Israel Active

The Britain-Israel Research and Academic Exchange (BIRAX) partnership has launched a new £1.6 million grant program to fund joint research between Israeli and UK scientists in the field of ageing. (see for 2018 initiative)

Researchers at Israel’s Technion (a team of Jews and Arabs) have discovered that the brain can induce a psychosomatic response not only to cause illness, but also to heal it. Inflammation in mice activated specific neurons which later could be manipulated to re-create or control the inflammation.

Israel’s Salignostics has developed Salistick, the world’s first and only saliva-based rapid pregnancy test kit. It detects the pregnancy hormone β-hCG and delivers a test result in 10 minutes. Another of Salignostics kits, SaliCov, detects Covid-19 from saliva in just 15 minutes.

In its latest Phase 2 trial at three major Israeli hospitals, MesenCure from Israel’s Bonus BioGroup (see previously) reduced Covid-19 deaths to 6.7% compared to 23.3% of the control group. It is now aiming for emergency use authorization in US, EU, and Israel.

Scientists at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University have found that malignant cells in hematologic cancer (leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma etc.), rely on a cytoskeletal protein, called WASp. Attacking WASp can destroy malignant cells without threatening healthy ones.

Israel has seen the biggest drop in coronavirus morbidity anywhere in the world, according to global trackers. Covid-19 may be here to stay, but thanks to boosters, virus-killing masks, nasal sprays, and vaccine passports, Israel has only some 5,500 active cases (115 serious).

Very interesting article about Israel’s NanoScent (see previously), which has developed a device so sensitive that it can detect viruses in the breath, such as SARS-Cov2. 50% of employees are female and it is another example of Christian Arabs, Muslims, and Israeli Jews working side by side.

Israel’s Enovid (see previously) is ramping up production of its SaNOtize anti-Covid Nasal spray to keep up with demand. It is to manufacture up to 250,000 units per month in the US alone. In August, Enovid struck a deal with India’s Glenmark to manufacture the spray for South-East Asia.

Israel’s Aidoc, (see previously) has been selected the “Best New Health Application” award of the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Health Awards competition. Aidoc’s artificial intelligence (AI) solutions have revolutionized medical imaging.

The Canadian-Israeli Azrieli Foundation has given NIS 40 million ($13 million) to the National Autism Research Centre of Israel in BeerSheba (see previously). It is the largest ever donation for an autism infrastructure project in Israel.