Israel Active

Israel’s RedC Biotech is developing a process for mass-production of red blood cells for transfusions. Working with Accellta, a spin-off startup from Israel’s Technion Institute, they use stem cells from O-negative donors to mass-produce red blood cells for most humans, even without testing.

Six years ago, Israel’s ex-Chief Scientist Dr. Orna Berry was diagnosed with cervical, ovarian, and thyroid cancer with six-months to live. Israeli startup Curesponse used genome sequencing to find her best treatment. Dr Berry is now cancer free and at the age of 72 is Google Cloud’s Director of Technology.

15-year-old MDA volunteer Ido spotted a bus strangely stopped in the middle of the road. He then noticed that the bus driver was clutching his chest. Ido immediately alerted his colleagues who spent 20 minutes administering CPR and 11 defibrillator shocks until the driver regained consciousness.

Medics at Israel’s Kohav Meir field hospital brought Virtual Reality goggles and telehealth devices when they visited a refugee camp for Ukrainians.  They used the VR goggles to diagnose patients remotely. And the goggles also provided relief for the trauma-affected refugee children.

The Robotic stocking from Israel’s ElastiMed (see previously) for treating lymphatic and venous leg diseases is being tested in a clinical study at Sheba Medical Center. It already shows a 5-fold improvement in leg volume reduction, compared to the hospital’s standard compression bandages.

The Bendit21 microcatheter from Israel’s Bendit Technologies (see previously) has just received US FDA approval. The device has already been used to save two lives in the US and is described as a game-changer in endovascular medicine.

Israel’s Sanolla (see previously) has received US FDA approval for its VoqX, the first and only stethoscope that can listen to infrasound - acoustic sound waves (3 to 40 Hz) that aren’t detectable by the human ear but provide important diagnostic information.

Researchers from Weizmann, Hadassah and Rambam medical centers have discovered a significant drop in a specific type of fibroblast (cell scaffold) occurs with the onset of scleroderma - a rare autoimmune disease. The research can shed light on the origin of other diseases.

Israeli Meidan Schwartzman faced life-altering surgery to trace a mystery heart arrhythmia. Then he read about Dr. Itzik Biton, a senior cardiologist at Hadassah's Heart Institute who subsequently used Artificial Intelligence to locate and fix the problem in the sinus area of Meidan’s heart.

Doctors at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center saved the severed ear of a carpenter who suffered a serious work accident. To prevent rejection, they used tissue from his scalp and leg to create an artificial cartilage mold of the severed part of the ear and grafted it onto the remaining part.