Prof. Amos Danielli Won Two Prestigious Grants

Prof. Amos Danielli of the Faculty of Engineering, a specialist in biomedical engineering, has been awarded two prestigious international research grants. Over the past two decades, Prof. Danielli has been developing high sensitivity rapid diagnosis methods for lab work. The tools he develops help with rapid, effective detection of biomarkers, indicators of diseases, in hospitals and areas with limited resources. The grants, offered by the NSF-BSF and the EU's Horizon IHI testify to the global recognition of his work.

The NSF-BSF grant: Detecting infectious Flavaviral diseases

The first grant was awarded to Prof. Danielli by the NSF-BSF for his joint work with Prof. Kimberly Hamad-Schifferli from the University of Massachusetts, and Prof. Eli Schwartz from Sheba Medical Center. The three developed an innovative diagnostic tool for detecting infectious Flavaviral diseases such as Zika, Dengue fever, and Western Nile fever. "Like me, Prof. Kimberly Hamad-Schifferli's focus is diagnostics, and she is developing rapid antigen testing methods, similar to at-home Covid tests, designed to detect these types of viruses," shares Prof. Danielli. "The novelty of her research is her use of non-specific antibodies and incorporates AI and Machine Learning to improve precision of detection. In other words, her system can not only detect whether the disease exists, but also what type of disease we are dealing with."

Prof. Hamad-Schifferli's test uses color nanoparticles to create a unique fingerprint for each virus. Integrating Machine Learning would allow for the detection of unknown viruses based on their similarities to known ones. Prof. Danielli contributes his knowledge of diagnostics, as well as his highly sensitive and specialized system for comparison. "I will be preparing similar tests, but with specific antibodies, so in my case, we will know which diseases we are looking at. We will run the tests in both systems and compare our results, to improve and validate the outcomes of her detection. My results will help improve her AI," explains Prof. Danielli. The third member of our team, Prof. Eli Schwartz of Sheba Medical Center, is a world-renowned expert on travel health and tropical diseases. He will be seeing to the clinical tests and clinical supervision of the development."

The project aims to provide a response to the growing threat of infectious diseases, affected by climate change, international travel, and global trade. Detecting unknown diseases today requires DNA sequencing, a slow and costly process that is not suited for regions with limited resources, where many new diseases are first discovered. The test will be cheap, simple to execute, and will allow local manufacturing with open-source protocols that can be shared freely.

Horizon IHI grant: Improving Cardio-Oncology Treatment

Prof. Danielli's second grant was awarded by the EU's Horizon IHI initiative, a consortium composed of 67 organizations across 21 countries, whose mission is to develop a multidisciplinary solution for integrative cardio-oncology treatment. "The treatments to which cancer patients are subjected to, such as chemotherapy and radiation, can cause cardiotoxicity," shares Prof. Danielli, "the goal of this research is to track and treat various cardiac conditions caused by cancer treatment."

The research is spearheaded by GE Healthcare and brings together academic institutions, doctors, and leading industry forces. The five-year budget is €30 million. Here, too, Prof. Danielli contributes his biomarker detectors, specifically detecting troponin, a protein secreted into the blood when the cardiac muscle is compromised. "A heart attack occurs when the arteries leading oxygen to the cardiac muscle are blocked. Deprived of oxygen, these cells begin to break down, and the heart cannot contract. Troponin is one of the proteins in charge of contraction, and when it is released into the bloodstream, we can detect it in blood samples and learn that there is a cardiological issue in place," explains Prof. Danielli.

In this research, Prof. Danielli will be collaborating with another researcher who joined the consortium, Prof. Aharon Popovtzer, Director of Oncology at Hadassah Medical Center. Prof. Popovtzer will be supplying blood and saliva samples, which Prof. Danielli then subject to diagnostic testing. Prof. Danielli remarks on the significance of having the Israeli team as part of the project, particularly in light of political trends in Europe calling to limit Israeli participation in research grant programs. "This research includes a multidisciplinary team from all over the world and can make real change in treating cardiac disease in oncology patients," he concludes.