January 2025: Edmond J. Safra Annual Fellowship Ceremony 2024-2025
The annual fellowship and prizes ceremony of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Bioinformatics took place on January 15, 2025, at TAU.
Edmond J. Safra Annual Fellowship Ceremony 2024-2025
The annual fellowship and prizes ceremony of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Bioinformatics took place on January 15, 2025, in Jaglom hall, at TAU.
Every year, the Edmond J. Safra Center for Bioinformatics holds a ceremony where it presents fellowship certificates and excellence prizes to student fellows and awardees of all degrees.
The event this year was attended by TAU President, Prof. Ariel Porat, as well as, the Dean of Medical & Health Sciences, Prof. Karen Avraham, the Dean of Life Sciences, Prof. Abdussalam Azem, the Dean of Engineering, Prof. Noam Eliaz, and the Head of the School of Computer Science & AI, Prof. Roded Sharan. The guest of honor was Mr. Ariel Greenberg, the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation’s representative in Israel.
The ceremony commenced with an opening address by Prof. Elhanan Borenstein, the head of the Center. Prof. Borenstein began by honoring the memory of our late students: Gal Meir Eizenkot z"l, an undergraduate student in bioinformatics, who has fallen over a year ago during the Iron Swords war and Dr. Itay Sason z"l, a former Edmond J. Safra PhD student fellow, who tragically passed away last year. He also commemorated Itay Svirsky z"l, a cousin of Prof. Uri Ben-David, Edmond J. Safra member, and Yagev Buchshtav z"l, the brother of Nufar Buchshtav, PhD student of Prof. Adi Stern, Edmond J. Safra member. Both were held hostage by Hamas and murdered in captivity. Prof. Borenstein also shared some personal memories of Gal, as recounted by his fellow students who knew him closely, and extended sincere and heartfelt condolences to the families.
Prior to commencing the event, participants were given a designed brochure, listing the Edmond J. Safra student fellows across all degrees. It also included a memory note dedicated to Gal Meir Eizenkot z”l, Dr. Itay Sasson z"l, and Prof. Benny Chor z"l, an Edmond J. Safra member, who have sadly passed away four years ago.
The Edmond J. Safra Center for Bioinformatics is celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year, and Prof. Borenstein provided a brief overview of the Center's activities and accomplishments, highlighting the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic foundation's generous support over the years. Prof. Borenstein also presented a page from the designed brochure that featured "twenty years of excellence in numbers" of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Bioinformatics.
The ceremony continued with wholehearted greetings by Profs. Porat and Azem and by Mr. Greenberg, who greeted the students and their families.
This year's awardee of the Edmond J. Safra Center Excellent Research Student Prize was PhD student fellow Hagai Levi (Shamir lab, Computer Science & AI, and Elkon lab, Medical & Health Sciences). The prize is awarded annually to a research student with outstanding scientific record.
Ron Sheinin, Edmond J. Safra PhD student fellow (Sharan lab, Computer Science & AI, and Madi lab, Medical & Health Sciences), then delivered an engaging talk titled "How do immune system cells behave in the cancerous tumor environment?".
The musical interlude featured singer Adi Versano and guitarist Tal Billu, performing the song "Sky".
A record number of 93(!) fellowships were awarded to excellent bioinformatics students in all degrees, including undergraduate and graduate students. During the certificate distribution, personal highlights and details about the research conducted by each student fellow were shared.
To commemorate the Center's 20th Anniversary, each student fellow received a special trophy: a custom-designed, branded thermos for both hot and cold beverages.
We are very proud of our Edmond J. Safra student fellows across all degrees!
For pictures from the event, click here.
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