Israel Active

The Israel Cancer Research Fund is holding a virtual gala on 10th Aug to raise funds to help the most promising Israeli scientists advance ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer. ICRF has already provided more than 2,500 grants that have been responsible for major cancer research breakthroughs.

Israel-based RealView Imaging (see previously) has received FDA clearance for its HOLOSCOPE-i holographic system. The system creates spatially accurate, 3D interactive medical holograms, based on data received from standard CT scans and 3D ultrasound systems.

Israel’s CardiacSense (see previously) is about to ship its first heart-monitoring smartwatches around the world. This article gives the history and technical details of the low-cost product that can save many lives, at a fraction of the cost of hospital sensors and implants.

Honest Reporting’s Daniel Pomerantz was interviewed on Turkish TV about Israel’s coronavirus activities. He revealed that President Isaac Herzog was one of the first to receive a third (booster) vaccination against SARS-Cov-2. It was administered at Sheba hospital by Muslim Arab nurse Lina Ahmad.

Israel’s Append Medical is developing the Appligator - an implantable device for closing the Left Atrial Appendix (LAA) to prevent blood clot leakage and strokes in those suffering from atrial fibrillation (AF). However, unlike other implants, the device is removed after surgery, leaving just stitches.

It is known that a build-up of Amyloid plaques in the brain is common in Alzheimer’s patients, but what do they affect? Scientists at Israel’s Ben Gurion University have just found that they are a catalyst to the degradation of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and adrenaline.

A US clinical study involving Irving Weissman of Ben Gurion University is using the antibody Magrolimab to enhance “scavenger macrophages” - cancer cell-eating white blood cells. Magrolimab blocks the CD47 molecule that cancer cells produce to signal “don’t eat me” to the macrophages.

The 2021 report by research center StartupBlink cited Israel as the source of 38 of some 1,300 pandemic-related innovations, ranking it world number 2 after the USA. The report praised Israel’s many innovations relative to its small size and also its vaccination program.

Israel’s 6degrees has developed MyMove - a personalized motion-based & touch-free wearable, enabling the disabled to gain intuitive control over any smart device. It also helps rehabilitate injured patients, studying movements similar to how a voice-activated device “learns”.

For the first time an Israeli kidney exchange has included patients in the UAE. Shani at Sheba gave her kidney to a woman in Abu Dhabi whose daughter gave her kidney to a woman in Haifa whose husband donated his kidney to Shani’s mother.  Wishing a speedy recovery to all.