Israel Active

In November, Gaza terrorists fired an anti-tank missile at an IDF jeep, seriously wounding Sergeant Shimon Alankri. Doctors at Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva saved his sight and celebrated with Shimon last week when he managed to light Hanukkah candles.

Researchers from Israel’s Weizmann have uncovered the process that bacteria deploys to remove antibiotics from cells. The discovery sheds new light on the ability of bacteria to develop antibiotic resistance.

Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have discovered how the malaria infection works. The deadly Plasmodium falciparum strain only reveals its 60 destructive genes to the body’s immune system one at a time. Uncovering its mask may lead to new treatments.

Israeli biologist Ido Bachalet is part of the Harvard team that designed a microscopic machine of DNA nano-robots that can carry anti-bodies direct to tumours. First they make a basket-shaped truck, then add the payload which is released when the truck meets the key of the tumour.

This video begins with the latest Israeli developments in focussed ultrasound surgery. It then moves on to describe the Technion’s goal of using technology to eliminate many of the hundreds of thousands of medical mistakes made around the world by overstretched human doctors and nurses.

Doctors and nurses at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek are piloting an innovative digital bracelet that prompts use of an anti-bacterial hand-wash following contact with a patient. It then repeats the reminder if the solution hasn’t been applied or if insufficient time was spent rubbing it into the hands.

Israel’s Teva has signed an agreement with Galena Biopharma to take its NeuVax early stage breast cancer treatment through its last stage trials and through to sales. Israel will be the location of at least four clinical trial sites for the NeuVax Phase III trials.

Doctors at Rehovot’s Kaplan Medical Center have saved the arm of a man wounded in the Grad missile attack in Kiryat Malachi by Gaza terrorists. Boris Chomeh’s arm had been severed in the explosion in which three Israelis were killed and a baby seriously injured.

The annual Innovations in Cardiovascular Interventions conference in Tel Aviv brought together 1100 participants from 40 countries to hear about the latest in ground breaking medical technology. Israeli companies produce 50% of the innovations that address the most vital organ in the human body.

In the past week, eight patients received organs from people aged 70 to 80. Israel Transplant reported that since January, eight elderly Israelis, some of whom are over 75 and nearing 80, were the source of life-saving organs. With improved lifestyles and hi-tech scanners, fewer organs are rejected.