Courtesy of Hebrew University
local Professor Haitham Amal
which uses blood samples from autis-
tic children and artifi cial intelligence
models to identify autism through a
sample test.

The professor fi rst applied for a
grant from the Eagles in 2021. Rachel
Sigman, the Philadelphia director
for American Friends of the Hebrew
University, had read an article in
Philadelphia Magazine about Lurie’s
new philanthropic endeavor. Sigman
knew Amal and was familiar with his
work, so she contacted to the Eagles
on his behalf. The organization invited
the Israeli to apply, but he did not make
it to the second round, according to
Sigman. But she stayed in touch with
the organization, and Amal was invited
to apply again two years later. This
time, he got it.

“I felt he’s really made tremendous
progress in the research that he’s
done,” Sigman said. “The idea of
fi nding a way to diagnose autism
using breast and blood samples
— the importance of that I thought
was going to really have a transfor-
mational eff ect in the way kids are
diagnosed. This is something that’s
going to have a positive and poten-
tially global impact.”
Amal believes the grant from the
Eagles will not only help his research
but “open the doors for collaboration
all over the world.” A small amount of
money would have allowed Amal to
investigate one mutation. But there are
hundreds of mutations in autism, and
a $400,000 grant will help the Israeli
look into diff erent ones. Experiments
and big data analyses are “expensive,”
he said.

“The goal of this grant is to under-
stand the role of nitric oxide in the
autism spectrum disorder,” he said.

“The ultimate goal of this grant is to
level up drugs and therapeutics for
treatment.” ■
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
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