AFHU News Spring 2023

PAGE 18
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY
AFHU NEWS VOL. 30 PAGE 19
Award-Winning HU Professor Shares
News on Autism and Alzheimer’s
Research
Golda Meir Lectureship Award, and the Brettle
Center for Research Award, as well as funding
grants from the U.S. Department of Defense and
the Israel Science Foundation.
His research team has made significant progress
in identifying genetically based autism—estimated
to be 20% of all cases—but the causes of most
autism cases remain a mystery. Prof. Amal’s lab
is conducting research into possible pre-natal
and environmental factors and working on new
diagnostic tools to provide earlier identification
and diagnosis of the illness. With the number of
autism cases now standing at one in 30 births in
the U.S. and one in 50 in Israel, hope for further
progress is strong. Prof. Amal also spoke of his
team’s success with Alzheimer’s disease. Recently,
the Amal Lab found novel shared mechanisms
between autism and Alzheimer’s, and Prof.
Amal believes these findings may lead to new
treatments for autism and Alzheimer’s patients.
Einstein: The
Man and His Mind
An unprecedented visual biography of the
iconic pioneer of modern physics, with signed
photographs, letters, manuscripts, and more.
The contributors to the book include Gary
Berger, who assembled the collection over
the past three decades; Michael DiRuggiero,
owner of the Manhattan Rare Book Company,
who specializes in the history of science with
an emphasis on Einstein materials; and Hanoch
Gutfreund, professor emeritus of theoretical
physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
where he is also the academic director of the
Albert Einstein Archives.
Prof. Haitham Amal is the recent recipient of a
$400,000 research grant from the Philadelphia
Eagles Autism Foundation. The grant was
awarded to Prof. Amal for his groundbreaking
research on the role of nitric oxide (NO) in
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) pathology.
NO is a multifunctional signaling molecule and a
neurotransmitter that plays an important role in
physiological and pathophysiological processes,
and Prof. Amal published the first research paper
linking nitric oxide to ASD, a key step towards
identifying a drug target for the disorder. Prof.
Amal is the first researcher outside the U.S. to
be awarded the prestigious grant and one of only
nine grant recipients selected by a distinguished
panel of nationally recognized U.S. researchers.
In addition to the Philadelphia Eagles research
grant, Prof. Amal is the recipient of the Wolf
Foundation’s prestigious Krill Prize, the Prusiner-
Abramsky Research Award in Clinical and Basic
Neuroscience, the Kaye Innovation Award, the
On Tuesday, January 31 Prof. Amal gave an update
on his research during a dinner event hosted by
American Friends of the Hebrew University and
Cyma and Ed Satell at the Satell’s home in Jupiter,
FL. In his presentation, the professor pointed out
that little is understood about autism’s origins,
triggers, or its location in the brain.
Prof. Haitham Amal and Ed Satell
Ph.D. students Shashank Kumar Ojha and Maryam Kartawy
With his recognition from the Philadelphia Eagles
Autism Foundation and his team’s impressive
record of research breakthroughs, Prof. Amal
remains optimistic, believing that further
advances may be within our grasp.
“Imagination is more
important than knowledge.
Knowledge is limited.
Imagination encircles the
world.” -Albert Einstein