. The only therapeutic options currently available for end-stage heart failure are mechanical ventricular assist devices or heart transplantation. However, these options have...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Facile catalysis by iron complex

Researcher: Dr. Graham de Ruiter

A fast, cheap, and eco-friendly method for catalysis of several types of reactions: Hydrogen Isotope Exchange, Alkene Isomerization, Z-Selective Alkyne functionalization, Cross-Coupling, Hydrogenation and C-H activation. In particular, the Hydrogen isotope exchange technology is based on an iron complex, that...
Categories: Chemistry and Materials|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Fibrin matrix for engineering tissue substitutes with internal blood vessel network

Researcher: Prof. Shulamit Levenberg

Tissue engineering holds enormous potential to replace or restore the function of damaged tissues. However, the most successful applications have been limited to thin avascular tissues such as skin and cartilage in which delivery of nutrients and oxygen relies on...
Categories: Chemistry and Materials|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Formulation for solubilization of bioactive compounds

Researcher: Prof. Yoav Livney

Some of the most potent bioactive compounds (nutraceuticals and drugs) are poorly bioavailable, which is a major hurdle towards harnessing them for preventing/curing diseases. Specifically, Astaxanthin (AX) is a red xanthophyll carotenoid found mainly in algae (notably Haematococcus Pluvialis microalga) and marine animals. AX is a stronger antioxidant than vitamin...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Gads as an attractive drug target

Researcher: Prof. Deborah Yablonski

Type I hypersensitivity is a common form of allergy, affecting hundreds of millions of patients around the world, caused by allergen sensitization of immune mast cells. The most commonly-used allergy drugs, anti-histamines, target the symptoms of allergy, but cannot be...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Harnessing synthetic optogenetic circuits for cancer therapy

Researcher: Prof. Daniel Ramez

Cancer immunotherapy is associated with on-target, off-tumor cytotoxicity or immune-related adverse events. Thus, light-based techniques, optogenetics, could allow “remote control” of immune responses within the body. Harnessing synthetic biology, optogenetics, the use of light to control the activity of specific...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

High resolution longitudinal immune profiling reveals the dynamics of healthy immune-aging and its relation to cardiovascular risk

Researcher: Prof. Shai Shen-Orr

Over the past decade it has become apparent that the aging immune system has a fundamental role in a variety of chronic illness, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurodegeneration, musculoskeletal conditions and others. This places the immune system as an “aging...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Highly-efficient and scalable extracellular vesicles 3D manufacturing platform based on fluidic shear stress

Researcher: Prof. Shulamit Levenberg

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nano-sized particles containing proteins and genetic materials secreted by cells. EVs were shown to be relevant as biomarkers as well as to have therapeutic potential within an array of diseases, such as neurological diseases, cardiovascular diseases,...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Hydrogel Microparticles fabrication system

Hydrogel microparticles (HMPs) are composed of 3D crosslinked polymers on a microscopic scale. Due to their special material properties, they have become an important class of pharmaceutical formulations in the biotechnology and biomedical field. Current methods to produce HMPs such...
Categories: Chemistry and Materials|Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

In vitro model of heart failure with preserved enjection fraction (HFpEF)

Researcher: Prof. Oren Caspi

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a non-infectious pandemic affecting more than 1% of the general population and more than 10% of individuals over the age of 65. Currently, there are no effective treatments for HFpEF, mainly due...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Inhibition for the amelioration of cardiomyocytes contractile function by bZIP repressors

Researcher: Prof. Ami Aronheim

Cardiovascular associated diseases are the number one killer contributing to one-in-four deaths in the USA. The number of novel cardiovascular drugs developed in the past 20 years is limited and their efficacy and long-term toxicity is of concern. c-Jun dimerization...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Interspecies intestinal co-culture for simple screening of foods and drugs

Researcher: Prof. Esther Meyron-Holtz

To meet a growing world population’s nutritional needs, novel foods and especially protein sources are developed, and need to be tested for their physiologic effects on the gastrointestinal tract. The gastrointestinal tract is a complex tissue that can be analyzed...
Categories: Food and Agriculture|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Light-Generating Fusion Proteins Capable Of Self-Activation in synthetic cells

Researcher: Prof. Avi Schroeder

Optogenetics utilizes light-responsive biological components, mostly proteins, to activate cellular processes in engineered and natural cell systems. To optically control these processes, exposure to a light source is required. Therefore, the use of these proteins for therapeutic applications in vivo...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Metabolic interventions to enhance immunity in elderly

Researcher: Dr. Noga Ron- Harel

With aging, immune function, particularly T cell responses, decline, affecting the efficacy of vaccinations and increasing susceptibility to infections. Recent research has identified that the aging spleen’s microenvironment, rich in toxic heme and iron depositions, contributes significantly to this immune...
Categories: Food and Agriculture|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Metabolic predictors of response to immune checkpoint blockade therapy

Researcher: Dr. Keren Yizhak

Technology Cancer immunotherapy, particularly immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), has transformed treatment for various malignancies, offering durable responses in some patients. However, response rates remain limited, with many patients exhibiting resistance or partial responses. Current biomarkers fail to consistently predict outcomes...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Methacrylated fibrinogen hydrogel precursors

Researcher: Prof. Dror Seliktar

Technology Hydrogel biomaterials that are biodegradable are often sought in the field of regenerative medicine and 3D bioprinting. Biomedical hydrogels comprised of natural polymers such as chitosan, alginate, gelatin, albumin, fibrin and collagen have gained interest for their inherent biocompatibility...
Categories: Food and Agriculture|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Methods and kits for determining predisposition to develop kidney diseases

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a powerful independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease and death at all stages. Most patients with CKD will succumb to cardiovascular complications rather than reach end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). Recent reports estimate that as many...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Methods of determining prognosis of sepsis and treating same

Researcher: Prof. Shai Shen-Orr

Sepsis is a severe life-threatening systemic inflammatory response related to infection that is responsible for more than 750,000 deaths annually in the US. It is a systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) with proven or probable infection of bacterial, fungal or...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Microfluidic device that is designed to mimic the geometry of a section of the pulmonary acinus

Researcher: Prof. Josué Sznitman

Assessing deposition levels of air-borne particulate matter in the pulmonary acinus is of utmost importance for the pharmaceutical industry where such knowledge is required for development and quality validation of inhaled aerosolized drugs. In addition, deposition levels of toxic particles...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Mitochondria tracking using MYSOIN 19 peptide

Researcher: Prof. Arnon Henn

Mitochondria are found in almost all eukaryotic cells and play a role in processes such as ATP production, calcium homeostasis, lipid synthesis and apoptosis signaling. Mitochondria are organized as a network that undergoes constant events of fission and fusion, processes...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Molecular, multicolor MRI for study of brain disorders

Researcher: Dr. Shai Berlin

Bringing genetic specificity, enhanced contrast, resolution and color to pre-clinical MRI scans. The development of imaging methodologies for single cell measurements over extended timescales of up to weeks, in the intact animal, will depend on signal strength, stability, validity and...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Nano gate - stimulus induced nanofluidic device

Researcher: Prof. Oz M. Gazit|Prof. Ofer Manor

Flow control that is activated by environmental and other pre-designed parameters can be useful in many systems such as agriculture and water treatment. Natural tendency of two-dimensional (2D) clay nano-particles to self-assemble and restrict water permeability in soils can be...
Categories: Chemistry and Materials|Food and Agriculture|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology|Sustainability and Energy

Neuronal modulation to control the immune response

Researcher: Prof. Asya Rolls

We show in mice that through activation or inhibition of the dopaminergic neurons in the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) in the brain we can alter the immune response. We can control the activity of distinct immune cell lineages, and in...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Novel fluoroquinolone-aminoglycoside hybrid antibiotics

Researcher: Prof. Timor Baasov

The emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogens that are resistant to most currently available antibiotics is a significant clinical problem. The development of new antibacterial agents and novel approaches is therefore extremely important. Due to the emergence of new resistance, a strategy...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Novel immunotherapeutic approach for potent tumor rejection

Researcher: Prof. Yoram Reiter

Adoptive T cell therapy has the potential to enhance antitumor immunity, augment vaccine efficacy, and limit graft-versus-host disease. One strategy is the idea of activating and re-directing endogenous T cells, and one way to do this is to use bispecific...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Novel peptide as a treatment for Parkinson's disease

Researcher: Prof. Simone Engelender

Parkinson’s disease is a very common neurodegenerative disease. It affects at least 1% of the population above the age of 65. Although there is palliative treatment for the disease's motor symptoms, there is no treatment to prevent or decrease the...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Novel Protein-Based Aerogels

Aerogels are like hydrogels in which the liquids have been replaced by a gas. Recently, natural protein-based aerogels found to be very interesting in the biomedical and biomaterial fields due to their biocompatibility and degradability. Current approaches still use harsh...
Categories: Chemistry and Materials|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology|Sustainability and Energy

Novel treatment for diseases requiring long-term repression of gonadal steroids

Researcher: Prof. Philippa Melamed

There is a need to repress production of steroids by the gonads (testes and ovaries) in various “steroid-dependent” diseases, most notably breast and prostate cancers, and uterine fibroids and endometriosis. Current treatments rely on GnRH agonists which shut-down the reproductive...
Categories: Chemistry and Materials|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Nutritional solution for muscle atrophy

Researcher: Prof. Shenhav Shemer

Loss of muscle mass occurs naturally with aging and in many human diseases (e.g. cancer, diabetes, renal failure, motor-neuron diseases, AIDS, neurodegenerative diseases). It is considered to be the major immediate cause of death in many patients with cancer, and...
Categories: Food and Agriculture|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Pancreatic extracellular matrix for diabetes cell-based therapy

Researcher: Prof. Marcelle Machluf

Microencapsulation of cells for cell and drug delivery is one of the most important approaches for the continuous delivery of this therapeutics. This powerful technique allows controlled delivery of therapeutic products to specific physiological sites in order to restore lost...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Post-functionalization mechanophores via Click Chemistry

Researcher: Prof. Joshua M. Grolman |Prof. Charles Eliezer Diesendruck

The autonomous detection of mechanical stress in plastics and polymers (both biological/natural and synthetic) traditionally requires the incorporation of mechanophores (force-sensitive molecular probes) during the chemical step - polymerization, and therefore does not allow for incorporation after processing. In addition,...
Categories: Automation, Mobility and Aerospace|Chemistry and Materials|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Precision medicine for autism, intellectual disability, and epilepsy

Researcher: Prof. Andrew Levy

A rare mutation in the IQSEC2 gene results in a phenotype of severe intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, and drug resistant epilepsy. Herewith is a set of technologies and capabilities centered around the goal of finding a therapy to improve the lives...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Pressure ulcer vaccine

Researcher: Prof. Daphne Weihs

Pressure ulcers (PUs) are a common health issue, particularly in physically limited, chair-bound or bedridden patients. For many patients, particularly the elderly, PUs may inexplicably become chronic and remain so for the remainder of the patient's lifetime. PUs have recently...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Proteomics and genomics applications for electrokinetic focusing of in single-molecule sensor

Researcher: Prof. Amit Meller

The present patented technology is in the field of single-molecule detection in cases where the source sample is extremely dilute to the point where measurement is prohibited. Single molecule nanopore biosensors are integrated down-stream of a fluidic device that features...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Real time mitochondrial dimension measurements

Researcher: Prof. Yael Yaniv

Mitochondrial volume is correlated with cell function and internal cell processes. Changes in mitochondrial volume were associated with advanced states of cardiac disease. Thus, measurements of mitochondrial dimension deformations are important to the understanding of cell function and its deterioration....
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Redesign of Fluoroquinolones to Catalytically Fragment Chromosomal DNA

Researcher: Prof. Timor Baasov

Fluoroquinolones are highly potent, broad spectrum antibiotics that are among the most prescribed antibacterial in the world. They exert a bacteriostatic effect by selectively binding to the bacterial topoisomerase IIA− DNA complex and thereby inhibiting DNA replication. At higher doses...
Categories: Chemistry and Materials|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Scaffolds from electrospun decellularized extracellular matrix

Researcher: Prof. Marcelle Machluf

Tissue engineering has emerged as a promising approach to improve or restore the function or shape of a damaged tissue or organ by implantation of polymeric scaffolds, functional cells, or their combination in cell seeded scaffolds. Most of the currently...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Self-Healing Multifunctional Wound Dressing

Researcher: Prof. Hossam Haick

Traditional wound closure methods, including sutures, staples, and medical adhesives, have been widely used in the medical field. However, these methods often lead to complications due to mechanical mismatches with the skin's natural properties. These complications may include infection, damage...
Categories: Chemistry and Materials|Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Semaphorin 3A as a diagnostic marker for urothelial cancer

Researcher: Prof. Jacob Rubinstein

Upper urinary tract carcinoma is a highly challenging disease to diagnose and follow. In contrast to bladder cancer, upper tract tumors are more difficult to diagnose and treat, due to the anatomical considerations and the special medical equipment that is...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Semaphorin for treating AMD or cancer

Researcher: Prof. Gera Neufeld

Semaphorins are a versatile family of membrane bound and soluble proteins, which mainly regulate focal adhesion assembly/disassembly and induce cytoskeletal remodeling, thus affecting cell shape, cell attachment to extracellular matrix, cell mobility and cell migration. Semaphorins have been shown to participate...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Separation of short nucleic acid molecules and quantification of small RNA

Researcher: Prof. Ayelet Lamm

Small RNAs are a 20-30b long RNA molecules which play an important role in regulation of gene expression. One of the most important type of small RNAs are microRNAs. MicroRNAs are conserved and function in RNA silencing and post-transcriptional regulation...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Sperm-induced cell-to-cell fusion as a male fertility diagnosis test

Researcher: Prof. Benjamin Podbilewicz

Approximately 15% of couples of reproductive age face fertility issues, with about a third attributed to male factors. Assisted Reproductive Techniques (ART), such as the conventional in vitro fertilization (IVF), and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), are commonly employed to aid...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Super-resolution optical microscopy utilizing structured illumination

Researcher: Prof. Guy Bartal

Standard optical microscopy has a resolution limit of roughly 200nm which is insufficient for modern Biological research. Research of intra-cellular structures requires sub 50nm resolution for dynamic in-vivo studies. Current methods to achieve such resolution are slow or destructive. Illuminating...
Categories: Chemistry and Materials|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology|Physics and Electro-Optics

Superradiance cathodoluminescence electron microscope

Researcher: Dr. Ido Kaminer|Dr. Yehonadav Bekenstein

Superfluorescence (or superradiance) refers to the emission of a collective burst of photons from densely packed emitters with long coherence times and narrow energy spectra. This phenomenon arises when emitters are coupled and correlated through the electromagnetic field. However, it...
Categories: Chemistry and Materials|Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

T cell sub-populations capable of treating cancer

Researcher: Prof. Yoram Reiter

The spontaneous regression of certain cancers, such as melanoma or renal cell cancer, supports the idea that the immune system is sometimes capable of delaying tumor progression and on rare occasions eliminating a tumor altogether. The term adoptive immunotherapy describes...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Targeted delivery of inhalation medicine using magnetic particles

Researcher: Prof. Josué Sznitman

The lungs can be described as a dense tree, where the airways resemble branches, ending with raspberry-like acinar sacs. The acinar sacs are made of alveoli, the basic respiratory units of the lungs. The alveolar lumen is composed of a...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Targeting mitochondrial Complex I deficits in Schizophrenia: therapeutics and diagnostics

Researcher: Prof. Dorit Ben-Shachar

Technology Mitochondrial dysfunction is increasingly recognized as a critical factor in schizophrenia (SZ). Impaired activity of Complex I (CoI) of the mitochondrial respiratory chain has been identified, with aberrant expression of CoI subunit NDUFV2 and its pseudogene (NDUFV2P1) playing a...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Targeting UBB+1 for treating Alzheimer’s disease

Researcher: Prof. Michael Glickman

As human life-span increases, prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease is soaring, reaching plague-like numbers worldwide. Alzheimer’s disease is a debilitating disease characterized by toxic protein build up in the brain that inevitably leads to dementia and loss of independence of the...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Therapeutic agents penetration into solid tumors

Researcher: Dr. Yosi Shamay|Prof. Galia Maayan

Solid tumors treatment is a significant challenge. Solid tumors present a complex microenvironment that severely restricts the penetration of therapeutic agents, leading to suboptimal therapeutic efficacy due to a. Dense Extracellular Matrix which creates a physical barrier b. High Interstitial...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Thin film composite membranes

Researcher: Dr. Tamar Segal-Peretz

Thin film composite (TFC) membranes are utilized in various industries, including water treatment, agriculture, manufacturing, power generation, waste treatment, military, and semiconductors. For decades, the industry standard for fabricating the active layer of these membranes has been interfacial polymerization (IP),...
Categories: Chemistry and Materials|Food and Agriculture|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology|Sustainability and Energy

Topologies of synthetic gene circuit for optimal fold change activation

Researcher: Prof. Daniel Ramez

Genetic regulatory networks implemented in various synthetic gene circuits in living cells for purpose of sensing, computing, and actuating in fields of diagnostics, monitoring etc. Untight control of transcriptional regulatory networks applied on promoters, which are the basic transcriptional regulatory...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Toxin peptides for NMDAR inhibition and GABAB potentiation, for reducing neuronal excitability and excitotoxicity

Researcher: Dr. Shai Berlin

NMDA-receptors (NMDARs) are a common downstream denominator for several neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer’s Diseases (AD) in particular, with the GluN2B-subtype being the primary culprit. Non-competitive NMDARs antagonists (FDA-approved memantine) may be used clinically to treat AD, but suffer from significant drawbacks...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Treating and preventing diabetes using Glut 4 and Engineered myogenic exosomes to increase glucose uptake in skeletal muscle tissue

Researcher: Prof. Shulamit Levenberg

Diabetes Mellitus type 2 (DM2) is a heterogeneous, polygenic disorder characterized by defects in insulin action in tissues (insulin resistance) and defects in pancreatic insulin secretion (beta cell/dysfunction), or loss of function of pancreatic insulin-secreting cells. Diabetes if not properly...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

TSPO ligand to prevent traumatic brain damage

Researcher: Prof. Moshe Gavish

The present invention relates to heterocyclic compounds based on a quinazoline scaffold, which bind effectively to the mitochondrial translocator protein (TSPO) and counteract cell death processes. These novel TSPO ligands can be used for treating or preventing neurodegeneration including microglial...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Tumor suppression via ubiquitin ligase KPC1

Researcher: Distinguished Prof. Aaron Ciechanover

NF-κB is a key transcriptional regulator involved in inflammation and cell proliferation, survival, and transformation. Several key steps in its activation are mediated by the ubiquitin (Ub) system. One uncharacterized step is limited proteasomal processing of the NF-κB1 precursor p105...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Tumor-specific chemosensitivity assay for breast cancer

Researcher: Prof. Dror Seliktar

The incidence rates of breast cancer have been increasing worldwide for the past few decades. Advances in breast cancer detection techniques and treatment approaches are responsible for reduced mortality; however, even with newer drugs that induce a better response and...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Ultrasensitive RNA and mRNA quantification using nanopores as biosensors

Researcher: Prof. Amit Meller

The ability to sense and digitally count individual RNA and mRNA biomarkers holds a great potential for early diagnosis of a wide range of diseases from cancer to infectious diseases, including the recent SARS-CoV-2. The ‘gold-standard’ method for RNA molecules...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Universal system for scalable expression and purification of proteins

Researcher: Prof. Arnon Henn

There is a critical need for common technology for the robust production protein-based therapeutic drugs for vaccines and diagnostics, as well as for supporting alternative protein industry, including cultured meat and cultured milk. Despite the introduction of Insulin some four...
Categories: Food and Agriculture|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Usage of cannabinoids for skin repair and regeneration

Researcher: Prof. David Meiri|Dr. Yaron Fuchs

Manipulating the activity of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) offers therapeutic potential for a multitude of pathological conditions affecting humans. ECS receptors such as cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) and cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2) have been found to be expressed in the...
Categories: Medical Devices|Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Using Bioactive fibrin matrix tissue engineering blood vessels

Researcher: Prof. Shulamit Levenberg

Tissue engineering holds enormous potential to replace or restore the function of damaged tissues. Nevertheless, functional vascular network must be generated to deliver blood quickly upon implantation. The invention is based on the clinically approved Fibrin gel (BAC2 and Thrombin)...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Vascularized islets

Researcher: Prof. Shulamit Levenberg

Insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) is a chronic inflammatory disease in which there is autoimmune-mediated organ-specific destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreatic islets of Langerhans. These result in glucose homeostasis abnormalities and produce metabolic complications that are frequently...
Categories: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Prof. Zaid Abassi

Medicine

Research Interests: Mechanisms of sodium/water retention and cardiac hypertrophy in congestive heart failure. Involvement of the endothelin and nitric oxide systems in...

Prof. Noam Adir

Chemistry

Research Interests: Structural biology of photosynthetic complexes, enzymes, stress related proteins, etc. Renewable energy from direct photosynthetic activity to hydrogen conversion. Development...

Prof. Roee Amit

Biotechnology and Food Engineering

Research Interests: Deciphering the regulatory code and constructing novel biological scaffolds using synthetic biology and machine learning-based approaches. Live dynamical imaging of...

Prof. Dorit Ben-Shachar

Medicine

Research Interests: Multi-faceted mitochondrial dysfunction and its cellular consequences in schizophrenia and additional major psychiatric disorders. Novel mitochondria-related biomarkers for schizophrenia treatment....

Prof. Havazelet Bianco-Peled

Chemical Engineering

Research Interests: Mucoadhesion. Tissue adhesives. Nano-materials for biomedical applications. Drug delivery. Physical characterization of biological. Biomedical and biomimetic nano-systems.

Distinguished Prof. Aaron Ciechanover

Medicine

Research Interests: Intracellular protein degradation by the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Involvement in pathogenesis of diseases and drug development.

Prof. Dganit Danino

Biotechnology and Food Engineering

Research Interests: Development and application of Cryo-Electron Microscopy (CryoEM) and Cryo-Electron Tomography (CryoET) to complex fluids. The structure of milk and unfolded...

Prof. Maya Davidovich-Pinhas

Biotechnology and Food Engineering

Research Interests: Physical and chemical characterization of lipids and soft matter systems for food and biotechnology applications.

Prof. Simone Engelender

Medicine

Research Interests: Neuroscience. Neurodegenerative diseases. Neuronal death. Post-translational modifications, ubiquitination, SUMOylation. Protein aggregation. Mitochondrial function.

Dr. Shady Farah

Chemical Engineering

Research Interests: Functional and medicinal polymers. Antimicrobial and antiviral polymers. Bioactive surfaces. Polymeric and crystalline systems for cancer-targeted delivery. Crystalline drug delivery...

Prof. Ayelet Fishman

Biotechnology and Food Engineering

Research Interests: Applied biocatalysis. Protein engineering. Enzymes in non-conventional media. Structure-function relationships in enzymes.

Prof. Lior Gepstein

Medicine

Research Interests: Basic and clinical cardiac electrophysiology. Stem cell biology. Inherited cardiac disorders. Establishment of novel gene and cell-based strategies for the...

Dr. Naama Geva Zatorsky

Medicine

Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of gut microbiota-host interactions. Spatial colonization and niche preferences of gut symbionts. The role of bacteriophage in the...

Prof. Zeev Gross

Chemistry

Research Interests: Alternative fuels: hydrogen technology- non-precious metal catalysts for production of hydrogen from water. Energy storage and conversion: fuel cell technologies-...

Prof. Yechezkel Kashi

Biotechnology and Food Engineering

Research Interests: Applied genomics. Food and water microbiology. Environmental microbiology, Bacterial typing. Evolution of microsatellite DNA. Microbiome and host interaction & coevolution....

Prof. Meytal Landau

Biology

Research Interests: Functional fibrils in infectious and neurodegenerative diseases. Structural biology and biophysics. X-ray crystallography and electron microscopy. Amyloids. Antimicrobials.

Prof. Shulamit Levenberg

Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Stem cell differentiation toward tissue vascularization. Stem cell 3D organization into composite tissues. Use of degradable polymers as scaffolding for...

Prof. Andrew Levy

Medicine

Research Interests: Prediction and prevention of diabetes related complications. Proof of concept for application of precision medicine to treat autism, intellectual disability....

Prof. Yoav Livney

Biotechnology and Food Engineering

Research Interests: Physical chemistry of biomacromolecules in food, biotechnology and biomedicine. Alternative proteins: Plant and algae-based substitutes for animal-based foods Next-generation Prebiotics:...

Prof. Marcelle Machluf

Biotechnology and Food Engineering

Research Interests: Developing nano-particles for the delivery of anti cancer drugs to the brain and other organ. Developing nano-delivery system for DNA...

Prof. David Meiri

Biology

Research Interests: Antitumor effects of cannabinoids on cancer, inflammatory diseases and disorders of the nervous system (Epilepsy, Alzheimer, sleep disorders and more)....

Prof. Doron Melamed

Medicine

Research Interests: Cellular and molecular mechanisms controlling generation and aging of B lineage cells in mouse models and in human. microRNA-mediated mechanisms...

Prof. Amit Meller

Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Nanopore sensors for single molecule sensing of genetic and epi-genetic markers in cancer and infectious diseases. Single molecule protein sensing...

Prof. Esther Meyron-Holtz

Biotechnology and Food Engineering

Research Interests: Regulation of mammalian iron homeostasis, with emphasis on disruptions of the iron cycle during diseases including inflammatory and infectious diseases.

Prof. Boaz Mizrahi

Biotechnology and Food Engineering

Research Interests: Biologically inspired materials for reparative medicine, for improved bioavailability of drugs and food additives and for separation processes. Relationships between...

Prof. Daniel Ramez

Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Principles of bio-circuit design in living systems (logic gates, analog circuit design, oscillators, memory devices). Modeling biological systems with electronic...

Prof. Gadi Schuster

Biology

Research Interests: Harnessing photosynthesis to produce electricity and hydrogen. Photosynthesis, photoinhibition and improving agriculture crops. Gene expression in chloroplast and mitochondria.

Prof. Ester Segal

Biotechnology and Food Engineering

Research Interests: Biosensors for detection of biological and chemical toxins. Biosensors and bioassays for medical diagnostics. Drug delivery platforms. Antimicrobial polymer nanocomposites.

Prof. Dror Seliktar

Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Cell-compatible hydrogels. Three-dimensional (3D) cellular morphogenesis. Cell therapy (skeletal, muscle, cardiac). Tissue repair (cartilage, bone, nerve). Stem cell mass production....

Dr. Yosi Shamay

Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Personalized nano-medicine. Nano-informatics. Computational prediction of medicinal nanoparticles’ self-assembly. Using ionizing radiation for nanoparticle targeting. Development of fluorescent super-stabilizers for...

Prof. Yoav Shechtman

Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Optical super-resolution microscopy – experimental methods and algorithms. Multicolor and three-dimensional nano-tracking. Optical design and analysis through machine learning. Fluorescence...

Prof. Shenhav Shemer

Biology

Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of myofibril destruction to treat atrophy induced by aging, inactivity or disease. Molecular mechanisms of desmin intermediate filaments...

Prof. Alejandro Sosnik

Materials Science and Engineering

Research Interests: Polymer and macromolecular chemistry. Biomaterials science. Microwave-assisted polymer synthesis. Drug crystallization and nanocrystals. Hybrid polymer-ceramic nanobiomaterials. Colloidal chemistry (drug and...

Prof. Israel Vlodavsky

Medicine

Research Interests: Control of cell shape, proliferation and differentiation by the extracellular matrix (ECM). Storage of bioactive molecules by heparan sulfate proteoglycans...

Prof. Daphne Weihs

Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests: Cancer progression and predictive prognosis of cancer metastasis formation, through mechanobiology, structure and mechanics of living cells. Wound healing and...

Prof. Sima Yaron

Biotechnology and Food Engineering

Research Interests: Microbial food safety. Interactions between foodborne pathogens and leafy greens and herbs. Microbial resistance of Salmonella. Gut microflora.

Dr. Keren Yizhak

Research Interests: Cancer patient response to immunotherapy Genotype-phenotype relations in cancer Somatic clonality in normal tissues and its relation to tumor development