Israel’s Kadimastem has been having much success with its revolutionary technology that uses microscopic stem cells to protect or repair brain function. Pharmaceutical giant Merck is to work with Kadimastem to conduct screening for new treatments into Multiple Sclerosis and other neuro-degenerative diseases. Another Israeli biotech, BrainStorm, has just built a bioreactor to multiply stem cells for advancing its treatment of ALS. Still at the cellular level, Israel’s Macrocure is launching on NASDAQ to finance its CureXcell white blood cell therapy to treat hard-to-heal and chronic wounds.
Israel’s Hil Applied Medical has recently been granted a patent in Japan for its focused radiation cancer therapy. Hil’s lasers destroy tumors using a beam of protons – some of the smallest matter in the universe. The Ebola virus may also be invisible to the naked eye, but it is causing havoc and panic across Africa. Israeli biotech Protalix has offered its facilities to produce the experimental vaccine ZMapp that has been having some success in treating Ebola victims. Separately, Israeli doctors are giving Cameroon medics training on how to fight the virus and Israeli biochemists are working hard to develop another vaccine. Meanwhile Jerusalem-based Argaman Technologies employs high-powered ultrasound to impregnate textiles with accelerated Copper Oxide in order to prevent the spread of bacteria and viruses such as Ebola.
Israel is a small country but certainly punches well above its weight on medical matters. The exclusive International Society of Orthopedic Centers (ISOC) has expanded its membership to include just one hospital in the Middle East: Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center. ISOC members must perform a minimum of 5,000 orthopedic surgeries each year. Then there is the example of the European Society of Anesthesiology (ESA), which has over 18,000 members in 40 countries. It has just elected Israel’s Dr Zev Goldik as its new President.
Jewish ethical teachings state that saving the life of one person is like saving an entire world. Israeli doctors apply this ethos equally to Jews and to non-Jews. During the past few weeks this included a unique kidney transplant to save a 14-year-old Gaza boy with obstructed blood vessels; operating on a blind 12-year-old Syrian boy brought to Israel on a donkey by his brother; delivering the baby of a Syrian woman fleeing from Quneitra (the seventh Syrian baby born at Ziv medical center in Safed); treating the 366th Syrian civil war casualty brought into Ziv (a 47-year-old Syrian woman who had lost limbs) and heart surgery for a sick Yazidi child from Northern Iraq. No wonder Israeli Arabs say that Israel is the safest place for an Arab in the Middle East.
Israel is one of the world’s leading countries in the field of nanotechnology – building products and materials at the molecular level. Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem are researching colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals - tiny synthetic particles containing metal impurities that don’t exist in nature but could have exciting implications for electronics, solar power and medicine. On a slightly larger scale, Israel’s OriginGPS has developed the world’s smallest GPS chip. Named “The Micro Hornet GPS” it is only 10x10x5.8mm and weighs merely 2.5 grams. It has the capability to be incorporated in clothing, automobiles and any valuable item that requires its location to be tracked. Staying with microelectronics, Israeli-Arab start-up SolidRun has developed the first scalable computer that is no bigger than a credit card.
Finally, here’s something for all those shortsighted media professionals who find it so difficult to see the huge benefits that Israel brings to the world. Israeli start-up LOOK has developed a device for finding misplaced spectacles. A tiny attachment to the spectacles connects wirelessly via an app to any mobile device.
Of course, there is a much simpler way for these people to see tiny Israel more clearly.
They just need to try opening their eyes.
Michael Ordman writes a free weekly newsletter containing positive news stories about Israel.
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