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Desert University is an oasis for medical research

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) is Israel’s only university not found in the northern part of the country.
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July 23, 2015

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) is Israel’s only university not found in the northern part of the country. This geographic anomaly, however, has not prevented the 46-year-old institution from excelling: BGU was ranked 30th in the 2014-15 QS World University Rankings’ “Top 50 Under 50.” The university is also collaborating with the Israeli government, the city of Beersheba and private industry to turn this desert region into a global cybersecurity and technology capital. 

One of the university’s established strengths is medical research and technology. As one of nine journalists who recently visited BGU during an American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev-sponsored media mission, this reporter got a look at some of the innovative research happening in the field of medicine. 

If David Ben-Gurion, the country’s first prime minister, could meet the researchers at his namesake university, he would probably see in them the pioneering spirit he embodied. As the statesman once said, “The difficult we do immediately. The impossible takes a little longer.”

Helping the body rebuild itself 

Smadar Cohen, founder and director of BGU’s Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research Center, and her colleagues have developed a gel-like substance made from seaweed that helps support regrowth of body tissues. They are using it to reduce damage to heart tissue after a heart attack. When the substance is injected into the heart after a heart attack, it forms a sort of temporary matrix that supports the injured heart tissue and prevents the loss of function that normally occurs. 

Emil Ruvinov from Cohen’s lab explained that the substance is injected in liquid form, but thickens in the heart and seems to strengthen the area and stabilize heart function. Within about two months, it dissolves and is naturally excreted from the body.

Also applying the idea of creating a matrix to promote the body’s natural processes is Hanna Rapaport in the department of biotechnology and engineering. She is using small proteins called peptides to help bones regenerate. 

Rapaport, who did her postdoctoral training at Caltech, is combining peptides that can absorb calcium with ones that can form fibers to create an environment where bone tissue can regrow. She has also created a coating that can help integrate metal bone implants with the natural bone tissue around it. This could potentially promote more successful joint replacements.

Detecting brain trauma in athletes

Even the National Football League (NFL) has acknowledged that frequent, forceful blows to the head can cause serious brain damage to players. Actuaries hired by the NFL estimated that nearly one-third of retired players would develop long-term cognitive problems. 

Dr. Alon Friedman of the Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience at BGU has found that even some amateur football players show signs of brain injury, likely stemming from the constant and repeated small impacts they experience. Friedman and his team have detected damage to the blood-brain barrier, the body’s protective mechanism for preventing most substances in the bloodstream from entering the brain and spinal cord. 

Itai Weissberg, one of Friedman’s doctoral students, explained how their novel use of MRI created “a window into the brain” to reveal damage by showing whether an injected dye dissipates or accumulates in the brain. “This tool can detect very small but important changes,” he said.

Weissberg said they would eventually like to see such diagnostic tests become part of an athlete’s regular exam, as well as a way of determining when an injured player is ready to return to the field.

Unplugging sleep analysis

An estimated 50 million to 70 million Americans have a sleep disorder, which poses two problems. First, many of them are unaware of their condition (although their sleeping partner may be painfully aware of it). Second, getting a diagnosis currently requires an expensive and not terribly convenient night hooked up to wires for a polysomnography test, which measures brain, heart and muscle activity.

Yaniv Zigel, head of the biomedical signal processing lab at BGU; Ariel Tarasiuk, professor of physiology and cell biology; and Eliran Dafna, who conducted research as part of his doctorate, have developed what they hope will be an easier, less invasive way to detect sleep problems such as sleep apnea, snoring and insomnia. 

Their breathing sound analysis algorithm analyzes a sleeper’s breathing sounds to measure sleep duration and detect sleep disorders. The sounds can be collected using a simple recorder, and thus don’t require any sensors or wires. Eventually, they hope to make the technology available via a smartphone app. 

Using nature to design robots

David Zarrouk, director of the Bioinspired and Medical Robotics Laboratory, believes that nature can provide inspiration for designing the most effective and energy-efficient robots. His lab focuses on robotic applications for medical, agricultural and search-and-rescue purposes. 

Using the cockroach as a model, Zarrouk and his team created a robot with jointed legs that can go over, under or around obstacles. Another robot, using the inchworm as inspiration, can propel itself through a tube. This type of mechanism might eventually be used inside the body, for example, to collect images and information in the intestines.

Zarrouk believes that the simplest answer is the best answer, although it can be challenging to achieve. “Everything should be as simple as possible but no simpler,” he said, quoting Albert Einstein.

Using computers to advise physicians, alert patients 

Dr. Yuval Shahar believes that the computer is a patient’s best friend. As head of BGU’s Medical Informatics Research Center, Shahar has developed computer programs that synthesize data from body sensors, a patient’s medical records and established medical guidelines to provide alerts and recommendations. Such systems could remind a patient with diabetes to check glucose levels or alert a physician about a patient’s irregular heart activity. 

In conjunction with the University of Haifa and several European entities, a mobile monitoring system is being tested in Italy on patients with atrial fibrillation (rapid, irregular heartbeat) and in Spain on women who have pregnancy-related high blood pressure or diabetes.

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