Reut Plen, Bioengineering Grad Student, wins Scholarship for Excelling Female Scientists

Reut Plen began working with Prof. Orit Shefi as an undergrad studying in a different faculty. Now, as a graduate student in Bioengineering at the Alexander Kofkin Faculty of Engineering, their collaborative work has won her a prestigious scholarship.

A new graduate student at BIU’s Faculty of Engineering, Reut Plen can pride herself with a shining start – she has just been awarded the Israel Ministry of Science and Technology’s Scholarship of for Excelling Women in Science. This scholarship, awarded to female graduate students of engineering and exact sciences, aims to encourage women to become researchers in these fields.

This impressive accomplishment may have to do with the fact that Reut began working on her research in Prof. Orit Shefi’s Neuro-engineering and Regeneration lab back when she was an undergrad…of Brain Research. “I met Prof. Shefi during my second year as an undergrad, when I was visiting the open day at BIU’s Faculty of Engineering. She told me about the research projects in her lab, and right then and there I knew this was the right place for me. Pretty soon afterwards I found myself working on a project in her lab, and I’m continuing it now, as a grad student,” shares Reut, 24. “In fact, based on the synopsis and initial results of this project, I submitted the request for this scholarship.”

Reut is highly impressed with her mentor: “Prof. Shefi is an incredible adviser. She is a world-renowned expert in her field, and she is certainly pushing me to reach new heights. I learn so much from her every day and I feel incredibly lucky to have landed here at the faculty, and especially at Prof. Shefi’s lab.”

Reut’s research revolves around controlling the fabrication of neural networks using a modular magnet model. “We inject magnetic nano-particles into nerve cells, and thus turning them into independent functional magnetic units. Once we apply external magnetic forces to these units, we will be able to control their location and motion. This way we will be able to organize neural networks remotely. We hope that in the future, the neural networks we construct will enable us to regenerate nerves damaged due to injuries or neurodegenerative diseases. Patients suffering from nerve damage experience excruciating, long term distress, and I hope that our work will one day help them and ease their suffering.”