Cold-loving microbes from Antarctica produce an “uncharacteristically powerful” antifreeze, using it like a grappling hook to grab onto ice rather than stop it from forming. This Atlantic article describes how Faculty scientists Maya Bar Dolev and Ido Braslavsky collaborated with Peter Davies  of Queens University to see just how they do it. 

By Andrew Friedman, Tazpit News Agency

Most people may consider the southern tip of the world little more than a frozen wasteland, but Dr. Ido Braslavsky, an associate professor at the Hebrew University’s Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, food and environment in Rehovot, would take issue with that assertion.

Faculty researchers have discovered that carefully regulated high-fat meals can lead to loss of weight and a unique metabolism in which ingested fats are not stored, but are used for energy in between meals.

The discovery of a mummified Korean child with relatively preserved organs enabled an Israeli-South Korean scientific team to conduct a genetic analysis on a liver biopsy which revealed a unique hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype C2 sequence common in Southeast Asia.

Twice a week just after dawn, twenty Ethiopian-born senior citizens, ages 65 to 93, trek from their apartments to a field on the Hebrew University’s Rehovot campus, where each tends his or her own patch of land. There, they meet up with enthusiastic student volunteers from the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment. Together, they make up a magical triangle: elderly farmers sharing ancient traditions with future agronomists, uniting over their love for the soil and growing food crops.

Israeli scientist wins innovation award for increasing the ancient crop's yield, size and nutrition profile. Dr Zvi Peleg developed an improved sesame cultivar with bigger seeds, more seeds per pod and better bioavailability of the nutrients in the seeds. He and his team are also working to make sesame pods that can be picked by machine rather than by hand. Even though sesame has been cultivated for some 5,500 years, the crop has traditionally been unprofitable because it is difficult to harvest and produces a low yield. 

Researchers are seeking regulatory approval for a peptide that can kill bacteria – whether throughout a hospital or inside a milk carton

In the future, food companies might be able to store products like milk in miracle containers that kill or at least delay the development of bacteria inside. Experiments are underway at Hebrew University’s Faculty of Agriculture to produce a so-called bioactive milk carton to extend products’ shelf lives.

Prof. Ido Braslavsky is working on ways to freeze hearts, livers, and kidneys

“Perfecting cryopreservation – the process of preserving cells, tissues and organs in sub-zero temperatures – would enable long-term banking of tissues and organs and efficient matching between donor and patient, eventually saving lives of millions of people around the world,” said Braslavsky.

The research he and his team are doing on ice-binding proteins – the same proteins that allow fish, animals, and even bacteria to survive in the Antarctic – could solve the problem, said Braslavsky

Desalination can dramatically increase the prevalence of inadequate iodine intake, new research suggests. An estimated 300 million people worldwide rely on over 17,000 desalination plants in 150 countries for water, and the numbers are likely to grow. Israel has highest use of desalinated water in world; severe iodine shortage has been linked to mental retardation Faculty researchers say that Israeli adults who consume desalinated water were found in a study to have a “surprisingly high” prevalence of inadequate iodine intake and a related thyroid dysfunction.

Yissum's Aggrinovation is raising $6 million to advance agritech technologies and agricultural startups.

Faculty student discovers that as temperatures rise, the color and scent mechanism of petunias, at least, suffers mightily.

Bees Diversify Diet to Take the Sting Out of Nutritional Deficiencies

New research shows that honey bees forage for a diet that balances their colony’s specific nutritional deficits. While pesticides and pathogens pose clear threats to honey bee health, the need of bee colonies for balanced nutrition is gaining increasing appreciation. As colonies are kept in agricultural areas for crop pollination, they may encounter nutritional deficits when foraging predominantly on one pollen source.

Kaye Innovation Award for recognizing sesame's value to a hungry planet

By screening more than 100,000 sesame seed variants, Dr. Zvi Peleg has found a way to develop a new elite sesame cultivar with enhanced yield and seed quality suitable for modern agricultural practice. Peleg is a senior lecturer at the Hebrew University's Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture

The Emet Prize  in Life Sciences and Agriculture  is awarded to Prof. Dani Zamir for his groundbreaking research of the genetic control of complex quantitative traits and the application of his studies to plant breeding.