"The importance of research has been clarified mainly in the last ten-fifteen years, when it became clear in many research institutes in the world that the ubiquitin system - the protein degradation system has important roles in almost every process in the body
Avi Blizovsky
About two weeks ago, on November 9, 2004, a joint celebratory meeting of the Science Committee and the Education Committee was held in the Knesset with the participation of the Minister of Education Limor Livnat, the incumbent Minister of Science Ilan Shelgi and the designated Minister Viktor Brailovsky.
In the original report we provided only a summary. Today we bring you an almost complete transcript of the speeches of two Nobel Prize winners (unfortunately, a section at the beginning of Prof. Hershko's speech was deleted in the recording).
H.M. I will be in Stockholm during the Nobel week and will report live from there, as far as the technology in the press center and in the hotels allows.
The main points of Prof. Avraham Hershko's speech
At the beginning of the speech, Prof. Ethel Hersheku praised his American colleague Irwin Rose, the third co-winner of the Nobel Prize, who was a co-worker in the USA. and recounts the history of the idea that won him and his former student Prof. Aharon Chechanover the Nobel Prize.
"The importance of research has been clarified mainly in the last ten-fifteen years, when it became clear in many research institutes in the world that the ubiquitin system - the protein breakdown system has important roles in almost every process in the body: in the division and control of cell division, in differentiation processes, in signal transmission processes, in damage repair DNA and there is almost no basic process in the body that does not have a role for the ubiquitin system.
Ubiquitin plays an important role because the proteins are important and the disposal of the proteins is as important as the production of the proteins. It was also found out by other researchers that the breakdown of proteins is important in many diseases such as cancer, Parkinson's disease, cystic fibrosis and more. "
Looking back, it seems that we achieved this because we chose a unique but important topic and stuck to the goal of deciphering this topic for many years. I think the lesson is that in a small country it is desirable to find unique topics that are not dealt with by the world's largest research institutes, to stick to the original development of these topics over time. This is the only way we can lead on an international scale in topical issues. This is true in science, it is true in industry and many other fields.
A significant achievement in the natural sciences and medical science is not achieved by one person, but requires the support of a research group and the support of family and friends. First and foremost, I want to thank my wife Judith, for her endless support and dedication for over 40 years (she also helped me in the research group).
Among the many people who offered help, I would like to thank Hana Heller, Deborah Ganot, Esther Eitan, Clara Segal. I would also like to thank many research students, many doctoral students who have participated in this process over the many years. All these people played a very important part in deciphering the ubiquitin system and protein degradation which was recognized by this award.
So much for the thanks and the celebrations and now for the reprimands. I would like to take this opportunity as the people's elected representatives who are in charge of science and education in the State of Israel to warn about the serious situation of education and higher education in the State of Israel. The higher education system in the State of Israel is in a state of collapse. The situation has been deteriorating in recent years. We are fast approaching the red line. As an example, I will give my institution, the Technion, which has always been a conservative institution, and here in recent years, following the budget cuts, it is in a terrible deficit to the point of being in danger of closing, and if they had not used the reserves, the institution would have had to close.
It is true that the current economic situation is not promising, but even in the past there were periods of austerity and recession when, despite everything, the founding fathers of the country knew how to give priority to education and education despite the difficult economic situation. Our future lies in education, higher education and research. Without education, without higher education and research, the State of Israel will lose its qualitative advantage. You, the people's elected officials, have the important duty of returning education and higher education to a high priority in our national priorities. We heard it from you, we heard beautiful words, true words, and now with your permission, we would also like to see action.
The main points of Prof. Aharon Chachanover's speech
We are in a process of constant turnover all the time, because otherwise we would not be what we are. Prof. Aharon Chachanover summarizes his teacher's and his contribution to science, which has now been awarded the Nobel Prize.
He preferred to devote most of his speech at the celebratory meeting to the problems facing the higher education system in Israel.
"Like my former teacher, Prof. Harshko, I am also very excited about this special status. I know the Knesset from pictures from the few times I watch TV and apart from the Minister of Education I saw her at the Israel Prize ceremony, as well as the presidents of my university Prof. Tadmor who is a former president and Prof. Afluig who I know from the many times I came to their office to cry about the budget, most of my friends I know the Knesset of those present here from pictures here and there in the press."
"Where are we today? This class should also be treated proportionately and philosophically. Until four weeks ago I was an unknown citizen. I also appreciate Prof. Hershko and here came respectable Swedes and informed us on the phone that following a discovery we made 25 years ago we received some kind of award and look what a riot of God. You don't sleep at home, and the journalists jump in and the televisions broadcast. There is something a bit petty that, thanks to the approval of Shabdi, we were forced to determine for ourselves the order of priorities that we knew. All in all we did it 25 years ago. In the last four weeks you have all lost several million brain cells. It's a regular process that happens to all of us and we bypass it and manage with it, but with the exception of the announcement in Sweden, nothing happened. I assure you that I certainly did not lose weight and I did not gain a single IQ point, but since this happened, let's take advantage of the international recognition and make the best of it."
"I was born in Israel, and I acquired all my education in Israel with the exception of forays here and there, such as for a post doctorate. I studied at the medical school at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, serving in the IDF in a combat unit. Looking back, the entire State of Israel is a product of its education system. Everything - everything that is here. Medicine, economics, IDF agriculture, Rafael, security. All of this is based on human capital, what I call Dannyday assets. My father studied in a room in Poland, studied French, mathematics and English there and brought with him to the State of Israel. Thus, many Jews came from all over the world - from North Africa, from everywhere they brought their cultures and molded them and universities were created here. They basically molded the room into somewhat neater organizations. Most of the universities in Israel are as old or older than the State of Israel. The Technion is now celebrating its eightieth anniversary. I really miss those innocent days, all at a time when we took in hundreds of thousands of immigrants. I remember Camp David at the entrance to Haifa. My parents would take me and we adopted into the family a child from Turkey named Uriel every winter, so for three winters - there was such a custom at the time - to take the child who would not live with his parents and would not catch pneumonia in the tent, and for Passover we would return him back to Camp David."
"And at the same time that we took in the immigrants, the Technion began to climb from one building in Hadar to a magnificent campus in Neve Shanan, Tel Aviv University then began to grow. At the Hebrew University - I came to my brother's graduation ceremony in '58, the Givat Ram campus had just been inaugurated. And the Hebrew University that came down from Mount Scopus and was thrown around Jerusalem from Tarsanta and the Russians' Field where I myself studied medicine, began to gather on the campus in Givat Ram and at that time we took in immigrants and we also fought in Pidayon and there was a Sinai operation and everything and here today when we are already much stronger and much more established we see a little cracks. I ask myself how it happens and I don't have a miracle cure for this matter. Maybe it's just a kind of longing for childhood, for filtered, filtered media that didn't convey everything to us exactly, and our forces always returned safely to their base, but nevertheless there was something creative in this period, which gave a lot of inspiration that the most difficult things can be done simultaneously with the greatest creations."
"I ask myself what happened to us. We are still sitting on a solid foundation. Universities were built here, seven research universities are located here, and the colleges that managed to open a fan of education. An important and strong infrastructure that grew this whole thing and we need to think about how to preserve it. But what is happening in higher education anyway? I gathered events from the last period and I think we are in a difficult process which is a random process. This process brings together two timelines that are impossible but both legitimate.
Timetables of the democratic process in Israel, even these days, is a four-year process. This is a legitimate process. Academy schedules are completely different. Academia is not an off the shelf product. The Saudis will take all the money they have from the oil wells, they will not be able to buy this product. He must grow up indoors. The reason I am here and Prof. Hershko are here and are not tempted to leave is because this is the country. We grow up in it, and I know its curses. I know how to express myself in street language because I grew up here, I know the military slang. We are staying here and this is our home, but we are trying to understand what is happening at the Technion."
"To train a professor at the Technion (there are great scientists in Israel and there are even some who deserve it - but leave the longing for another Nobel Prize aside, the chance of winning a Nobel Prize is smaller than the chance of being struck by lightning). Good science should be cultivated. It is also not a goal that people strive for, and it is a mistake to refer to it. I agree with the Minister of Education in stating that the system suffered cuts after cuts after cuts. The president of the Technion told me when I asked him to admit a new faculty member to the Technion, who happened to be a student of mine. He told me - I don't know if it can be accepted because I don't know what my budget is. These cuts will eventually end, and the universities are also still required to streamline and make corrections, and the corrections are being made. In the end the horse will not live, and this is especially the case with the infusion of young blood. I always say that my future is behind me, and my greatest fun is coming to the lab and seeing the future, these great students who throw out the results every morning and you sit with them. The chance of discovering another ubiquitin system or on its scale is extremely small. Almost zero and we don't deal with it."
"I'm glad that the cuts were hit, but it's not just the cuts. There is a very, very artistic behavior of the political system. Unintended behavior and Knesset members naturally come every morning with a new initiative. Take for example the issue of income tax on scholarships for doctoral students. They will put income tax on scholarships for doctoral students - there are no doctoral students. Ends. This matter will end with the five thousand shekels that my doctoral student earns, whatever he wants. He sees me working until late hours and Friday-Saturday, knows that his academic future is weak because by the time he finishes his doctorate, he will go to a post-doctorate and maybe get a position and after five years he will face a difficult tenure test. The career here is very difficult. I didn't sacrifice anything, my family thinks I did. I started in kindergarten, public school and high school, I went to medical school at the Hebrew University and then I did a year of research, I graduated in medicine, then I served in the army and then I was a student of an excellent teacher for five years, and I went to MIT and it was not clear what my future would be . My wife who was a doctor had to resign. Then I returned from MIT and started all over again - as a senior lecturer, as a full professor and to raise funds and a laboratory and only at the age of 45-50 and this is a fast career, you see the system stabilize around you. "
"The idea of taxing doctoral students is another whim that started with the tax official in Beer Sheva and it won't stop there. The tax officials in the center of the country and in Haifa will also imitate him. It should be stopped while still possible. :
: The issue of patents, which is the most sensitive issue and rights - the cofaxon of the Weizmann Institute and knowledge that makes a lot of money and the Hebrew University. The patents are the most sensitive thing there is, and here your consultants were very bad.
The subject of animal experiments. We are in a world war. This morning I entered the fortified compound of the prime minister's office. I am convinced that our zoo is as fortified as the prime minister's office. We are here in a world war against prejudice. It is not possible today to carry out an orderly research concerning drugs without animal experiments. Who will we try them on first? About the sick, about the healthy? There is a law, there are appointees, we have gone through a very difficult process and we are not resting. Cultural discussions can be held, but violent discussions cannot be held in any way. It is not possible to have violent discussions in which a transgenic mouse that cost tens of thousands of dollars is taken and burned, or taken out of the cage and given to dogs. "
"The cancellation of the psychometric exams was a whim. No money was spent. Someone wanted to please someone and lower a threshold. And the universities faced a broken trough in this matter. Even so, we have difficulty screening the students. We want to train the best and you can't transfer the load from high schools to universities. I talk to my friends in the physics and mathematics faculties, they tell me Ahronchik - we waste the first year out of four to repeat the high school material. So I understand that they are trying to fix it, but why do whims every time, shake up the system and come back. This is not wisdom. Think before you act."
"Regarding colleges. I know this war with the colleges. I think the colleges are a big step forward but you have to understand that the bed is narrow. The battle in which the universities lost is the war for the second and third degrees in the colleges. In the US there are excellent colleges that have no ambition, they just want to teach graduates for a bachelor's degree. When the bed is narrow, there is no possibility of having a nuclear physics laboratory at Emek Jezreel College, Acre College, Beit Shean College and Sapir College. If we are going to open a center for life sciences at the Technion to analyze the structure of proteins and an MRI machine costs a million dollars. I looked anxiously at the topic of the second degree because then a third degree would also come, and further training and sabbaticals. We strive for a system that is a smooth slope.
Wonderful enterprises, but when a physics faculty is opened at Sapir College that will award doctoral degrees, the physics faculties at the Technion, Tel Aviv and the Hebrew University will be harmed. And then when there's not enough for everyone, it won't help us, it's not the kind of butter that can be spread in a thin layer on bread."
, another topic that is a topic of whims - for example, the topic of the various committees. Because there is no policy, everyone deals with a specific issue. I was very worried about the intervention and public representatives in all bodies. I feel threatened. What is elites? We train Raphael's engineers. It has no meaning. We have to be careful about academic freedom, and any touch must be done carefully. Why are the Americans the kings of the world? There are nations greater than the Americans. The Russians were the same number - the universities there flourish because of the absolute freedom. The NIH budget - the Institutes of Health. The U.S. National Institutes of Health distributes research budgets only on health issues in the amount of 29 billion dollars per year."
"We were working on an issue that if there was a drop of public eye on it they would throw us all out, because they would say you are against everyone, it is not at all the independents who rule and it is not important at all and it has already been proven otherwise, and the fact that we live in a democratic country allowed us not to ask anyone and Prof. Hershko to guide A student on a subject and more students on a subject that has nothing to do with anyone and is similar to no one and they didn't believe us for years. In retrospect it was in our favor. And it was a very counterintuitive strategy."
"Totalitarian countries, and even countries that have a tail of totalitarianism, would not succeed in developing these things. That's why I say that academic freedom should remain completely pure from any touch and any attempt to harm it...
Livnat: The conclusions of the Meltz Committee on the structure of the universities or the structure of the Council for Higher Education do not infringe on academic freedom. Every such issue raised very great fears, from the fear of who those public representatives are, and how they will be appointed. The system is a wonderful system, it has good products but don't rest on your laurels. But she is threatened."
