Israel Active

Israeli-founded, US-based Visby Medical has shipped to Israel hundreds of its 30-minute Covid-19 PCR tests. Israel’s Minister of Science and Technology, Israel is trying to persuade Visby to manufacture the kits locally.

Doctors and nurses save lives of many Covid-19 patients in Northern Israel’s Poriya hospital. But it is the “Dream Doctors” therapeutic clowns that save their sanity. Some patients deteriorate due to their emotional state, even though their vitals seem fine. They are much better after a Dream Doctor’s visit.

There are some 2,000 cases (80% fatal) of Acute Liver Failure (ALF) in the US each year. Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have managed to control the severity of ALF in the lab by blocking signals from the gut microbiome to the MYC protein in the liver.

Israeli and Scottish scientists have found that the brain can be protected from metastatic leukemia by blocking the production of the fatty acid stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD). The discovery is particularly important for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in children.

A follow-up to the article reported previously about the new Women’s Health Innovation Center at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center. The pioneering femtech (female technology) center, was originally set up to promote patient and doctor safety during COVID-19.

Israel’s MeMed (reported previously) has received clearance in Israel, Europe and Switzerland for its MeMed BV and MeMed Key infection analyzers. They measure 3 biomarker proteins and use AI algorithms to determine if an infection is viral or bacterial and whether to use antibiotics.

The race to produce a Covid-19 vaccine has spurred researchers at Israel’s Ben Gurion University to partner with Israeli startup Panacea-ml to speed up the human test phases. They have developed an AI tool to help select participants and markers, improve the analysis of results and presentation of findings.

Construction is underway on a new innovative radiotherapy institute at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. It will serve as a national center for cancer treatment, with advanced treatment methods and technologies.

Israel’s Umoove (reported previously) has partnered British behavioral change consultant Matt Hudson to reduce stress and anxiety. The app MindReset uses the mobile camera and Umoove’s mobile eye tracking technology to observe the user's nonverbal responses to stress.  

The Scan&Sound app developed by students at Israel’s Technion Institute uses AI to analyze subtle changes in a potential stroke victim’s voice and facial expressions. Scan&Sound won 2nd place at John Hopkins University MedHacks in the category “Personalized Medicine Using Data-Driven Healthcare.”