More interesting products of the biotechnology industry in Israel

Soon it will be possible to cure heart diseases using a biopolymer that will be implanted on the heart, and to repair damaged cartilage. Part II ofRoey Tsezana's report on the Prime Minister's Conference on Biotechnology that took place in Haifa last week

In the previous article, we mainly reviewed the AIT company that develops antibodies to fight cancer and viral wars, as part of the 2008 Life Sciences Industries Conference in Haifa. Another intriguing company presented at the conference was Regentis Biomaterials, which focuses on tissue repair, mainly cartilage and bone. The company's vision, as presented by Yehiel Tal, is that already in the next decade we will reach a cartilage repair procedure, with minimal invasiveness and a 95 percent success rate.

The company mainly relies on patent of Doctor Dror Slickter from the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering at the Technion, who found a way to produce unique hydrogels that support the growth of cartilage cells. When our cartilage is damaged, an inflammatory tissue forms in its place, which does not allow full recovery and sometimes even leads to further deterioration in the condition of the cartilage and bone. Selector proposed to create a liquid gel that could be injected into the injured area, shortly after the injury. The gel will fill the space created, and after irradiation with a UV gun will become semi-solid. The surrounding cartilage cells will be able to spread slowly into the gel and gradually fill the space, with healthy tissue that will last a long time. In experiments done on goats, it was proven that the gel has the promise of greatly improving the recovery process after cartilage damage, and we can only hope that the company's vision will be realized quickly.

After Tal 'warmed up' the audience with a description of a cheap and effective tissue engineering preparation for cartilage, Professor Samdar Cohen from Ben-Gurion University took the stage. Cohen has also been involved in tissue engineering for many years, and announced her own vision, "It will be possible to cure heart diseases using a biopolymer that will be implanted on the heart."

is also The idea Cohen's is based on a hydrogel designed to provide the cells with a supportive environment for heart rehabilitation. In any case of a heart attack, the most difficult problem is a lack of blood supply to areas of the heart. The muscle cells die in those areas, and then enzymes are activated that break down the surrounding tissue. The result is a scarred area that impairs the function of the heart and ultimately leads to heart failure and the death of the patient.

Cohen's hydrogel is based on a polymer extracted from algae, called alginate. This polymer is common in the field of tissue engineering, and its main advantages are that it does not cause damage to the body when it breaks down, and does not cause an immune response against it. The polymer will be injected into the affected area immediately after a heart attack, using the same catheter used for normal catheters. Although the polymer is liquid at room temperature, it will solidify and turn into a gel in the area of ​​injury, supporting the tissue during self-healing. And of course, the gel will break down by itself within a few weeks and allow the cells to fully restore the tissue.

The results presented by Cohen on the screen warmed the hearts of the viewers. The innovative polymer treatment was tested on dogs that had a heart attack, and 100 percent of them survived, compared to a 50 percent mortality rate in dogs that did not receive the treatment. Clinical studies have already started in a number of patients, and we all hope that they will be successful and that by the beginning of the next decade the treatment will already be in the hospitals.

After the two tissue engineering experts, the complete opposite took the stage in the form of Professor Israel Ganot from Tel Aviv University. Ganot mainly specializes in sensors and optical fibers, thermal imaging and lasers for medical uses, and he chose to reveal a number of the more interesting developments being worked on in his laboratory, and the way in which they may affect medical science.

According to Professor Ganut, the day is not far when we can use a laser to treat cancerous tumors. Methods are already known today to direct nanoparticles into cancer cells. Those nanoparticles are constructed so that a laser of a specific wavelength will cause them to vibrate rapidly and heat up their surroundings. Using the method proposed by Ganot, it will be possible to inject nanoparticles into the blood stream of the cancer patient, let them penetrate the cancer cells and then irradiate the tumor area with a laser. The cancer cells will actually undergo boiling from the inside and will not survive the aggressive treatment. All this, without damaging the tissues surrounding the tumor.

Another project in Ganot's laboratory focuses on the identification of 'almost diseases'. When our throat hurts in the winter, the doctor takes a throat swab to check what kinds of bacteria are present in our throat, and whether they are particularly dangerous to our health. Analyzing the results of such a test requires between one and three days - which may be critical in the event that these are indeed violent bacteria. The technology Ganot is working on will make it possible to collect the patient's sputum, insert it into a computerized testing system and irradiate the sample with light. From data on the reflection and absorption of light it will be possible to know if bacteria are present in the sputum, to differentiate between different bacteria in the same sample and even to identify bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. The test will make it possible to shorten the time needed to diagnose bacterial diseases to a few minutes, and may save lives and prevent complications in many potential patients.

At the end of his speech, Ganot touched on one last topic that may be of particular interest to the elderly among us. This is the development of a new system for a 'smart medical home', capable of diagnosing falls in the home area and calling for help in real time. Since an alarmingly high number of elderly people die in domestic accidents, the new system may help extend life expectancy in society, at a relatively cheap cost.

At the end of the series of lectures about the new biomedical developments, Dr. Shay Yarkoni, the chairman of the Advisory Council for Life Sciences, took to the stage with an unusual proposal. He welcomed the exciting developments in the life sciences industries market, but lamented the non-stop struggle between the start-up companies in the field in Israel. According to Yarkoni, the greatest good will come from cooperation between the different companies in Israel. In his opinion, Uziah Galil, founder of Elron and chairman of the Elbit board of directors, also joined in, who came on stage and received thunderous applause.

At the end of the round of lectures, the attendees went to a hearty lunch at the Dan Carmel Hotel, after which they left for two consecutive hours of making connections between entrepreneurs and investors and looking for business opportunities. It is certainly possible that as early as next year we will see a number of companies that were established thanks to the collaborations created at the conference, and the breakthrough of companies that received funding thanks to the increased exposure to investors. And for that there is nothing left but to say - to your health.