The Department of Clinical Biochemistry, both at the Ein Karem and Mount Scopus hospitals, performs within the framework of the Central Laboratory and is committed to medical laboratory service, research and education.

The department strives to be a national leader in its field, and is in a special position of being both a medical center laboratory and a reference laboratory that provides extensive laboratory services in the two Hadassah hospitals in the various disciplines of Clinical Biochemistry.

The major areas of research in the department focus on:

§         Plasminogen activation (

§         Clinical laboratory management (Prof. Michael Mayer)

§         Specific issued in clinical laboratory diagnostics (Prof. Higazi and Prof. Mayer).

The senior academic staff of the department is involved in teaching and in various educational activities at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Faculty of Medicine.

Recent Publications

M. Mayer, D. Chou, T. Eytan.: Unit-independent reporting of laboratory test results Clin. Chem. Lab. Med. 39; 50-52, 2001

G. Rajs, Z. Finzi-Yeheskel, A. Rajs and M. Mayer:  C-Reactive protein concentrations in cerebral spinal fluid in gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial meningitis. Clin. Chem. 48; 591-592, 2002

A. Hurwitz, Z. Finci-Yeheskel, A. Milwidsky and M. Mayer: Regulation of cyclooxygenase activity and progesterone production in the rat corpus luteum by inducible nitric oxide synthase.  Reproduction 123; 663-669, 2002

Sachais BS, Kuo A, Nassar T, Morgan J, Kariko K, Williams KJ, Feldman M, Aviram M., Neelima Shah, N, Jarett L, Poncz M, Cines DB, and Higazi, AR. Platelet factor 4 binds to low-density lipoprotein receptors and disrupts the endocytic itinerary, resulting in retention of low-density lipoprotein on the cell surface. Blood 99; 3613-3622, 2002

Nassar T, Haj-Yehia A, Akkawi S, Kuo A, Bdeir K, Mazar A, Cines DB, and Higazi AR.:  Binding of urokinase to low density lipoprotein-related receptor (LRP) regulates vascular smooth muscle cell contraction.  J. Biol. Chem. 277; 40499-504, 2002

Landsberg, G., Shatz, V., Akopnik, I., Wolf, Y.G., Mayer, M., Berlatsky, Y., C. Weissman, M. Mossery, M. (2003). Association of cardiac troponin, CK-MB and postoperative ischemia with long-term survival following major vascular surgery.  J. Amer. Colleg. Cardiol. 42: 1547-1554.

Nassar, T., Sachais, BS., Akkawi, S., Kowalska, MA., Bdeir, K., Leitersdorf, E., Hiss, E, Ziporen, L., Aviram, M., Cines, D., Poncz, M., Higazi, A. A-R . (2003). Platelet factor 4 enhances the binding of oxidized low-density lipoprotein to vascular wall cells.

 J. Biol. Chem. 278: 6187-6193.

Bdeir, K., Kuo, A., Sachais, BS., Rux, AH., Bdeir, Y., Mazar, A., Higazi, A. A-R., Cines, DB. (2003) The kringle stabilizes urokinase binding to the urokinase receptor. Blood 102:3600-3608.

Nassar, T, Akkawi, S, Shina, A, Haj-Yehia, A, Bdeir, K, Tarshis, M, Heyman, SN, Higazi, A. A-R. (2004). In vitro and in vivo effects of tPA and PAI-1 on blood vessel tone.   Blood. 103: 897-902.

Heyman, SN., Hanna, Z., Nassar, T., Shina, A., Akkawi, S., Goldfarb, M., Rosen, S., Higazi, A. A-R. (2004). The fibrinolytic system attenuates vascular tone: effects of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and aminocaproic acid on renal microcirculation.  Br J Pharmacol. 141: 971-978.      

Chavakis, T., Cines, D.B., Rhee, J.S., Liang, O.D., Schubert, U., Hammes, H.P., Higazi, A. A.-R., Nawroth, P.P., Preissner, K.T., Bdeir, K. (2004). Regulation of neovascularization by human neutrophil peptides (alpha-defensins): a link between inflammation and angiogenesis.  FASEB J. 18: 1306-1308.

Yavlovich, A., Higazi, A. A.-R. and Rottem, S. (2004). Mycoplasma Fermentans binds to and invades HeLa cells: Involvement of Plasminogen and urokinase. Infection and Immunity. 72: 5004-5011.

Armstead, W.M., Cines, D.B., and Higazi, A. A-R. (2004). Altered NO function contributes to impairment of uPA and tPA cerebrovasodilation after brain injury.  J. Neurotrauma. 21: 1204-1211.

Landsberg, G., Mosseri, M., Shatz, V., Akopnik, I., Bocher, M., Mayer, M., Aner, H., Berlatzky, Y., C. Weissman, C. (2004). Cardiac troponin after major vascular surgery. The role of perioperative ischemia, preoperative thallium scanning, and coronary revascularization.  J. Amer. Colleg. Cardiol. 44: 569-575.

Sachais, B.S., Higazi, A. A-R,. Cines, D.B., Poncz, M., Kowalska, M.A. (2004). Interactions of platelet factor 4 with the vessel wall.  Semin Thromb Hemost. 30: 351-358.

Mayer, M. (2004). Centralized vs. Decentralized Laboratory Services.  In: Managing Change in the Clinical Laboratory (I. Wilkinson, ed.).  International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) Series, Milan. pp. 29-38.

Calderon-Margalit, R., Mor-Yosef, S.,  Mayer, M., Adler, B., Shapira, S.C. (2005). An administrative intervention to improve the utilization of laboratory tests within a university hospital.  J. Qual. Health Care. 17: 243-248, 2005.

Higazi, A. A-R., Ajawi, F., Akkawi, S., Hess, E., Kuo. A., and Cines, DB. (2005). Regulation of the single chain urokinase/urokinase receptor complex activity by plasminogen and fibrin: Novel mechanism of fibrin specificity.  Blood. 105: 1021-1028.

Huang, M., Mazar, A.P., Parry, G., Higazi, A. A-R., Kuo A., and Cines, D.B. (2005). Crystallization of soluble urokinase receptor (suPAR) in complex with urokinase amino-terminal fragment (1–143).  Acta Crystallographica D61, 697–700

Armstead, W.M., Cines, D.B., and Higazi, A. A-R. (2005). Plasminogen activators contribute to age-dependent impairment of NMDA cerebrovasodilation after brain injury.  Developmental Brain Research 156:139-46.

Armstead, W.M., Cines, D.B., and Higazi, A. A-R. (2005) Plasminogen Activators Contribute To Impairment of Hypercapnic and Hypotensive Cerebrovasodilation after Cerebral Hypoxia/Ischemia in The Newborn Pig. Stroke. 36: 2265-2269.

Akkawi, S., Nassar, T., Tarshis, M., Cines, D.B., and Higazi, A. A-R. (2006) LRP and a_vb₃ mediate tPA-activation of smooth muscle cells.  Am. Journal of Physiology, Heart and Circulatory Physiology (in press).