A gala evening honoring Serge and Beate Klarsfeld over 400,000 euros for the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Science.
Brett Kline, Paris
“Why does one person remember something that another person does not ?” asks Idan Segev, professor in the department of neurobiology, institute of Life Sciences at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “The brain functions on a reward system, based on dopamine, with positive and negative aspects, pleasure and pain. We didn’t know this before.”
“How is it that my grandson, with the same brain that I have, may have a lifespan of 100 years?” asks Eilon Vaadia, professor of psychology in the Hebrew University Medical School. “Medicine has progressed so far, and today we are fighting an all-out war against two diseases, Parkinson’s, and the loss of memory characterized by Alzheimer’s.”
Why did the French Friends of Hebrew University of Jerusalem decide to honor two esteemed lawyers responsible for reparations from the World War II era, and for bringing former Nazis to trial, Serge and Beate Klarsfeld, at the annual fundraiser, which this year was for the launching of the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences? They spoke at the scientific colloquium and at the gala night, attended by the crème de la crème of French Jewish society, and were given the Scopus Award.
“I spoke about playing an active role keeping the memories of all the deported people alive here in Paris,” said Klarsfeld. “That is what I have always done. Most people play a passive role. The researchers gathered here today also play an active role in the field of science. Beate spoke of German non-Jewish memory, with no guilt complex. These are our weapons.” He smiled.
Whatever the link was with the world of the brain, it worked. Renowned philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy spoke at the gala, dynamic and controversial, keeping the brains of the well-to-do awake and functioning. Organizer from the French Friends Association Catherine Belais said the fundraiser took in pledges of more than 400,000 euros.
That is enough to fund scholarships for 36 students doing post-doctorate work for two years. “The students are Israeli, but the idea is also to be able to help the university offer scholarships for foreign students,” said Belais. “Hebrew U. has an accord with Al Quds University in Wadi Joz, the best school in the West Bank, for example.”
Local psychology student at the Descartes faculty Deborah Baudry attended the colloquium and said memory studies are all the rage in Paris. “Undergrads studying medicine, psychology, neurology and so on are all focusing on memory, or loss of memory,” she said. “But research conditions in France are not conducive to continuing here. Me, I would love to study at Hebrew U, but I’ve got to better my Hebrew. I know they encourage foreign students, so maybe I can study in English.”
Other speakers included France-Israel Foundation President Nicole Guedj, who is close to President Nicolas Sarkozy. “Whatever cooperation programs and revolutions in research you launch, I’m with you,” she told the Israeli scientists.
Hebrew University President Menahem Ben Sasson explained that the new Safra Center is bringing faculty from other departments and campuses in the university, and that in the future, more faculty will be hired. “For now, the Center is an example of knocking down doors between departments,” he said. “The Safra family contributed $50 million and the university put up $80 million to open the Center. I want to state categorically that the Israeli government is not doing enough to meet the needs of higher education and research in the country.”
Ben Sasson stated what everyone knows: there is a brain drain from Israel. Students and faculty are leaving. With the opening of a brain center, the message could not be any clearer. “It is the responsibility of the state to take care of its primary resource, the human brain,” he said. “The state must do more, and we hope the message will be heard coming from the private sector, especially coming from outside the country.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news – on December 14, 2009





Par Dominique Bourra, CEO NanoJV
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