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BGU Brain Researchers Receive $1 Million Grant

BGU Brain Researchers Receive $1 Million Grant

November 7, 2013

Medical Research, Press Releases

NEW YORK, November 7, 2013 – Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Beer-Sheva, Israel are teaming up with researchers from the University of Heidelberg and Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin to investigate the impact of mitochondria on memory and brain disorders. The team has been awarded a $1 million German-Israel Project-Cooperation Grant.

Nuclear calcium (Ca2+) signaling is essential for memory formation and neuronal survival when there is an inadequate supply of blood in the brain caused by partial or total blockage of an artery (known as ischemia). Recent discoveries by the researchers provide a basis to devise specific molecular tools to control the mitochondrial function.

The grant to support “The Interplay of Mitochondrial and Nuclear Ca2+ Signaling and its Implication for Memory and Brain Disorders” will enable the researchers to expand upon their research in as yet unprecedented depth.

Only four Israeli researchers receive these cooperation grants annually. The BGU grant-winners are Drs. Israel Sekler, Ilya A. Fleidervish and Michal Hershfinkel of the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology.

Their German collaborators are Dr. Hilmar Bading of the Department of Neurobiology, University of Heidelberg and Dr. Michael Bader of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Charité.

This project received its initial seed money from BGU’s Research Excellence Initiative to promote bio-medical research within its Faculty of Health Sciences.

The matching grant competition on “Convergence in Bio-medical Research as a Route to Medical Breakthroughs” provides important seed money that the researchers could leverage to obtain more significant research grants.

“Ben-Gurion University is committed to providing $6 million to its Research Excellence Initiative and we expect to support this fund significantly, raising as much as half the funds to encourage the discovery of solutions to some of the world’s most challenging problems,” explains Doron Krakow, executive vice president of American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Americans for Ben-Gurion University).

“This German-Israel grant will help BGU provide groundbreaking research on debilitating brain disorders,” he added.

Since the Research Excellence Initiative began in May 2012, BGU’s Faculty of Health Sciences has seen a 400 percent increase in funding from the U.S.-Israel Bi-National Science Foundation (BSF) and is second only to the Weizmann Institute of Science in the number of BSF grants.

About the German-Israeli Project-Cooperation Grant

Launched by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) in 1997, the six research universities in Israel and the Weizmann Institute of Science are each eligible to submit two project proposals per year. German researchers and scientists are not eligible to submit proposals themselves, but are included as project partners in the Israeli project proposal.  For more information, visit German-Israel Project-Cooperation Grant.

 

ABOUT AMERICANS FOR BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY

By supporting a world-class academic institution that not only nurtures the Negev, but also shares its expertise locally and globally, Americans for Ben-Gurion University engages a community of Americans who are committed to improving the world. David Ben-Gurion envisioned that Israel’s future would be forged in the Negev. The cutting-edge research carried out at Ben-Gurion University drives that vision by sustaining a desert Silicon Valley, with the “Stanford of the Negev” at its center. The Americans for Ben-Gurion University movement supports a 21st century unifying vision for Israel by rallying around BGU’s remarkable work and role as an apolitical beacon of light in the Negev desert.

About Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev embraces the endless potential we have as individuals and as a commonality to adapt and to thrive in changing environments. Inspired by our location in the desert, we aim to discover, to create, and to develop solutions to dynamic challenges, to pose questions that have yet to be asked, and to push beyond the boundaries of the commonly accepted and possible.

We are proud to be a central force for inclusion, diversity and innovation in Israel, and we strive to extend the Negev’s potential and our entrepreneurial spirit throughout the world. For example, the multi-disciplinary School for Sustainability and Climate Change at BGU leverages over 50 years of expertise on living and thriving in the desert into scalable solutions for people everywhere.

BGU at a glance:  

20,000 students | 800 senior faculty | 3 campuses | 6 faculties: humanities & social sciences, health sciences, engineering sciences, natural sciences, business & management, and desert research.

 

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