The 2026–27 academic year is officially underway at Bar-Ilan University! We’re delighted to welcome our students back to campus and extend a warm welcome to those beginning their academic journey with us. Wishing all our students a successful and inspiring year filled with learning, discovery, growth and achievement!

Bar-Ilan University condemns in the strongest possible terms and is deeply appalled by the acts attributed to the lecturer in the indictment. The University’s leadership calls upon the police and the prosecution to pursue the matter to the fullest extent of the law, should the allegations be substantiated. The University has, and will continue to have, zero tolerance for conduct of this nature—conduct that is fundamentally incompatible with the values we share as Jews, as Israelis, and as human beings, and that stands in clear opposition to the values of Bar-Ilan University. The lecturer will be suspended from his duties with immediate effect, pending the conclusion of the legal proceedings.

Just published: New research from the Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy Lab of Prof. @cohen_cyrille, together with researchers from the Weizmann Institute, uses computational protein design to make engineered T cells more powerful at attacking cancer and viral targets. Published in Science Advances, the study introduces SET, a computationally enhanced T-cell receptor scaffold that strengthened immune responses across multiple cancer and viral targets. In mice with human tumors, SET-enhanced T cells produced tumors ~35% smaller after 83 days, while all treated mice remained alive at day 127, compared with fewer than half of controls. The preclinical findings point to a potentially broad new approach for engineering more effective T-cell therapies. 🔗 science.org/doi/10.1126/scia…

Bar-Ilan University Strengthens Its Academic Ties in the Region 🇮🇱🇦🇪 A delegation from Bar-Ilan University’s Faculty of Jewish Studies participated this week in the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, where they met with public figures, researchers, and members of the UAE media. The delegation also took part in a panel discussion on artificial intelligence and its impact on education and society. During the visit, Bar-Ilan University and TRENDS Research & Advisory signed a Memorandum of Understanding to advance academic and research collaboration, including joint research, scholar exchanges, conferences, and other academic initiatives. Another step toward building bridges between Israel and the United Arab Emirates through research, knowledge, and academic collaboration. جامعة بار-إيلان تعزّز علاقاتها الأكاديمية في المنطقة 🇮🇱🇦🇪 شارك وفد من كلية الدراسات اليهودية هذا الأسبوع في معرض أبي ظبي الدولي للكتاب، وعقد سلسلة من اللقاءات مع شخصيات بارزة في مجالات العمل العام والبحث والإعلام في دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة. كما شارك أعضاء الوفد في جلسة نقاشية تناولت الذكاء الاصطناعي وتأثيره في التعليم والمجتمع. وخلال الزيارة، تم توقيع مذكرة تفاهم للتعاون الأكاديمي والبحثي بين جامعة بار-إيلان ومركز TRENDS، بهدف تعزيز الأبحاث المشتركة، وتبادل الباحثين، وتنظيم المؤتمرات، وإطلاق مبادرات أكاديمية إضافية. خطوة أخرى نحو بناء الجسور من خلال البحث والمعرفة والتعاون بين إسرائيل ودولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة.

Warmest congratulations to Prof. Reuma Gadassi-Polack (Faculty of Education) and Dr. Arnold Filtser (Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence), who have been awarded prestigious ERC Starting Grants, securing a combined €3.47 million in research funding! Gadassi-Polack’s Child2Parent project examines whether children’s emotional difficulties can influence their parents’ mental health, challenging the traditional focus on parent-to-child effects. Filtser’s project, “(Non) Metric Embeddings,” develops new algorithmic tools for networks and other settings where distance and cost do not follow conventional metric properties. ERC grants are among the most competitive and prestigious in academia and are awarded for groundbreaking research projects. This achievement marks a significant milestone for Prof. Gadassi-Polack, Dr. Filtser and Bar-Ilan University.

New research from Dr. Liron Rozenkrantz’s lab at the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine found that focusing attention on sensations from an inflamed area made the inflammatory response about 1.5 times smaller and helped it return to normal faster. The findings, just published in Nature Human Behaviour, suggest that how we pay attention to signals from our body can influence how the body responds to inflammation. nature.com/articles/s41562-0…

Bar-Ilan University warmly congratulates Prof. Cyrille Cohen, Dean of the Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences and one of Israel’s and the world’s leading experts in cancer immunology and immunotherapy, upon his election to serve as the University’s next Rector. @cohen_cyrille

Seven weeks, 24 students, countless discoveries—and memories to last a lifetime. As we say farewell to the 2026 cohort of the Bar-Ilan University–Yeshiva University Summer Science Research Internship Program, we celebrate 16 years of bringing talented undergraduates to Israel to conduct hands-on STEM research alongside leading Bar-Ilan scientists. Nearly 500 students have taken part since the program began—many going on to graduate study, medicine, engineering, and scientific research. To our 2026 students from the US and the UK: thank you for being part of this remarkable community. We’re proud of you and wish you every success in the journey ahead! 🔬🇮🇱

🚶Real-world impact: Bar-Ilan University research is now part of the @Moovit app! Prof. Jonathan Rabinowitz's study of 2,200 public transit users found you can walk more without adding travel time. The result? A new feature that helps riders choose routes with more walking while arriving just as fast -- or even faster.

Congratulations to Prof. Hefziba Lifshitz, from the Faculty of Education, on receiving the 2026 President's Medal from President Isaac Herzog. Her groundbreaking research has transformed our understanding of the learning potential of people with intellectual disabilities. Through the Otzmot program she founded, six participants have already earned bachelor's degrees.

Bar-Ilan University senior leadership on the proposed bill to expand gender segregation in higher education: "This legislation is not good for Israeli academia. It could harm women and does not serve the very public it claims to represent." In a letter to Members of Knesset ahead of the bill's second and third readings, Bar-Ilan's academic leadership urged lawmakers to reject the proposed expansion of gender-segregated programs to master's and doctoral degrees, as well as research settings. "Advanced degree programs are built on scholarly exchange, critical debate, collaborative research, and exposure to diverse perspectives. Gender segregation in these settings would undermine equality and directly harm research quality, academic training, and academic freedom in teaching."

Artificial light spilling into coastal waters from cities, ports, roads, and hotels is disrupting sleep in coral reef fish and is associated with changes in markers linked to brain health, according to a new study led by Prof. Oren Levy and co-led by Prof. Lior Appelbaum and doctoral student Shachaf Ben-Ezra. The researchers found that even low levels of nighttime illumination can significantly alter the behavior and physiology of reef fish. Fish exposed to artificial light slept less, experienced more fragmented sleep, became more aggressive, and fed at unusual hours, effectively behaving as if night had turned into day. This video shows aggressive interactions among blue-green damselfish and their behavior under artificial light pollution at night. 📹: Shachaf Ben-Ezra sciencedirect.com/science/ar…

🐻🩺 Hundreds of children took part in the 13th annual Teddy Bear Hospital at the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine in Safed, where medical students helped turn fears of doctors and hospitals into confidence, curiosity, and resilience. Supported by the Matat Foundation, the program guides children and their teddy bears through a mock hospital experience, creating a safe and empowering environment while strengthening emotional well-being in communities across the Galilee. @biumedicine

🇮🇳🇮🇱 Bar-Ilan University and its International School were honored to welcome H.E. J P Singh, Ambassador of India to Israel, and a delegation from @indemtel to campus. We look forward to strengthening existing ties and exploring new opportunities for academic and research collaboration.