EDITORIAL

 This issue of the Israel Journal of Veterinary Medicine is dedicated to the memory of Professor Eitan Bogin who died from leukemia on April 20, 2007, aged 72. Eitan was born on May 3, 1934 and educated at local schools in Kfar Saba, Israel. After completing his military service he studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from which he graduated as B.Sc. in 1959. He continued his graduate studies at the University of California, Los Angeles receiving his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the Department of Biochemistry in 1963 and 1965. Eitan held appointments there as a Research Associate and Assistant Professor until 1970 when he returned to the Kimron Veterinary Institute in Israel where he was to direct the Department of Biochemistry until his retirement in 1999.

Eitan was a first rate biochemist who divided his time between his diagnostic laboratory at the Kimron Veterinary  Institute and teaching comparative veterinary biochemistry to students at the University of Tel Aviv, and later at the Koret Veterinary School of the Hebrew University where he taught clinical pathology. He ran courses in veterinary clinical pathology in several foreign countries- Paraguay, Italy, Taiwan, Mozambique etc.

Eitan was instrumental in establishing the International Society for Animal Clinical Biochemistry (ISACB) in 1981, and in 1986-9 was the President of this organization. He was also President of the World Association of Veterinary Clinical Diagnosticians (WAVLD) in 1996-7. Among the many prestigious awards that Eitan received, that of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry for his contribution to
animal clinical chemistry in 1994 is noteworthy.

Eitan wrote over 220 scientific articles, chapters in books, and two books on clinical chemistry. He also co-authored with Dr.Y.Hartman a computer program for veterinary clinical pathology diagnosis based on artificial intelligence.

Eitan registered a number of inventions centered on diagnostic aids for the veterinary practitioner and farmer connected with detecting mastitis in dairy cattle. These included an apparatus for measuring the DNA content of liquids, specifically mastitic milk, and a kit for measuring udder infections of cows based on the milk levels of the enzyme catalase. A third diagnostic aid consisted of a paper dip stick for detecting dehydrogenase levels as a function of leukocyte milk content. A separate invention was a device that detected thawing of frozen products – food, chemicals, meat etc, which would be packaged with the product when freezing it and would indicate whether thawing had occurred during transport and storage.

Overall, Eitan envisaged the role of his laboratory as giving a service to the veterinary practitioner, farmer, veterinary hospital, and scientists researching animal models of biochemical interest. He spent much effort in establishing reference values of blood constituents, notably enzymes, of various domestic and wild animals and was instrumental in establishing reference values for application internationally. Eitan was much involved in developing animal models for medical research and the biochemical aspects of diseases and metabolic disorders. The biochemical aspects of aging, heat and other stressors were also topics of research in his laboratory. Eitan investigated liver diseases, especially the deposition of fat in geese, dairy cattle, laying hens, broilers and rats. Eitan extensively studied the topic of a metabolic profile as applied to dairy
cattle by measuring over 20 blood constituents and how they are affected by age, physiological and nutritional status,
seasonal change, milk production and climate. 

Eitan was very interested in promoting veterinary clinical pathology internationally, and especially in third world countries. He often hosted visiting scientists from these countries for short or long term visits to collaborate onresearch projects in his laboratory. At the same time he organized the donations of books and laboratory equipment to laboratories in third world countries.
Eitan Bogin was a born optimist who believed in Israel’s scientific cooperation with other countries.  He had a huge repertoire of humorous stories and enjoyed entertaining his many guests at home and in the laboratory. His passing is marked with deep sorrow.