Israel Active

A research team from Israel’s Technion has produced human eggs using cells from the amniotic sac that surrounds a baby in the womb. Experts believe that donation of the amniotic sac will be more acceptable than egg donation from fertile women.

The eNose early diagnostic breath test for lung cancer developed by Israel Technion Professor Hossam Haick is to go commercial. The Technion has announced a joint venture with Alpha Szenszor Inc. to produce an economically viable, non-invasive, digital screening tool.

Moshe Schreibhand of Rishon Lezion went fishing to relax on the night before his wife was due to give birth and a fish hook got caught in his eye. Doctors at Kaplan Medical Center removed the hook, sewed up his eyeball and saved his sight.

Version 2 of the ReWalk exoskeleton from Israel’s Argo Medical has just been released. Now one device can be resized to help train different users. New software programs also make the device easier to use.

Prof. Jonathan Rabinowitz, of Bar-Ilan University has been appointed to the Advisory Group on Promoting Good Analysis Practice in relation to European Medicines Agency (EMA) Clinical Trial Data and Transparency. He will also co-chair of the Program Committee for the Biennial Schizophrenia International Research Society Conference to take place in Florence, Italy.

One in 4000 babies is born with DiGeorge syndrome, a congenital condition that causes various abnormalities, most often in the face and heart. Weizmann researchers have solved a piece of this puzzle by investigating the genetic network underlying this syndrome.

Here is an update on the progress of Israel’s Bonus Biogroup and its founder Dr. Shai Meretzki who is generating bones from patients’ own fat cells. Hospitals in Tzrifin and Afula, have agreed to trial the implanting of engineered bones back into patients as soon as the Helsinki Committee approves.

When 1,000 apparently healthy Israelis of a median age of 48 were screened at Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center for 11 of the most common cancers, 2.4 percent (24) were diagnosed at an early stage with malignancies and treated successfully.

Of 115 smokers, 84% of those receiving Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) stopped smoking permanently at the end of the 6-month trial. 36% were still not smoking after the six-month post-treatment monitoring period.

The European Commission has chosen the Human Brain Project as one of its flagship projects. Participating from Israel is a team of eight scientists from the Hebrew University, the Weizmann Institute of Science, and Tel Aviv University.