44 May 30 • 2019
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Fighting Antibiotic Resistance
Each year in the United States, at
least 2 million people become infect-
ed with bacteria resistant to antibi-
otics and around 23,000 people die
as a result, according to the Center
for Disease Control. Every hour
that effective antibiotic treatment
is delayed, survival rates drop by
around 7.6 percent for patients with
septic shock. Technologies that pre-
dict the resistance of a specific bac-
teria within the shortest possible
time can save lives.
Nanosynex technology is based
on research from the laboratory
of Shulamit Levenberg, dean of
the Technion-Israel Institute of
Technology’
s faculty of biomedical
engineering. Levenberg and her team
developed a diagnostic chip with
hundreds of nanoliter wells con-
taining a specific bacteria-antibiotic
combination that determines which
bacteria in a patient’
s body are resis-
tant to which antibiotics — all in just
four hours. That compares favorably
with the day or two or more required
for traditional diagnostic tests. The
result: Physicians can more quickly
prescribe the antibiotics that will
work.
The highway to commercialization
opened when two students from
the Technion Startup MBA program
chose a technology in Levenberg’
s lab
as a case study as part of an entrepre-
neurship course.
Nanosynex is creating a kit that
will be sold to laboratories; it con-
tains disposable cards, a fluorescent
reading device and software to do
the analysis. ■
health | Israel’
s role
Loading and
scanning a nanoliter
array device used
to develop a rapid
medical diagnostic
for antibiotic
resistance
JONATHAN AVESAR, LEVENBERG LAB, TECHNION-ISRAEL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
3D BIOPRINTING
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in
Haifa recently inaugurated an innovative
center for the 3D printing of living cells
and tissues at the university’
s Faculty of
Biomedical Engineering in Haifa. Recently,
researchers successfully created a tiny,
live 3D printed heart made from human
tissue.
According to the Technion, the new
printer can obtain information from a
patient’
s CT scans and translate it into
printing three-dimensional tissue that
exactly suits an injured area.
3D bioprinting is the process of cre-
ating cell patterns in a confined space,
where cell function and viability are
preserved, creating tissue-like structures
that are later used in the medical and tis-
sue engineering fields to correct or even
replace damaged tissue.
HELPING TO CONNECT
Wisdo, an Israeli mental wellness
startup, wants to harness the power of
online communities to lift people out
of emotional pain by connecting with
each other through shared experiences,
according to a story in NoCamels, an
online source.
Launched in January 2018, Wisdo
developed an app that connects people
around shared issues such as ques-
tions of sexuality, anxiety and loss, and
encourages those who have successfully
traversed life challenges to become
“helpers” or “guides,” the story states.
The app already has 750,000 down-
loads and its active user base is at
around 70 percent, according to Wisdo
CEO Boaz Gaon.
The Tel Aviv-based startup, which has
so far raised $11 million, recently won
a 2019 Google Play Award in the “Best
Social Impact” category.
Awaken the Beauty Within...
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Certifi
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Drs. Linsey Gold and Eric Brown