10 innovations from Bar-Ilan University, available for licensing, co-investment, or spin-out through BIRAD.
Shpaisman Hagay
Current methods for production of alternative meat cuts from plant-based products does not fit industrial standards. We offer a new procedure for production of plant-based meat cuts by a novel system that allows continuous and uniform extrusion through a customizable component. Our procedure allows high production rates and is based on machinery that fits industrial standards.
Margel Shlomo
A novel, environmentally friendly tactic for precise agricultural pest control utilizing the controlled release of pheromone's and essential oil's volatiles from hollow porous silica microcapsules.
Banin Ehud
This research presents bio-friendly a green and cost-effective antibiofilm coating formulations based on Pickering emulsion templating. The coating does not contain any active material, where its antibiofilm function is based on passive mechanisms, laying solely on the superhydrophobic nature of the coating, and thus highly suitable for food and medical applications. The coating is based on water in toluene or xylene emulsions that are stabilized by commercial hydrophobic silica, with Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) that is dissolved in the organic phase. The stability of the emulsions and their structure were studied by confocal microscopy. The most stable emulsions were applied on polypropylene surfaces and dried in an oven to form PDMS/silica rough coatings. The surface morphology of the coatings shows a honeycomb-like structure that exhibits a combination of micron-scale and nano-scale roughness resulting in a superhydrophobic property. The superhydrophobicity of the resulting coatings has been tuned to meet the demands of highly efficient antibiofilm passive activity. The obtained coatings have shown to significantly reduce the accumulation of a decrease of one order of magnitude in the EEscherichia coli-coli accumulation on the surface, suggesting these coatings can be used for antibiofilm applications. that is a significant value for coating with a passive based antibiofilm coating.
Margel Shlomo
The invention relates generally to the field of adhesive thin coatings comprising essential oils, hydrogen peroxide & ethanol and their use via a controlled release process.
Yehoshua Yaron
The current research deals with the development of an innovative technology for the future food industry, by growing different types of microalgae in unique hydrogel capsules made of polyvinyl alcohol/polyvinyl pyrrolidone/alginate (PVA/PVP/A)). The macrocapsules will serve as a basis to produce cultured seafood. These algae-based macrocapsules will be used as food supplements rich in nutrients, and as food for humans and other animals such as fish, poultry, etc. In this work, these unique hydrogel macrocapsules were developed and their composition and structure were optimized, and the ability to grow algae in them was demonstrated. The technologies that currently exist for growing algae are based on growing in a medium, in plates, and artificially in reactors, encountering many difficulties stemming, among other things, from various bacterial and fungal infections. In addition, to ensure adequate growth, an increased amount of expensive growth medium is used. As part of the present work, an innovative and unique technology for growing algae was developed instead of the technologies that exist today. We introduce microalgae plus growth mediums into macrocapsules that have been uniquely developed by algae encapsulation processes during the preparation of the hydrogel macrocapsules. The confinement of the algae is done to provide them with a place to grow and to protect the algae cells from infections and harmful microorganisms. We also provide microalgae the conditions they need for their growth: light, temperature, and growth medium. The capsules may also contain fragrances, flavors and chosen color. The monitoring of the growth of the microalgae was carried out in two main ways: 1. Tracking the intensity of the color of the macrocapsules, which increases as the concentration of algae in the macrocapsules increasing, 2. Monitoring the concentration of chlorophyll (absorbance at 680 nm) which increases as the concentration of algae in the macrocapsules increasing. It was most clearly demonstrated that the growth of the microalgae entrapped in the macrocapsules is significantly faster than their growth in the conventional methods. The capsules could be used as a basis for various food products by combining them as a raw material or as "ink" for 3D printing. In growing algae with the proposed technology, there is a significant saving in water growing areas compared to the technologies that exist today. The proposed technology of enclosing the algae in capsules will reduce the cases of pollution and at the same time reduce the amount of expensive medium required to grow the cells. This will reduce the growing expenses and make it possible to create future food at a cheaper price. Also, we save on the growing costs of the stage of separating the algae from the water, which is an expensive stage that requires resources and consumes a lot of energy. Furthermore, the capsule shell itself is used as a protein substitute and edible. In addition, if necessary, the separation of the cultured algae from the hydrogel polymeric macrocapsules can easily be achieved by adding chelating metal ions such as EDTA or sodium citrate. in conclusion, the use of the aforementioned macrocapsules will enable a controlled and clean process in a configuration close to the final food product, resulting in significant cost savings.
Cohen Yigal
We discovered a new gene in basil Pb2 which controls resistance against downy mildew.
Margel Shlomo
Preparation and use of free, entrapped, and surface bound hollow non-functional and functional SiO2 microparticles with controlled porosity for various applications (liquid solidification, superhydrophobic, self-cleaning, acceleration sensors, cosmetics, food, encapsulation, controlled release in liquid and gas phase, plastics, etc.)
Margel Shlomo
Synthesis and Characterization of New Durable Anti-biofilm and Antiviral Silane-Phosphonium Thin Coatings for Medical and Agricultural Applications
Margel Shlomo
The present invention describes the synthesis of polyvinyl alcohol/polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVA/PVP) hydrogels containing water soluble and insoluble functional active materials, e.g., fungicides, fertilizers, essential oils, oxidants, metal ions, drugs, dyes, etc.) for different applications in agriculture, environment, cosmetics, and medicine. For this purpose, two methods have been used, direct and a swelling method. In the direct method, PVP was added to warm PVA aqueous solution, e.g., 90-95 °C. After a while the system was cooled down slowly to room temperature. During the cooling process and the PVA/PVP hydrogel formation appropriate concentration/s of water soluble, e.g. hydrogen peroxide, urea, methyl orange or trichloro acetic acid, or water insoluble materials, e.g., essential oils such as thymol or benzoyl peroxide was/were added. The water-soluble functional materials were dissolved in the aqueous phase of the hydrogel while the water insoluble in the organic (PVP and/or PVA) part. The formation of the PVA/PVP hydrogels (due to hydrogen bonds between PVP and PVA) leads to gradual increased viscosity which enable to mold the formed hydrogel to any desired shape. The mechanical properties of the final material were improved by repeated freezing-thawing cycles. If necessary, surface crosslinking of the hydrogel for controlled release is accomplished by reacting surface PVA (hydroxyl groups) with glutaraldehyde under acidic conditions via formation of polyacetal bonds.
Glickman, Oren
We offer a low-cost, relatively small-size device based on imaging and AI technology that enables assessing key quality indicators of tomato fruits (fruit size, weight, and firmness, as well as total soluble solides (TSS), pH, acidity, Vitamin-C, and lycopene contents in the fruit) without having to collect the fruits and take them to the lab for analyses or even touch the fruits. Moreover, the device can provide quality indicators for many fruits simultaneously from a single shot in a speedy process. The latter feature enables the assessment of quality indicators in many tomato fruits in a very short time. It can be used by (1) various food industry companies that want to use a cheap and speedy process to classify their post-harvest fresh produce per their quality or select the most suitable fruits for their specific purposes (products). The device can also be used by (2) farmers to improve the quality of their fruits by tracking changes in quality indicators along the ripening stages and taking specific actions to influence such quality changes or by just integrating the device into autonomous systems (robots that are being implemented in the agricultural sector these days to make the harvest process an automatic process) for smart harvest by tracking the right stage, according to quality indicators, to pick the fruits. Since our offered solution is relatively cheap, we also see a potential use of this device by (3) consumers and markets that want to know the quality of the fruits they are buying/selling. Finally, since tomato has been employed as a model fruit for the scientific community, particularly in the studies on fruit development, (4) the scientific community dealing with fruit quality can also benefit from such a device because it allows assessing quality indicators in many fruits in a cheap and fast way while the fruits are still on the plant (can be used to study fruit quality changes throughout the ripening process, which is of great interest for many researchers studying environmental and meteorological effects on fruit quality indicators).
