Newsletter Issue 9 - November 2018

Student Awards & Prestigious scholarships 2018

Student Awards & Prestigious scholarships 2018

The unexpected pleasures of a theoretical physicist

Prof. Efrat Shimshoni from the Department of Physics at BIU joined BINA in 2015. She develops theories and makes predictions, searching for clues in an attempt to understand physical phenomena. Here, Shimshoni offers a sneak peek into those rare transcendent events in the career of a theoretical physicist whose ultimate goal is to advance the quest for finding new quantum phases of matter.

Joseph Fetter Museum of Nanotechnology

The Nano-Art Museum will showcase breakthrough research conducted at the Institute, fusing art and science to create an interactive thought-provoking experience.

Renaissance man

Mikhail Ryazanskiy is an electronic engineer and a new immigrant from Russia, who recently joined the Surface Analysis team. Driven by tenacity, and with a deep fascination with technology, he has happily assumed responsibility for the operation and optimization of the ion-beam accelerator.

Awards 2018

awards

Soaring to success

Dr. Rinat Meir, after conducting research at the lab of Prof. Rachela Popovtzer, received the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship and is pursuing her postdoc at Columbia University on new nano-biomaterials in drug-delivery.

Licensed to kill bacteria

Dr. Ilana Perelshtein, a researcher at Prof. Aharon Gedanken’s lab at Bar Ilan, has developed killer coatings that destroy bacteria and viruses. By utilizing a low-cost, non-toxic technique based on ultrasound waves, the lab team produced bacteria-fighting nanoparticles that adhere firmly to fabrics, surgical gear and other medical devices.

Bionic eye promises a brighter future

Dr. Yossi Mandel, Head of the Ophthalmic Science and Engineering Lab at Bar Ilan, is advancing breakthrough retinal prosthesis technology to restore the sight of patients with severely impaired vision. Funded by the prestigious ERC Starting Grant, Mandel’s cross-disciplinary team is devising a hybrid retinal implant that stimulates live neural cells to send visual information to the brain.

A note from our director

It’s been an amazing year full of exciting developments and achievements. In the international arena: Two research collaboration agreements were signed with nano institutes. One with the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) in Portugal, following an initial meeting in May at a conference hosted by BINA, and a second meeting in Portugal in September. Four joint research groups were selected among the 11 groups who submitted applications. The teams will receive research grants co-funded by both institutes. As part of our efforts to include students in the Institute’s activities, a few students travelled with us to Portugal and to other events abroad.