48 July 25 • 2019
jn
health | Israel’
s role
Artifi
cially Made Womb Might Help Grow Embryos
A team of bioengineers and gynecologists at Tel Aviv University say that by bio-
engineering cells, they have created a model of the human uterine wall where
they hope embryos will be able to attach and grow. The discovery would be a
step toward growing embryos in an artificially made biological womb model, the
researchers said.
If implantation occurs as hoped, it would allow the embryos to
develop in a biological environment rather than in the artificial
environment of a petri dish and incubator, which are used today to
incubate early embryos during in vitro fertilization.
Developing in a biological environment is expected to yield “bet-
ter results” for the embryos’
growth and survival, Elad explained.
In their work, they took endometrial and smooth muscle cells
from the uterus and co-cultured them in layers in the lab, subject-
ing them as well to hormonal manipulation. Through their engineering of the
cells, they managed to create a “model that represents a receptive uterus,
” which
would be able, in theory, to be fertile ground for a newly fertilized egg to implant
and develop, said Elad.
Their research has been sent to medical and scientific journals for review, he
said.
Elad said he believes the Tel Aviv University study marks a “first time the ana-
tomical architecture of the human uterus has been tissue engineered” and is an
important step forward in gaining insight into the creation of early human life.
Prof. David Elad
COURTESY TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY
A team of Israeli scientists from the
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
in Haifa have developed a machine
learning-based thermal sensor that
could help prevent parents from forget-
ting their babies and toddlers in cars,
which can lead to vehicular heatstroke,
hyperthermia and even death, reports
the Jerusalem Post.
According to the safety organiza-
tion Kids and Cars, an average of 37
American children die each year in hot
cars. These include instances where a
child has been forgotten in a car, acci-
dentally locks themselves in a car or
trunk or, in a small number of cases,
when a child has been intentionally left
in a car.
The new system was created by
Technion undergraduate students
Adam Barhak and Assaf Yitzhak,
under the guidance of doctoral stu-
dent Ayal Taitler and master’
s degree
student Dotan Shambi. It is based on a
relatively simple and inexpensive ther-
mal sensor installed opposite the baby
seat in the back of the
vehicle. The sensor pro-
duces an image of the
child and transfers the
data to a tiny computer,
which processes the information and
issues an alert.
According to a release shared by
the Technion, the system activates a
sequence of alarms in a closed loop
that expands according to time passed
and the temperature of the vehicle.
First, a warning light is turned on,
followed by a warning beep, and if
necessary, notification by text messages
to an expanding loop of people who
could remotely open the car doors and
windows.
The solution comes at the right time
of year. According to noheatstroke.
org, 809 children have died due to
Pediatric Vehicular Heatstroke (PVH)
since 1998. At least 90 percent of
reported childhood hot-car deaths in
the U.S. occurred between April and
September.
Israeli Researchers Find Way to
Prevent Leaving Babies in Cars
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Technion child-
safety system
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