BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY | THE WAY FORWARD

preparation through genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, to data integration and AI-driven analysis via user-friendly web-based interfaces. Anchored by BGU’s bioinformatics unit, this national center positions BGU as a key node in Israel’s data-intensive life sciences ecosystem. Illustrative Example: Guzik Center for Advanced Microscopy The ability of each new piece of equipment or technology to serve as a force multiplier can be clearly seen at the Guzik Center for Advanced Microscopy, which was established in 2023 on the Marcus Family Campus. This scientific excellence center houses four pieces of cutting edge equipment that will drive research at BGU for years to come. The Guzik Endowment for the Maintenance of Advanced Microscopy created along with the center will ensure maintenance of the center’s equipment in perpetuity. In just a short time, the center’s state-of-the-art equipment has transformed BGU’s research capabilities and positioned the University as a leader in advanced microscopy. The center’s most advanced imaging platform is the gold standard, delivering unprecedented visualization capabilities for live-cell biology, combining super-resolution microscopy with the speed needed for dynamic cellular imaging. The acquisition of this platform led to the construction of a new facility dedicated to bio-imaging; the new Advanced Bio-Imaging Laboratory meets the laboratory conditions required by the new system and centralizes all of BGU’s infrastructure in this domain. There are already several notable research achievements to report. Using the bio-imaging system, the research group of Prof. Tomer Cooks from the Shraga Segal Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics was able to successfully visualize cellular membrane micro-tentacles at unprecedented resolution, a breakthrough that advances understanding of cancer invasiveness and the role of extracellular vesicles. In addition, the research group of Prof. Daniel Gitler from the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology established super-resolution protocols for individual synapse visualization

in primary neuronal cultures in research illuminating molecular mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease development. BGU is the only Israeli university possessing the latest model of this equipment, which has been designated as national infrastructure; this opens the door to new research collaborations with local and international partners, as well as advancements across the broader Israeli scientific ecosystem. The Guzik Center has also been instrumental to achievements in the structural biology domain, establishing BGU as a national hub for cryo electron microscopy and structural biology. The center’s state-of-the-art transmission electron microscopy systems have enhanced our researchers’ materials characterization capabilities, enabling atomic-resolution imaging, chemical analysis, and structural and cellular analysis of biological systems. In recognition of the data-intensive nature of this research and BGU’s leading role in this work, NVIDIA Israel donated two DGX GPU servers, each equipped with eight A100 GPUs, to support data processing. Building on this solid foundation, BGU was awarded a grant from the Council for Higher Education to purchase another system, and a new dedicated laboratory is under construction to house the cryogenic equipment. Complementing this is a new Bio-SAXS (small-angle X-ray scattering) platform which provides solution-based structural analysis of biomolecules under near-physiological conditions, creating a comprehensive structural analysis pipeline at BGU that is hard to match in Israel. Collectively, the infrastructure has established BGU as a leading destination for cryo-EM research in Israel, with world-class capabilities in structural biology. The new equipment, and the cutting-edge research it enables, have already resulted in high-impact publications in top-tier journals, research and equipment grants, and collaborations with other institutions of higher learning and industrial partners, with more yet to come. The infrastructure has also been pivotal in recruitment. In addition to the previously mentioned materials science researchers

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