Tech Portfolio

Main research : Prof. Tzion Fahima
Head of the Laboratory of Plant Genomics and Disease Resistance
The Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, at the Institute of Evolution

Stripe rust, caused by the fungus Puccinia striiformis f.s. tritici (Pst), is a destructive disease of wheat globally. Depletion of effective resistance to Pst in cultivated wheat has led to search for new resistance genes in the wild relatives of wheat. One of the most promising genes conferring broad-spectrum resistance to stripe rust is Yr15, derived from wild emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccoides) accession G25. Yr15, mapped on chromosome arm 1BS, has recently been cloned by our consortium and designated as Wheat Tandem Kinase 1 (WTK1). We found wtk1 susceptible alleles in most 274 tested durum, bread, and wild emmer wheat lines. Out of 69 tested durum and bread wheat cultivars and lines, only 33 Yr15 introgression lines contained the functional allele (Wtk1) from G25 and were resistant to Pst. The remaining 36 susceptible lines carried non-functional alleles (wtk1), which included insertions of large transposable elements that resulted in changes in reading frame. Development of reliable molecular markers can facilitate the introgression of Yr15 into new varieties via marker-assisted selection. Diagnostic markers designed based on the polymorphism between the WTK1 alleles are preferred in order to avoid negative linkage drag. Therefore, we have designed highthroughput co-dominant KASP markers that can differentiate between the functional (Wtk1) and all known non-functional (wtk1) alleles, and can be used in breeding programs for development of modern cultivars with high resistance to stripe rust.

Related pages

Tzion Fahima, Prof.- researcher page

Identifying novel substances and mechanisms to develop cancer-fighting pharmaceutical drugs.

Research with the Cancer-Resistant Subterranean Blind Mole-Rat (Spalax)

Prof. Aaron Avivi (standing) with Dr. Imad Shams and Prof. Irena Marinov
Photo credit: Tomer Appelbaum

Background
Understanding the mechanisms triggering the growth and spread of cancer cells has continuously eluded cancer research. Extensive work has been done with laboratory mice to shed light on the behavior of cancer cells and in attempts to find treatments to prevent and cure cancer in humans and has contributed extensively to our knowledge of cancer cell progression. Yet science has not yet been successful in transferring this knowledge from mice to humans.
Distinguished researchers have suggested that using mice for cancer research is a major obstacle to fundamental advances in human cancer research (Prof. Robert Weinberg, MIT, Newsweek), while evolution has been tuning cancer suppression mechanisms for over a billion years. Hence other, naturally cancer-resistant animal models may be more predictive for treatment and prevention of human cancer.

A Novel Animal Model: Revealing Paths to Cancer Treatment and Prevention
Prof. Aaron Avivi, Dr. Imad Shams and Prof. Irena Manov are conducting research to uncover mechanisms that can prevent the growth of cancer cells and kill existing cancer cells. The team is using a unique organism – the Subterranean Blind Mole-Rat (Spalax), a promising model due to its proven resistance to cancer.
Living in an underground habitat and one of the longest-living rodents in the world (it can live 20 years or more), Spalax is able to survive with an extremely limited oxygen supply - also known as hypoxia, and overcome sharp fluctuations in oxygen availability, thereby avoiding oxidative stress. In humans, hypoxia and oxidative stress are directly related to the development of the most lethal health conditions in the Western world: heart and lung diseases, brain strokes, and above all, cancer. Highly immune to all of these diseases, Spalax is serving Avivi, Manov and Shams as an experimental mammal for progress in treating these ailments in humans.

Research Status
In the course of over fifty years of Spalax studies, including thousands of animals of all ages, spontaneous tumors have never been observed. Avivi, Manov and Shams have failed to induce cancer in the rodent with chemical carcinogens that initiated tumors in 100% of other rodents in the same experiment.
The research has indicated that normal Spalax cells - and only Spalax cells - secrete a substance or substances that kill human cancer cells. The same results were shown for a wide range of cancer cells, including highly aggressive metastatic breast cancer.
It has also been observed that cancer-fighting Spalax cells target only cancer cells and do not kill normal, healthy cells.
Identification and isolation of the secreted substances enabling Spalax to fight off cancer and resolving their mechanisms of action will open new horizons in the development of new pharmaceutical drugs to fight the disease.

Market potential, Investment & partnership opportunities 

Carmel established SpalaRx Ltd to advance and commercialize this technology, with a seed investment from a privet investor.

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Haaretz Magazine: Better check that mole: Has an Israeli biologist found the key to curing cancer?

Video: The Israeli Subterranean Blind Mole-rat: A Promising Organism for Fighting Cancer in Humans

Related pagas

SpalRx Ltd 

Prof. Aaron Avivi researcher page

Prof. Irena Manov researcher page

Dr. Imad Shams researcher page

The Kadas Green Roofs Ecology Center

Principal researcher name: Dr.Shay Levy
Invention area: Environment & Cleantech

Background: Green roofs or living roofs – i.e. roofs that contain growing substrate and vegetation - can mitigate many of the negative environmental impacts that urban environments create. “Green” services that they can provide include:

• thermal insulation for buildings which decreases energy use for heating and cooling
• mitigating a heat island effect
• mitigating carbon dioxide build-up and climate change
• aesthetic qualities of natural beauty and recreational space
• filters for gray water and storm-water runoff
• mitigation local plots for agriculture and medicinal plants;
• Increased efficiency of photovoltaic panels by lowering roof temperatures
• Critical habitat in otherwise highly limited urban environments to house ecological communities thus aiding in preserving biodiversity
  (both species diversity and genetic diversity).

Carmel Ltd. is looking for potential partners and/or investors in this area. Please Contact us for further information. 

גגות ירוקים:
גג ירוק הוא גג אשר נושא עליו צמחייה. יתרונות הגג הירוק רבים כמו למשל:  מהווה בידוד יעיל מפני הטמפרטורה החיצונית ובכך חוסך בעלויות חימום וקירור ; עוזר בוויסות מי נגר בזמן החורף ; יתרון אסתטי טבעי, ועוד.

מרכז המחקר ע"ש קדס לאקולוגיה של גגות ירוקים מייעץ לחברות וארגונים בהפיכה של גגות לגגות ירוקים. למידע נוסף- This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..