Breakthrough Medical Education and Research

Ben-Gurion University is known for its leading medical research teams and facilities. At the forefront of science and technology, BGU has more than 800 senior and 1,100 junior faculty members working with graduate students in advanced laboratories, developing innovative ways to make a positive impact on the world at large.

Explore BGU’s cutting-edge research that’s making a difference in the fields of aging, anxiety, cancer, diabetes, and other critical areas:

Dr. Oren Wacht Transforming Training for Paramedics and EMTs

For more than 25 years, BGU students and Magen David Adom paramedics have trained together, and under Dr. Oren Wacht and the staff of BGU’s Department of Emergency Medicine, that training is reaching new heights. Thanks to a formal affiliation — the first between a national EMS service and a university, the institutions coordinate activities and research collaborations between BGU’s three-year Bachelor of Emergency Medicine program and MDA’s paramedic school, and facilitate more instructor knowledge-sharing, leading to faster and more effective pre-hospital treatment, as well as innovative approaches that create better results for patients. Much of this vital work takes place in the Rachel and Max Javit Medical Simulation and Classroom Building.

Prof. Iris Shai Obesity and its Links to Disease

More than 1 billion people around the world are obese, putting them at risk for illnesses like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, or a possible stroke. Prof. Iris Shai and her nutrition and chronic diseases lab explore obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiometabolic risk by performing large-scale, long-term compressive dietary randomized controlled trials. They monitor changes in the gut microbiome, study specific food nutrients and components like vitamins, minerals, and polyphenols, and perform nutritional clinical trials with state-of-the-art methodologies.

Male Fertility

Over the past 50 years, human sperm count has fallen by more than 50%. Prof. Mahmoud Huleihel is working to combat this troubling trend and preserve male fertility. He develops new ways to grow testicular stem cells, searches for genes and environmental factors that impact male fertility, and studies biomolecular agents that might reduce the harmful effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy on male fertility.

Prof. Hagit Cohen Pinpointing Stress and Anxiety in the Brain

Mental health has become a topic of interest for researchers globally, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic. Using animal models of psychopathology, Prof. Hagit Cohen studies the neural mechanisms of post-traumatic stress disorder using a specially-designed rat model.

Attacking Tumor Cells with Genetic Engineering

In Dr. Uri Greenbaum’s lab, fighting cancer is the number one goal. He and his team research how the immune system fights cancer, and in particular CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor T) cells. Genetically engineered immune cells go into a patient’s body and make a targeted attack on tumor cells based on surface antigens. Even if a patient had previously been resistant to other types of treatment, this approach is typically successful at destroying any tumors.