Tag Archives: technology

The Pull of Light – optics innovation from Technion.

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Distinguished Prof. Mordechai (Moti) Segev,
Technion Faculty of Physics.

Developing a real, working tractor beam has regularly been an exercise in frustration: it often relies on brute force attempts to induce a magnetic link or an air pressure gap, either of which falls a bit short of science fiction-level elegance.

The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology’s Mordechai Segev has a theory that would use the subtler (though not entirely movie-like) concept of negative radiation pressure in light to move objects. By using materials that have a negative refraction index, where the light photons and their overall wave shape move in opposite directions, Segev wants to create a sweet spot where negative radiation pressure exists and an object caught in the middle can be pushed around. His early approach would use extremely thin crystals stacked in layers to manipulate the refraction.

As it’s theorized, the technology won’t be pulling in the Millennium Falcon anytime soon — the millimeters-wide layer intervals dictate the size of what can be pulled. Nonetheless, even the surgery-level tractor beams that Segev hopes will ultimately stem from upcoming tests would bring us much closer to the future that we’ve always wanted.

Negative radiation pressure in light could make some tractor beams real, we're already sucked in
Source: Optics Express

Read more about Distinguished Prof. Motti Segev at the Technion Book of Faces.

Jewelry ~ a whole new matter ~ Technion Nobel Laureate.

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Private Collection: A Jewel for My Wife
Nobel Laureate 2011 Prof. Dan Shechtman

A JEWEL FOR MY WIFE

By Curator: Anat Har-gil

1972, Dayton, Ohio.  It all began innocently enough. Zippi, Dan’s wife, was busy in the evenings studying for a Master’s Degree in Sociology, and Dan Shechtman, a postdoctoral fellow, found himself studying stone polishing in the arts center during his free time.

Before long, five pairs of polished stones accumulated. Each pair, a different color. What would he do with them? He found himself attending a silver jewelry making course led by Mrs. Audrey Cray: “A very dear and special woman who taught me that esthetics is not an exact science. “Jewelry is created with feeling, love and patience,”

From that moment onwards, sensitively and delicately, Dan has been creating and designing jewelry. Jewelry for his wife: only for his wife.

The art of jewelry making became incorporated and condensed into the inherent knowledge he already possessed. Working with metal is familiar for Dan since he is a metallurgist. He understands metal; he handles it, in this case, to create his jewelry. The  enamel is sealed, at times melting in his hands until it becomes transparent. The metal expands and contracts. Together, enamel, metal and stone merge into a melting pot of
matter and spirit.

The scientific thinking behind his art is very powerful. Yet, at the same time, jewelry making is an excuse for him, a reason to be released from the clutches of the laboratory. The thinking is now visual in form and it begs awareness for its own existence.

Professional knowledge is translated into plastic values, and what really takes place is the transformation of his sketches and his technical ability into a beautiful creation.
Behind every design lies the story. Each piece of jewelry serves as an expression of emotion or the marking of an event. The process is fed, fertilized, and examined by “an audience of one” – his wife Zippi.

When this journey comes to end, it is not yet completed. A ceremony – heartfelt and modest then begins. The piece of jewelry is presented to Zippi as a surprise. Even though she is present before it is even made, she is not a partner in its making.

Dan Shechtman is a research professor in the Faculty of Materials Engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. In the year 2011, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of quasicrystals.

An exhibition of handcrafted jewelry created by Nobel Laureate Dan Shechtman is to be displayed on campus.Designed exclusively for his wife, Prof. Zipora Shechtman, the exhibition showcases 15 unique pieces ranging from earrings to bracelets with a single item — an Aztec-inspired silver belt buckle pictured bottom left — which Distinguished Prof. Shechtman made for himself. The exhibition, curated by Anat Har-Gil, will show June 10 to June 14, 2012, on the 4th floor of the Ullmann Teaching Center at Technion City in Haifa.

 

Jewelry ~ a whole new matter ~ Technion Nobel Laureate.

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Private Collection: A Jewel for My Wife
Nobel Laureate 2011 Prof. Dan Shechtman

A JEWEL FOR MY WIFE

By Curator: Anat Har-gil

1972, Dayton, Ohio.  It all began innocently enough. Zippi, Dan’s wife, was busy in the evenings studying for a Master’s Degree in Sociology, and Dan Shechtman, a postdoctoral fellow, found himself studying stone polishing in the arts center during his free time.

Before long, five pairs of polished stones accumulated. Each pair, a different color. What would he do with them? He found himself attending a silver jewelry making course led by Mrs. Audrey Cray: “A very dear and special woman who taught me that esthetics is not an exact science. “Jewelry is created with feeling, love and patience,”

From that moment onwards, sensitively and delicately, Dan has been creating and designing jewelry. Jewelry for his wife: only for his wife.

The art of jewelry making became incorporated and condensed into the inherent knowledge he already possessed. Working with metal is familiar for Dan since he is a metallurgist. He understands metal; he handles it, in this case, to create his jewelry. The  enamel is sealed, at times melting in his hands until it becomes transparent. The metal expands and contracts. Together, enamel, metal and stone merge into a melting pot of
matter and spirit.

The scientific thinking behind his art is very powerful. Yet, at the same time, jewelry making is an excuse for him, a reason to be released from the clutches of the laboratory. The thinking is now visual in form and it begs awareness for its own existence.

Professional knowledge is translated into plastic values, and what really takes place is the transformation of his sketches and his technical ability into a beautiful creation.
Behind every design lies the story. Each piece of jewelry serves as an expression of emotion or the marking of an event. The process is fed, fertilized, and examined by “an audience of one” – his wife Zippi.

When this journey comes to end, it is not yet completed. A ceremony – heartfelt and modest then begins. The piece of jewelry is presented to Zippi as a surprise. Even though she is present before it is even made, she is not a partner in its making.

Dan Shechtman is a research professor in the Faculty of Materials Engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. In the year 2011, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of quasicrystals.

An exhibition of handcrafted jewelry created by Nobel Laureate Dan Shechtman is to be displayed on campus.Designed exclusively for his wife, Prof. Zipora Shechtman, the exhibition showcases 15 unique pieces ranging from earrings to bracelets with a single item — an Aztec-inspired silver belt buckle pictured bottom left — which Distinguished Prof. Shechtman made for himself. The exhibition, curated by Anat Har-Gil, will show June 10 to June 14, 2012, on the 4th floor of the Ullmann Teaching Center at Technion City in Haifa.

 

Physics research brings new strategies for brain tumor treatment.

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File:PET-image.jpg

Modeling the demise of migrating brain tumor cells

Evolution of brain tumor cells under treatment reveal that it is the peripheral tumor cells that need to be targeted

An Israeli physicist has developed a theoretical model to simulate the evolution of highly proliferating brain tumour core cells subjected to treatment by alternating radio frequency electric field. The research, by Alexander Iomin from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology Technion in Haifa, is about to be published in EPJ E¹. In another model, the author examines the possibility of enhancing the level of treatment by targeting the outer area of the tumour.
Iomin introduced a theoretical evaluation of the effect of a standard treatment known as tumour-treating-field (TTF) on the speed of development of a type of brain tumour called glioma. To do so, he adapted a well-established model — the so-called fractal comb model, which looks like the regularly spaced teeth of a comb — based on a mathematical approach called fractional calculus. This model is based on the hypothesis that TTF treatment had limited efficiency in the outer region and would only be effective on the inner part of the tumour, which is characterised by a higher proliferation rate of cancer cells.
By contrast, the peripheral part of the tumour is characterised by high migration and low proliferation rates of cancer cells. In his second model, the author considered glioma cancer as a composite of cancer cells and normal tissue cells. Each cell type exhibits a distinctive polarisation by an electric field, following a pattern similar to fractal geometry. He established a model reflecting the difference between the two types of cells and applied fractal calculus to their geometry. Iomin suggested that because of the fractal nature of cancer cells the TTF treatment might be enhanced at certain frequencies. As a result, the cancer cells’ plasma membrane permeability would irreversibly increase, which could lead to their demise. This approach may constitute an effective non-invasive method for treating brain cancer.
Article extracted from: EurekaAlert.

Physics research brings new strategies for brain tumor treatment.

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File:PET-image.jpg

Modeling the demise of migrating brain tumor cells

Evolution of brain tumor cells under treatment reveal that it is the peripheral tumor cells that need to be targeted

An Israeli physicist has developed a theoretical model to simulate the evolution of highly proliferating brain tumour core cells subjected to treatment by alternating radio frequency electric field. The research, by Alexander Iomin from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology Technion in Haifa, is about to be published in EPJ E¹. In another model, the author examines the possibility of enhancing the level of treatment by targeting the outer area of the tumour.
Iomin introduced a theoretical evaluation of the effect of a standard treatment known as tumour-treating-field (TTF) on the speed of development of a type of brain tumour called glioma. To do so, he adapted a well-established model — the so-called fractal comb model, which looks like the regularly spaced teeth of a comb — based on a mathematical approach called fractional calculus. This model is based on the hypothesis that TTF treatment had limited efficiency in the outer region and would only be effective on the inner part of the tumour, which is characterised by a higher proliferation rate of cancer cells.
By contrast, the peripheral part of the tumour is characterised by high migration and low proliferation rates of cancer cells. In his second model, the author considered glioma cancer as a composite of cancer cells and normal tissue cells. Each cell type exhibits a distinctive polarisation by an electric field, following a pattern similar to fractal geometry. He established a model reflecting the difference between the two types of cells and applied fractal calculus to their geometry. Iomin suggested that because of the fractal nature of cancer cells the TTF treatment might be enhanced at certain frequencies. As a result, the cancer cells’ plasma membrane permeability would irreversibly increase, which could lead to their demise. This approach may constitute an effective non-invasive method for treating brain cancer.
Article extracted from: EurekaAlert.

FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM: Message from Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie.

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A Creative Space: The Technion Gutwirth Ecological Garden,
April 2012, Picture by Technion student Guy Shahar
Welcome to this spring 2012 edition of Technion LIVE. In these days we are celebrating the redemption of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt through the festival of Passover. Also in this time, we celebrate 100 years since April 11th, 1912 – the day when the first cornerstone was placed to physically declare the intent to create a first center of higher learning for the Jewish people in what was then Ottomon-occupied Palestine. 
We must never forget the creative space that comes before a great inspiration. Whether it was the urge of Moses to redeem his people through a great leap of trust into the wilderness, or whether it was the early visionaries of the Technion – who saw that the Jewish people could be freed from centuries of bloodshed and antisemitism in the diaspora by taking physical responsibility for their destiny and by moving also with a great leap of faith into the unknown. 
Technion is a place that is world-renowned for innovation and for its record numbers of start-ups and patents. Yet, our innermost secret is the strength of our basic research – that which has won Nobel Prizes for three of our scientists. This basic research is a direct function of our ability to invest in creative space – where the scientists can move with freedom and curiosity – pursing knowledge and skills, following his or her inspiration, without conditions. Only academic institutes of research can give this. From the front-lines of research at the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI), through to the steady unveiling of the mysteries of life through the Lorry I. Lokey Center for Life Sciences and Engineering, through to dyamic programs like the Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP) which is now a national coordinator in research into solar fuels – this creative space of basic research is the potent key to discovery and progress.
A Happy Passover and a proud Technion Cornerstone Centennial to all our students, friends and alumni in Israel and around the world. May we join together as one humanity in taking responsibility for our global future in order to open more freedom, peace and progress for all.
 
Professor Peretz Lavie 
President

FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM: Message from Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie.

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A Creative Space: The Technion Gutwirth Ecological Garden,
April 2012, Picture by Technion student Guy Shahar
Welcome to this spring 2012 edition of Technion LIVE. In these days we are celebrating the redemption of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt through the festival of Passover. Also in this time, we celebrate 100 years since April 11th, 1912 – the day when the first cornerstone was placed to physically declare the intent to create a first center of higher learning for the Jewish people in what was then Ottomon-occupied Palestine. 
We must never forget the creative space that comes before a great inspiration. Whether it was the urge of Moses to redeem his people through a great leap of trust into the wilderness, or whether it was the early visionaries of the Technion – who saw that the Jewish people could be freed from centuries of bloodshed and antisemitism in the diaspora by taking physical responsibility for their destiny and by moving also with a great leap of faith into the unknown. 
Technion is a place that is world-renowned for innovation and for its record numbers of start-ups and patents. Yet, our innermost secret is the strength of our basic research – that which has won Nobel Prizes for three of our scientists. This basic research is a direct function of our ability to invest in creative space – where the scientists can move with freedom and curiosity – pursing knowledge and skills, following his or her inspiration, without conditions. Only academic institutes of research can give this. From the front-lines of research at the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI), through to the steady unveiling of the mysteries of life through the Lorry I. Lokey Center for Life Sciences and Engineering, through to dyamic programs like the Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP) which is now a national coordinator in research into solar fuels – this creative space of basic research is the potent key to discovery and progress.
A Happy Passover and a proud Technion Cornerstone Centennial to all our students, friends and alumni in Israel and around the world. May we join together as one humanity in taking responsibility for our global future in order to open more freedom, peace and progress for all.
 
Professor Peretz Lavie 
President

Outsmarting HIV with X-Ray Crystallography

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Dr, Alian Akram, Lorry I. Lokey Center for Life Science & Engineering, Technion.

Outsmarting HIV


It sound like modern warfare, and indeed, even when aiming to outsmart a killer virus on a scale of about 100 nanometers, the latest technology makes all the difference. One of the deep passions behind Dr. Alian Akram’s pioneering crystallographic work in the Technion is a desire to advance treatments for HIV, the causative agent of AIDS.



Scientists in Akram’s lab investigate the general principles of how aggressive virus lock into the genetic resources of a patient – and how to prevent them from doing this. “It is a MUST to learn about the critical interactions and the mechanisms of resistance,” says Akram. The team is taking a sharp look at pathogen-host interaction and how the HIV virus literally hijacks the machinery of the host cell in order to replicate itself, and how it escapes the immune system. “We are hoping to determine the structures of key interacting molecules and develop new intervening strategies and drugs that prevent their interaction. We also want to understand the mechanism of emergent resistance in the proteins of this virus.”



Current drugs for HIV bind viral proteins – and yet it continues to mutate and regenerate. Akram’s team is working on a protein discovered in 2004 – intrinsic immunity APOBEC3G. This protein attacks the genome of HIV and causes hypermutation that leads to an abortive replication cycle for HIV. However, HIV expresses a protein that destroys APOBEC, so the Akram’s group wants to understand this process better so that it can be blocked.
“Crystal structure of Pseudouridine synthase in complex with RNA solved by  Akram Alian. The structure reveals base-pair rearrangement as the key mechanism to rRNA substrate selectivity  (http://rnajournal.cshlp.org/content/16/6.cover-expansion)”

Outsmarting HIV with X-Ray Crystallography

1 Comment

Dr, Alian Akram, Lorry I. Lokey Center for Life Science & Engineering, Technion.

Outsmarting HIV


It sound like modern warfare, and indeed, even when aiming to outsmart a killer virus on a scale of about 100 nanometers, the latest technology makes all the difference. One of the deep passions behind Dr. Alian Akram’s pioneering crystallographic work in the Technion is a desire to advance treatments for HIV, the causative agent of AIDS.



Scientists in Akram’s lab investigate the general principles of how aggressive virus lock into the genetic resources of a patient – and how to prevent them from doing this. “It is a MUST to learn about the critical interactions and the mechanisms of resistance,” says Akram. The team is taking a sharp look at pathogen-host interaction and how the HIV virus literally hijacks the machinery of the host cell in order to replicate itself, and how it escapes the immune system. “We are hoping to determine the structures of key interacting molecules and develop new intervening strategies and drugs that prevent their interaction. We also want to understand the mechanism of emergent resistance in the proteins of this virus.”



Current drugs for HIV bind viral proteins – and yet it continues to mutate and regenerate. Akram’s team is working on a protein discovered in 2004 – intrinsic immunity APOBEC3G. This protein attacks the genome of HIV and causes hypermutation that leads to an abortive replication cycle for HIV. However, HIV expresses a protein that destroys APOBEC, so the Akram’s group wants to understand this process better so that it can be blocked.
“Crystal structure of Pseudouridine synthase in complex with RNA solved by  Akram Alian. The structure reveals base-pair rearrangement as the key mechanism to rRNA substrate selectivity  (http://rnajournal.cshlp.org/content/16/6.cover-expansion)”

Christine Quinn at Technion City

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Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie with Christine Quinn of New York at Technion City, Feb. 2012.

“The Technion-Cornell Initiative will make our City the Global High-Tech Capital”

“The residents of New York City and its government are very excited about the planned applied science and engineering campus which Cornell and the Technion are partnering to establish”, said Christine Quinn, New York City council speaker, in her visit today to the Technion. “We have no doubt that this important venture, which will make our city the global high-tech capital, will inject new blood into it and improve all municipal aspects – from affordable housing to cafés and restaurants”.

Quinn, who in 2007 was ranked by the New York Post third in the list of the most influential women in New York, is a member of the Democratic Party, and is considered a leading candidate in the mayoral election that will end next year. She invests substantial resources in improving health care and in promoting affordable housing in New York. “We, as a municipality, cannot create entrepreneurial ventures, but we can and are committed to creating a suitable envelope for them: an efficient transportation system, personal security, housing, quality education and employment – without these, entrepreneurs and high-tech companies cannot be attracted to the city”.

 “Whenever I hear the slogan ‘Intel Inside’ I say: Haifa Inside.”

Technion President Professor Peretz Lavie said to the guest that the future is in the interdisciplinary realm, and that this is the rational behind the new campus that will be set-up  on Roosevelt Island in New York. “It may be that Prof. Shechtman is the last scientist to be awarded the Nobel Prize for research conducted by one person working alone in one laboratory,” said Prof. Lavie. “Nowadays, achieving significant scientific and engineering breakthroughs requires tremendous knowledge that the single scientist does not possess. In light of this, the new campus will be structured as interdisciplinary centers that will intercommunicate and overlap, rather than in the well-known university model of programs and faculties. With time this center will be surrounded by startup companies and extensions of large high-tech companies, just as such companies and extensions historically developed near the Technion. Intel is an example of a giant company that chose to establish here its first research center outside the US, and so whenever I hear the slogan ‘Intel Inside’ I say: Haifa Inside. Our innovative venture will build a bridge of friendship and cooperation between New York and Haifa”.