A major gift from the Adelson Family Foundation will establish Israel's first dedicated research center for smart materials development at Bar-Ilan University, a press release announced today. The new Adelson Institute for Smart Materials aims to bridge the gap between academic research and commercial applications in fields ranging from medicine to energy storage.

The institute will unite researchers from diverse disciplines, including artificial intelligence, medicine, engineering, chemistry, and life sciences to develop advanced materials with practical applications. According to university officials, the center will focus on rapidly transforming scientific concepts into marketable products.

"We are gratified to partner with Bar-Ilan University in maintaining and expanding Israel's status as a force for scientific advancement in the fields of energy and health care through the groundbreaking launch of the Adelson Institute for Smart Materials," Dr. Miriam Adelson, co-founder of the Adelson Family Foundation with her late husband, the businessman and philanthropist Sheldon Adelson, said.

Bar-Ilan University President Professor Arie Zaban expressed gratitude for the contribution, emphasizing its importance to Israel's scientific and technological resilience. The university aims to position Israel at the forefront of global innovation in smart materials research and strengthen connections between academia and industry.

"Through the Adelson Institute for Smart Materials, Bar-Ilan University aims to strengthen ties between academia and industry, promote technological advancement, and bridge the gaps between academic research and practical solutions. Bar-Ilan University strives to position the State of Israel at the forefront of global innovation in the field of smart materials, making a significant contribution to the worldwide advancement of science and technology," Zaban said.

The institute will provide advanced chemical capabilities to both academic researchers and industrial partners, with a particular focus on accelerating development in medical treatments, display technologies, and next-generation energy storage solutions. It will also actively seek new partnerships through open calls for proposals to facilitate collaborations both within Israel and internationally.

Jessica Feldan, CEO of American Friends of Bar-Ilan University, highlighted the university's capacity to scale research for practical applications, noting that the new institute will bring together "Israel's best minds" to work collaboratively on innovative solutions.  "Bar-Ilan University is precisely the Israeli institution where internationally renowned research and capabilities can be reproduced for large-scale application, and where Israel's best minds can come together to work collaboratively on innovative solutions. We are immensely grateful for the generosity of the Adelson Family Foundation in enabling the university and its American supporters to play a direct role in impacting tomorrow, today," she said.

Disclosure: Dr. Miriam Adelson is the publisher of "Israel Hayom." The Adelson family is the owner of the company that holds shares in "Israel Hayom."

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Researchers from Bar-Ilan University conducted research on DNA damage in zebrafish, which shares a similar genetic structure to humans, to help understand the mysteries surrounding sleep.

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The study was headed by Professor Lior Appelbaum, from BIU's Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences and Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, as well as Dr. David Zada, a postdoctoral researcher, a press release from the university detailed.

Scientists found that the feeling of tiredness, which they referred to as homeostatic sleep pressure, is caused by damage to DNA.

Such damage can be prompted by a variety of factors like exposure to UV light, radiation, and oxidative stress, but can be repaired during periods of rest.

To determine if DNA damage prompted the urge to sleep, the researchers exposed zebrafish to several stressors, including radiation.

The experts discovered that as the amount of DNA damage increased, so did the need for sleep, and subsequent mending of the impaired molecule.

Researchers also ran tests on the zebrafish to discern the minimum amount of sleep required to reduce DNA damage, and determined six hours of rest was a long enough period for restoration.

During the study, the Bar-Ilan team also identified the specific protein responsible for initiating DNA repair during sleep, known as PARP1.

PARP1 locates damaged sites along the molecule, and calls on additional systems to mend the areas.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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A year after the normalization with Morocco was announced, Israel hosted senior academics from the North African country for a two-day conference on the impact of Jewish culture and law on the kingdom.

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Eleven Moroccan scholars arrived in Israel for the event organized by Bar-Ilan University's Dahan Center.

During the conference, the center signed an academic cooperation agreement with Moroccos' Center for Studies and Research on Hebraic Law headed by Abdellah Ouzitane. The two institutions will collaborate on joint research and publications, academic programs related to the universalism of values and pluralism of cultures. They will also hold joint conferences on Jewish culture and law in Morocco.

The delegation was welcomed by President Isaac Herzog, head of Morocco's diplomatic mission in Israel Abderrahim Beyyoudh, and Director of the Dahan Center Shimon Ohayon.

"We anticipate that this collaboration will result in the revelation of cultural works, particularly in the field of Jewish law, that have not yet been researched and to which we have not had access," Ohayon said.

"We hope that the Royal Library of Morocco will open a window for us to promote research and cooperation. We look forward to enhancing the memory, customs and institutions of Moroccan Hebrew law, and to initiating studies on Hebrew law and Muslim law, thus highlighting Morocco's Jewish-Islamic legal heritage," he added.

i24NEWS contributed to this report. 

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A year after signing a normalization agreement with Morocco, Israel will host senior academics from the North African country Sunday for a conference on the Hebrew heritage's influence on the kingdom.

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The event will take place at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, central Israel. Spearheaded by BIU's Dahan Center for Culture, Society and Education in the Sephardic Heritage, it will shed light on the unofficial political, cultural, and social ties that characterized the two countries long before the Abraham Accords.

Months in the making, the conference aims to reveal the uniqueness of Hebrew culture and law in Morocco and allow researchers to explore the complex pendulum of relations between Morocco and its Jewish population, ranging from difficult times to the golden age of Moroccan Jewry in the 20th century in terms of law and rabbinical works.

"In contrast to the cold peace [agreements] between us and Egypt and Jordan, with the average Egyptian and Jordanian being hostile to Israel, in the case of Morocco, the relations between authorities are warm, especially between citizens," Director of the Dahan Center Shimon Ohayon said. "We are proud to hold a conference in which researchers from Morocco and Israel participate. When it comes to signing a peace agreement with Morocco, it was a natural step."

Professor Hassan Oulhaj from the International University of Rabat, who arrived in Israel for the conference last week, said he was "very happy to be here. All these years there were unofficial ties with Israel, but now there is no reason not to move forward. The decision about the normalization came from the king himself, and everyone is happy about it. Only the extreme Left and radical Islamists are among the opponents.

"Judaism and Jews in Morocco have a long history. Ties between Muslims, Berbers, and the Jews are very important to the character of Morocco," he said, expressing hope for many more such future collaborations between Jerusalem and Rabat.

Israel and Morocco signed a peace treaty on Dec. 22, 2020.

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How can 150 thousand office rubber bands help rehabilitate a compromised neural network? What happens to "phobic" water drops? And how are both related to the human psyche? Can 16 violinists prove the Chaos theory?

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Scientists and artists ventured on an explorative journey that culminated in co-created work now on display at the new Nanotechnology Institute at Bar-Ilan University.

The Fetter Museum of Art and Nanoscience offers a new museum experience that features artwork generated as part of the evolving collaboration between artists and scientists. The piece on exhibit expose the visitors to the live, dynamic research at dozens of BIU labs and the dialogue between researchers and artists. The art pieces are on display between the institute's labs, public areas, and elsewhere.

The museum was founded with the vision of allowing researchers and artists to join forces in discussing the invisible nano-world and the far-reaching implications of nano research on our visible world.

On Thursday, July 8, the museum will unveil the "New Languages" exhibit, which features transdisciplinary works that introduce the unique language and syntax that artists and scientists use to communicate. Pieces on show were co-created over the course of three years.

The exhibit features work from the following artist-scientist pairs: Mahmood Kaiss associates wood and the arabesque motif with the spatial formation of nanocarbon tubules researched by Prof. Adi Salomon.

A work by sound artist Elad Schneiderman and Prof. Moti Friedman thwarts the synchronization of 16 violinists, thereby bumping on a new scientific discovery involving human chaos.

Vardi Bobrow's work consists of 15 thousand office rubber bands tied together following research on the growth of defective neurons by Prof. Orit Shefi.

Artist Caroline Maxwell used saltwater from the Dead Sea and Utah Salt Lake, crystallized over several years through nanometric processes, creating a point of departure for new research by Dr. Gili Taguri-Cohen, who uses X-rays to explore crystalline formations.

Eili Levy created a universe for a water drop that moves on hydrophobic surfaces, produced at the lab of Prof. Shlomo Margel. The waterdrop track serves as an allegory for the journeys undertaken by the human soul.

The exposure to research and disease discovery via light projections and using gold nanoparticles at Prof. Dror Fixler's lab motivated artist Ela Goldman to create an engaging installation that offers viewers new experiences with motion and revolutions.

Exhibition curator Tal Yizrael, says, "We ventured on a journey to conceptually and technically distant worlds, which are at the same time very close to the essence of our being. In so doing, we opened a window to the wonderland of the invisible. Like art, nanoscience delves deep into substances and essence, allowing us to discover new phenomena and universes."

The Bar-Ilan Institute of Nanotechnology and advanced materials (BINA) was founded in 2007 as a scientific community that conceives, invents, and develops concepts, materials, processes, and technologies applied to new methods, approaches, and technologies and applications. BINA comprises 71 world-class laboratories and an innovative scientific service available to the entire scientific community. In addition to academic collaborations, BINA has partnerships with several multinational corporations.

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Leeba Center's website says the group is "dedicated to thwarting efforts to undermine Israel's Jewish character and protecting the Jewish identity of the state."

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The conference, devoted to "gender-queer" issues, will discuss milestones for the LGBTQ community in Israel; the problems faced by the Palestinian LGBTQ community; and other related topics. Leeba Center board member Oren Heoning called the conference "an abomination." and said it was a "concession to all the radical agendas that seek to destroy our family and our state."

When the university began to publicize the conference, Leeba launched a campaign that included a video and an announcement that leading religious Zionist rabbis opposed the conference. The material features a quote by one of the rabbis, warning that the religious Zionist establishment would steer its students away from Bar-Ilan University.

In another press release, Leeba claimed that the lecturers scheduled to speak at the conference were aligned with the radical Left, and that some of them were activists in the BDS movement.

On Monday, Bar-Ilan University issued a strongly-worded statement that "The Leeba Center is carrying out PR terrorism based on fake news, and does not understand what academia is."

The university said it was determined to put on the conference as planned, with unprecedented levels of security.

Conference organizers said the event was under attack by a campaign of "PR terrorism" by "extremist groups that twist reality. Organizations such as Leeba and Hotam have turned censorship and personal persecution into their own weapons."

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Eighteen mental health workers arrived in Israel for an intensive two-week workshop teaching them how to treat the symptoms of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) and other trauma.

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Over the past four years, Bar-Ilan University researchers Dr. Yaakov Hoffman, of the Interdisciplinary Department of Social Sciences, and Professor Ari Zivotofsky, of the Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, have conducted studies among Yazidi women held captive by Islamic State terrorist group.

They found that over 50% of them suffer from C-PTSD, while 23% suffer from standard post-traumatic stress disorder.

Though C-PTSD is a fundamentally different disorder than PTSD, they discovered that in best-case scenarios, the women have only been treated for PTSD.

The researchers say that administering PTSD intervention for C-PTSD is not only incorrect, but it may also be detrimental.

"We feel a moral obligation not only to study the effects of genocide but to share our know-how to assist those suffering from it,"  Dr. Hoffman said.

To this end, participants in the workshop received training on PTSD, C-PTSD, depression, suicide, insomnia, and more.

Seminars were conducted by American and Israeli experts, including Israel Hayom Opinion Editor Steve Ganot, who held a session for participants on the history of Israel and the Jewish people.

"We see efforts like this as our responsibility as a university to take our research, our knowledge, and our understanding one step forward in order to generate real, positive impact in the world," University President Professor Arie Zaban said.

The program was made possible through the generosity of Rachel Gindi and Alan and Barbara Gindi, the predominant funders, along with the Hitter Family Foundation and Alan Zekelman.

Workshop participants also visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, an Israeli Druze community, Jerusalem and its holy sites, and more.

Former Prisoner of Zion Natan Sharansky greeted the women and spoke about the late Russian nuclear physicist, dissident, Nobel laureate, and human rights activist Andrei Sakharov.

Sharansky was a close aide and friend of Sakharov and was particularly interested in meeting workshop participant Lamiya Aji Bashar, a former Islamic State captive who today is a human rights activist.

Lamiya Aji Bashar won the 2016 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought with Yazidi human rights advocate Nadia Murad. Murad's family was killed in the genocide, but she managed to flee.

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Dr. Adelson was one of several honorees at a special ceremony Tuesday evening.

In a film clip about her life's work shown at the event, Adelson said, "I'm proud of what I achieved for the Jewish world. I'm proud that I'm standing tall and proud [as] a Jewish woman. Compared to my mother, who grew up in Poland, and left at the age of 18 after she finished high school because she couldn't stand tall [as a Jew].

"There was anti-Semitism there, in Europe and Poland, and I'm so privileged to grow up as a proud Jew.

"I want to continue what I'm doing to help the Jewish people and the state of Israel as much as I can," Dr. Adelson said, adding that she carried with her the memory of her family members who had perished in the Holocaust, as well as "generation after generation" of the Jewish people.

Adelson was born in Israel to parents who immigrated from Poland prior to the Holocaust. She earned a Bachelor of Science in microbiology and genetics from Hebrew University and a medical degree with honors from Tel Aviv University's Sackler School of Medicine.‎ She helped develop a methadone program for teen ‎addicts and has co-authored numerous research papers on ‎methadone treatment‏.‏

In 2018, Dr. Adelson was awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump.

At the event on Tuesday, Dr. Adelson thanked Bar-Ilan University and its board of trustees for selecting her as a recipient of an honorary doctorate and for being chosen to deliver the acceptance speech on behalf of all other recipients.

"These remarkable men and women have all excelled in their fields: security and settlement, the arts and education, business and philanthropy," she said in her speech. "These remarkable men and women represent what is best about Israel and Judaism, about Zionism."

Adelson talked about her life in Israel and her many efforts to make the world a better place, as well as protect the Jewish people: "I was born here, in Israel, a tzabareet [Hebrew for native-born Israeli], to parents who lost most of their families to the Nazis and found emancipation and strength in the restored Jewish state. I was raised to think independently and to act accordingly – to stand up for what I believe in, even if that means standing alone. I served as an officer in a special Israel Defense Forces unit, doing my part to prevent another Holocaust and to allow Israel to flourish despite the enemies it faces on all sides (except for the Mediterranean sea)."

Adelson said that she "chose medicine as my career in order to liberate people from the bondage of sickness and injury. In treating the disease of drug addiction over the last three decades, I have seen how this liberation radiates out upon society as a whole: It spares addicts' relatives untold distress. And it spares the law enforcement, courts, welfare and health systems needless expense and exertion."

"My husband Sheldon and I are champions of free markets because these enable people to achieve their utmost independence," she continued. "And free markets mean more money for charity – investment in the greater good. Freedom is a deeply Jewish value. But we Jews know how hard it is to achieve and to keep. From the days of Exodus, our nation has struggled against oppression – and for liberation. Striving for freedom is in our DNA. And that is why institutions like Bar-Ilan University are so important."

To make the moment even more special, Israel Hayom Editor-in-Chief Boaz Bismuth presented Dr. Adelson with a special Israel Hayom front page, featuring an article about her and her work.

Adelson married businessman and philanthropist Sheldon Adelson in 1991. Over the years, the two have contributed greatly to educational programs as well as Jewish organizations around the world.

The couple opened their first drug abuse clinic in Tel Aviv in 1993. In 2000, the Adelsons opened the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. ‎Adelson Clinic for Drug Abuse Treatment and Research in Las ‎Vegas to help treat painkiller and opioid addiction.‎

The Adelson family owns the company that is the primary shareholder in Israel Hayom.

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The Honorary Doctorate Convocation Ceremony will take place as part of the University's 64^th annual Board of Trustees Meetings.

Dr. Adelson will be recognized for her "contributions to medicine, philanthropy and humanitarian activities," the university said. "Specializing in diseases linked to drug use, she established two research centers in Israel and the United States dedicated to fighting addiction. With her husband, Sheldon Adelson, she established the Adelson Medical Research Foundation, focused on the prevention of serious diseases," the statement continued.

On Monday, Bar-Ilan University President Prof. Arie Zaban praised Dr. Adelson for her contribution to society through the field of medicine, saying she "has practiced internal and emergency medicine and has spent the better part of her professional life in research into finding a cure for the disease of drug addiction. She founded two highly reputed research centers in this field."

Zaban added that she and her husband Sheldon's "momentous humanitarian support for worthwhile projects in Israel make her an ideal candidate to receive this special honor."

Adelson was born in Israel to parents who immigrated from Poland prior to the Holocaust. She earned a Bachelor of Science in microbiology and genetics from Hebrew University and a medical degree with honors from Tel Aviv University's Sackler School of Medicine.

In 2018, Dr. Adelson was awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump.

The Adelsons are strong supporters of numerous educational and Jewish identity programs in Israel as well as the U.S.

The Adelson family owns the company that is the primary shareholder in Israel Hayom.

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