the help of BINA’s faculty member, Prof. Popovtzer, an ERC recipient, we initiate the establishment of a Center for Rare Diseases, which sadly are very common in Israel due to its unique demography. Our goal is to build this center as an encompassing drug development infrastructure with artificial intelligence processes and biological technology environment, as well as create a space to host the many scattered private and institutional initiations in this area and generalize the national attendance to rare diseases. Also gaining momentum is the international cogwheel of our Bioconvergence mechanism that meshes with the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN), Canada; Sydney Nano Institute, Australia; and the Palacký University Olomouc, the Czech Republic. All of these prominent international collaborations are emphasizing Bioconvergence. The wheels are in motion and BINA’s route for the next five years is clear. For me, as I am starting my sixth and final year as BINA’s director, it is a great moment to be looking back on an incredible five-year journey. From our numerous achievements, I would like to illuminate just one: over the years, we have managed to consolidate and implement an inner apparatus, a flywheel if you want, that enables BINA to be sustainable and impactful under any conditions and leadership. Thanks to this well-oiled machine, I am sure that the year 2023 will be yet another excellent year for BINA, as will the years to follow, “…like a tree planted beside streams of water which yields its fruit in season whose foliage never fades and whatever it produces thrives” (Psalm 1, 3). Best regards, Prof. Dror Fixler Director of the Bar-Ilan Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Dear friends and colleagues, 2022 was a fantastic year for the Bar-Ilan Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials (BINA). We have overcome the slowdown forced on us due to the pandemic and shifted back into high gear, reverting utilization of our facilities across the institute, and in some cases even setting new output records. In one of the recent highlights, the European Union named BINA its digital innovation hub—EDIH. BINA is the only Israeli institute ever to gain this status, attesting to our eminency, locally and internationally. Feeling blessed, we carried the momentum and, on the verge of the new year, called BINA’s scientific committee to unfold our 2023 vision. Aspiring for impact through excellence and inspired by Archimedes quote, “Give me but a firm spot on which to stand, and I shall move the earth,” we sought out our existing strengths on which to embark BINA’s next tier to be constructed over the next five years. We marked Bioconvergence—fusing life sciences and medicine with engineering, chemistry, data science and physics—to be BINA’s core mission. Empowering our existing capacity, we see in BINA a significant cogwheel that meshes with both Israel and the world to transmit torque and speed to this global Bioconvergence effort. Gearing up for Bioconvergence includes reinforcing our facilities to absorb additional instrumentation and capabilities of Bioconvergence compatibility and enhance output. We intend to double our cleanrooms’ size and operate a Nanoscribe 3D lithography system; equip our Charged-Particle Microscopy Unit with a cryogenic electron microscope (Cryo-EM) and several 3D printers; and sharpen our Surface Analysis Unit’s biological capacity, on which, among other ventures, I invite you to read more in our report. Furthermore, three new units are being set into motion in BINA, each significantly contributing to the Bioconvergence mechanism: our year-old Smart Material Synthesis Unit ignites biological collaborations with researchers and companies, aiming to become a recognized national Bioconvergence center. BINA’s Center for Synthetic Biology interlocked with two leading Israeli companies in the field, Alagene Ltd., Israel Innovation Authority’s spinoff, and Hy Laboratories Ltd. (hylabs), to host other companies in need of facilities. With 5
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDU2MA==