(MED) Israeli Scientist Supplies The Missing Building Block In Brain Atrophy

"Having identified the protein building block missing in patients with brain atrophy, Israeli researchers can now conceive of a way to replace it.

An Israeli scientist has identified a genetic mutation that leads to progressive brain atrophy. His research team has detected a defect in the 21st amino acid that results in a progressive disease of severe mental retardation and epilepsy that begins in infancy.

Prof. Ohad Birk, of the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, who also heads the Genetics Institute at the Soroka Medical Center and The Morris Kahn Lab of Human Genetics, at Ben-Gurion University (BGU) of the Negev determined that the defect is associated with the production of the 21st amino acid, selenocysteine (SEC), which leads to progressive brain atrophy.

'The full name of the disease is Progressive Cerebro-Cerebellar Atrophy (PCCA), in which there is a genetically-determined, progressive wasting away of cells throughout the brain,' Birk tells ISRAEL21c, adding that 'affected individuals have psychomotor retardation which is severe by one to two years of age, and spasticity (stiffness of the body, especially arms and legs). Most also have epilepsy.'

Prenatal screening may lead to prevention

According to Birk, 'One out of every 40 Jews of both Moroccan and Iraqi ancestry may be carriers of this mutation, and it is estimated that in Israel there are about 200 cases of the disease. As the disease is both severe and common, testing for these mutations is expected to become a routine prenatal genetic screening test in these two populations, enabling prevention of future cases.'

Explaining the significance of his research results to couples at risk, Birk says that 'if both parents are found to be carriers of a mutation in the gene, they are at 25 percent risk for the disease in each child. They can opt to be tested by chorionic villi sampling (CVS) as of week 10 of the pregnancy or by an amniotic fluid test as of week 16... Another option is to undergo in-vitro fertilization (IVF) with pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) at day one or two of the pregnancy, and implant in the mother's womb an embryo that has been tested to be disease free... these options are offered to every couple at risk, and in Israel all the procedures are fully covered by the public health system.

'We assume that once the testing for mutations in this gene is implemented in genetics institutes throughout the world, many cases will be revealed in other countries,' he explains.

It is also believed that further research will identify these other mutations in the same gene as the cause of mental retardation with epilepsy in additional communities.

As the disease is progressive, elucidation of its molecular mechanisms may open new venues to treatment, preventing disease progression. Or in other words says the professor, 'We have identified the amino acid (the protein building block) that is missing in these patients. One can think of conceiving ways to supply the missing building block.'

Defective amino acid leads to malfunction

The human genetic code, as deciphered some 50 years ago, encodes 20 amino acids which are the building blocks of all proteins in the human body. However, in recent years it became apparent that a 21st amino acid exists. Known as Selenium, it enters the body via food and is incorporated in human tissues into what is known as selenocysteine.

This 21st amino acid is unique in that it is encoded by what is normally a stop codon - that is, a DNA sequence that normally instructs the protein-building system to end the chain of amino acids, terminating the generated protein. In contrast with most genes, some 25 genes have a unique component that manipulates the stop codon so that instead of terminating the evolving protein chain, it inserts an SEC building block at that point.

'SEC is an amino acid that is a building block which is essential in the formation of some 25 proteins in our bodies, many of which are essential for normal brain function,' Birk tells ISRAEL21c. 'The mutation in the affected individuals prevents the formation of SEC. In the absence of SEC, the 25 proteins do not form normally, leading to severe malfunction of the brain.'

The research was conducted by Birk, his Ph.D. student Orly Agamy, and Drs. Bruria Ben Zeev, Tally Sagie, Dorit Lev and Dieter Soll. It was funded by the Morris Kahn Family Fund, the Legacy Heritage Fund and the Israel Science Foundation and published recently in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

A little research about the researcher reveals that this most serious scientist is also blessed with a sense of humor. A click on a myspace page in his name leads to an intriguing blog entry that begins thus: 'Minimal bio: Born, raised and will die. Detailed bio: Born, raised, played piano, wrote music. Fell in love, made love, had kids. Loves wife, loves kids. Seeing patients. Doing research. Teaching students. Helping some. Discovering some. Entertaining some. Music: Writing music and texts, playing piano/keyboard + musical arrangements.'" (source)

(SCI) Israel Funds Courses On Ties Between Jewish Law & Science

"Program, funded by the Science and Technology Ministry, is drawing fire from academic quarters for not being science based.

The Science and Technology Ministry is continuing to fund enrichment courses for the general public on the relationship between science and Jewish law (halakha ), according to a tender published last week inviting groups to apply for grants. The tender stipulates that bodies applying for the funding must be those dealing with 'halakhic-scientific research' and in finding 'technological-halakhic solutions.'

The ministry is to grant NIS 600,000 in funding to this year's programs, less than last year's NIS 1 million handed out."

(SCI) A Comprehensive Guide To Israel’s Biotech Industry

"Blockbuster prescription drugs sold worldwide that treat multiple sclerosis, cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases derive from Israeli biotechnology. Israel creates more medical devices per capita than any other country, and its life sciences exports earn more than $3 billion a year.

Israeli research is at the forefront of the emerging fields of stem-cell therapy and genomics, and two Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, the first to Profs. Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, and the second to Prof. Ada Yonath of the Weizmann Institute of Science number among the many awards bestowed on the country’s biotech scientists.



The pace of innovation, development and growth in Israel’s biotechnology sector is unparalleled. Israel’s biotech industry is the most aggressive in the world, with more startups per capita then any other country. Its 180 biotech companies – each built on a combination of academic excellence, a highly-skilled workforce, cutting-edge technological inventiveness and entrepreneurial daring – are creating therapeutic products, diagnostic tools and revolutionary drug-delivery techniques benefiting people all over the world.

Tailor-made for Israel

Biotechnology, the science which applies breakthroughs in molecular biology and immunochemistry to diagnosis and therapy, was born in the late 1970s. In many ways, it is tailor-made for Israel, being rooted in innovation and perseverance; a highly educated workforce; the lessons of military service; intimate links between researchers and entrepreneurs; and US capital and markets and, particularly, the US 1985 free trade agreement with Israel.

• Innovation and perseverance: A small country with a population of only seven million and few natural resources, Israel’s economy is necessarily one of innovation and perseverance. Demanding conditions – first in agriculture, then in defense and from there throughout its economy – set the stage for dramatic economic growth, as Israel transformed itself from a developing to a developed nation, and from an economy based on agriculture to one based on knowledge.
• A highly educated workforce: With seven world-class universities, Israel is one of the most highly educated countries on the globe. Almost a quarter of its workforce has university degrees, and 12 percent of these have advanced degrees. Among the 750,000 people who immigrated to Israel from the Former Soviet Union between 1989 and 1991 were hundreds of highly skilled engineers. They have enhanced Israel’s technological talent-pool, giving the country the world’s highest rate of scientists per capita (one in 200), 39 percent of whom specialize in life sciences.
• The lessons of military service: Mandatory military service in Israel equips its young people with the connections, management skills and action-oriented entrepreneurial mindset critical for technological development.
• Intimate links between researchers and entrepreneurs: Israeli universities were among the first worldwide to develop technology transfer organizations – professional companies tasked with helping Israeli researchers to commercialize their academic research by connecting them with national and multi-national companies.
• US capital and markets and, particularly, its 1985 free trade agreement with Israel: The US as a trading partner helped fuel the high-tech boom of the 1980s and 1990s, which, in turn, created the conditions for Israel’s biotechnology cluster.

Birth of biotech in Israel

Israel whimsically dates the birth of its biotechnology industry to 1936. This was when chemist Chaim Weizmann, later to be the country’s first president, developed a process that produced acetone from the bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum. It took almost six more decades, however, until the modern Israeli biotechnology industry was born, on the heels of the high-tech boom.

While Israeli biotechnology embraces the whole biotech sphere – from animal vaccines and diagnostics to plant tissue culture, bioreactors, seeds, diagnostics and biopesticides – its emphasis is firmly on medical agents, diagnostics and cell- and tissue-therapies. Some 60 percent of Israeli biotech focuses on human therapeutics, including drug discovery, cell therapy and genetics. A further 20% of Israeli biotech companies produce diagnostic kits.

Top-selling prescription drugs based on Israeli research

The best-known and most successful medication developed in Israel is Copaxone®, a breakthrough treatment that significantly reduces the severity of clinical episodes in multiple sclerosis patients also making them less frequent. Developed by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and the Weizmann Institute of Science, it is the world’s leading MS therapy, approved in 52 countries, with global sales reaching $2.8 billion in 2009.

Teva’s first proprietary drug, Copaxone®, is today responsible for a third of the company’s profits. Teva is one of the 15 biggest international pharma companies in the world and one of the largest generic drug manufacturers. The company employs more than 35,000 people in 50 countries, and earned almost $14 billion in 2009. It is increasingly expanding into cutting-edge patentable therapies.

Azilect® (rasagiline) is another Teva product. Based on research at the Technion Institute of Technology, it combats Parkinson’s disease, both as initial therapy and, later in the disease, in conjunction with L-dopa. Its 2009 sales reached $175 million.

Exelon® is a medication for Alzheimer’s disease that reduces symptoms, enabling patients to remain independent and ‘themselves’ for longer. Originating in research at the Hebrew University and developed and commercialized by Novartis, its global sales in 2009 were more than $954 million.

Doxil® is a chemotherapy agent used in treating different types of leukemia, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple myeloma and cancers of the bladder, breast, stomach, lung, ovaries and thyroid. Based on research at the Hadassah Medical Center, it was sold to Johnson & Johnson, and recorded global sales of $430 million in 2009.

Regenerative Medicine

Scientific regulation in Israel is informed by Judaism’s emphasis on the saving of life. The country’s relatively liberal approach to stem cell research for therapeutic purposes derives from this tradition, which has positioned Israeli scientists among stem-cell research’s pioneers and kept them at the heart of the regenerative medicine map, helped by a government-sponsored research consortium spanning academia and industry. While no stem-cell medication yet exists anywhere, several are on the way from Israeli companies.

The four-year-old Jerusalem start-up Cellcure Neurosciences is starting clinical trials in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in over-50s in the Western world, which is estimated to affect some 30 million people.

The disease is caused by the dysfunction, degeneration and death of pigment-including retina cells, which lie between the retina’s photoreceptors and the nourishing blood vessels at the back of the eye. Cellcure creates healthy retinal pigment cells from human embryonic stem cells, and injects them into the eye to replace the dying cells.

Jerusalem-based Gamida Cell has developed stem cells from umbilical cord-blood to treat blood cancers, autoimmune diseases, metabolic disorders and the hematological disease neutropenia. Its lead product is StemEx, which was given FDA Fast Track Designation in mid-2010. It is now being tested in international Phase III clinical trials as an alternative to bone marrow transplant in patients with advanced blood cancers, who are unable to find a matched donor.

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics in Petah Tikva is a leading developer of adult stem cell technology and therapy. It has created a stem cell treatment for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease) and Parkinson’s disease based on autologous bone-marrow-derived adult stem-cells. In a first clinical trial, conducted at the Hadassah Medical Center, ALS patients will be re-implanted with stem cells taken from their own pelvis.

Drugs derived from living cells

Uplyso, a medicine for Gaucher’s disease based on the enzyme taliglucerase alfa, is an example of the ongoing push into biologics – drugs derived from living cells rather than from chemicals. It was developed by Protalix Biotherapeutics, a company that began life in 1994 within Israel’s Meytav Technological Incubator, graduating to become an independent publicly held company with a market capitalization of more than $700 million, trading on both the NYSE Amex Exchange and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

It recently sold the rights to this experimental Gaucher’s medication for $60 million to the New York-based Pfizer, the world’s largest-selling pharmaceutical firm.

Re-engineering existing drugs

D-Pharm, created in 1993 in Ness Ziona, is a biopharmaceutical company that has created a new class of therapeutics to treat devastating brain disorders. Its proprietary technology re-engineers existing drugs, modifying them to work more efficiently and with fewer side effects. A mid-stage trial of its neuroprotective DP-b99 doubled the number of patients who completely recovered from strokes caused by blood clots.

The company hopes to bring it to market by 2013. D-Pharm is also making good progress with a medication for epilepsy, bipolar disorder and migraine prophylaxis.

Computational Biotechnology

Computational biotech, also called bioinformatics, is the specialty of Compugen, a company founded in Tel Aviv in 1993 by three former IDF intelligence officers. Its technologies incorporate methods from mathematics, computer science and physics into biology, organic chemistry and medicine to help scientists gather and process vast amounts of data.

The result is powerful predictive models and discovery engines, which advance understanding of biological phenomena and enable discovery of potential therapeutic products and diagnostic markers. Compugen’s customers include the pharmaceutical concerns Eli Lilly, Merck, SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, Novartis and Millennium Pharmaceuticals.



Genomics

Genomics uses the RNA system within living cells to control which genes are active and how active they are. Rosetta Genomics, based in Rehovot, is using RNA-based technology to develop a wide range of diagnostic tests for cancers and women’s health indications.

Quark Pharmaceuticals has created a fully-integrated drug development platform to deliver RNA molecules to the eye, ear, kidney, lung, spinal cord and bone marrow, where they can block the action of faulty genes.

Diagnostics

Diagnostics, particularly monoclonal antibody-based test kits, were among Israel’s first commercial biotechnology successes. Aided by Israel’s vast clinical medicine resources, new diagnostic tests are brought rapidly from the lab into the hospital ward and to market. Savyon Diagnostics was an earlier entry in this field in 1983, when Ben-Gurion University researchers developed a serological diagnostic kit to test for the sexually transmitted disease Chlamydia (‘clap’).

They formed the company a year later, and brought their test-kit to market in 1989. Savyon has gone on to develop and market tests for urinary tract infections and for HIV.

Orgenics, founded in 1983, produces 22 patented easy-to-use, stand-alone, ELISA-based ImmunoComb kits that test for Chlamydia, hepatitis A and B, cytomegalovirus, toxoplasmosis, rubella, Helicobacter pylori and AIDS, as well as non-wipe strips for measuring blood glucose levels.

Zer Science-Based Industries specializes in diagnostic tests related to fertility. Its Single-Step pregnancy test requires just drops of urine to give an accurate result within five minutes, even before the first missed menstrual period.

Future blockbusters

One example among many is Glassia, the first and only high purity, liquid, ready-to-use 1-proteinase inhibitor for adults with inherited emphysema resulting from 1-antitrypsin deficiency.

Kamada, the 20-year-old biopharmaceutical concern that invented Glassia, entered an exclusive distribution and manufacturing agreement for its production in mid-2010 with the global health-care company Baxter International.

Biotech and electronics

Among Israel’s strengths is the interdisciplinary nature of its R&D. This underlies the creation and development of out-of-the-box products. One of the best-known and among the most important and successful life sciences developments to come out of Israel in the past decade, is the Pillcam from Given Imaging, a disposable pill-sized camera encased in a capsule and used to diagnose stomach disorders after being swallowed (pictured above).

Easily ingested, the capsule moves naturally and painlessly through the gastrointestinal tract, wirelessly transmitting to a portable recorder as it goes, to provide the physician with high-quality images on a computer workstation.

Financing Israel’s biotech

Israel’s biotechnology track record is strong. Companies that have commercialized their products and been publicly listed do exceptionally well – testifying to their excellent science.

The process of scaling up biotech R&D to early production and beyond, however, is a high-risk undertaking. With only one in 250 compounds making it from preclinical development to market (and taking perhaps seven years and $500 million to do so), the major brake on Israel’s biotechnology cluster is the lack of an asset-intensive infrastructure.

Investment is in especially short supply for the so-called Valley Of Death phase – the gap between very early stage investment (usually academic research funds), and easier-to-obtain investment for the clinical study phase which, although more costly, is correspondingly more certain than early-stage technologies.

Government help

Israel’s government supports a spectrum of programs to help start-ups survive the difficult stages between proof of feasibility and final success. They include R&D grants from the Chief Scientist’s Office (since the early 1990s); the Magnet framework that brings companies and researchers together to develop novel generic technologies, underwriting up to 65% of the budget (since 1994); a National Committee for Biotechnology tasked with developing and promoting biotechnology in Israel (established in 1995); Bioplan 2000, which created dedicated biotech incubators to bridge the gap in funding, infrastructure and managerial talent; naming biotechnology a National Project and creating infrastructure centers which give researchers access to essential equipment and knowhow (2002); and, most currently, a generous Grants Program administered by the Israel Investment Center; an Automatic Tax Benefits program administered by the Tax Authorities, offering foreign investors unique advantages; and finally, deignating biotechnology a Preferred Sector.

Academic research funding

Israel’s biotech research at its universities and medical schools is the foundation of the industry. Dedicated biotechnology departments are rare anywhere, but there are three among Israel’s seven main universities. Biotech research is funded from the annual $140 million research budget at Israel’s universities and is comprised of external competitive research grants (36%); the regular budget of the universities (36%); and industry and government research grants and contracts (28%).

Technology transfer

Israel has 12 technology transfer organizations, seven of them university-based and five in its leading research hospitals. They are highly effective: the Hebrew University’s Yissum, for example, founded in 1964, generates more revenue than its counterparts at MIT, Harvard or NYU in its management and licensing of thousands of patents developed within the institution. More successful still is the Weizmann Institute’s Yeda, which has been named the world’s third most profitable technology transfer organization.

Incubators

Based on Israel’s high-tech experience, incubators have been created to nurture young biotech companies. There are both public and private incubator organizations, but all offer fledgling entrepreneurs skilled and experienced management, suitable R&D facilities, technical, financial, administrative and logistic support, administrative services (secretarial, accounting, legal, acquisition) and business guidance.

The Technological Incubators Program, established in 1991 for high-tech and administered by the Chief Scientist’s Office, includes a number of biotech startups. BiolineRx was set up in 2003 by Teva, Hadassah’s technology transfer company Hadasit and two leading venture capital funds as a clinical-stage, publicly-traded, biopharmaceutical development company. It licenses promising early-stage projects and develops them as far as Phase I clinical trials.

Rad-Biomed Accelerator is another interface between biomedical research and Israel’s biomedical industry. It provides physical infrastructure, seed capital, business development and a wide range of related services to help entrepreneurs establish companies that will join the flourishing Israeli biomedical industry.

International partners

Throughout most of biotech’s history, small companies have been the hotbed of innovation. These small firms, however, generally lack the development capital to fund the costly clinical trials and launch of new therapeutics. Biotech has, therefore, long depended on partnerships with large, profitable pharmaceutical companies.

For Israel, this paradigm means that the fruits of Israeli research go largely to foreign companies – with the large partner selling the final product and capturing the lion’s share of the profits.

The unraveling of interferon’s mechanisms and isolation of the human Interferon-beta gene, for example, which began at the Weizmann Institute, was eventually sold to Swiss pharmaceutical giant Ares-Serono Group in 1979.

Growing numbers of Israeli companies today, however, are searching for funding that will allow them to develop their own intellectual property, rather than sell to the multinational pharmaceutical companies.

Venture capital

Israel’s venture capital (VC) industry, born in the late 1980s, received a major boost in 1993, when the government launched the company Yozma to help finance high-tech and, later, biotech startups.

During the 1990s, local venture capital companies that specifically targeted biomedicine were formed. Medica, Columbine, Innomed of Jerusalem Global Ventures, Denali and Vitalife were among the first.

Pontifax, 7 Health Ventures and Poalim Medical III followed.

With most of these funds now fully invested (or no longer active), local investment in life sciences today comes largely from general VCs, not dedicated to biotech.

Clal Biotechnology Industries (an Israeli investment company but not a VC) has a portfolio of 16 young biotech firms. A number of foreign VC investors have targeted Israel’s life sciences in recent years – among them NGN Capital, Onset Ventures, Schroder Ventures Life Sciences, Three Arch Partners and Ziegler Meditech Orbimed, a US firm that invests in the healthcare sector and has been active in Israel for the past decade, expanded its investment team into Israel in April 2010." (source)

(TECH) Tel Aviv University Chemists Develop Explosives-Detecting Sensors

"Nanotechnology-based electronic sensor is fast, highly portable and more sensitive and reliable for detecting explosives than sniffer dogs are.

Within days of revelations that al-Qaida mailed an explosives-packed printer from Yemen destined for Chicago synagogues, Tel Aviv University said on Tuesday that its researchers have developed a powerful electronic sensor able to detect many kinds of such dangerous chemicals.

The nanotechnology-based sensor is fast, highly portable and more sensitive and reliable for detecting explosives than sniffer dogs are, according to Prof. Fernando Patolsky of the Sackler School of Chemistry, who headed the research team."

(SCI) Israeli Physicist Wins America’s Top Science Prize

"Prof. Yakir Aharonov receives the US National Medal of Science for 'contributions to the foundations of quantum physics.'

Tel Aviv University physicist Prof. (emeritus) Yakir Aharonov will be one of only 10 scientists to receive the US National Medal of Science from President Barack Obama for his outstanding contributions to the field.

The 78-year-old Aharonov, who holds US and Israeli citizenship, will receive the medal, which has been awarded since 1959 to 441 American scientists in the field of physics, biology, mathematics, engineering and behavioral sciences."

(SCI) Travel In Space: Viewing The Galaxy From Israel

"An increased amount of meteoroids will create a meteor shower called Leonids, which can be seen clearly from the Negev.

Boarding an Egged bus in Jerusalem seems to be the most unlikely place to start on a space tour, but we don’t let that stop us. It’s that time of year again, and our planet is about to pass through a theater in space that creates one of the most spectacular shows in the night sky. As we pass through the meteoroid stream of particles left by the comet Tempel-Tuttle, an increased amount of small particles called meteoroids will pass through our atmosphere and create a meteor shower that we call Leonids. Carol and I are here for one of our many desert hikes and on our way to the Negev, where these asteroids can be viewed without all the light pollution of the dense population areas.

'Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making plans,' according to John Lennon – and this was a classic case. We were in Jerusalem stocking up for our walk when I got a call from John Dann. He’s the caretaker stargazer for the only star observatory in the Middle East and an old friend."

(SCI) The Algae That Want To Conquer The World

"An Israeli Ph.D. student's research into a family of deadly algae may help to make drinking water safer for millions of people and animals.

It almost sounds like the plot of a sci-fi thriller: A beautiful but deadly family of blue-green algae strong-arms other freshwater microorganisms into becoming their slaves, enabling them to take control of the water and threaten health the world over.



These dastardly cyanobacteria algae - the bullies of the freshwater playground - are no fictional characters. In a paper published online on August 12 in the journal Current Biology, a researcher at the Hebrew University (HU) of Jerusalem describes how they out-muscle their competition and proliferate dangerously, causing international concern due to their detrimental impact on water quality.

By shedding light on how the algae operate, 32-year-old Ph.D. student Yehonatan Bar-Yosef's research can help water experts find out how to outmaneuver the algae and assure safe drinking water for millions of humans and animals.

Current strategy may need re-thinking

Back in 1994, when Bar-Yosef was still in high school, an enormous bloom of these toxic bacteria was found in Lake Kinneret, also known as the Sea of Galilee. As much of Israel's water supply is pumped from the Kinneret, this discovery was alarming. At the Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences at HU, Prof. Aaron Kaplan began delving into the mystery.

Ten years later, Bar-Yosef came to Kaplan's lab looking for a topic for his graduate degree research. Interested in marine and microbiology, he took great interest in Kaplan's work with the blue-green alga known as Aphanizomenon.

He explains to ISRAEL21c that researchers already understood that algae blooms had something to do with the activity of enzymes used by microorganisms to scavenge inorganic phosphate compounds from their environment. His contribution was to pinpoint the source of the enzyme.

'The interesting story is that it's probably another microorganism that lives in the same environment, secreting toxins to produce this enzyme,' says Bar-Yosef. The Aphanizomena algae are not the only bacteria that thrive on the enzyme, but they know how to hog it, actually 'enslaving' other organisms to accelerate their own absorption of phosphates and form massive toxic blooms in the water.



Over the past decade, North and South America, Africa, Australia, Europe, Scandinavia and China have experienced a significant rise in cyanobacterial blooms that turn clear H2O into a foul-smelling liquid that makes people and pets sick. In response, water management authorities have attempted to reduce the flow of phosphates into fresh waters from sources including agricultural fertilizers, cattle ranching, industry and sewage. Yet Bar-Yosef's research suggests that this well-accepted strategy may need re-thinking.

Interest in findings grows

'The findings of my research show that when there is a depletion of phosphorus that's what triggers the enslavement phenomenon,' he relates. 'The next step is to find out if it's a general phenomenon and if so, whether other toxic bacteria do the same thing.'

Bar-Yosef did most of his work indoors in Jerusalem, but he also left the lab and climbed into a boat on the Kinneret every month, for two or three days at a time. He was assisted by Dr. Assaf Sukenik and Dr. Ora Hadas from the Kinneret laboratory of the Israel Institute of Limnology and Oceanography.

Bar-Yosef, who was born in Alabama and moved to Israel at age three, gave a seminar at New Jersey's Rutgers University last summer. He says he declined an invitation to a recent conference on the algae topic in Turkey because his wife is in her ninth month of pregnancy. There is wide interest in his findings.

However, he stresses that what he is able to add to the current body of knowledge is simply a new point of view leading to theoretical recommendations. Now finishing his doctorate in plant and environmental science, Bar-Yosef notes that it will now be up to others to find practical applications for his work on toxic blue-green algae. He is gearing up for a career outside academia in water-management policy." (source)

(SCI) Nobel Laureate: 'The World Took Me As A Joke For 14 Years'

"Video: An exclusive video interview with Weizmann Institute's Ada Yonath, the first Israeli woman to receive prestigious prize for chemistry.

Born in 1939 in the Geula neighborhood of Jerusalem, books were Ada Yonath's refuge. A love of learning and achievement propelled a young Yonath to get her PhD in 1968 from the Weizmann Institute of Science, where she currently works as senior staff.

In 2009, Dr. Yonath became the first Israeli woman to receive a Nobel Prize when she received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with two other scientists, for their path- breaking contribution to understanding the nature of the ribosome."

(SCI) Strongest-Ever Nanomaterial From Israel

"A revolutionary nanostructure that is derived from very simple organic elements yet is as strong as steel has been developed in Israel.

The ball-shaped nanostructure could be used to make numerous products, including durable composite materials; bullet-proof vests; medical implants that are not metallic; reinforced plastics for tooth implants; as well as those for the space, aviation and transportation industries. according to a report by Jerusalem Post Health and Science Correspondent Judy Siegel-Itzkovich.

The new nanostructure has been developed and characterized at the laboratories of Prof. Ehud Gazit of Tel Aviv University, Dr. Itay Rousso and Nitzan Kol of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot and David Barlam and Roni Shneck at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba.

Wiley-VCH's leading journal Angewandte Chemie has just published an article about the groundbreaking work.

The Israeli team's advance is significant because it managed to produce biocomposite nanospheres that are as rigid as metal, for the first time. It says that the material is mechanically equal and even superior to many metallic substances and is a perfect building block for numerous applications.

The impressive discovery joins others by Israel's nanotech scientists and engineers." (source)

(SCI) Israeli Scientists Develop Technique To Knock Out Superbugs

"As new superbugs become dangerously resistant to antibiotics, Israeli researchers have found a way to use the bugs' mechanics to knock them dead.

It's the fight of the century: in one corner, the bacteria known as 'superbugs,' and in the other corner the antibacterial drugs known as antibiotics. In bout after bout, newer and stronger superbugs are besting the antibiotics. And that alarms public health officials across the world, because drug-resistant bacteria cause infections - especially in already ill hospital patients -- that are fatal 30 to 60 percent of the time.



'Trying to keep pace with these ‘superbugs' means always pulling out a new rabbit from the hat and using it for the next few years till there is another explosion of strains capable of overcoming it,' says Dr. Micha Fridman of Tel Aviv University's Department of Chemistry. 'This is a constant battle that I believe is never going to end.'

While scientists in Europe and North America continue the spiral of producing more powerful antibiotics to fight ever more powerful bacteria, Fridman and his University of Michigan research partner approached the problem from a different angle - one that uses the superbug's own mechanics to develop antibiotics capable of delivering a decisive knockout punch.

Instead of looking for yet another 'rabbit,' Fridman and Prof. Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova and their research teams studied exactly how bacteria resist antibiotics. One method involves a protein or enzyme 'machine' inside them that modifies the drugs.

Fridman explains this phenomenon to ISRAEL21C with the analogy of a key and keyhole. 'There's a keyhole in the door, and the door doesn't want you to open it, so it somehow changes the keyhole and then you cannot push in the key,' he says.

As soon as a superbug's 'machine' recognizes the antibacterial 'key,' it confounds the drug with a deactivating molecule. This additional molecule renders the antibiotic unable to reach its target.

The scientists described in the current issue of the journal ChemBioChem how they isolated the 'machines' from superbugs. Then they chemically induced them to add a molecule that strengthens, rather than weakens, the antibiotic. Once an activating molecule is added, the superbug's machine is incapable of adding a deactivating one.

In other words, Fridman and Garneau-Tsodikova found a way to beat the bacteria at its own game. Their lab-induced chemical alteration increases the antibacterial drug's ability to fight bacteria and - most importantly -- locks out the deactivating molecule that is the secret of the superbug's winning strategy.

'Any sort of bacteria that uses this specific machine would not be able to deactivate antibiotics anymore,' Fridman tells ISRAEL21c.



Potential antibiotics enhanced by the duo's discovery are a few years away from the market, since the full process of testing and government approvals is long and tedious - and only then can pharmaceutical companies begin mass-producing the drugs. But it is generating considerable interest, because the ability to beat bacterial resistance has become one of the holy grails in health care.

Other scientists are working on it, too. A three-year consortium of 14 European institutes was established in February 2009 to study the biology of drug-resistant bacteria and design novel strategies to kill them. And it was recently reported that a UK scientist has isolated a toxin from cockroaches that may hold promise in the superbug war.

In the meantime, hospitals worldwide are focusing more on prevention than treatment as existing antibiotics constantly lose effectiveness. Resistant bacteria have been reported by hospitals in at least 35 states of the United States, and cause deaths worldwide. In August, an outbreak at University College London Hospital killed one premature baby and sickened 12 others. Ironically, one of the most recent superbug battles took place right in Tel Aviv, where a hospital outbreak was traced to a patient visiting from New Jersey.

Tel Aviv is also where Fridman's approach will soon be put to the test against many different problematic bacterial strains, at Ichilov Hospital-Sourasky Medical Center. This kind of study is tricky to carry out, said Fridman, because special equipment and procedures must be in place to safely deal with these dangerous superbugs.

The family of antibiotics his team chose to engineer is the one used commonly to treat respiratory infections in people with cystic fibrosis. 'We do hope that some of the advances based on our methodologies can cope with this because it can be very lethal,' says Fridman.

He and Garneau-Tsodikova, who met at Harvard Medical School during their post-doctoral studies, financed their research with a two-year grant from BIRD, the Israel-US Binational Science Foundation and have applied for renewal.

'She sends students to me, I send students to her, and we are in touch through email and three times a week on Skype. We always write to each other about every single finding we have,' he says. They also visit periodically; Garneau-Tsodikova is due for a visit to Israel in January." (source)

(SCI) Israeli Researchers Discover Coral Reefs Deep In The Mediterranean

"The scene of bickering between Israel and Lebanon over gas fields, and potentially harboring a giant garbage patch, the Mediterranean Sea, stunned researchers have found, has a coral reef that spans several kilometers 700 meters below the surface of the sea. Elsewhere in the Mediterranean, energy-hungry countries like Egypt are eager to exploit the sea’s oil reserves. Will scientists be able to use this new discovery as collateral against destructive fossil-fuel exploration?

Nautilus plows the deep sea

Two weeks ago Green Prophet wrote about the Nautilus’ departure from the Port of Haifa; it was the first such deep-sea expedition planned off Tel Aviv’s coast and was headed by the Haifa University’s Director of Leon Charney School of Marine Sciences, Professor Zvi Ben Avraham.



Owned by the famed explorer who discovered the Titanic in 1985, the Nautilus is equipped with state of the art equipment specifically for deep sea exploration and photography.

To their astonishment, roughly 30-40km from Tel Aviv, the researchers discovered the coral colonies.

'It was like finding Ein Gedi in the middle of the desert,' Dr. Yitzhak Makovsky, who headed the project’s control center, told the Jerusalem Post.

'We never expected to find coral reefs of such proportions there. We didn’t expect it or even dream of it,' he added.

There’s more to explore

Just over two weeks long, the survey was just one of what Dr. Makovsky believes should be several more in order to do a more thorough investigation. Also, he told the paper that as is the case with other coral reef ecosystems, this area should immediately be named a Natural Undersea Preserve.

'The Nautilus crew also discovered two shipwrecks, apparently modern fishing boats several dozens of years old, that lie on the seabed. Fish and lobsters found living in and on them were photographed hundreds of meters under the surface of the water in their natural surroundings,' according to JPost.

They also took images of the chimera monstrosa, which until 400 million years ago was a member of the shark family. A 10cm long lobster was also photographed.

More information should become available over the next few weeks as scientists sort through their findings and release images of this exciting, but vulnerable new frontier." (source)

(SCI) Hebrew University Scientists Discover 'Star Of David' Molecule

"Prof. Uri Banin and Dr. Janet Macdonald believe new nanoparticle could lead to green fuel advance or better diabetes diagnostics.

A three-dimensional cage-shaped, artificial nanoparticle that looks from above like a six-pointed Star of David has been created by Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers. They believe that it could eventually lead to better glucose sensors to diagnose diabetes or a more efficient catalyst using sunlight to turn water into hydrogen for clean fuel.

The achievement by Prof. Uri Banin and Canadian postdoctoral student Dr. Janet Macdonald is an advance because while there were previous existing soccer-ball-shaped molecules, they are so tiny that they cannot hold other things. Nanometers are one-billionth of a meter in size."

(SCI) Nova Celebrates Installation Of The 200th Metrology System In South Korea

"Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd. (NASDAQ: NVMI) provider of leading edge stand-alone metrology and the market leader of integrated metrology solutions to the semiconductor process control market, today announced the installation of its 200th metrology system in South Korea. The Company also announced that it is in the process of establishing a local branch to further enhance its support of the rapidly growing installed base in South Korea. The Company will continue its long standing and successful collaboration with Misan Corporation which played a key role in establishing and growing Nova's business in South Korea in the past decade.

Commenting on the announcement, Buck Kim, President of Nova's Asia Pacific subsidiary said: 'We are very pleased with this great achievement and appreciate the vote of confidence our South Korean customers have given us over the years. The combination of deep collaboration with our customers, a great local team and a robust product offering have delivered success in a market driven by volume, high productivity and cutting edge technology - leading to the 200 units installed. The strength of the South Korean market and our latest products, that are currently being introduced, make me confident in our ability to continue and grow into the future.'

About Nova: Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd. develops, produces and markets advanced integrated and stand alone metrology solutions for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Nova is traded on the NASDAQ & TASE under the symbol NVMI. The Company's website is http://www.nova.co.il." (source)

(SCI) Israeli Scientists Developing The Power To Predict The Future

"By studying today's trends and making predictions, the Israeli 'node' of the Millennium Project is helping build a better future by alerting those in power to potential problems.

Scientists around the world are working to predict the future - from developments in technology to social upheavals to economic crises - and they aren't using a crystal ball.



Synthesizing a multiplicity of academic disciplines and operating in 35 centers around the world, participants in the Millennium Project think tank are analyzing trends to forecast future developments in the realms of technology and society as a whole.

Producing comprehensive annual reports since its founding in 1996, the think tank aims to provide governments, organizations and industries with the information to make strategically sound decisions for the future, and to circumvent looming challenges.

The Israeli center or 'node' that works with the Millennium Project is the Interdisciplinary Center for Technology Analysis Forecasting (ICTAF), located at Tel Aviv University (TAU). The center collaborates with international researchers on a variety of studies, of which the Millennium Project is just one.

Tackling global challenges

'The center was created in order to help decision-makers do better thinking about future processes, and to make better decisions based on developments in science and technology,' explains Dr. Yair Sharan, physicist and director of ICTAF. 'If you are a government, industry, or organization and want to plan for 10 to 20 years from now, it's a good idea to know the trends or processes occurring in fields or domains that you are involved in.'

Many factors are involved in 'Future Studies,' or 'Forecasting,' and researchers at ICTAF include experts from nearly every field of science as well as some of the humanities. Since developments in technology can have a direct impact on society, the research findings are often far-reaching, as technological developments lead to changes in social, economic, and geopolitical spheres.

The center deals with global challenges such as sustainable development; science and technology; energy; the clean water problem; population and resources; global democratization; the future of communication; the gap between rich and poor; health issues; peace and security; the status of women; and even the future of organized crime.



Forecasting can have solid commercial value for companies. As Sharan says, 'In the 1990s, it would have been useful for telecommunications companies to have known that every citizen in Israel would have at least two mobile phones in their pockets 15 years later. You can take almost every technological field and evaluate how it will evolve in the future, and the impact these developments will have on society, on your business, and plan your activities accordingly.'

Building a better future

But the overarching goal of ICTAF - and the Millennium Project as a whole - is to help build a better future by alerting those in power to potential problems.

'Every year the state of the world's future is evaluated and specific trends and issues are discussed with the hope that those who should take care of them will use these lessons,' says Sharan. Forward-thinking countries that are taking heed of future trends in their decision-making include Japan, much of Europe, and the US.

Some negative future developments predicted by the Millennium Project include: diminishment of individual privacy, difficulties with security - especially in the Middle East -and the rise of organized crime.

But there is a bright side as well: Life spans are becoming longer, and the prediction is that by 2030 people will have about eight hours of free time per day instead of today's average of five hours.

These positive developments come with their own setbacks, however, for which governments need to be prepared: Longer life spans mean an increase in population, which is a strain on resources. Abundant free time means that the structure of people's daily lives will change.

Coming from a background in physics and security, Sharan affirms that he moved to Future Studies because he is fascinating by the field. 'Destiny brought me to it,' he says. As someone who evaluates the world's destiny on a regular basis, he should know." (source)

(ENVIRO) The Mosquito’s Nemesis Is On Its Way

"An Israeli team is the first to succeed in identifying one of the chemicals used by thousands of prey species to avoid their predators.

Inspired by the follow-up book Since Silent Spring, Prof. Leon Blaustein felt driven to find environmentally compatible solutions for combating insect pests. Not much had been done to alleviate the chemical pollution on planet Earth that Rachel Carson warned us about in her monumental book, Silent Spring, published in the 1960s.



In chemical ecology, there are literally thousands of prey species that use chemicals to avoid their predators in some way. No one had managed to zero in on them until now. Blaustein and his colleagues have succeeded in isolating and chemically identifying two chemical cues called kairomones that affect egg-laying behavior in mosquitoes.

Blaustein tells ISRAEL21c that he was attracted to an alternative approach called Biological Control, which advocates using tactics employed by nature to help solve mankind's problems with pests like mosquitoes, invasive moths and beetles. He says he aims 'to develop mosquito pest management in concert with conservation needs.'

Currently at Israel's University of Haifa, the American-Israeli scientist is developing a mosquito's nemesis, by turning the insect's chemical defense against it. Entomologists know that insects and other invertebrates release kairomones (chemicals that carry messages from one species to another, that only benefit the recipient species) that can influence how predators and prey interact.

While pheromones can attract the opposite sex, kairomones can do the opposite, and elicit a particular behavioral or physiological response from predator or prey.

Ecology Letters has published the recent study by Blaustein and US and Israeli colleagues, in which they report their finding.

Disease-carriers may be controlled

The chemicals are delivered by the backswimmer aquatic predator insect Notonecta maculata which likes to eat the larva of the Mediterranean and the Middle East mosquito Culiseta longiareolata for lunch. The chemical can be detected by mosquito mothers-to-be, who then alter their behavior and refrain from laying their eggs in pools of water where backswimmers lurk.

Now that the team has isolated the mosquito-repelling kairomones it will test the compound further to see whether it will produce a similar effect to that found in nature when chemically reproduced. In nature, kairomones can even trigger adaptations such as a change in body size, or tell a crustacean to create body armor to help protect the prey.



'We've now determined that the mosquitoes can detect predators of their babies in the water and avoid laying their eggs there. Whether the chemicals we found are similar to ones that other species are using, we don't know,' Blaustein tells ISRAEL21c.

If the chemicals are developed and applied widely, the notion is that the mosquitoes will die before they have a chance to lay their eggs, because their presence may increase the female mosquito's chance of dying from other causes before she finds a safe pool. 'That's why we think these chemicals could be a useful part of a strategy to control the population size of mosquitoes,' says co-author Joel Cohen from the Rockefeller University in New York.

'These newly-identified compounds, and others that remain to be discovered, might be effective in controlling populations of disease-carrying insects. It's far too soon to say, but there's the possibility of an advance in the battle against infectious disease,' he adds.

To eradicate mosquitoes in a specific way, without wiping out or altering other delicate ecological processes, more research will be needed to see how any synthetic mosquito-related kairomone could be applied in insect pest control in a widespread way.

A surprising mosquito fan

'While we see this as a potentially large breakthrough in developing another weapon against mosquitoes, the work is not over. We hope this breakthrough will spur further research to chemically determine other effective predator-released chemicals, particularly ones that are long-lasting, and then test for their efficacy,' Blaustein relates.

In North America and Israel mosquitoes are generally more of a nuisance than a health concern, but the malaria carriers in Africa and South America pose a significant health risk. 'The problems are all over,' says Blaustein.

And although most people are quick to disparage the irritating mosquito, Blaustein explains why he's a fan. 'It brings us all together,' he jokes, then adds, 'If I go to the wadi (valley) in the Negev in Israel, I can find mosquitoes in high numbers. And larvae in the water can clean it from certain viruses and bacteria and algae. So potentially, they can be important.'

'When I was taking a medical entomology class they lectured that in Africa mosquitoes are encouraged into pots of water for drinking as they filter out the bad stuff and make it better.'

However, his final comment sounds like a nail in the coffin for the bloodsucker: 'I think we could do without mosquitoes and it wouldn't affect the ecosystem all that much," he says, without a trace of remorse.'" (source)

(SCI) Separated Asteroids Could Collide With Earth

"TAU researchers gain international recognition.

International researchers, including Israelis at Tel Aviv University, have revealed the nature of 'separated asteroids' – an understanding that could help the most powerful nations to find a way to divert these small minor planets orbiting around the sun from one day smashing into Earth.

An article on the research, published in the August 26 edition of the prestigious journal Nature, was written by researchers from institutions in the Czech Republic, the US, Chile, Slovakia, Ukraine, Spain and France, in addition to Israel."

(SCI) Israeli Wins 'Nobel' Of Mathematics

"Hebrew U Professor Elon Lindenstrauss is awarded the Fields Medal.

Professor Elon Lindenstrauss of the Einstein Institute of Mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem received the Fields Medal for 2010 on Thursday.

The Fields Medal is regarded as the 'Nobel Prize' in mathematics, and is awarded once in four years. Lindenstrauss is the first Israeli to be awarded the medal."

(MED) Israeli Wins Outstanding Scientist Award

"Israel's Professor Ron N. Apte has been awarded the 2010 Samuel and Paula Elkeles Prize for Outstanding Scientist in the Field of Medicine.

Apte is chairman of the Shraga Segal Department of Microbiology and Immunology and vice dean of the Basic Sciences division at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

His major field of research involves inflammation in malignant processes. Approximately 15 percent of cancers are connected to inflammation, which typically result in organs where chronic inflammation has occurred. For example, patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease are more prone to cancer than the general population.
The pioneering studies of Apte's group demonstrated the feasibility of intervening in malignant processes by neutralizing inflammatory components in the 'normal' microenvironment of a tumor. They also detailed the basic concepts underlying such treatment.

Apte joined the BGU Faculty of Sciences in 1981. He has served as a charter member of the International Cancer Microenvironment Society (ICMS) and has published more than 80 papers in the fields of immunology, tumor biology and cytokine biology.

The Samuel and Paul Elkeles Prize for Outstanding Scientist in the Field of Medicine was established 23 years ago. Jewish National Fund administers the endowment and awards the 15,000 Swiss francs (about $14,400) in prize money each year." (source)

(SCI) Israelis Win Prestigious ERC Grants

"Two university researchers from Israel have been selected to receive Europe's most prestigious research awards - Starting Grants from the European Research Council (ERC).

The highly-competitive grants were created to encourage 'pioneering frontier research in any field of science, engineering and scholarship,' according to the ERC's mission statement.

The two recipients from Israel's Ben-Gurion University (BGU) of the Negev - Prof. Yoav Tsori, a member of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Dr. Lital Alfonta of the Department of Biotechnology Engineering - were selected for their 'promising track-record of early achievements... including significant publications... '

Tsori is a member of BGU's Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology and Reimund Stadler Minerva Center. His research focuses on the 'theoretical description of ways to control structures at the sub-micron scale, in particular, how external fields induce new types of phase-transitions in liquids, polymers and other ordered phases of soft-matter.'

Alfonta's research focuses on 'the development of novel microbial biofuel cells and biosensors based on genetically engineered bacterial cell surface for enhanced communication with electrodes, site specific chemical modification of bacterial cell surface, and evolution and characterization of new functionalities in enzymes.'

Founded in 2007, the ERC is dedicated to 'stimulating scientific excellence by supporting and encouraging the very best, truly creative scientists, scholars and engineers to be adventurous and take risks in their research.'" (source)

(TECH) Israel's "Optical Tweezers" To Help Development Of Advanced Quantum Computers

"Israeli scientists have developed a new tool that uses holographic technology to manipulate up to 300 nanoparticles at a time, such as beads of glass or polymer, that are too small and delicate to be handled with traditional laboratory instruments.

'Optical tweezers,' the technology behind Tel Aviv University's Holographic Optical Tweezers (HOTs), could form the basis for tomorrow's ultra-fast, light-powered communication devices and quantum computers, according to Dr. Yael Roichman of the university's School of Chemistry.

Dr. Roichman is currently using these tweezers to build nano structures that control beams of light, aiding in the development of anything from optical microscopes to light-fuelled computer technology.

HOTS are a new family of optical tools that use a strongly-focused light beam to trap, manipulate and transform small amounts of matter. First proposed as a scientific theory in 1986 and prototyped by a University of Chicago team in 1997, holographic optical tweezers have been lauded as indispensible for researching cutting-edge ideas in physics, chemistry, and biology."