June 10, 2021
An invitation to the
49th Meeting of the University of Haifa
Board of Governors
MONDAY JUNE 14th
& TUESDAY JUNE 15th, 2021
11:30 am - 1:30 am EDT
"Adapting to a Changing World" is the theme of this year's President's Report. Read digital version.
Trained Bacteriophages
could help
Antibiotic Drug Resistance
Bacteriophages, or phages for short, are viruses that specialize in infecting and reproducing using bacteria. They’re quite like the viruses that make us sick, only with a different ‘meal’ preference.

It’s estimated that by 2050, antibiotic-resistant bacteria will claim over 10 million lives, as our existing therapies lose effectiveness and patients are left vulnerable. A team of researchers from the University of California San Diego, the University of Haifa and the University of Texas, has shown that phages can be trained, so to speak, to make them better able to attack and destroy bacteria.

These pre-trained phages could help delay the onset of antibiotic resistance in groups of bacteria by physically destroying them (rather than chemically, as drugs do), and the team showcases this potential in their experiments.
Archaeologists Investigate Past Impact
of Sea-Level Changes
A multinational team of archaeologists and scientists is reassessing the history of sea-level change in the Eastern Mediterranean based on underwater excavation and photogrammetry at sites on Israel’s Carmel coast.

The new findings, published in the open-source journal PLOS ONE, are based on archaeological constructions near Tel Dor dating back to the Middle Bronze Age roughly 3,800 years ago up to the end of the Roman period (1,800 years ago).

Principal investigator Assaf Yasur-Landau, director of the University of Haifa’s Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies stated: “Understanding sea-level change is critical because this coastline has been inhabited continuously for thousands of years.”

Other institutions participating in the project include the University of California San Diego, University of Bologna, and Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology.
University of Haifa Professor named
National Geographic’s
2021 “Emerging Explorer” 
National Geographic has named University of Haifa Professor Aviad Scheinin as one of its 15 international “Emerging Explorers” for 2021.

Dr. Scheinin, head of the Marine Apex lab at University of Haifa, is only the second Israeli to be awarded this prestigious honour. He has spent two decades researching conservation, behavioural science, and long-term ecological effects on coastal dolphins, sharks, rays and bluefin tunas.
Research Grant Awarded for
Applying AI to Underwater Robotics

Dr. Tali Treibitz (Hatter Department of Marine Technologies) has been awarded a Horizons 2020 research grant for applying artificial intelligence to underwater robotics. Dr. Treibitz heads the VISEAON Marine Imaging Lab at the University of Haifa's Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences and is the founder of the award winning startup company SeaErra. 
Watch a short video clip on Dr. Treibitz's fascinating work.