The Dean of the Faculty of Medicine - Prof. Raphael Biar was caught by the news of two of his researchers winning the Nobel Prize while on vacation in the Galilee. We asked him for his perspective on Prof. Hershko and Prof. Tsachanover's winnings
The Dean of the Faculty of Medicine - Prof. Raphael Biar was caught by the news of two of his researchers winning the Nobel Prize while on vacation in the Galilee. We asked him for his perspective on the winning of Prof. Hershko and Prof. Tschanover:
"The achievement is a tremendous honor for the Faculty of Medicine named after the Rapoport family and for the Technion and the Israeli Academy. The Faculty of Medicine at the Technion has set a banner since it founded excellence in research and teaching as its main tasks, and this is what we educate our faculty members and students, and I think that the tremendous achievement we achieved thanks to Hershko and Cchanover is a sign and example of this principle."
"This proves how strong academia is in Israel on the one hand and on the other hand it also highlights the need to continue investing in academia and research because this is the strength of the State of Israel."
How does a faculty of medicine in a technological institution work?
We are truly a unique faculty where medicine is taught in a technological engineering school - this shows that medicine and engineering go hand in hand and the fact that the great discoveries in the life sciences in the future will come from a successful combination of medicine and biotechnology and engineering principles.
Is there any significance to the fact that the prize is actually in chemistry?
Actually the two researchers are researchers in the biochemistry department at the Faculty of Medicine. Biochemistry deals with the molecular processes inside the cell that create life, control life and are the basis for understanding diseases and their treatment. In fact, this is the basis on which all life science theory is based, and therefore biochemistry is a major subject in medicine. The very fact that the prize in chemistry was actually given this year in the field of biochemistry in medicine, it says on a global level how central the aspects related to the life sciences are to the topic of research in the world.
Is the Faculty of Medicine also world renowned like the Technion as a whole?
The Nobel Prize was a kind of record that appeared in those days. We have a series of events at the Faculty of Medicine that we are proud of - one of the things is the historic collaboration between the Technion and Johns Hopkins University - the best university in the world in the field of medicine which is actually coming to us in a week. The breakthrough achievements in the field of biotechnology such as the development of biological pacemakers from embryonic stem cells - an article published a week ago in Nature and many other achievements in the field of brain diseases, heart diseases that have received media coverage and resonance recently. I think this is the result of focus and investment for many years in the excellence of the faculty and research.
Did the US restrictions on stem cell research help the Technion?
I don't know if they helped. We did not receive any more money from the US to conduct research. The restrictions may have slowed down our competitors abroad a bit, but without significant financial investment in biotechnological research infrastructures in Israel and in universities, it will be difficult to maintain the leadership we have been able to achieve in the long term. The research budgets that are available to researchers in Israel compared to researchers abroad are less than ten percent of the average American researcher and there is no doubt that research in the life sciences is expensive and costs money and requires infrastructure and this should be a national mission of the Ministry of Science, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health which should be harnessed to it because this is what makes us resilient.
How do you describe Baruch Rapoport's contribution?
The Rapoport family, Ruth and Baruch Rapoport, after whom the Faculty of Medicine and the Institute of Medicine are named, have supported the institution since the establishment of the faculty in recognition of the importance of science and medicine. I think their generosity over the years brings results, the same results Mr. Baruch Rapoport used to say: "You bring the Torah and I will give the flour." He is one of the most dedicated contributors to the faculty and its work. I don't know another donor who every year comes to the graduation ceremony and personally greets all the graduates of the Faculty of Medicine, addresses them in Hebrew and Arabic and we actually have to remember that over 20 percent of our graduates are Israeli Arabs and we are proud of that. This is his uniqueness - in his contribution, in his actions, in his personal involvement, in his family's involvement, and we thank him and his family.
