SHARE's special Guest Speakers Seminar by Prof Danny Ben Zvi and Prof Roy Shenhar from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem was held on the 6 Dec 2019, at SHARE.

Prof Ben Zvi and Prof Shenhar represents two different areas of research: Prof Ben Zvi focuses on the research of obesity and metabolic diseases and Prof Shenhar focuses on nano materials and advanced drug delivery systems.

Prof Danny Ben-zvi title: “Weight-loss independent effects of weight-loss surgeries”.

Abstract: “Bariatric, or weight-loss surgeries are currently the most effective treatment for obesity. Surprisingly, these surgeries bring about improvement in other metabolic diseases such as fatty liver and type 2 diabetes even before weight-loss. Our goal is to identify the molecular mechanisms by which surgery affects metabolic diseases and other physiological processes, and to use these insights to improve physiology without performing the surgery. To this end, we use mathematical modelling and data analysis together with patient data and mouse models where we can decouple between weight-loss and surgical outcomes”.

And Prof Roy Shenhar title : “Nanopatterned Polyelectrolyte Multilayers: Design, Characterization and Application for Triggered Drug Delivery”.

Abstract : “Nano-patterned surfaces exhibit unique properties, such as increased surface area and morphology-dependent response. However, obtaining nanoscale patterns usually requires the involvement of electron beam lithography, which is limiting when device-scale patterns (typically spanning square centimeter areas) are sought.

The presentation described a modular approach for the construction of nano-patterned polyelectrolyte multilayers. This approach utilizes the surface patterns that are formed spontaneously in thin films of block copolymers as templates, which guide the assembly of polyelectrolytes using electrostatic layer-by-layer deposition. The presentation discussed the fundamentals of selective polyelectrolyte adsorption on confined nano-domains. The Presentation also elaborated on the design and assembly of a nano-patterned multilayer that enables triggered drug delivery into adsorbed cells, which was found to be superior to current methodologies”.