Israel Active

Israeli researchers at the Technion and Rambam hospital in Haifa are the first scientists to reprogram healthy stem cells from the skin of heart patients and turn them into healthy heart cells. In the next decade, the scientists predict that they will be able to repair damaged hearts.

Scientists were baffled as to the purpose of non-coding RNA. Labelled as “junk DNA”, Dr Noam Shomron of Tel Aviv University has discovered that when infected with a virus, ncRNA gives off biological signals that indicate the presence of an infectious agent, known as a pathogen. This provides scientists with a new avenue for fighting off infections.

Ben Gurion University of the Negev is collaborating with the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to create medical devices for children. Current paediatric devices are inadequate miniaturised adult devices. Israeli skills will develop devices that are tailor-made for children.

Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek hospital specialises in pre-screening the eggs of IVF patients for genetic diseases. Since its first PGD-IVF birth in 2005, the hospital has helped deliver 200 healthy babies to “at risk” Jewish and Arab mothers.

In my 12th Feb newsletter I reported a method developed at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for training blind persons to "see sounds" through the use of a sensory substitution device (SSD). Now, eight congenitally blind participants using the system are actually able to "read" an eye chart.

Tel Aviv University researchers have developed a peptide, which protects dopamine-producing neurons in sufferers of Parkinson’s disease. The peptide can be delivered easily by daily injections or absorbed into the skin through an adhesive patch.

There is no single gene responsible for autism, however Hebrew University scientists had discovered several genetic mutations, all located in specific functional groups. This could pave the way for large-scale genetic scans that allow for early diagnosis and targeted medication.

Israel’s Sialo Technology has received Europe’s CE mark for its unique Dynamic Implant Valve Approach or DIVA. It is the first solution ever to allow the dentist to perform complex surgical procedures, such as a closed sinus elevation, via the implant in a minimal invasive manner simultaneously with the implant insertion.

The new MRI unit at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek hospital offers a level of advanced medical imaging not available in any other hospital in Israel. A soldier, seriously injured in the tragic collapse the Mount Herzl stage, underwent surgery expertly dictated by images produced in the MRI Unit.

Oded Stern, 36, has a rare and incurable disease ? Late Onset Tay-Sachs. Oded’s father runs the Endocrinology Institute at Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center and has been overseeing a unique research effort aimed at finding a drug to halt the disease’s progression and save his son’s life.