Israel Active

Israel’s Filterex Medical has completed successful trials of its CAPTIS device. The easily deployed device protected 20 patients during Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) procedures, preventing any embolic particles (debris) entering the bloodstream and causing a stroke.

Two Israeli health tech startups Sanolla (ultrasound stethoscope - see ) and Naor (a.k.a. Rapid Diagnostics) saliva-based Covid-19 detection (see ), were awarded the Breakthrough Innovation Award at the InoVEX 2022 Pitch Contest held in Taiwan.  

Israel’s Lumenis (see previously) has won a MedTech Breakthrough award for “Best New Technology Solution for Ophthalmology.”  Its OptiLight Optimal Pulse Technology (OPT) is the only FDA approved light treatment for dry eye disease, with 49 million US sufferers.

Professor Michael Sela, formerly the sixth president of Israel’s Weizmann Institute, has passed away at the age of 98. Prof Sela co-invented Copaxone to treat MS, Erbitux for cancer, and other treatments. He helped create the field of immunology, won numerous awards, and spoke nine languages.

Identical twin sisters, Yael and Avital gave birth at Shaare Zedek Medical Center to their fourth babies (both boys) on the same day. Each already had two girls and a boy. And previously, a set of twins were born at Hadassah Medical Center, at 2:22am on the 22nd of February 2022.

Israel has selected 19 programs for a new digital health initiative. They include test sharing, endoscopy videos for R&D, and making data on mental health and midwifery more accessible. The databases used are anonymized and better access should contribute to more breakthroughs in Israeli health tech.

Report and fascinating new video showing the features of the X100 Microscope and Decision Support System from Israel’s Scopio Labs (see previously).

Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute and in Germany, have clarified the molecular cascade triggered by ketamine, that leads to its sustained antidepressant effects. They found that the gene Kcnq2 enables potassium ions to pass through the brain, maintaining the activity and stability of neurons.

Excellent article about Israel’s DecideVR (see previously) - the most advanced Virtual Reality simulator for reducing errors and saving lives in Intensive Care Units. It was developed by Prof Alex Mintz, Director of the Computerized Decision-Making Lab at Reichman University.

Since March, volunteer doctors (Jews & Arabs) from the Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem, have been running the medical clinic at the Przemyśl Humanitarian Aid Center, near the Medyka border crossing in southeastern Poland. Also, at a refugee center in nearby Korczowa.