Newsletter Issue 2 - July 2014

Awards - Newsletter 2014

Awards - Newsletter 2014

A Logical Breakthrough in Medicine: The Nano-Robots of Dr. Ido Bachelet

In 2012, Dr. Ido Bachelet and his Harvard research partner Dr. Shawn Douglas demonstrated how a nano-fabrication technique known as “DNA origami” can produce a structure capable of targeting specific tissues, and opening up to activate sequestered payloads in response to specific molecular signals. Now, in an article published in Nature Nanotechnology, Bachelet has gone a step further, creating nano-scale robots that coordinate and work as a team to carry out complex operations inside a living animal.

Discovery at the Speed of Light: Dr. Yaakov Tischler

With light traveling orders of magnitude faster than electricity, it’s no wonder that photons – the discrete particles that carry radiant, electromagnetic energy – are being courted as the future of high speed data transfer. But before “photonics” can move into the mainstream as the basis of practical technologies, scientists need to better understand – and learn to control – light-matter interactions. This is the fundamental research focus of Dr. Yaakov Tischler, Director of BINA’s Molecular Photonics Laboratory.

BINA Masters Student Wins 2014 “Young Scientist Award” for Studies of Colloids

At what point do students of the exact sciences make the transition between absorbing existing knowledge, and discovering new knowledge they can share with others? In the case of Shir Liber, 25, a member of the laboratory directed by BINA faculty member Dr. Eli Sloutskin, this tipping point occurred remarkably early – thanks to an independent project she was assigned during her undergraduate studies.

BINA at the Cutting-Edge of Nano-Fabrication: FIB Unit Head Dr. Yafit Fleger Explains

When Dr. Yafit Fleger was pursuing her PhD in physics under the direction of BINA’s Prof. Michael Rosenbluh, she focused on plasmonics – an emerging field that aims to use light to transmit information within computer chips. Today, as the Head of BINA’s Focused Ion Beam Unit, Fleger uses her expertise to help others design and analyze the chip-based technologies of the future.

New Nano-Optics Start-Up Shines a Light on Biometric Health Parameters

When wristwatches were invented back in 19th century, it seemed revolutionary to wear a bracelet that would tell you the time. Today, thanks to the work of Prof. Zeev Zalevsky, personalized bracelets may tell you much, much more – including medical information that can save your life.

In Memoriam: Dr. Orit Chasid

This past November, Dr. Orit Chasid, BINA’s founding administrative manager, passed away after a long illness. Survived by her husband Baruch, and their three children, Aviv, Lior and Shira, as well as her father Yosef and sister Yehudit, Chasid’s loss is felt keenly at the Institute, where her professionalism, perseverance and ever-present smile set the tone for day-to-day activities, and greatly contributed to BINA’s remarkable scientific success.

Greetings!

In preparing these reports about BINA’s recent research achievements, commercialization advances, faculty and student awards, and educational initiatives, we are reminded that none of this would have been possible without the hard work and dedication of BINA’s founding Administrative Manager, Dr. Orit Chasid, z”l, who left us all too soon. A well-loved member of the BINA family, Orit was a driving force behind the Institute’s emergence as a major player in the international nanoscience community. Memories of her ever-present smile inspire us to raise the bar, reaching, as she did, for ever-higher levels of academic excellence.