FameLab - a science communication competition created by the UK’s Cheltenham Science Festival to discover the new faces of science was developed to encourage scientists to inspire and excite public imagination with a vision of science in the 21st century. This initiative proved so successful that the British Council adopted the model for its South East Europe Beautiful Science regional project. FameLab Israel was launched in March 2007 and Michal Dekel was its first winner.

This year's final competition took place on Monday 5 May 2008 at the Hemda Science Education Centre in Tel Aviv. Adi Yaniv won first place with her entertaining talk on the role of the vasopressin hormone in determining the behaviour of male voles. Anna Zamanski and Yaron Fuchs (Yaron was also the Audience Favourite) were the runner-ups.

Our FameLab Finalists (alphabetical by first name)

Adi Yaniv (27) has a BSc in Biology from the Hebrew University Jerusalem and is currently studying for her MSc (Bio Medical Sciences) in dental medicine at the Faculty of Dental Medicine at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research focuses on the characterization of cell candidates for regeneration of salivary glands. WINNER of FameLab Israel 2008. Final talk: The role of the vasopressin hormone in determining the behaviour of male voles.

Alexey Amunts (30) is a PhD candidate in the Institute for Structural Biology at Tel Aviv University, where he also obtained his BSc in Biotechnology and an MSc in Biochemistry. The objective of his PhD research is to determine the mechanism of   plant sunlight capturing and conversion. As a crystallographer, he spearheaded the structure determination of the Photosystem I – one of the most intricate protein complexes that drive the photosynthesis process in plants. Recently he achieved the complete unravelling of the intact composition of Photosystem I at the atomic level. This discovery revealed a first glimpse at the fine architecture of Nature, the most efficient photoelectric nano-machine which harvests light and converts it to electric energy with unprecedented quantum efficiency close to 100%. These finding were recently published as the major article in the scientific journal Nature. For this achievement he was awarded with the Dan David Scholarship and American Crystallography Association Award for outstanding doctoral students. Final talk: Stars, not only in the skies! On emerging order at the edge of chaos: intriguing insights about the exclusive interactions between Nature’s unique numbers and shapes

Anna Zamenski (30) has a BA and MSc in Computer Science from the Technion-  Israel Institution of Technology and is currently a PhD student at Tel Aviv University, finishing this year. Her research focuses on Logic and Artificial Intelligence. Anna is studying a new kind of semantic structures called Many-valued Non-deterministic Matrices, which have already shown a great potential in such fields of Artificial Intelligence as reasoning under uncertainty and automated deduction. She also enjoys teaching and works as a lecturer at Tel Aviv University and the Tel Aviv-Yaffo Academic College. She is very interested in the methodologies of teaching Computer Science.  Next year Anna will join the staff of the Jerusalem College of Engineering as a lecturer and will continue her research on the applications of Logic in Computer Science. RUNNER-UP. Final talk: “This is not the title of this talk: how the paradoxes shook the foundations of Math”

Idan Efroni (33) left a promising future as a high-tech entrepreneur to pursue his passion for science. He holds a BSc (Cum Laude) from Tel Aviv University and an MSc from the Weizmann Institute of Science.  Idan is currently working on his PhD, researching the genetic regulation of leaf shape and size. Final talk: "Why it is your mother's fault after all: Transgeneration memory in plants and animals"

Nir Lahav (30) has a BSc in Physics from Bar Ilan University where he is now studying for his MSc in Physics. He is currently researching the human brain with physical models. He loves exploring all the mysterious questions such as the beginning of the universe or how our brain produces thoughts. Nir gives talks about science to children, and lectures about the mysteries of science and the connection between science and art. Final talk “Law & Order! Or why we shouldn’t clean the house..”  about order and disorder in nature

Noa Bachner-Hinenzon (29) is a biomedical engineer and a PhD student at the biomedical engineering faculty at the Technion – Israel Institution of Technology.  She researchers ultrasound echocardiography – “Role of Left Ventricular Regional Rotation as Assessed by Ultrasound Echocardiography in Health and Aortic Stenosis Disease”.

Victor Chernov (29) is a rocket scientist. He obtained his BSc and MSc in Aerospace Engineering from the Technion - Israel Institution of Technology where he is now doing his PhD in Aerospace Engineering. The scientific area he is engaging in is rocket propulsion. His research is about a new kind of rocket fuel – gel fuel with metal powders suspended in it.  Victor teaches kids aerospace science at the Technion’s Young Science and Technology Unit.

Yaron Fuchs (29) obtained his BSc from Haifa University (Faculty of Biology) and his MSc in Molecular Biology from the Technion - Israel Institution of Technology, where he is now studying towards his PhD in Biology. His research is centred around a newly identified tumour suppressor and its effect on wound repair and skin formation. The aim of the research is to understand which signalling networks regulate this gene and if it is possible to harness its characteristics in order to enhance the wound healing process. RUNNER-UP. Final talk: Ashanti finds much needed shanti (on gene therapy)

Yifat Ofir (26) is studying for her MSc in Genetics at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research focuses on pleiotropic genes which control the ratio between vegetative and reproductive organs. Yifat obtained her first degree in Genetics and Bio-Technology from the Hebrew University and for the past 5 years has been working as an instructor of popular science activities for children. Final talk: The first steps to a fearless world – Can Genetics control our fears?"

FameLab Israel 2008 Partners
Bloomfield Science Museum Jerusalem
Hemda Science Education Centre Tel Aviv
The Unit of Pre-Academic Studies at the Technion Haifa
TEVA Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

FameLab Israel 2008 Sponsors
Galileo
LPS Telecommunication and Security Systems
Scientific American Israel
SmartByte-Smart Multi-Media Control Systems

• PRIZES
  The Winner receives a free trip to the UK and will take part in the UK FameLab at the Cheltenham Science Festival in June.
• All 9 finalists received an annual free subscription to the Scientific American Israel journal
• The Winner received a laptop from SmartByte - Smart Multi-media Control Systems
• The two top runner ups at the national final received digital cameras, and the Audience Choice an MP4 player, from LPS Telecommunication and Security Systems