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July 20, 2001/Tamuz 29, 5761, Vol. 53, No.41
Nanotechnology keeps Technion on cutting edge
JOSHUA ROSE
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 From left, professors Uri Sivan, Erez Braun and Yoav Eichen conduct research at Technion's nanotechnology center. Photo courtesy of Technion Institute |
A term that applies to the manipulation of matter at the atomic level, nanotechnology - or its latest branch, bio-nanotechnology - has been used to form such things as a conductive wire 1,000 times thinner than a human hair out of DNA molecules, which will pave the way for scientists to create new materials from common objects.
Most universities in the United States are setting their sights on nanotechnology and the influx of research dollars that such a science will inevitably bring in; however, the Technion Institute in Haifa, Israel, appears to be breaking the most ground on these new, scientific advancements with an effort to establish a new center based in bio-nanotechnology and electronic nanotechnology.
"The incorporation of bio- logy into nanoelectronics will enable scientists to detect diseases, medicate patients and utilize implants on a molecular scale," says Technion Professor Uri Sivan, director of a newly proposed center for Nanoelectronics by Biotechnology Center of Excellence at Technion. "Imagine doctors controlling medication by using an atomic particle to deliver it to a specific organ, or using implants that the body will not only accept but that will become part of the body itself."
Innovation and scientific advancement are hardly new at Technion. It has produced 80 percent of Israel's engineers and 70 percent of its high level corporate employees.
Other new medical inventions underway at the school involve the development of real-time Internet video, satellite, broadband and wireless communication that will benefit the newly emerging tech-based medical community.
Technion's development since its founding in 1924 has been integrally tied to the success of Israel. Since 1965, Israel's high-tech exports have climbed from $24 million to close to $5 billion, an increase of more than 20,000 percent. Shimon Peres stated that "the Technion is the most important resource we have for transforming Israel's economy."
The impact on the medical community in both Israel and the United States has the potential of being quite dramatic. With the use of Internet capabilities, doctors in remote areas of both countries will be able to communicate more directly with major medical centers and hospitals and receive advice and instruction via visual and verbal messaging in a matter of minutes.
In addition to the nanotechnology center, Technion has also recently opened the Galil Center for Telemedicine and Medical Informatics, thanks to a highly involved system of fund raising in the United States.
"Telemedicine can be applied to virtually every area of health care - from neonatology, where home computer and video equipment enable low birth weight babies to be monitored from home, to emergency surgery in isolated locations," says Professor David Goldenberg, program coordinator at the new center.
Yet another area of innovation at the Institute involves the intersection of genetics and history. One procedure developed by Technion involves DNA testing to determine which members of the community can trace themselves back to the Kohanim, the priestly class that served during the time of the First and Second Temples.
Another research team was able to trace and then treat a rare muscle disease, Oculopharyngeal Muscular Dystrophy (OPMD), affecting Jews of the Buharar, Uzbekistan area, dating to the 13th century.
Within the last year, Technion has joined forces with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore to establish a joint research and educational program dealing with the fields of biomedical sciences and biomedical engineering.
"The Hopkins-Technion program is an international education and research collaboration unique in the fields of biomedical engineering and medical research," says Johns Hopkins president Dr. William Brody.
In Phoenix, fund raising efforts for the university - only one of five technology schools in the world to have a medical school - are headed by Howard Morgan, who previously served 10 years as executive director for the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix.
"The importance of Technion is that this current generation is tied in the same fashion to Israel as mine is," says Morgan. "Today, Israel is a self-sufficient state and the days of Israel coming to the states to get support just to sustain itself are gone. It is a viable country."
Likewise, he adds, "The technology gives the younger generation a way to connect with not only Technion but Israel itself."
For Morgan, seeing a university in Israel not only make progress but also lead the world in certain areas of technology and innovation shows the success of Americans' early support for an independent Israel.
"When you look at the fact that currently Israel is developing techniques to cure cancer, to cure Alzheimer's, to feed the entire world, by helping this cause, one is able to see, touch, feel and make significant differences to not just Israel but the world at large," says Morgan. "Helping Technion is an investment in the future of Israel."
In the three years Morgan has served as the western regional specialist (based in Phoenix), he has raised close to $4 million for Technion. Some of the money is set aside for particular usage, like a recent gift made by a Sun City family (who wishes to remain anonymous) to establish an endowment chair, while other moneys go to scholarships, fellowships, lectureships, recruitment of new faculty, dormitories, teaching and research laboratories, major research institutes and Centers of Excellence.
Centers of Excellence are small departments within particular colleges that the university uses to handle much of its high-tech, cutting edge research. Besides medical research, the Centers also explore space research, water resources, aerospace engineering and electron microscopy.
"Through Technion, Israel is forecasting the future by dealing with the problems of the present," says Morgan. "And this way, a significant model is being developed not just for themselves but for the whole world."