Technion and top US universities unveil implantable ‘living pancreas’ that senses glucose, produces insulin and evades immune response, paving the way for self-regulating, long-term diabetes treatment without daily injections

A multinational research team led by an Israeli engineer and involving top U.S. universities has unveiled a pioneering implantable device that could someday eliminate the need for daily insulin injections for people with diabetes.

The study, published Jan. 28 in Science Translational Medicine, describes a living, cell‑based implant that functions as an autonomous “artificial pancreas.” Once placed in the body, the device continuously monitors blood glucose levels, produces insulin internally and releases exactly what the body needs — without external pumps, injections or patient intervention.

The breakthrough centers on a novel protective technology researchers call a “crystalline shield”, engineered to prevent the body’s immune system from rejecting the implant — a major hurdle that has stymied cell‑based therapies for decades. The shield allows the implant to operate reliably for years.

Tests in mice showed effective long‑term glucose regulation, and studies in non‑human primates confirmed that the cells inside the implant remain viable and functional, the researchers said. Those results, they added, provide strong support for future clinical testing in humans.

The work was led by Assistant Professor Shady Farah of the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology’s Faculty of Chemical Engineering, in collaboration with scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Massachusetts. The collaboration traces back to Farah’s postdoctoral work beginning in 2018 at MIT and Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, under tissue‑engineering pioneers including Robert Langer, a co‑founder of Moderna.

Assistant Professor Shady Farah
Assistant Professor Shady Farah

Farah’s co‑first authors on the paper are Matthew Bochenek of MIT and Joshua Doloff of Johns Hopkins. Other contributors include Technion researchers Dr. Merna Shaheen‑Mualim and former master’s students Neta Kutner and Edward Odeh, who also helped adapt the work for publication.

While the initial focus is on diabetes, the team emphasized that the platform could one day be adapted to deliver other biologic therapies continuously, offering a new approach to chronic conditions such as hemophilia and other metabolic or genetic diseases.

If successfully translated into human treatment, experts say the technology could reshape the management of chronic illness by replacing lifelong drug regimens with self‑regulated, living therapeutics working continuously inside the body.

Prof. Ido Kaminer and Prof. Yehonadav Bekenstein of the Technion have been awarded ERC Proof of Concept (PoC) grants by the European Research Council. The grants are expected to lead to a major leap forward in low-radiation medical imaging and in the precise mapping of biological tissues.

Two young researchers from the Technion have won the prestigious ERC PoC grants from the European Research Council (ERC). Proof of Concept grants are feasibility grants designed to promote the transition from academic research to application and commercialization, including the establishment of a startup company, and are awarded only to researchers who have previously received ERC grants. Grant amount: €150,000 each.

The two recipients are Prof. Ido Kaminer from the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Prof. Yehonadav Bekenstein from the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering. Both joined the Technion faculty in the same year, 2018, and in 2025 inaugurated a joint interfaculty laboratory: the Quantum Microscopy Lab. This innovative lab is equipped with state-of-the-art microscopes capable of detecting quantum phenomena that cannot be studied by other means. The laboratory, which also includes Dr. Michael Krüger from the Faculty of Physics, was established following the Technion’s success in a call issued by the National Authority for Technological Innovation, with support from the Helen Diller Quantum Center at the Technion.

Prof. Yehonadav Bekenstein, a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, joined the Technion faculty after a Rothschild postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley. He is considered a leading scientist in materials discovery, specializing in light-emitting nanomaterials and perovskites  the technology at the heart of the new sensor that earned him the grant. His scientific work has been recognized with a series of prestigious awards, including the Krill Prize for Excellence in Scientific Research and the Goldberg Prize from the Technion.

The grant Prof. Bekenstein received will be used to advance MagicLayer a sensor for a new generation of medical imaging with minimal radiation exposure. The scientifc idea of the developed technology is based on nanocrystals and ultrafast quantum light emission.

3.המעבדה למיקרוסקופיה קוונטית בטכניון. מימין לשמאל : מנהל המעבדה ד"ר קובי כהן, פרופ' עדו קמינר , ד"ר מיכאל קרוגר ופרופ' יהונדב בקנשטיין.
The Quantum Microscopy Laboratory at the Technion. From left to right: Prof. Yehonadav Bekenstein, Dr. Michael Krüger, Prof. Ido Kaminer, and laboratory director Dr. Kobi Cohen

Sensors used in medical imaging are currently limited by their response speed. This relative slowness leads to the loss of valuable information and forces physicians to increase patients’ exposure to radiation. Standard crystals used in industry have reached the limits of their classical physical capabilities and struggle to deliver the field’s “holy grail,” which is a time resolution of 10 picoseconds. This is where the new sensor comes in; it is based on arrays of nanocrystals developed at the Technion. The light emitted from these arrays is correlated and responds significantly faster than existing technologies. The technology is relevant not only to medicine but also to improving electron microscopes and to real-time monitoring of radioactive gases in nuclear facilities. The research team behind the winning proposal includes Dr. Georgy Dosovitskiy, Dr. Rotem Strassberg, and Shai Levy.

Prof. Ido Kaminer, who completed all of his degrees at the Erna and Andrew Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering, returned as a faculty member after a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT. He is a world-renowned scientist in photonics, electron microscopy, light–matter interactions, quantum information processing, and mathematical discoveries using artificial intelligence. His scientific work has earned him numerous honors, including the Stanisław Lem Prize, the Schmidt Science Polymath Award, the Blavatnik Award, the Krill Prize, and election to the Israeli Young Academy.

His new grant will be used to develop Stork – an innovative module that improves the performance of transmission electron microscopes (TEM). These instruments are widely adopted for biological applications as well as semiconductor metrology and inspection. However, their capabilities across both fields are highly limited owing to low contrast, which hinders resolution and throughput. The Stork technology makes it possible to introduce light directly onto the studied specimen, while also efficiently collecting the light emitted from it, thereby enhancing the TEM imaging capabilities dramatically. This paradigm shift in TEM technology will provide unprecedented information for imaging biological tissues and atomic-scale defects in electronic devices. The research team behind the winning proposal includes Dr. Tal Fishman, Dr. Michael Yannai, and Dr. Raphael Dahan, as well as students Marta Rozhenko and Rotem Elimelech.

Technion researchers find protein-disposal system in brain cells may actually spread toxic proteins linked to Alzheimer’s; instead of destroying them, cells sometimes expel them to neighbouring tissues, potentially accelerating disease progression in brain

In a surprising discovery, researchers at the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology have found that a cellular system tasked with disposing of toxic proteins—crucial in preventing Alzheimer’s disease—may actually be helping the disease spread across the brain.

The study, led by Professor Michael Glickman, dean of the Technion’s Faculty of Biology, and postdoctoral researcher Dr. Ajay Wagh, reveals that, instead of breaking down defective proteins inside the cell, neurons may be pushing this “trash” into surrounding brain tissue. Their findings were published recently in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

At the heart of the discovery is a mutated version of the protein ubiquitin, called UBB+1. While healthy ubiquitin helps cells identify and eliminate damaged proteins, UBB+1 disrupts this process and leads to toxic buildup, which is one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.

Normally, a cellular protein called p62 helps neutralise this threat by packaging UBB+1 into protective vesicles, keeping it from damaging the cell. The vesicles can then take one of two paths: they’re either sent to the cell’s internal recycling centre (the lysosome), or they’re expelled into the space between cells.

It’s the second option that poses a danger. According to the Technion team, once UBB+1 is released into the brain’s extracellular fluid, fragments of the toxic protein can leak out and be absorbed by neighbouring neurons—potentially accelerating the spread of Alzheimer’s throughout the brain.

“We all want someone to take out the trash,” Glickman said. “But in this case, the cells are dumping their trash on their neighbors. Although this solves an acute problem for the individual cell, it may cause long-term damage to the entire tissue.”

The discovery could pave the way for earlier diagnoses of Alzheimer’s, possibly through testing cerebrospinal fluid for markers of UBB+1. It may also open the door to personalised treatments targeting the faulty disposal pathway.

The research was funded by the Israel Science Foundation and the European Research Council.

Pioneering technology developed at the Technion enables the production of drugs inside the body using live bacteria

Technion researchers have developed an innovative approach that allows drugs to be produced inside the human body. The new technology, developed at the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, uses live bacteria that manufacture the therapeutic substance. The researchers’ findings were recently published in Advanced Healthcare Materials.

The research was led by Professor Boaz Mizrahi, Dr. Adi Gross, and Ph.D. student Caroline Hali Alperovitz. According to Prof. Mizrahi, “We are used to thinking that to introduce a drug into the body, it must be manufactured in a factory – sometimes on another continent – then formulated and finally administered to the patient via a capsule or an injection. Our paper describes a new paradigm for both drug production and consumption.”

Prof. Boaz Mizrahi
Dr. Adi Gross
Caroline Hali Alperovitz

This new paradigm is based on using harmless bacteria modified to produce and secrete the desired drug inside the body. These bacteria are introduced directly into the affected organ, where they manufacture and release the drug locally, eliminating the need for swallowing or injecting additional substances.

The technology offers several key advantages. First, the drug is always fresh, as it is used immediately after being produced – a major benefit for protein-based drugs and molecules sensitive to oxidation. Second, the drug’s bioavailability is higher due to the proximity of the “factory” to the “consumer,” reducing side effects caused by drug degradation during transport in the body. Third, because the bacteria replicate within the tissue, a single “dose” of bacteria may be sufficient for weeks, lowering treatment costs.

In their study, the Technion researchers used the non-pathogenic bacterium Bacillus paralicheniformis, which they modified to produce an important protein called γ-PGA. This protein plays a crucial role in healing severe wounds, improving skin appearance, and reducing inflammation.

באיור: הקונספט החדש – חיידק (בתכלת) המשמש מפעל תרופות המייצר את החומר הפעיל באיבר המטרה (העור)
Illustration: The new concept — a bacterium (in light blue) serving as a miniature drug factory that produces the active compound in the target organ (the skin).

To deliver the bacteria into the body safely and painlessly, the researchers developed a microneedle patch. When applied to the skin, the tiny needles penetrate the dermal layer (dermis) without harming nerves or blood vessels. Contact with the dermis causes the microneedles to dissolve, releasing the bacteria and allowing them to function as a “smart biological factory” that produces the desired drug from available raw materials. Experiments confirmed the process works effectively, and the team optimized it with a nutrient medium providing the bacteria with essential materials. Detailed chemical analysis verified that the bacteria indeed produced a pure, active therapeutic substance.

To test the technology’s safety, the researchers applied the system to mice and found that their skin remained healthy, with the patch dissolving within just two hours, showing no signs of inflammation or tissue trauma.

“Large biological molecules and proteins are now used to treat a wide range of chronic and acute diseases,” explained Prof. Mizrahi. “Therefore, the innovative approach we developed could revolutionize the field of pharmaceuticals — instead of injections and pills, we could treat patients with a ‘living’ system that minimizes the need to repeatedly administer drugs, as is customary today.”

The research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) and by the Russell Berrie Nano-technology Institute of the Technion.

Researchers at the Technion and their colleagues in China have discovered the emergence of photon “swirling” in disordered nanometric systems

The journal Nature Materials reports the discovery of “hidden order” in systems that are disordered in space and time. The breakthrough was achieved by Prof. Erez Hasman from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the Helen Diller Quantum Center at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, together with colleagues in China led by Prof. Bo Wang, head of Spin Nanophotonics Group, at the School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Prof. Wang conducted his postdoctoral research in Prof. Hasman’s group and was part of the team behind the development of the spin laser made from two-dimensional materials.

In their paper, the researchers present a new physical phenomenon called “spin locking effect induced by Brownian motion,” which enables the detection of spin-order in a physically disordered system.

A brief explanation of two key concepts: Spin – one of the fundamental properties of elementary particles, describing their “rotation” or “twist.” This is a simplified and somewhat inaccurate metaphor, but it is the common way to describe spin.
Brownian motion, also known as a “drunkard’s walk,” refers to the random movement of tiny particles (not necessarily atomic in size) suspended in or floating on a liquid. Einstein made this phenomenon famous when he published his findings in 1905.

Until now, it was believed that Brownian motion causes the scattering of photons off particles to be chaotic – that is, unpolarized and incoherent – and so too the spin of the scattered photons.

Illustration: Spin-locking effect of photons scattered from nanoparticles in a liquid, moving randomly due to Brownian motion.
Illustration: Spin-locking effect of photons scattered from nanoparticles in a liquid, moving randomly due to Brownian motion.

The researchers set out to test whether, under specific light–matter interaction conditions, spin order could emerge – and found that it can. When they shone laser light on nanometric particles suspended in a liquid at room temperature, they discovered that the photons scattered sideways, beyond the laser’s impact zone, became “locked” in their spin. They demonstrated that this spin locking arises precisely because of the particles’ random movement – their Brownian motion.

This process also allowed the researchers to measure the size of the particles, since the spin-locking effect depends on both particle size and material type, thus revealing information about them.

According to Prof. Hasman: “Our discovery beautifully illustrates the importance of experimental physics. We have shown that it is precisely the most disordered systems – in both space and time – that hold the key to the emergence of deep order. The spin-locking effect in a system undergoing Brownian motion is a previously unknown phenomenon, and we hope and believe that its applications – from nanoparticle characterization to the development of new optical technologies – will make a significant contribution to science and industry in the future.”

שער גיליון פברואר 2026 של מגזין Nature Materials
Cover image featured on the February 2026 issue of Nature Materials

With trauma compounding and resources stretched, could the Israel-Iran conflict accelerate the adoption of digital and AI-driven mental health care in Israel?

As Israel grapples with the psychological strain of compounded conflict, first following the October 7 Hamas attacks, and more recently with the confrontation against Iran in the wake of Operation Rising Lion, mental health resources are being stretched to their limits. Even amid the newly announced ceasefire, which is meant to offer a halt to hostilities for now, the emotional aftermath across the nation is far from resolved.

Systemic challenges like clinician shortages, access disparities, and a lingering stigma around traditional therapy stand in contrast to a growing, urgent national need for support. According to McKinsey, the total burden from mental health conditions in 2025 is estimated at 183 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). At the same time, “emerging therapeutic options such as digital therapies are gaining recognition for their accessibility and effectiveness, particularly in low-resource settings.”

Indeed, global online behavior reflects growing openness to and traction for such digital therapies. As highlighted by Harvard Business Review, therapy has become the leading use case for generative AI in 2025.

In Israel, a multitude of platforms are already operating in this space. These include AI-based services such as Kai.ai, physiological approaches from Calmigo, passive sensing technologies by Behavidence, and the digitally scaled trauma response of NATAL, Israel’s Trauma and Resiliency Centre.

While the current situation unfolds against the uncertainty of a ceasefire and atop over a year and a half of sustained conflict, it raises the question of whether this juncture will mark an inflection point for tech-enabled mental health care in Israel, and whether these tools will gain the trust, investment and institutional support to play a more central role.

Cracks in the system reveal a growing need for alternatives

In recent years, Israel’s mental health system has faced mounting pressure, with the current situation exposing the full extent of its strain. 

“Since October 7, we have seen an increase of 300% in people consuming psychiatric drugs in Israel,” said Adi Wallach, CEO and Co-Founder of Calmigo. “And the estimation right now is that there are 3 million people who are suffering from trauma.”

Organizations like NATAL, founded in 1998, have had to rapidly expand in response to escalating demand. In the earliest hours of October 7, it was the only helpline broadcast on Israeli television. It has also been instrumental in developing new, condensed treatment protocols adopted by both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Defence. 

“Before October 7, NATAL had about 100 therapists,” said Ifat Morad, Director of International Relations, Partnerships and Resource Development. “Now we have more than 600 therapists all over Israel.” In tandem, the organization has launched a new app, expanded services via WhatsApp and Zoom, and integrated an AI bot to triage helpline calls. “We had about 400 people getting therapy one on one on a weekly basis. Now we have more than 3,000 on a weekly basis and counting,” she continued.

Mental health crises in Israel are often marked by waves of people turning to NATAL’s services. Speaking to the present national climate, Morad observed: “we are now in what we call rolling trauma. The trauma didn’t just finish. It’s rolling as we speak. We’re in it, all of us.”

Startups step in with tech-driven mental health solutions

While traditional mental health services in Israel have worked to leverage digitisation to expand their reach, several startups are aiming to address the growing mental health crisis with tech-first or hybrid solutions.

Kai.ai, a hybrid mental health platform combining human clinicians with conversation-based AI, has reached over 200,000 people in need. Initially launched in English, the service expanded to Ukrainian and Russian during the Ukraine war, and to Hebrew following October 7. In partnership with the humanitarian organization The Joint, Kai began offering free support to reservists, students, and civilians – a move it has continued amid the Israel-Iran conflict, now providing a full month of subsidized support to anyone impacted. The offer remains in place, notwithstanding the ceasefire.

For CEO Alex Frenkel, the AI component is central to the platform’s mission “because the AI is accessible 24/7.”

Calmigo, meanwhile, takes a physiological approach, offering a handheld device that activates the parasympathetic nervous system to deliver both immediate relief and long-term support. “You can think about the device as a remote control to your nervous system,” explained Wallach, who noted that Calmigo is one of the only non-medicated solutions providing fast-acting relief alongside sustained therapeutic benefits. “It’s as easy to use and as effective as a pill, but does not require a prescriber, and at a fraction of the cost as well.” Following October 7, the company donated 1,300 units to hostage families, soldiers, and traumatised children.

Behavidence was founded to bridge the gap in early diagnostics and intervention. “We detect mental health disorders or dynamics based on how you use your phone,” said Co-Founder Roy Cohen. “Just by passively sensing your patterns of behaviour.”

The passive approach, he explained, is key to long-term user retention. “We chose passive sensing because whenever we ask the user to do something, the chances of them staying with us a week later is gone.”

In the wake of October 7, the company also made its product freely available to support those affected. It is now working with HMOs and the Ministry of Defense to monitor PTSD symptoms in reservists.

For Cohen, the fundamental inefficiency in how care is delivered is a costly blind spot: “Treating early is cheap. But now the systems are designed to treat only when the symptoms are severe.”

Pigs have long carried a bad reputation. They are often described as dirty, greedy animals that eat everything in sight and spend their days lying around. In reality, none of these stereotypes are true. Pigs are intelligent, have a highly developed sense of smell and like to stay clean. They often roll in mud not because of laziness but to cool down and protect themselves from parasites.

But there is another, far more important fact about pigs: they are now at the center of a medical revolution that could transform the future of organ transplantation. With demand for donor organs vastly outpacing supply, researchers are turning to genetically engineered pigs as potential life-saving sources of hearts, kidneys, livers and even lungs.

חזירים
(Photo: Shutterstock)

The idea is not based on vague similarity to humans but on precise genetic engineering. By shutting off certain pig genes, such as the one that produces a sugar molecule called alpha-gal, and adding human genes, scientists can make pig organs appear more “human” to the immune system, reducing the risk of immediate rejection.

A global shortage

The need is urgent. More than 100,000 people in the United States are waiting for an organ transplant, most of them for kidneys, and thousands die each year before a donor is found. Israel faces a similar shortage. According to Prof. Mordechai Kramer, head of the lung transplant unit at Rabin Medical Center (Beilinson Hospital), only about 40 lung transplants are performed each year in Israel, while some 180 patients remain on the waiting list. “People die while waiting,” Kramer said. “And that’s just lungs. What about all the other organs?”

Clinical trials approved in the US

In recent months, two milestones have made headlines. In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration for the first time approved large-scale clinical trials of pig organ transplants in humans. The biotech company eGenesis, a leader in the field, is set to begin pig kidney transplants this year, aiming to treat dozens of patients in a monitored trial. The step marks a shift from rare “compassionate use” cases to systematic research with broad patient groups.

The key lies in the blood vessels that connect directly with human circulation. In pigs, the sugar alpha-gal on the surface of cells triggers an immediate, destructive immune response. Using CRISPR gene-editing tools, companies disable this gene and add human genetic material to soften the body’s attack, allowing the organ to survive longer.

A pig lung that breathed inside a human body

Meanwhile, in China, doctors achieved a stunning breakthrough in May 2024 by transplanting a genetically engineered pig lung into a brain-dead 39-year-old man. The lung functioned for nine days before doctors ended the trial. Crucially, it did not trigger immediate rejection. “The great achievement is that hyper-acute rejection did not occur,” said Dr. Liran Levy, head of the lung transplant program at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv.

Lungs are among the most complex organs to transplant because of their constant exposure to air and microbes, making them highly likely to trigger immune responses. That a pig lung could function for more than a week inside a human body offers new hope.

Pig livers and kidneys

Other recent experiments also show progress. In March 2025, researchers in China reported that a genetically modified pig liver survived for 10 days inside a brain-dead patient, producing bile and proteins while maintaining blood flow. In April 2025, doctors in New York announced that Tuanna Looney, a 54-year-old Alabama woman, had lived for 130 days with a pig kidney — the longest period ever recorded.

“She had been on dialysis since 2016 and was not eligible for a human kidney transplant,” said Prof. Eytan Mor, director of kidney transplants at Sheba Medical Center. “The fact that a pig kidney survived more than four months is remarkable. If we reach the point where it can last five years, that would be a giant leap for medicine.”

Israeli contributions

Israel has also played a role in advancing the field. In 2021, a team at Beilinson Hospital developed a method of stripping pig blood vessels and coating them with human cells taken from placentas. The approach makes the organ’s blood vessel lining look human to the immune system, complementing CRISPR-based genetic editing.

“This point of contact between the organ and human blood is critical,” said the researchers. “If we can reduce the immune system’s recognition of the organ as foreign, we can extend survival.”

Ethics and Jewish law

For many Jews, the use of pigs raises cultural and religious questions. But Prof. Kramer emphasized that Jewish law permits the use of pig organs to save lives. “There’s no prohibition here. This is about pikuach nefesh — saving a life. Even today, heart valves from pigs are used in patients. I cannot imagine any rabbi forbidding the use of a pig organ if it means saving someone.”

Beyond pigs: bioprinting and stem cells

At the same time, researchers are exploring other frontiers. At the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Prof. Shulamit Levenberg leads Israel’s first center for 3D bioprinting, which develops tissue from stem cells. “We are not yet able to print a fully functional lung that can oxygenate blood,” she said, “but the technology is advancing. For now, transplants from animals are closer to clinical use than 3D-printed organs.”

Still, scientists see the fields converging. Some are working on “universal” human stem cells for bioprinting, while others are engineering pigs to reduce rejection. The ultimate goal is to produce safe, reliable organs on demand.

Israeli health tech startup NeuroKaire, Cofounded by Dr. Daphna Laifenfeld who has a PhD in Medical Science and Molecular Biology from Technion, has rolled out a blood test in the US and Israel that they say can measure the responsiveness of a patient with major depressive disorder to common antidepressants.

This week, NeuroKaine have rolled out a blood test in the US and Israel that they say can measure the responsiveness of a patient with major depressive disorder to common antidepressants.

NeuroKaire says its novel, AI-assisted tech uses stem cells to create a brain proxy against which drugs can be tested to find the best one.

Depression is one of the most common forms of mental disorder, affecting more than 330 million people worldwide. Treatment methods rely primarily on a taxing trial-and-error process to find the right prescription drug, which can take years.

In Israel, the psychological toll of 23 months of war and counting has made the need for effective mental health treatment felt more than ever.

The blood test, promises to create a platform for personalised treatment of mental disorders. Guided by the test results, clinicians and psychiatrists can determine which treatment is most suited to a particular patient’s condition.

“For far too long, patients with clinical depression have endured a grueling trial-and-error process before finding an effective treatment,” Cohen Solal told The Times of Israel. “Around one-third of the time, a patient improves or recovers from depression when seeking treatment, and around two-thirds of the time, physicians will need to change their medication or dosage multiple times.”

“Typically, the guessing game of identifying the right drug for a patient with clinical depression can take between 12 to 18 months. We are bringing that down to two months,” she claimed.

The blood test began being offered in Israel and the US this week, though the new technology still needs more research and trial data to determine its effectiveness, according to Prof. Mark Weiser, who heads the Psychiatry Department at Sheba Medical Centre.

“NeuroKaire’s unique combination of stem-cell technology, genomics, and AI represents an evolutionary step forward from traditional pharmacogenetics and is promising, but more research needs to be done in large clinical trials with hundreds of patients, comparing the outcomes with those that haven’t taken the test, and further improve results for patients,” Weiser said.

NeuroKaire’s blood-based screening tool, BrightKaire, was recently granted laboratory-developed test regulatory approval from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in the US, making it the first clinically deployed test based on neurons derived from blood, the startup said.

Cohen Solal and Laifenfeld have decades of academic expertise in brain research and personalised medicine between them. Cohen Solal spent a decade studying psychiatric disorders at Oxford University, University College London and Columbia University. Laifenfeld has worked in brain research at the Technion and Harvard University, and has over 20 years of experience in personalised medicine, including serving as head of precision medicine at Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries.

The two neuroscientists met when Cohen Solal immigrated from the US to Israel in 2017, and they decided to join forces to found NeuroKaire in 2018. The two shared a vision to develop a more precise personalised test that clinicians could use in order to pick the optimal drug therapy for patients with clinical depression.

NeuroKaire’s R&D team then turns the stem cells into frontal brain neurons — the brain region most implicated in mental illness and depression — and tests them against 70 different antidepressants, helping to pinpoint the most effective drug or combination therapy for each patient.

Using a proprietary AI platform to analyse personalised data, including a patient’s genetic data, medical history, and microscopic neuronal imaging, the test produces a report detailing the patient’s response to different medications, including the likelihood of side effects.

“Depression is reduced connectivity in the brain, often expressed in a lack of motivation,” Cohen Solal explained. “With our brain in a dish platform, we have a window into the brain and can analyze how well those neurons are connecting or communicating after exposure to antidepressants, and we turn that into a quantitative readout for how strongly a drug has affected connectivity in those samples.”

“Our brain in a dish technology tells you not just if the drug gets past the liver to the brain, but what it does in the brain and whether it works,” Cohen Solal noted.

Cohen Solal said that the startup has validated the technology in clinical trials of the blood-based diagnostic in Israel in collaboration with Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan and Geha Mental Health Center in Petah Tikva. In the US, trials were conducted at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia and in collaboration with the National Institute of Mental Health. In addition, NeuroKaire has formed partnerships with Israeli biotech companies Clexio and Neurosense.

“In the past two decades, our knowledge of human genetics and brain biology has advanced at an unprecedented pace, but it is still limited,” said Weiser. “The underlying problem is that when a patient comes for treatment, there is no test based on biology as to whether I should prescribe Prozac or a different antidepressant, but it is based on consultation and clinical impressions.”

Weiser said other companies that have developed blood tests based on genes to determine the best drug treatment for depression, were not well-validated.

In 2023, NeuroKaire expanded to the US and opened a commercial lab, while its R&D center, employing 25 people, is based in Tel Aviv. To date, the startup has raised $25 million from venture capital investors, including GreyBird Ventures, Meron Capital, Jumpspeed Venture Partners and Sapir Ventures.

“Israel has fantastic life sciences and neuroscience PhDs, which is wonderful for hiring great R&D scientists,” Cohen Solal said. “It’s a mission of ours because of Israel and because of the war to launch this test here as well, and we are very happy to be able to help in this time of need.”

A report published by the State Comptroller’s Office earlier this year found that approximately 3 million Israeli adults may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, or anxiety as a direct consequence of the events of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel and subsequent war in Gaza.

“Many of the drugs overlap for depression and PTSD,” said Cohen Solal. “Physicians can use our technology to help them choose between PTSD medications as well.”

“But in the future, we will specifically be recruiting cohorts of PTSD patients so we can validate it as well in the PTSD setting,” she added.

Cohen Solal said that depression is the first indication, but going forward, tests for other neurological conditions are being planned using the same method.

“NeuroKaire’s mission is to bring precision medicine to the brain,” said Cohen Solal. “Next year, we will be starting our studies in ADHD. That’s going to be our next indication.”

The study was led by Prof. Avi Schroeder and Dr. Patricia Mora-Raimundo at the Technion.

Their music is one of the most influential examples of mind-altering psychedelic rock.

But scientists say listening to Pink Floyd really does have an effect on your brain cells – and could make them more susceptible to future treatments for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

The surprising finding comes from a study in which researchers played the band’s 1979 hit, Another Brick In The Wall, and monitored the impact it had on brain cells in humans and mice.

They found the low-frequency sounds in the song made cells ‘vibrate’ and caused certain parts of the brain to ‘light up’, indicating greater activity, and triggering the release of certain proteins.

This increased activity could help scientists deliver medicine to treat complex neurological conditions directly into the brain, researchers at the Israel Institute of Technology said.

Scientists have long puzzled over how to get medication across the blood-brain barrier – a thin membrane which protects brain cells from damaging pollutants in the blood but also stops most drugs.

The most promising way is using microscopic bubbles known as lipid nanoparticles, which have been used to carry the genetic material in Covid vaccines through the body. 

They are so small that thousands of them could fit across the width of a human hair.

The latest study shows that low-frequency sounds such as those in Pink Floyd’s music can boost the absorption and effectiveness of these lipid nanoparticles in the brain by up to ten times by making brain cells more active.

Such findings suggest that music could one day be used as a gentle, non-invasive way to enhance treatments for brain diseases.

‘When you go into a dance hall and hear the thump-thump-thump of the bass, it feels as though your body is vibrating. That is what is happening to the brain when Pink Floyd is played,’ explains

Professor Avi Schroeder, who led the team alongside Dr Patricia Mora-Raimundo.

‘This low-frequency sound could be a valuable tool for enhancing drug delivery to specific brain areas. It opens up new possibilities for precision medicine, where sound waves are tailored to activate specific brain regions for targeted treatment of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.’

Treatments for both degenerative diseases are limited and only delay progression of the disease.

But one of the most promising treatments is gene therapy, which could boost healthy brain cells or repair or replace faulty genes inside cells. Lipid nanoparticles are being investigated as a way to deliver such therapies.

The human volunteers for the study, reported in the Journal of Controlled Release, were played different types of music at different frequencies while inside an MRI scanner. The Pink Floyd hit was the most successful at creating activity in key areas of the brain.

Israel’s PillCam revolutionized GI imaging, and now others are following that success with other non invasive solutions that journey through the body.

Every list of the greatest Israeli inventions includes PillCam.

PillCam is a video camera swallowed like a vitamin pill. It travels through the gastrointestinal tract, sending clear images to the physician on its way out of the body.

Invented by an Israeli electro-optical engineer and his neighbor, a gastroenterologist, the camera-in-a-pill endoscopy device signaled a worldwide diagnostic revolution. Capsule endoscopy has been FDA-approved and in use since 2001.

Given Imaging, the Israeli company that commercialized the PillCam, was acquired in 2013 by Irish company Covidien. Following Covidien’s acquisition by US-based Medtronic, the PillCam platform has been further developed through the Covidien Minimally Invasive Therapies Division of Medtronic.

The PillCam capsule endoscopy platform now enables physicians to detect GI abnormalities, monitor disease (such as Crohn’s) and assess treatment efficacy for conditions in the esophagus, stomach, small bowel and colon (large intestine).