Israel Active

Weizmann Institute scientists have uncovered the method that white blood cells use to target invading pathogens. The fascinating process almost resembles army-training techniques.

One of the oldest and largest US pharmaceutical companies - Bristol-Myers Squibb – has expanded its Israel operation in order to get help from Israeli specialists with their launch of a new drug for the treatment of melanoma.

A Hebrew University research team has the first proof of molecular risk factors for Type 2 diabetes. This could eventually lead to new treatment approaches as well as mapping susceptibility at an early stage to other diseases as well.

Thousands of Israelis will benefit from cheaper treatments for cancer, HIV, melanoma and endocrinology disorders. The health ministry has included many expensive drugs within the range of treatments available through the low cost health insurance scheme available to all Israelis.

Researchers from Israel’s Technion and Rambam medical centre are the first in the world to create new blood vessels using embryonic stem cells that were programmed in advance. Sufficient quantities of the breakthrough cells were cultured for treating cardiovascular diseases in patients.

Researchers from Jerusalem’s Hebrew University have genetically engineered tobacco plants to produce artemisinin – a natural compound that produces a large number of anti-malaria drugs. Combating malaria is a United Nations Millennium Development goal. Some 250 million new malaria cases occur each year, causing nearly a million deaths.

Scientists at Tel Aviv University have developed a radioactive wire, less than an inch long and about the width of a pin. When inserted into a tumour, the wire releases lethal radioactive atoms that irradiate the tumour. As it breaks down, the tumour itself releases antigens, which trigger an immune response against the cancer cells, preventing the return of the tumour.

(Thanks to NoCamels) The universities of Haifa and Ben Gurion beat sixty international projects to secure funding for a four-year project to develop a computerized system that will enable patients who need to be monitored and their healthcare providers to receive updates and medical advice in real time outside clinically controlled environments.

Professor Mary Rudolf, consultant paediatrician at Leeds General Infirmary, who is also professor of child health at the University of Leeds, is making Aliya and will take up the position of Professor of Public Health at the brand new Bar Ilan Medical School in Sfat.

(News thanks to NoCamels) The twins shared the same placenta and were dying when their 25-year-old mother arrived at Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem. They were saved through a procedure that penetrated the uterus and separated the twins’ shared blood vessels.