Israel Active

Normally surgeons at the Rabin Medical Centre – Beilinson campus perform 10 transplants a month. But in July, they tripled the number of operations to restore the sight of patients. This is another positive result of the new ADI organ donor cards that more and more Israelis have signed up to.

Professor Itzak Fried of Sourasky Medical Center implanted electrodes deep inside the brain of a patient with intractable epilepsy (does not respond to medication). So far, the treatment has been a complete success. There are some 20,000 Israelis with intractable epilepsy.

Scientists at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem have identified the processes that turn human embryonic stem cells into any type of body cell. It could eventually lead to their use to implant healthy new cells into humans suffering from degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and diabetes.

A team led by scientists at the Weizmann Institute have discovered a link between cancer and changes external to the genetic code. Known as epigenetics, this little explored area of study could answer questions about how the body works, grows, gets sick, and cures itself.

Israel is investing $11 million to develop nanometer-sized drug delivery systems for the treatment of a wide range of diseases. Eleven labs at several universities will try and create an "inter-body robot" – nano-sized particles that can direct medicine and imaging systems to any part of the body.

12-year-old Kyril suffered from brachial plexus palsy, a rare congenital defect making his right hand useless. Dr. Eidelman, of Rambam hospital in Haifa, rotated the boy’s wrist 65 degrees, moved his shoulder bone and applied an innovative locking plate. (See also next article.)

Now every Israeli can sign up for Yad Sarah’s immediate communication service for a nominal, one-time fee. When contacted, volunteers see the caller’s health details and can provide advice, deal with emergencies or just engage in a comforting chat.

Weizmann scientists have developed a method to refocus scattered light. It can lead to medical lasers performing operations on organs deep inside the body, without cutting intervening skin or tissue.

Prof. Assaf Friedler of the Hebrew University and Prof. Atan Gross of the Weizmann Institute have discovered a peptide tBID that is key to cell death. They have also been able to mimic tBID’s behaviour with another peptide MTCH2, which “could lead to new approaches to treating cancer.”

(Thanks to Israel21c) Immune Pharmaceuticals is building an Israel-based Centre of Excellence for Monoclonal Antibody Drug Development. Israeli bio-techs and science institutes lead the way in developing medicines that contain toxic molecules but only target cancerous tissue.