Israel is renowned for its achievements in the field of security, IT, smart mobility and start-ups, which earned the country the nickname of Silicon Wadi, the Silicon Valley of the Middle East. Lately, the country has also gained great recognition for its contributions to the world of biotechnology.
Israeli biotech initially started in 1901 with the creation of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries – a very small structure at the time –, which became today the world’s biggest pharmaceutical company.
There is a consensus that the main source of innovation originates in the medical centers and the seven universities of the country. These scientific hubs opened the way for medical innovation and led to the creation of over 1400 Israeli companies in the life science sector today.
One of the most recent Israeli breakthroughs is the first fully personalized tissue implant, using a patient’s own stomach cells, which significantly reduces the risk of an immune response. This new technology makes it possible to engineer any kind of tissue implant, whether it is for the spinal cord, the heart or brain, from one small tissue biopsy. This discovery was led by researcher Prof. Tal Dvir from Tel Aviv University’s Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and Sagol Center for Regenerative Biotechnology, and in collaboration with Prof. Dan Peer and Prof. Irit Gat Viks of TAU’s Department of Cell Research and Immunology and Prof. Lior Heller of Assaf HaRofeh Medical Center in Israel.
In Israel, 3D is not only for movies, it also applies to med tech. The Israeli company CollPlant in cooperation with major American biotech firms are making printed human organs and 3D bio printed lungs will soon be available for global transplants. And the biggest surprise, the main ingredient for the 3D “Ink” is made from Tabacco.
“We are excited to work with CollPlant’s extraordinary Israeli technology to transform the tobacco plant that is so associated with lung disease into a collagen-expressing plant that will be essential to the production of an unlimited number of transplantable lungs,” said United Therapeutics Chairwoman and CEO Martine Rothblatt.
Another Israeli startup iNNOGING enables physicians to capture ultrasound videos and perform a virtual dynamic exam, without the patient being present. The iNNOGING software and hardware were invented in the Kinematics and Computational Geometry Lab at Israel’s Ariel University, co-directed by Dr. Nir Shvalb, and licensed through the Ariel Scientific Innovations tech-transfer company. “Most of the developments are about helping technicians capture better video images. Our technology is focused on the doctor doing the diagnosis without seeing the patient.”
Another incredible finding: Israeli researchers discovered that positive emotions can shrink cancer tumors. After artificially activating the reward system in the brains of mice with two types of cancer, researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology found that the size of their tumors dramatically decreased.
The real beneficiaries will be the millions of people whose lives will be changed by Israel’s life science revolution that enables the development of next generation treatments.