Israel Active

Dr. Cezar J. Mizrahi, 36, a new immigrant from Brazil, has performed the first robot-assisted anterior lumbar spine fusion in Israel. Read how Dr Mizrahi compares Brazil, Australia (where he learned how to do complex and minimally invasive spine surgeries) and intense, passionate Israel.

Neurosurgeons at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center operated on a two-year-old girl to correct a congenital defect where part of her brain was descending into her nasal cavity. The defect was diagnosed from a blue mark on the bridge of her nose that doctors previously thought to be a birthmark.

Israel’s Nectin Therapeutics (see previously) has started human trials of its NTX1088 cancer treatment. NTX1088 blocks the protein PVR expressed by tumors to suppress the immune system. The treatment also restores DNAM-1, needed to activate anti-cancer T & NK cells.

Tel Aviv University researchers have developed a new technology to encapsulate (i.e., wrap) molecules and then release them within the body. They designed a peptide that forms compartments for the molecules and then UV light to break up the compartments. It can deliver therapies to wherever it is needed.  

Thanks to a generous donor, Tel Aviv University is to establish a multidisciplinary center for the research of autoimmune diseases. The new Colton Center will focus on big data analytics, sourced by Israeli medical institutions, to direct traditional scientific lab work.

Israeli startup Daily Backup has developed the CogniSpine – a semi-inflatable mattress that returns your spine to its natural curvature when lying on it in a prone position. It also stimulates the vagus nerve, which regulates heart rate, etc., switching it into “relaxed mode”.

The Covid pandemic has impacted positively on many of the patients using infusion systems from Israel’s Eitan Medical (see previously). What was once regularly a long visit to hospital is often now a 5-minute procedure performed at home. Earlier this year Eitan received Israel’s Outstanding Exporter’ award.

Israel’s MDI Health Technologies (see previously) is now up and running in the USA and Israel with its AI-based system to detect adverse interactions of medication. 20% of patients 65+ take dangerous combinations of medicines, causing 12 million hospitalizations in the US.

A new tool developed at Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center and the US’ Mayo Clinic is saving the lives of patients with myositis (weak, painful, and inflamed heart muscle). Using 20 years of ECG data, the AI system has an 80% accuracy of predicting and preventing impending heart failure.

Israel’s SpliSense (see previously) has begun a first Phase 1/2 human trial of its SPL84 treatment for a specific genetic mutation that causes cystic fibrosis. SpliSense utilizes proprietary RNA therapies called ASOs (antisense oligonucleotides) to correct mutations.