Lecturer: Prof. Ronit Satchi Fainaro

Short Course Description:

1.Introduction to DDS : the medical need, Pharmacokinetics

2.Angiogenesis as a common denominator of disease and the Enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect

3.Rational design of Polymer Therapeutics :

4.Polymeric drugs, hyperbranched polymers, Dendrimers and Micelles as drug and oligonucleotide nanocarriers

5.Lipid based nanoparticles (liposomes, gagomers and collagomers) : structural, physico-chemical characterization.

6.Antibodies as targeting moieties for DDS

7.Oligonucleotides therapeutics: challenges and opportunities

8.Immuno Nanotoxicity

9.Designing stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems

10.Controlled release systems in tissue engineering

11. Colonic delivery systems

12-14. - Seminars

Lecturer: Prof. Haim Diamant

Short Course Description:

Dynamics of Complex Fluids is a graduate course, dedicated to the laws that govern the flow of complex and biological fluids, and the motion of microscopic objects inside them. It addresses the dynamics of colloidal suspensions, polymer solutions, and fluid membranes, and the viscoelastic response of soft materials.

Lecturer: Prof. Lihi Abramovich

Short Course Description:

New Horizons in Nanotechnology

Introduction to the field of nanotechnology with an emphasis on medical and biological aspects, building blocks used in the field and tissue engineering applications, sensor development, controlled drugs release. Being acquainted with the main research tools and leading innovative research in the field.

Lecturer:  Dr. Amit Sitt

Short Course Description

Polymers surround us in our daily lives, emerging in many different systems, from industry to medicine and biology. Although the chemical structure of various polymers can be quite different, many polymers exhibit similar physical properties which emanate from the fact that they are composed of giant chains that interact through (usually weak) intermolecular forces.

The first part of the course will deal with the physical chemistry of polymers. We will examine and characterize what is common and different between different polymers. We will describe the kinetics of the polymerization process, define models for the structure of polymer chains, and examine how the structure affects the mechanical properties of the polymers and their thermodynamics in the mixtures and in solutions.

In the second part of the course, we will focus on topics at the forefront of science and review the physical chemistry of a number of polymeric systems, with an emphasis on stimulus-responsive polymers, copolymer block, and conductive polymers.

Lecturer:  Prof. Roey Amir

Short Course Description

The course will start with introduction to polymers and will include basic terms in polymer chemistry, types of polymerizations (radical, anionic, cationic, etc.) and common characterization techniques. We will then focus on the formation of structures with different architectures (copolymers, block-copolymers, grafted polymers, dendrimers, dendrimer-polymer hybrid, etc.), characterization approaches and discussion in the challenges that are associated with the preparation of various macromolecules. Next, we will discuss the “behavior” of stimuli-responsive polymers, their ability to self-assemble into supramolecular structures and the relation between the structure of polymers and the formed assemblies. The major part of the course will be dedicated to studying and reviewing examples for the design and synthesis of supramolecular assemblies based on stimuli-responsive polymers that can change their physical and chemical properties in response to external stimuli (light, pH, temperature and enzymes) while addressing the potential of smart polymeric assemblies.

Lecturers: Prof Guido Sessa, Prof Amir Sharon

Short Course Description

Course description: Pests have threatened crop production from the beginning of plants domestication. Among different types of pests, plant pathogens are the most significant cause of crop damages, accounting for more than 20% yield losses annually. The course presents the area of plant diseases with emphasis on the molecular mechanisms of interactions between pathogens and plants. The course objective is to introduce to the students the plant immune system and the different groups of plant pathogens.
The course will include the following topics: the plant immune system, pathogens and pathogenicity mechanisms of fungal, bacterial, and viral plant pathogens. The general characteristics and interaction mechanisms of each group of pathogens with plants will be presented along with examples of advanced disease control methods as alternatives for chemical pesticides.

Lecturer: Prof Meital Zilberman

Short Course Description

Three weekly hours. 3 points.
Prerequisite: Biomaterials, or materials science and engineering (at least 3 points).
This course focuses on systems for controlled release of bioactive agents and includes four main chapters as follows:
(a) Bioresorbable polymers: poly(hydroxy acids), polyortho esters, polyanhydrides etc. Mechanisms of degradation, structure and properties.
(b) Methods for preparation of drug-eluting systems: solution processing, melt processing and emulsion-based techniques.
(c) Mechanisms of drug release from polymeric biomaterials and related mathematical models.
(d) Specific examples of drug-eluting devices: antibiotic releas, antiproliferative agent release, and release of bioactive molecules from scaffolds for tissue engineering.

Lecturer: Prof. Shachar Richter

Short Course Description

Credit points: 3
The goal of this short course is to introduce to the students the Principles of surface physics and chemistry.
Selected topics will include the followings:
surface crystallography; reconstruction and relaxation; Energetics at surfaces; Electronic properties of surfaces;
Adsorption phenomena; Surface science analytical tools.