Biomaterials and Biopolymers

Prof. Avi Domb earned B.Sc. degrees in Chemistry (Bar Ilan, 1978), Pharmacy (Hebrew University, 1984) and Law (Hebrew University 2007). He earned Diplomas in Polymer and Textile Chemistry (Hebrew University, 1980) and Executive business management (Hebrew University, 1997) and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry (Hebrew University, 1985). He had a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Syntex Research (1984-5), and continued at the Department of Surgery, The Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School (1985-6), and the Department of Chemical Engineering, M.I.T (1986-7) . In 1987 he joined the Biological Institute in Nes-Ziona, Israel, and in 1988 he served as head of Drug Delivery Laboratories at Nova Pharmaceutical Corporation, Baltimore, USA. Since 1991 he has been a faculty member at the School of Pharmacy-faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University. Between the years 2012-2017 he took leave to head the Division of Identification and Forensic Sciences (DIFS), Israel police, Rank: Brigadier General. During 2014-2016 he was President of the Azrieli College of Engineering Jerusalem, and from 2018 he has been the head of the School of Pharmacy-Faculty of Medicine of The Hebrew University. In 2021 he joined the Ministry of Science and Technology as Chief Scientist.Prof. Boaz Mizrahi earned a B.Pharm (Pharmacy) degree from the Hebrew University (1998) and a Diploma in Pharmacy from Hadassah Medical Hospital. He then earned a Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry (Hebrew University, 2008). Prof. Mizrahi had a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Department of Chemical Engineering/Koch Institute at M.I.T (2012) and at Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School (2012). He was appointed professor at the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering of the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology in October 2013. Today Prof. Mizrahi is the Head of the Interdisciplinary program of Biotechnology of the Technion. Prof. Mizrahi combines his greatest passions–medicine and chemistry–to promote the development of innovative biotechnological and engineered solutions to everyday challenges in medicine.Neubauer Asst. Prof. Shady Farah earned his BSc in Medicinal Chemistry from the School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI), Israel (2008) and then Prof. Farah completed his MSc (2009, direct track to Ph.D.) and Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry at HUJI-Faculty of Medicine, Israel (2015). Prof. Farah was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Chemical Engineering Dept. & Koch Institute at MIT and BCH/Harvard Medical School in the group of Prof. Daniel Anderson/Prof. Robert Langer (2014-2019). In 2019, he joined the Technion where he is heading The Laboratory for Advanced Functional/Medicinal Polymers & Smart Drug Delivery Technologies at the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering- Technion (www.TheFarahLab.com). His main research interests are in the fields of Medicinal Polymers, Biomaterials, Implants and Drug Delivery: Advanced functional and biodegradable polymers, smart materials, drugs crystallizations, controlled and localized drug delivery for chronic diseases such as diabetes and cancer, cells encapsulation and living therapeutics and 3D printing of implants. Prof. Farah won several prestigious awards and recognitions, among them: Named in the 100-list of Global MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35 competition (2021). Neubauer Asst Prof Award (2019). MAOF Fellowship for Outstanding Young Researchers (2019), and in 2023 Prof. Farah was selected to the Global Young Academy.

• Introduction to Biomaterials.- Biodegradable Polymers.- Natural and semi-natural polymers.- Fundamentals and Biomedical Applications of Smart Hydrogels.- Engineering biomaterials for nucleic acid-based therapies.- Mechanics of Biomaterials for Regenerative Medicine.- Biomaterials for controlled drug delivery applications.- BIOMATERIALS APPLICATION: IMPLANTS.- Living Biomaterials.- Therapeutic Polymer Conjugates and their Characterization.- Biocompatibility of Polymers.- Sterilization techniques of biomaterials (implants and medical devices).