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It has now been two years since the NIBN was incorporated as the first autonomous research center in Israel. With 2011 just having ended, I can

definitely say that the last two years have been especially productive ones for the NIBN, in which many of our aims were realized.

The NIBN is gradually becoming a living entity within BGU, in Israel and abroad. With the devoted and concerted actions of its founding group, the NIBN is starting to develop into a significant contributor and catalyst towards realizing the University’s goal of strengthening its life sciences and medical research and becoming a major research center.

Over the past year, the Institute recruited two young and promising scientists, with additional scientists expected to join the Institute in the coming year. In additions, the NIBN has purchased state-of-the-art equipment. Some of the advanced equipment is unique to the NIBN and does not exist in any other research center in Israel. Access to such advanced technologies at home not only promotes research at NIBN/BGU, but also positions NIBN as a leading research entity in Israel.

To fully achieve its potential, NIBN needs a building designated for multidisciplinary research, connecting the biomedical sciences with informatics and the applied disciplines essential to biotechnology. This aspiration is now becoming reality, with the cornerstone for the NIBN new building being placed on November 21, 2011 in a ceremony attended by many distinguished guests (see page 5).

As an additional step towards advancing and promoting the applied research projects being conducted at NIBN towards commercialization, Mr. Yuval Kupitz and Dr. Merav Beiman have recently joined the NIBN team. Yuval will be responsible for creating opportunities for connections with industry, while Merav is engaged with advancing early stage NIBN projects to the value-creating step, namely the stage at which companies may be interested in our research.

I believe that we are getting closer to realizing David Ben-Gurion’s dream in which: ”We seek to build a scientific research and teaching centre that will be a source of moral inspiration and courage, rousing people to a sense of mission, noble, creative and fruitful.”

I would like to take this opportunity and thank the NIBN Scientific Advisory Board and the University management for their ongoing support and guidance on this challenging and complex project.

And last but not least, I thank all NIBN members for their devotion and dedicated work that has helped turn the NIBN into a meaningful organization and I wish us all a fruitful 2012.

Varda Shoshan-BarmatzNIBN Director

NIBN M a r c h 2 0 1 2NEWSLETTER

The National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev Ltd. 2

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Complex human diseases such as Alzheimer, diabetes, and cancer are caused by multiple genetic factors, and despite

significant efforts often remain incurable. A comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying complex diseases is essential for opening new avenues for treatment. In an effort to reach this understanding, complex diseases are increasingly being studied using state-of-the-art high-throughput assays that offer unprecedented views into their genomic and transcriptomic features. My lab develops novel computational approaches that infer cellular disease processes by relating these genomic and transcriptomic features.

Genomic screening, achieved through next generation sequencing (NGS) or micro-array techniques, identifies genomic loci associated with the particular disease. These loci are significantly more common in diseased patients than in the general population. In the past few years genomic screens have significantly broadened our understanding of the genetic basis of several complex diseases by identifying many genomic loci whose relation to the disease was previously unknown. However, the molecular mechanisms by which most of these loci contribute to disease often remain elusive: First, these assays typically identify many mutations, not all of which are causal for the disease. Second, even when causal mutations were identified, their functions in disease are just beginning to emerge. Since experimental efforts to reveal the functions of causal mutations are costly and complex, the bulk disease-associated loci are often left unexplained.

Another view into the etiology of complex diseases is provided by analysis of their transcriptomes, namely the expression levels of transcripts in diseased patients relative to healthy controls. Transcriptome analysis has proved to be particularly useful for predicting treatment efficacy in cancer.

Yet transcriptomic assays do not reveal a complete picture of disease processes. In particular, they do not reveal the triggers for the changes in transcript expression levels. Thus, while new data of complex diseases are accumulating, the identification of their etiology is lagging behind, calling for novel methodologies for revealing the cellular pathways perturbed in each disease.

Recent studies demonstrate the potential of integrative approaches to broaden our understanding of disease processes. Central to many integrative approaches is the interaction network paradigm, in which network nodes represent molecules (e.g., proteins) and network edges represent their physical and regulatory interactions. Interaction networks provide a convenient framework for exploring the context within which disease genes operate, and were successfully used to illuminate new disease genes, expose their underlying relationships, and classify disease sub-types.

My lab develops novel network-based frameworks to decipher the cellular pathways underlying complex diseases. Taking advantage of recent genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic screening data, our framework and algorithms strive to identify the most likely interaction sub-network and paths through which disease-associated loci may lead to the measured transcriptomic changes. The resulting disease-related networks simultaneously prioritize potential causal mutations and infer their likely modes of action, and expose molecules and pathways with potential therapeutic impact.

A notable example of such a framework is the ResponseNet network-optimization approach that we developed. ResponseNet identifies likely molecular interaction paths through which a subset of disease-associated mutations may lead to the measured transcriptomic changes. Computationally, this was achieved by formulating a minimum-cost flow optimization problem and solving it efficiently using linear programming tools. Applied to a yeast model of alpha-synuclein toxicity that is related to Parkinson disease, ResponseNet successfully mapped previously unknown as well as recognized genes and pathways associated with alpha-synuclein toxicity, and exposed potential drug targets that were verified experimentally.

We recently provided a web server that offers a simple interface for applying ResponseNet (http://bioinfo.bgu.ac.il/respnet). Through this web server users can upload weighted lists of proteins and genes, and obtain a sparse, weighted, molecular interaction sub-network connecting their data. Consequently, the ResponseNet web server enables researchers who were previously limited to separate analyses of their distinct, large-scale experiments, to meaningfully integrate their data and substantially expand their understanding of the underlying cellular response. Given the massive increase in screening efforts applied to complex diseases, integrative approaches that we and others develop may greatly contribute to illuminating the etiology of these diseases and open new avenues in the search for therapy.

Network biology approach to uncovering disease etiology

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The NIBN Bioinformatics Core Facility was established in September 2003 with the aim of providing BGU

scientists with the opportunity to advance their research with cutting edge bioinformatics resources and methodologies, bridging the two worlds of biology and computer science. The increasing need for data analysis services for high-throughput experiments such as DNA microarrays and, more recently, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), prompted us to extend our service to external academic and commercial customers. The data analysis process is conducted through continual discussions with our customers, often with repeated iterations of the computational procedures using different strategies and parameters, until all of us are satisfied with the results.Next Generation Sequencing data analysis

Our long-time expertise in the fields of high throughput sequencing and genomic mapping gives us a broad and deep perspective when approaching the emerging NGS technology. Our Facility is well equipped with the necessary hardware and software, and we have already gained experience in analyzing data from diverse applications of NGS.Among the NGS data analysis services that we offer are:1. Deciphering the genetic material and gene content of novel organisms, including functional annotation of the discovered genes.2. Comparative analysis of gene expression among tissues and conditions, followed by state-of-the-art statistical, clustering, and biological pathway analysis. 3. Finding disease-causing mutations, characterizing cancer-related chromosomal modifications and finding genetic variations among plant or livestock strains.4. Identification of transcription factor (and other protein) binding sites on the genome, as well as identification of epigenetic regulation sites such as methylation and histone acetylation. 5. Analysis of the composition of microbial populations in environmental samples such as soil, water and the human body.In addition to analyzing original experimental results, we can help our customers with mining and re-analysis of published NGS data. Metabolic and regulatory pathway analysis

NGS, microarrays, metabolomics, and other high-throughput techniques often produce lists of genes from which the scientist wishes to derive biological meaning. Overlay of the genes in the list on known metabolic and signaling pathways may be of great help for this task. In recent years we have gained vast experience in biological pathway analysis, and we will be happy to match the best tool with any particular experiment, and to consult the user or analyze the data, accordingly.Biostatistics and machine learning

We offer advanced statistics and machine learning services to a diverse range of problems, from both the basic science and the clinical domains. These include descriptive statistics, clustering, diagnostic plots, hypothesis testing, regression models, longitudinal data analysis, and machine learning techniques. The ability to integrate genomic and clinical data may be of special interest.Knowledge delivery

Our supreme mission has always been to deliver our knowledge to scientists and students. We have gained years of experience in the art of simplifying and communicating bioinformatics knowledge to various audiences, and to deliver the information in an interesting and highly professional manner. Over the years we have developed numerous courses and workshops, which we have offered both at BGU as well as in other universities, hospitals, research institutions, and biotech companies.

The Bioinformatics Core Facility, headed by Dr. Vered Caspi, includes two full-time bioinformaticians, Inbar Plaschkes and Michal Gordon, and a number of part-time employees with strong backgrounds in computer science, software engineering, and bioinformatics. The group is professional and efficient with excellent experience in serving both academia and industry. For more information please visit our web site: http://bioinfo.bgu.ac.il

The Bioinformatics Core Facility

The 1st Practical Genomics SymposiumPractical aspects in planning, implementing, and interpreting Next Generation Sequencing

experimentsDr. Vered Caspi of the NIBN

Bioinformatics Core Facility, together with Dr. Eitan Rubin, Prof. Ohad Birk, and Dr. Simon Barak, organized the “1st Practical Genomics Symposium” on “Practical aspects in planning, implementing, and interpreting Next Generation Sequencing experiments”, which took place at Ben-Gurion University on September 26, 2011.

The Symposium, which was planned for ~70 attendees, attracted over 300 participants from all Israeli universities, six medical centers, two government research centers, and ten companies. Five additional companies presented exhibition booths.

Keynote speakers included Dr. Gad Getz, Director of Cancer Genome Computational Analysis at the Broad Institute, Cambridge, MAUSA, and Prof. Nir Friedman, of the School of Computer Science and Engineering and the Institute of Life Sciences of the Hebrew University.

The first part of the Symposium included introductory lectures on Next Generation Sequencing technology, experimental design, and data analysis pipelines. Subsequently, diverse research applications of Next Generation Sequencing were presented, among which were RNA-Seq, whole genome assembly, human genetics, mitochondrial genetics, small RNA, and epigenomics.

The Symposium received excellent feedback from the participants, on both on the content and the quality of the lectures; based on this, a decision was made to hold such a symposium annually. Next year the symposium will be held at the Weizmann Institute.

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Protein damage is becoming recognized as a prominent contributor to aging and age-associated diseases. Cells have

evolved a network of proteins that detect and correct protein damage to maintain cell health. However, protein misfolding and aggregation are widely implicated in the pathologies of late-onset diseases—including Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease—many of which are associated with neurodegeneration. For each of these maladies, age is the strongest predictor of disease onset. Huntington’s disease, for example, is the most common inherited neurodegenerative disorder, with a global prevalence of five to ten affected individuals per one hundred thousand. Yet, there is no available cure for any of these diseases.

The expression of disease-associated, mutant proteins in animal models such as yeast, Drosophila, Caenorhabditis elegans, and rodents results in the formation of toxic protein aggregates. In a previous study, we found that there is an indirect competition for protein quality control resources, resulting in cellular toxicity. Indeed, while the protective stress responses are activated during the animal’s development, their activation early in adulthood is severely reduced and coincides with a sharp decline in the ability of the cellular protein quality control mechanism to protect its proteins. To fight protein-misfolding diseases, we therefore need to advance our understanding of the dynamics of quality control networks by identifying the important nodes of regulation, and by testing how cellular resources are distributed. The recognition that age-associated imbalance in protein quality control (proteostasis) could be a potent contributor to age-associated diseases offers a new

direction in the study of protein folding in multi-cellular organisms, with the goal of identifying signaling pathways that modulate cellular proteostasis at the level of the organism.

Historically, the regulation of protein quality control has been studied in isolated tissue culture cells and unicellular organisms. This has led to the view that folding maintenance is cell autonomous and dependent on the balance between damaged proteins and the cellular protective machinery. The emerging field of monitoring protein folding in the cell in the context of an organism has uncovered links to metabolism, development, aging, and environmental sensing. Little, however, is known of the dynamics of these processes in response to changing growth conditions, developmental stages, or during aging to meet the needs of the organism.

C. elegans constitutes an ideal model in which to study the complex biological networks that determine proteostasis in an intact organism. A well-established metazoan model for both development and aging, C. elegans utilizes many conserved biological pathways. Because C. elegans is a multicellular organism, the successful implementation of genetic screens combined with classical genetics analysis is highly effective in identifying and dissecting the genetic pathways involved. Thus, C. elegans provides us with the opportunity to study protein quality control in an intact organism and make use of the new, high-resolution tools for cell imaging to examine the cellular environment in a living, multicellular organism. This investigation may allow us to develop a novel approach for the

Fig. 1 | Confocal images of age-synchronized animals expressing GFP under control of the heat shock promoter as a reporter of the activation of the heat shock (HS) response treated by a HS (90 min at 37°C).

Cell-nonautonomous regulators of protein quality control in Caenorhabditis elegans models of neurodegenerative diseases

Fig. 2 | Signaling from the reproductive system activates a switch between two modes of somatic proteostasis following the onset of reproduction. (A) Protein quality control of young adult animals is robust, showing low levels of protein damage, effective activation of stress responses, and high rates of stress survival. (B) Following the onset of reproduction, signals activate a regulatory switch that changes proteostasis capacity, resulting in an accumulation of damaged proteins, ineffective activation of stress responses, and reduced stress survival rates. (C) Uncoupling the onset of reproduction from proteostasis by interfering with downstream effectors allows fertile animals to maintain a robust quality control system.

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study and treatment of protein misfolding diseases with different etiologies but with similar underlying biology, through targeting of the cellular protein quality control network and by supporting cellular ability to correct protein damage. Such an approach is expected to yield new and general targets that are not disease specific, but rather modify the intrinsic ability of the cell to maintain its proteome. One such example is Celastrol, which enhances heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) activity. Celastrol was originally identified in a screen for neuroprotective compounds in a model of Huntington’s disease, and later, it was also found to be effective in cancer therapy. Targeting the organism’s regulation of proteostasis can therefore offer new interventions for various unrelated genetic disorders. Given that many protein-misfolding diseases have no treatment, the identification of potential target pathways could have a marked impact on the many people faced with such a diagnosis.

The research in my laboratory aims at understanding basic principles of how the cellular machinery assists protein folding and why it fails in aging and age-associated diseases. For example, we find that the protective heat shock response that is activated at elevated temperatures to maintain cellular proteostasis is robust on the first day of adulthood but can not be activated on the third day of adulthood (Figure 1). We have found that there is a switch between two modes of quality control—robust and limited—upon transition to adulthood, leading to an age-dependent accumulation of damaged proteins (Figure 2A). Our preliminary data show that signals from the reproductive system can regulate quality control during adulthood and delay the onset of damage and toxicity in animal disease models (Figure 2B). Understanding how this switch functions and identifying the signals that will maintain robust quality control systems may therefore delay the onset of age-dependent neurodegenerative diseases (Figure 2C). One of our aims is to examine whether this pathway can function as a general target for intervention in different age-associated diseases. As a faculty member of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and of the National Institute of Biotechnology in the Negev (NIBN), I am in a position to transfer the intellectual outcomes of the research to the biotechnology industry.

NIBN’s mission to develop biotechnology, primarily in the Negev, includes taking an active part in educating the next generation of scientists. Accordingly, NIBN has established Fellowships of Excellence for Doctoral Studies in the Medical Biotechnology program.

This PhD program is open to outstanding students holding MSc (4-year track) or BSc (5-year track) degrees in the Natural Sciences or Medicine from recognized institutes.

The PhD degree is awarded through the auspices of the Kreitman School of Advanced Graduate Studies of Ben-Gurion University, under the administrative direction of the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev (NIBN). Students in this program are exposed to the use of sophisticated and modern instrumentation providing hands-on experience in the state-of-the-art facilities and equipment of the NIBN. In addition, each student undertakes an innovative individual research project in one of the NIBN laboratories, leading to a thesis.

The students are guided by two supervisors from different disciplines, along with courses whose curricula encompass different aspects of basic and applied research, ensuring that the Fellowship will promote pioneering translational research.

Students in this program are awarded a fellowship sponsored by the generous donations of Prof. Philip Needleman, Oxford University (thanks to Prof. Raymond Dwek) and Dr. Shmuel Cabilly. The awardees receive prestigious fellowships and full

coverage of their tuition.A call for this program was issued

in February 2011. The program was advertised within BGU and over the Internet. Of the eleven candidates that applied for the program, four outstanding students were selected and started their studies in October 2011.

The Oxford Fellowship, given by the Oxford Glycobiology Institute, headed by Prof. Raymond Dwek, FRS, was awarded to Noa Lulu. It is part of an expanding relationship between the UK and Israel in which Prof. Raymond Dwek has been a driving force. Initiatives such as the fellowship program aim to strengthen UK-Israel ties, particularly those with Ben-Gurion University.

The Philip and Sima K. Needleman Fellowship, given by Prof. Philip Needleman and his wife, Mrs. Sima Needleman, was awarded to Itay Valenci and Ilan Smoly. Philip and Sima Needleman actively support many projects aimed at promoting science as well as career development. The Philip and Sima K. Needleman Fellowship is part of their endeavor to promote biotechnology-oriented research.

The Shimon Horesh Fellowship, given by Dr. Cabilly to commemorate Mr. Shimon Horesh who served in the undercover unit around the time of the creation of Israel, was awarded to Hilla Ben-Hamo. Mr. Horesh made major contributions to Israeli intelligence and later served as a commander in various secret roles. He spent many years as a teacher, educator, and director of Arabic studies and died untimely in a car accident in 2004.

NIBN Fellowships of Excellence for Doctoral Studiesin Medical Biotechnology

NanoSensor Photonics 2011Optical biosensors, nanophotobionics and diagnostics

This conference, chaired by Prof. Robert S. Marks, was held at the Dead Sea, November 5–9, 2011. The host institution was Ben-Gurion University,

which provided sponsorship together with the NIBN, Nanyang Technological University, and United States International Technology Center – Atlantic. More than 40 scientists from Spain, France, USA, Italy, South Korea, Germany, Russia, Slovenia, and the Netherlands met with their Israeli colleagues to discuss issues related to optical Biosensors, Nanobiophotonics, and Diagnostics.

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Proteins are a major component inside living cells. They participate in most of the biological processes in nature

such as signal transduction, transport across biological membranes, cell respiration, and photosynthesis. As a protein’s function is determined by its structure, it is crucial to determine its three-dimensional structure. Several techniques are used for structure determination: X-ray crystallography, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), and Electron Microscopy (EM). Among these methods, X-ray crystallography is the most common, being the most powerful and accurate method that provides the precise arrangement of atoms in the studied molecule. This method enables structure determination of proteins, protein-protein interactions, and protein-ligand interactions as well as protein complexes. In addition, atomic information is also essential for structure-based rational drug design and for protein engineering with improved properties for industrial applications.The application of X-ray diffraction to protein structure is relatively new, compared to its use in small molecules. Myoglobin was the first protein structure to be determined by this method 50 years ago (Dickerson, 1961). Since then, more than 70,000 protein structures have been added to the Protein Data Bank (PDB). However, this number is only a small representation of the many proteins that exist in nature. Therefore, in order to obtain a broad picture of the biological processes in which these proteins are involved, there is a need for more structural information.In X-ray crystallography experiments, crystals are exposed to

a stream of X-rays that are scattered by the molecules and are analyzed to provide a detailed description of the three-dimensional structure of the molecule (Fig. 1).

Why crystals?In order for an object to diffract light, the wavelength of the light must be within the scale of the object. Thus, visible light, which is an electromagnetic radiation of 400–700 nm, cannot produce an image of individual atoms in protein, in which bonded atoms are about 1.5Å apart. Electromagnetic radiation of this short wavelength falls into the X-ray range. However, most of the X-rays will pass through a single molecule without being diffracted; thus, the few diffracted beams will be too weak to be detected. Analyzing diffraction from crystals solves this problem. A macromolecular crystal contains many ordered molecules in identical orientations, so that each molecule diffracts identically and, as a result, the diffracted beams from all molecules augment each other to produce a strong, detectable X-ray beam.Macromolecular crystals are made up of low atomic weight atoms such as hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur, and a significant portion of the crystal volume is occupied by water molecules (30–70%). As a result, the process of protein crystallization is very challenging, and obtaining highly ordered and well-diffracted macromolecular crystals is the major

The Macromolecular Crystallography Research Center - MCRC

Fig. 1 | Macromolecular crystallography process. Macromolecular crystal is ex-posed to X-rays which are scattered by the molecules inside the crystal. These X-rays are absorbed as a diffraction pattern by a detector. Computational tools are used in order to analyze the diffraction patterns and determine the three dimensional structure of the molecule

Fig. 3 | NT8 Drop Setter Fig. 4 | Formulator

Fig. 2 | RockMaker

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bottleneck in the process of X-ray crystallography. Several trials need to be performed in order to obtain the ideal conditions for crystal growth. The Macromolecular Research Center has the appropriate robotics and facilities to overcome this challenge of obtaining suitable crystals for X-ray crystallography. The facilities of the Center include:1. RockMaker (Formulatrix) – Powerful software that aids the design of experiments and automates and tracks the crystallization process. The software enables complex experiments and crystallization screens to be created (Fig. 2).2. NT8 Drop Setter (Formulatrix) – A fast and precise automated nanoliter dispenser for setting up crystallization experiments (Fig. 3).3. Formulator (Formulatrix) – A liquid handler that dispenses

crystallization solutions for both 24- and 96-well grids rapidly and with a high degree of accuracy (Fig. 4).4. Rock Imager (Formulatrix) – An automated imaging system for protein crystallization. This apparatus incubates and captures quality images for up to 250 crystallization plates according to a user-defined schedule (Fig. 5).5. Rigaku RU-H3RHB Cu rotating-anode X-ray generator (Rigaku), Osmic confocal optics (Osmic Inc.), and MAR 345 image plate detector (X-ray Research) (Fig. 6).6. MarµX X-ray system (MarResearch): A complete X-ray crystallography system, which includes high-flux microfocus X-ray generator, image plate area detector, and cryogenic cooling system (Fig. 7).

Fig. 5 | Rock Imager Fig. 6 | Rigaku RU-H3RHB Cu rotating-anode system Fig. 7 | MarµX X-ray generator

In order to achieve its potential, the NIBN requires a building designated

for multidisciplinary research, connecting biomedical science with informatics and the applied disciplines essential to biotechnology. A second building for the NIBN has been designed and the Cornerstone-laying Ceremony for the new building was held on November 21, 2011 in the presence of many distinguished guests, among whom were the donor; the Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor, Mr. Shalom Simchon; Knesset Member, Prof. Avishay Braverman; Director of the Glycobiology Institute at Oxford University, Prof. Raymond Dwek; Founder and General Manager at Aurec Group, Mr. Morris Kahn; BGU President, Prof. Rivka Carmi; Adv. Chairman of Executive Committee of BGU, Mr. Yair Green; Managing Partner at Gornitzky & Co., Adv. Moriel Matalon; the building Architect Bracha Chayutin; and the building Project Managers, NIBN Director, Prof. Varda Shoshan-Barmatz; NIBN members, and various participants from BGU, the industry, and many others who have assisted the NIBN throughout the years.

The building, which was designed

by Architect Chayutin, will be located adjacent to NIBN’s current building (#39). Construction of the new building began during September 2011 and is expected to be completed in November 2013.

The new building is crucial for the development of the NIBN. The building is designed to house well-equipped laboratories for 24 scientists; offices for the scientists, research assistants, students, and NIBN management; a large auditorium; common-equipment rooms for the use of all NIBN members; and a large laboratory with state-of-the-art equipment for the use of the industry.

All spaces and laboratories were carefully designed with the aim of providing high standard conditions to promote creativity and an ideal environment for cooperation between all NIBN members originating from different disciplines (bio-medicine, chemistry, bioinformatics, etc.). It is expected that this shared environment will lead to successful biotechnology research and creative thinking, which will result in innovative and successful discoveries.

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NEWSDr. Ron Laufer, Senior Managing Director and Isai Peimer, Principal, MedImmune Ventures, USA

Dr. Frank Douglas, President and CEO, Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron (ABIA), USA

Dr. Eliot Shperinger, Head of R&D, Israeli Forensic Crime Lab, Dr. Roni Gafeny, Head of DNA Lab, Israeli Police Forensic Lab

Dr. Avi Tovi, President and CEO and Dr. Chaim Eidelman, Chief Chemist, Novetide Ltd., Israel

Dr. Michel Pairet, Head, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Germany

Mr. Josh Levine, CEO and Mr. Avishay Levy, Proteologics Business Development, Proteologics, Israel

Richard Soll, Senior VP of Integrated Services, WuXi AppTec, China

Dr. Gianni Gromo, Head of Global Academic Innovation Partnering, Hoffmann-La Roche, Switzerland

Mr. Omer Vunsh and Dr. Ariel Solomon, Co-Founders, Allosterix Pharma, Israel

Mrs. Efrat Carmi, CEO, IsrA.L.S, Israel

Dr. Christian Tidona, Managing Director, BioRN Cluster Management GmbH, Germany

Prof. Dr. Annette Schavan, Minister of Education and Research, Germany

Mr. Shalom Simchon, Minister of Industry, Trade & Labour, Israel

Prof. Dr. Annette Schavan, Minister of the Education and Research, Germany

Dr. Michel Pairet, Head of the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Germany

A new company, ViDAC Pharma Ltd., was jointly established in

January 2012 by the NIBN, B.G. Negev Technologies (the Technology Transfer Company of Ben-Gurion University), and Sepal Pharma.

The established company is mainly based on technologies developed by Prof. Varda Shoshan-Barmatz concerning the mitochondrial protein VDAC1 as a new target for cancer therapy. In addition, the company is also using the technologies developed by Sepal Pharma based on the research of the late Prof. Eliezer Flescher from Tel Aviv University.

ViDAC Pharma’s mission is to become a leading edge biopharmaceutical company, pioneering the promising approach of VDAC1-based anti-cancer therapies. ViDAC Pharma will develop a new class of proprietary, patented anti-cancer drugs, selectively targeting tumor cells via a new mode of action, targeting the tumor cells’ metabolism and/or inducing cell death specifically in cancer cells.

The synergy between the founding parties creates a company with a substantial pipeline of new drugs at various stages of development from clinical to additional future products all working through interaction with a single well-defined target, on its modulators.

The company chaired by Prof. Max Herzberg, Founder of Sepal Pharma and a pioneer in Israel Biotechnology, has already raised an initial investment of USD 600,000 from private investors and will seek additional investment after reaching near future milestones.

Dr. Anat Ben-Zvi, recruited to the Department of Life Sciences and the NIBN (April, 2010). Dr. Ben-Zvi recently received the Zehava and Chezy Vered Career Development Chair for the study of Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Dr. Anat Shahar joined as the Head of the Center for Protein Crystallization (October, 2010)

Yuval Kupitz, Director of Applied Biotechnology joined the Institute in July 2011

Dr. Merav Beiman, Academic Assistant to NIBN Director and Project Manager joined the Institute in September 2011

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev | Beer-Sheva 84105, IsraelTel: 972-8-6477193 | Fax: 972-8-6472983 | www.bgu.ac.il/nibn | nibn@bgu.ac.il

Mr. Shalom Simchon, the Minister of Industry, Trade & Labor was accompanied by a large delegation from his office, including Mr. Avi Hasson, Chief Scientist, Adv. Avi Feldman, Director, Regional Development Center of the Negev and Galilee, and many more

Maccabbi Institute for Health Services Research, Israel

UCLA Chancellor delegation, USA

Mr. Michael Fisher, President and CEO of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in USA was accompanied by a large delegation of Professors, program leaders and Directors from various Hospital units

Israel Planning and Budgeting Committee and Ministry of Finance

Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC), University of Montreal, Canada

Visits and meetings

Delegation visits

New scientistsand administrative staff at the NIBN

Establishment of ViDAC Pharma Ltd.

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