Israel Active

Cross-border investment specialists Cukierman & Co state that Israel has the most Covid-19 solutions, after the USA and China. Some 180 of Israel’s 1,600 life sciences companies are either fully or partially dedicated to coronavirus. Israel is also a top global pioneer in personalized medicine.

To safely develop vaccines against deadly viruses, scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have developed a method for producing artificial cells that can assemble just part of the virus. Researchers can then test their vaccines on a safe section of the virus.

Israel’s Diagnostic Robotics is to implement its triage system (reported previously) at the Mayo Clinic’s headquarters in Rochester, Minnesota .  The system cuts down emergency room wait times (currently 2.5 hours on average in the US) and reduces the burden on physicians.

Israel’s Exero Medical has developed a bio-degradable wireless sensor for the early detection of leaks following gastrointestinal surgery procedures. Doctors at Israel’s Rabin Medical Center have just completed the first human implantation of the device as part of a clinical trial.

Tel Aviv University researchers have found that the weeks before and after cancer surgery are critical for the prevention of metastases development. Patients require immune-therapeutic treatment as well as treatment to reduce inflammation and physical and psychological stress.

Currently after cancer surgery biopsies are taken, but testing takes weeks. Now a new experimental tool developed by Tel Aviv University researchers tests a sample taken during surgery. An hour later and the surgeon knows if an immediate return to the operating theater is needed.

Scientists at Israel’s Sheba Medical Centre are trialing a new cancer treatment called immunopheresis. It involves filtering a patient’s blood to remove proteins produced by malignant cells from the bloodstream. These proteins suppress the immune system’s cancer-killing T-cells.

Israel’s NanoVation (reported previously) has been awarded a €2.5 million EU Horizon 2020 grant to develop SenseGuard. The device’s nano-sensor technology detects respiratory problems (e.g. COPD). (Sniff phone inventor) is Chief Scientific Officer.

Contrary to several media reports, the current Covid-19 situation in Israel is not “out of control”. Listen to this 45-min presentation by Professor Yonatan HaLevy of Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center. The elderly are protected and treatments are working.

This video shows some of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s latest medical research into the novel coronavirus. They include the overactive immune response; locating the virus during the incubation period; analysis of virus receptors; and boosting the oxygen needed by immunity T-cells,