The universities are joining the fight against Corona - in research and strengthening the medical forces in students

In a joint initiative of universities and hospitals, reserves of students and volunteers were established to increase the rate of tests performed by MDA and the laboratories throughout the country * Students have already begun to increase MDA's testing system and volunteers have joined the testing system at Sheba, United Health Fund and more

In order to deepen and speed up the detection and identification of corona patients in Israel, an effort was conducted last week with the participation of universities and hospitals to build large pools of volunteers who will help the MDA to sample corona carriers in the community and to reinforce the laboratories in the hospitals and health funds throughout the country. Tel Aviv University, the Technion, the Hebrew University, Bar-Ilan University, Ariel University and the Sheba, Assaf Harofeh, Hadassah, Soroka, Wolfson, Ichilov hospitals are participating in the intensive effort, as well as several health insurance funds. The effort is carried out in full coordination with the Ministry of Health.

At the initiative of a number of volunteer doctors from the Sheba, Hadassah and Assaf Harofeh hospitals, and with the cooperation of the presidents of the medical students' association at the five university centers, a database of over 1000 students from all the medical schools in Israel was established who volunteered to help the MDA collect samples for corona from the population. Dozens of volunteers have already started increasing MDA's manpower this week and have carried out carrier tests for the corona virus.

In a joint initiative of Tel Aviv University, the Weizmann Institute, and many other academic centers, a pool of approximately 600 doctoral students and laboratory workers was established who volunteered to assist and increase the number of personnel in the corona testing laboratories operating in the hospitals and HMOs.

According to Prof. Carmit Levy from the Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry at the Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, this week five students received training at the central laboratory in Tel Hashomer, led by Prof. Ohad Gal-Moor from the School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University who serves as the head of the Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory at Sheba. Three more students started volunteering at the United Health Fund. These students are expected to later guide other groups of students. "It is inspiring to see the students, from all the institutions of higher education in Israel, mobilize with courage and determination to establish new laboratories and to assist existing laboratories in the effort against the corona," says Prof. Levy.

In order to deepen and speed up the detection and identification of corona patients in Israel, an effort was conducted last week with the participation of universities and hospitals to build large pools of volunteers who will help the MDA to sample corona carriers in the community and to reinforce the laboratories in the hospitals and health funds throughout the country. Tel Aviv University, the Technion, the Hebrew University, Bar-Ilan University, Ariel University and the Sheba, Assaf Harofeh, Hadassah, Soroka, Wolfson, Ichilov hospitals are participating in the intensive effort, as well as several health insurance funds. The effort is carried out in full coordination with the Ministry of Health.

At the initiative of a number of volunteer doctors from the Sheba, Hadassah and Assaf Harofeh hospitals, and with the cooperation of the presidents of the medical students' association at the five university centers, a database of over 1000 students from all the medical schools in Israel was established who volunteered to help the MDA collect samples for corona from the population. Dozens of volunteers have already started increasing MDA's manpower this week and have carried out carrier tests for the corona virus.

In a joint initiative of Tel Aviv University, the Weizmann Institute, and many other academic centers, a pool of approximately 600 doctoral students and laboratory workers was established who volunteered to assist and increase the number of personnel in the corona testing laboratories operating in the hospitals and HMOs.

According to Prof. Carmit Levy from the Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry at the Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, this week five students received training at the central laboratory in Tel Hashomer, led by Prof. Ohad Gal-Moor from the School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University who serves as the head of the Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory at Sheba. Three more students started volunteering at the United Health Fund. These students are expected to later guide other groups of students. "It is inspiring to see the students, from all the institutions of higher education in Israel, mobilize with courage and determination to establish new laboratories and to assist existing laboratories in the effort against the corona," says Prof. Levy.

Researchers at the Technion and Rambam present an innovative method for testing dozens of patients at the same time

Researchers at the Technion and the Rambam Medical Center have presented a method for corona testing that will allow for a significant increase in the daily number of subjects. This method, called pooling, is based on testing samples from dozens of subjects at the same time. Its implementation may significantly speed up the pace of testing and the detection of corona patients in the population. The experiment was completed within a few days thanks to the support of the Ministry of Health, and a unique collaboration between Rambam and the Technion.

The corona tests carried out today in Israel focus on people with symptoms of the disease and suspected infection. Although it is a population limited in number, the current rate of testing - about 1,200 per day - cannot allow monitoring of asymptomatic carriers in the population, which can help contain the epidemic. The new development is expected to help with this.

The corona virus is currently diagnosed with a PCR test, which is accepted in virus monitoring. This test examines the presence of a unique genetic sequence of viruses in a sample taken from the patient. The problem is that the test takes several hours and is currently a bottleneck in locating corona patients in Israel and around the world. According to Dr. Yuval Geffen, director of the clinical microbiology laboratory at Rambam, "Today, as part of the tests for Corona, we receive samples from about 200 subjects a day, and each such sample undergoes an individual test. According to the pooling approach we have tried now, the molecular test will be done on a 'common sample' taken from 32 or 64 patients. In this way, we can significantly speed up the pace of testing. Only in rare cases, where the joint sample is found to be positive, will we conduct an individual test for each of the specific samples."

According to Prof. Roi Kishoni, head of the research group at the Faculty of Biology at the Technion, "This is not a scientific breakthrough, but a demonstration of the possibility of using the existing method and even the existing equipment to significantly increase the sample volumes. This is by pooling a large number of samples in a single test tube. Even when we conducted a joint test of 64 samples, only one of which was from a confirmed patient, the system recognized that there was a positive sample here (for the presence of the virus). There are indeed logistical difficulties in implementing the method, but we hope that it will make it possible to increase the volume of samples and monitor silent, non-symptomatic carriers as well. Such an option can reduce the chance of infection and flatten the infection curve."

The director of the virological laboratory at Rambam, Dr. Moran Schwarzwart-Cohen, estimates that "the implementation of pooling in the last stage of the test, the PCR, will make it easier for us to shorten the entire process and significantly increase the rate of testing."

Technion President Prof. Uri Sion said that "the experiment conducted by the Technion and Rambam researchers is a complex project, which under normal conditions would have lasted months. Here, thanks to an impressive mobilization of all concerned due to the situation, this initial experiment was completed in less than four days. This achievement emphasizes the importance of the close relationship between the Technion and Rambam and more generally, between medicine and engineering. Technion researchers are being mobilized for the urgent war against the corona virus, and in addition to this research, quite a few studies are currently underway at the Technion that help in dealing with the spread of the disease."

The CEO of the Rambam Medical College Prof. Mickey Halbertal said that "the cooperation between the Technion and Rambam in this event, which affects the lives of all of us, is one example of the many joint activities that take place between the two institutions. These collaborations are designed to harness the infinite capabilities of Technion researchers for the benefit of the medical needs raised by the hospital's clinicians and researchers, and this is to promote medicine for the citizens of the State of Israel and humanity."

The experiment was led by Dr. Idan Yelin together with Nega Aharoni, Einat Tamar and Dina Birnbaum from Prof. Kishoni's lab as well as Amir Argouati from the lab of Prof. Yael Mandel-Gottfreund from the Faculty of Biology. Another essential partner in the experiment was Dr. Esti Messer, the supervisor of biological safety in the safety unit at the Technion, who was mobilized in the establishment of a dedicated laboratory and accompanied the entire process.

The Weizmann Institute is exploring ways to assist in the corona testing system

In view of the acute difficulty in performing a sufficient amount of corona tests in Israel, the Weizmann Institute of Science decided to join the national mission and operate in its field advanced laboratories that will perform corona tests. At the same time, the institute's scientists are developing an advanced testing method that will be performed very efficiently, and with significantly reduced risk.
The Weizmann Institute established a few years ago the The Israeli National Center for Personalized Medicine named after Nancy and Steven Grand. The center, located on the campus of the Weizmann Institute of Science, operates, among other things, an advanced, world-class laboratory. In this laboratory, several advanced PCR devices are installed that are able to quickly and efficiently identify genes.

Working meetings that are taking place these days, with the participation of the heads of the National Security Council, the management of the Ministry of Health, the Director of Public Health, Prof. Sigal Sadatsky, and others, are examining the possibility of operating the Institute's laboratories in order to significantly increase the amount of tests for the diagnosis of Corona that are carried out in Israel.
At the same time, and in coordination with the examination of these possibilities, the institute's scientists are developing a new test method, which may help in the global fight against Corona. This is a method that will be based on a process that includes fewer work steps compared to the existing tests, and at the same time also greatly reduces the biological risk to which the teams performing the tests are exposed.
The president of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Prof. Alon Chen: "The Weizmann Institute of Science is an integral part of Israeli society, and we consider ourselves a duty and a privilege to help and contribute to the state and people of Israel's dealings with the global corona crisis. In this time of crisis, we harness our abilities in the field of basic research, and use them for the welfare of humanity."

Ben-Gurion University is establishing a scientific task force to deal with the consequences of the corona virus

The president of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Prof. Daniel Haimowitz announced the diversion of research resources and the establishment of a multidisciplinary scientific task force, which includes dozens of scientists, from the best minds in Israel in order to find solutions to deal with the effects of the corona virus in a variety of areas: economy, food supply, security, Hotels, social behavior and more.

Following the decision, a founding meeting of the task force was held today, attended by over fifty scientists, faculty members from all university departments who responded to the university president's call to contribute the knowledge and resources at their disposal in order to deal with various aspects of the crisis. Some of the researchers who are in home isolation participated in the discussions through a video system. The university will devote resources to promoting the best ideas that emerged during the discussions.

As part of the decision, Ben-Gurion University will divert part of the research, development and project budgets to relevant aspects of the crisis using mature or almost mature capabilities and solutions, in order to quickly produce applicable solutions to the challenges we face.

The impact of the outbreak goes beyond the purely biomedical aspect, and involves all areas of life - economy, food, mental health, security, social behavior, education, technology and many other areas. At Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, scientists and research institutes work in a variety of fields - many of which can contribute to finding solutions to the various consequences of the Corona epidemic.

"Since the outbreak of the Corona epidemic, it has been an international crisis, affecting the lives of individuals, families, communities and countries around the world," Prof. Chaimovitz wrote to the researchers, "as part of the local, national and international community, the community of Ben-Gurion University in the Negev has a moral obligation to contribute to the national effort and the world to deal with the crisis. I ask you, the researchers, to make the corona crisis and its consequences the first of your priorities, to be creative and practical in order to achieve a significant contribution to the national challenge that stands before us."
The Israeli government will give grants to those who will carry out accelerated R&D to deal with the challenges of the Corona virus
The future of the corona virus - in the world and in Israel