Israel Active

Israel’s Betalin has significantly increased the lifetime of pancreatic beta cells transplanted into diabetics in order to produce insulin. This has been achieved by simultaneously transplanting an Engineered Micro Pancreas (EMP) to sustain the cells.

More news of the work of Hebrew University of Jerusalem Professor Yaakov Nahmias (see , , and ). Now he has been able to use the chemical Oncostatin to double the speed of liver cell production outside the body.

Japan’s Fukushima Medical University and Israel’s Pluristem Therapeutics are to develop Pluristem’s PLX-R18 cells to treat acute radiation syndrome (ARS). Radiation continues to spread following the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster.

Israel’s VoiceITT won the 2015 Medica medical app competition in Dusseldorf with its Talkitt platform that translates the speech of people with communication disabilities. Medica is the world’s largest medical trade fair, attracting nearly 5,000 exhibitors from 70 nations.

Israel’s Enopace has seen the first operation to implant its new catheter-based neuro-stimulator to treat patients with congestive heart failure. The procedure was performed by Professor Davor Milicic, head of Cardiology at Zagreb Medical University.

The US FDA has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation status to Israel’s Teva for its SD-809 (deutetrabenazine) treatment of patients with tardive dyskinesia, a hyperkinetic movement disorder affecting about 500,000 people in the USA.  

Israel’s Weizmann Institute has entered into a research agreement with India’s Sun Pharma and Spain’s Health Research Institute of Santiago to develop products for treating neurological diseases such as brain stroke and brain cancer.

Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, is donating $20 million to fund research in personalized medicine. The Kraft Endowment will allow scientists and physicians to use a patient’s genetic history to understand a disease, then diagnose and develop tailored treatments.

Joint Israeli-US research has discovered that the absence of protein RFX in many elderly people causes hearing loss. The protein is responsible for maintaining tiny hairs (cilia) in the inner ear. When these hairs die off, the person becomes deaf. The team believe their discovery will help develop treatments to restore hearing in patients.

Israeli crowdsourcing platform Sleep ASAP offers insomniacs a solution to their sleeping problems. In a recent study, Sleep ASAP analyzed personality traits and sleep habits of 2500 participants. It successfully determined the reason for the insomnia in 99% of cases.