Faculty of Medicine Newsletter 59 (February 25 - March 10, 2022)

עברית

ניוזלטרים בעברית, כאן.

PDF for easier reading, here.

Russell Berrie Foundation Delegates Visit FacultyRBF

The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine was pleased to host a delegation from the Russell Berrie Foundation on March 7, 2022.

We welcomed Dr. Idana Goldberg, CEO; Adam Hirsch, CFO; and Binny Shalev and Amit Granek from the Foundation’s Israel office. The agenda included an overview and progress report on the Russell Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE that was inaugurated in November 2021. In attendance were Prof. Naim Shehadeh, Director of SPHERE; Prof. Arie Zaban, President of Bar-Ilan University; Prof. Karl Skorecki, Dean of the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine; Dr. Sivan Spitzer, Deputy Director of SPHERE; and Martin Duifhuizen, Commercial Director of SPHERE.

The Faculty is grateful to the Foundation for its active involvement in the Russell Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE.

International Women's Day at Bar-Ilan UniversityWomen's Day Sivan

Bar-Ilan University hosted several events in honor of International Women’s Day on March 8, 2022, including a Zoom conference hosted by Dr. Sivan Spitzer who also presented at the conference, about the Russell Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE’s activities to combat health inequities. The event included opening remarks by the President of Bar-Ilan University, Prof. Arie Zaban, and Prof. Orna Sasson-Levy who serves as Advisor to the President on Gender Equality. The conference was attended by a wide range of participants.

Safed Police Chief Visits Azrieli Faculty of Medicinepolice chief with Dean

As an expression of thanks for their hard work, the Dean of the Azrieli Faculty, Prof. Karl Skorecki, invited Lieutenant Colonel Yizchak Abuhatzeira to visit the Azrieli Faculty on March 6, 2022. Accompanied by Captain Maor Hinga, they were given a tour of the Faculty’s campus led by the Dean, and were also shown the impressive Anatomage anatomy table.

Prof. Samer Srouji Appointed Chief Innovation OfficerSrouji

Professor Samer Srouji, Director of the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, and a leading clinician scientist at the Galilee Medical Center, an Azrieli Faculty of Medicine affiliate hospital, has been appointed Chief Innovation Officer and founding director of the program in Medical Innovation Education. Read more here.

Prof. Chaim Putterman and Prof. Arnon Blum Appointed to MoH Research ForumBlum and Putterman

Congratulations to Prof. Putterman (Azrieli Faculty Associate Dean Research) and Prof. Blum (Baruch Padeh Medical Center) on their appointment to the Research Forum of the Kinneret Project of the Ministry of Health. The forum will be creating a unified database of government hospitals for research purposes.

Pictured: Prof. Blum (left) and Prof. Putterman (right)

Seminars

  • PhD Seminar: Novel regulators of musculoskeletal homeostasis (Iryna Khrystoforova supervised by Prof. David Karasik)
  • PhD Seminar:  Same Same-But Different: Two Tales of RNA Binding Proteins Involved in Parasite RNA metabolism and Viral RNP Assembly (Lee Izhaki-Tavor supervised by Dr. Moshe Dessau)
  • Faculty Seminar: Expelliarmus! Antibodies (are trying to) fight back (Dr. Natalia Freund, TAU)
  • Upcoming Faculty Seminar: Developing synthetic and analytical tools to study the effect of modifications on glycans binding preferences (Dr. Mattan Hurevich, HUJI)

Dr. Limor Meoded Danon on Bar-Ilan University Podcast

Listen to Dr. Meoded Danon’s podcast lecture on Sexual Development by downloading the Bar-Ilan U. “BarDaat” application, here. Search for "מהי התפתחות מינית שונה".

Appointments

Congratulations to Dr. Tawfik Khoury on his appointment as clinical senior lecturer.

Mazal Tov

Mazal tov to Nurit Rotem and family on the birth of a baby girl.

Upcoming Events

  • Galileum Final Research Projects Conference (March 10, 2022)
  • Ninth Health Professions Conference (March 28, 2022)
  • Teddy Bear Hospital (May 2022)

Meet Our New ResearcherOrbach and family

Three new researchers have recently joined the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine: Dr. Ron Orbach, Dr. Hanna Keren, and Dr. Liron Rozenkrantz. We would like to introduce Dr. Orbach, who joined us in July 2021:

What made you choose the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine?

Joining the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine allowed me to return to Israel, together with my family, and to support Israel’s northern region, which is in need of medical and technological development. The exceptional academic environment at the Faculty and outstanding scientific atmosphere which includes great scientists, motivated students, and unique facilities, will provide the perfect setting to establish my independent research career.

What is your area of research?

In my lab we study the cytoskeleton of the cilia, known as the axoneme, and associated diseases. The cilia is a machinery the includes hundreds of different proteins that are found in multiple copies and remarkably organized all along the cytoskeleton scaffold.  Amazingly, the proteins work in coordination with each other to perform the complex movement of the cilia, as we see in the sperm tail and airways. We apply interdisciplinary approach that involves cutting-edge microscopy, DNA nanotechnology and classic biochemistry to study this structure in-vitro and to understand basic mechanisms related to the cilia.

Can you share a bit about your background?

My academic journey began at Tel Aviv University where I obtained a BSc in biology and MSc in biotechnology, under the supervision of Prof. Ehud Gazit. In his lab, I was first exposed to the fascinating world of molecular self-assembly and its importance in health and disease. After my MSc, I moved to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and joined the lab of Prof. Itamar Willner to pursue my PhD in chemistry. My research focused on DNA nanotechnology and the development of DNA-based biosensors, computing systems, and hydrogels.

My postdoctoral studies were at Yale University as an EMBO and HFSP fellow working with Prof. Jonathon Howard, where I investigated the contribution of the ciliary cytoskeleton on length regulation of the cilia. To complement my studies in biology I performed a second postdoc in the lab of Dr. Xiaolei Su and studied the role of microvilli in T-cells.

Outside the lab, I enjoy cooking and spending time with my wife and 3 kids.

 

Website: What’s New?

Publications 

Reminder that publications by Azrieli faculty are generally posted in chronological order based on publication date, per PubMed listings. If you have published an article recently that appears on PubMed but that was not listed in a Newsletter, I apologize, and please do let me know.

PLEASE NOTE: ALL PUBLICATIONS BY RESEARCHERS AT AZRIELI OR ITS AFFILIATE RESEARCH CENTERS MUST PROPERLY CITE THIS AFFILIATION: Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Safed, Israel. IF YOU ARE UNSURE OR NEED GUIDANCE, PLEASE CONTACT US.

  • Fadi Hassan, Mohammad E Naffaa, Amir Saab, Chaim Putterman: Cognitive Impairment in Anti-Phospholipid Syndrome and Anti-Phospholipid Antibody Carriers (Brain Sci . )
  • David Karasik: Functional Validation of Osteoporosis Genetic Findings Using Small Fish Models (Genes (Basel) . )
  • Zaher Armaly, Munai Abu-Rahme, Safa Kinaneh, Basem Hijazi, Suheil Artul: An Innovative Ultrasound Technique for Early Detection of Kidney Dysfunction: Superb Microvascular Imaging as a Reference Standard (J Clin Med .)
  • Naaem Simaan: Characteristics of Cerebral Sinus Venous Thrombosis Patients Presenting with Intracerebral Hemorrhage (J Clin Med . )
  • Gassan Moady, Shaul Atar: Stress-Induced Cardiomyopathy-Considerations for Diagnosis and Management during the COVID-19 Pandemic (Medicina (Kaunas) .)
  • Chaim Putterman; High incidence of proliferative and membranous nephritis in SLE patients with low proteinuria in the Accelerating Medicines Partnership (Rheumatology (Oxford) . )
  • Daniel Glikman: Misleading Positive Serology for Cat Scratch Disease following Administration of Intravenous Immunoglobulin (Pathogens . )
  • Andrei Braester: Venous Thrombosis within 30 Days after Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 in a Multinational Venous Thromboembolism Registry (Viruses . )
  • Andrei Braester, Luiza Akria, Celia Suriu, Moran Zarfati, Masad Barhoum: Educating the educator about patient blood management (Transfus Apher Sci .)
  • Jacob Bornstein: Inauguration Editorial (J Low Genit Tract Dis . )
  • Moriah Shachar: The impact of anxiety level on decision to seek medical care of non-COVID cardiac patients during the pandemic outbreak-single-center experience in Israel (Rev Cardiovasc Med . )
  • Michael Edelstein: Characteristics associated with COVID-19 vaccine uptake among adults aged 50 years and above in England (8 December 2020-17 May 2021): a population-level observational study (BMJ Open . )
  • Moriah Shachar: Profile Trends of Non-COVID Patients Admitted to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit during the 2020 COVID Pandemic (Am J Med Sci .)
  • Enav Yefet: An informative video before planned Cesarean-delivery and maternal anxiety-a multicenter randomized controlled trial (Am J Obstet Gynecol MFM .)
  • Khalaf Kridin: Psoriasis and Renal Disorders: A Large-Scale Population-Based Study in Children and Adults (Dermatology .)
  • Ayelet Shai, Evleen Galouk, Reem Miari, Hala Tareef, Mizied Falah:Inhibiting mutant KRAS G12D gene expression using novel peptide nucleic acid-based antisense: A potential new drug candidate for pancreatic cancer (Oncol Lett . )
  • Hadas Shasha-Lavsky: Randomized Clinical Trial on the Long-Term Efficacy and Safety of Lumasiran in Patients With Primary Hyperoxaluria Type 1 (Kidney Int Rep . )
  • Andrei Braester: Venous thromboembolism in patients with autoimmune disorders: a comparison between bleeding complications during anticoagulation and recurrences after its discontinuation (Br J Haematol .)

 

Faculty News 

 

Additions, Updates, Comments? Write to us here

 

 Follow Us on Our New TwitterTwitter

We have a new handle! @biumedicine