50 | AUGUST 27 • 2020 

M

ore than six months after the 
World Health Organization 
declared COVID-19 a public 
health emergency of international con-
cern, nearly 22 million people worlwide 
have been diagnosed with the virus and 
more than 777,000 people have died from 
it (as of Aug. 19).
The National Institutes of Health 
recently announced what it called an 
“unprecedented effort” to accelerate test-
ing technology, pouring more than $1 bil-
lion into rapid tests and distributing them 
more widely so that people do not have to 
wait multiple days to find out if they have 
the virus.
Israeli start-up company Newsight 
Imaging, based in Ness Ziona, is part 
of that effort, collaborating with Sheba 
Medical Center at Tel-Hashomer to devel-
op a test that detects the virus in what 
officials are describing as “less than a 
second.”
Their test is now in its pilot phase and 
company officials expect to have a test 
approved and available for distribution by 
the fall.
Newsight, a 3D sensor technology 
developer, is using a spectral sensor chip 
for virus detection in human saliva.
“The spectral sensor chip is actually a 
very sensitive camera that can detect, in 
very high accuracy, different wavelengths,” 
said Eli Assoolin, CEO of Newsight. “The 
basic idea is we use a light source with 
many wavelengths to light a liquid sam-

ple. The sample absorbs part of the light 
in specific wavelengths, and then we can 
capture with our sensor the returned light, 
which is a spectral signature.
“We have found that each virus we 
test creates a unique bodily response in 
human blood or saliva, and this is what 
we are detecting with our device.”
Members of Newsight are collaborating 
with Professor Eli Schwartz, director of 
the Center for Geographic Medicine at 
Sheba, and members of his staff. 
The two organizations plan to establish 
a joint company to produce and distribute 
instant COVID-19 detection tests. That 
company will be located in Sheba’
s ARC 
Innovation Center and is expected to 
launch soon. 
“Once the company is established … 
we will start immediate, large-scale pilots 
around the globe and, in parallel, seek for 
a fast FDA approval for this important, 
life-saving device,” Assoolin said. The 
device would also have to be approved by 
the European Union before it could be 
used.
He expects the testing devices will be in 
healthcare organizations by the end of the 
year. The device would be a one-time pur-
chase and each individual test would cost 
a health care organization less than $1 (in 
American funds) to process.
Assoolin mentioned that using spec-
trometer technology is a well-known 
scientific method in detecting viruses. 
His company took the concept of costly, 

non-portable lab tests and implemented 
them on a spectral sensor chip. The com-
pany has used the technology in partner-
ship with Israel’
s national water company 
Mekorot and for beverage testing.
Steve Walz, international spokesman 
for Sheba Medical Center, said the health 
organization has partnered with Intel to 
develop technology that can predict the 
deteriorating effects of COVID-19 on 
patients. The medical center is also collab-
orating with start-up organizations created 
by the Israeli Defense Force’
s 8200 Unit, 
on research and development for re-engi-
neered ventilators and protective gear.
Additionally, Sheba is working with 
hospital organizations in the United 
States, including Mount Sinai Hospital in 

New York, on COVID-19-related technol-
ogy and research.
“Sheba’
s renowned expertise has allowed 
the hospital to work closely with the 
National Institutes of Health in Maryland 
on COVID-19 research, which is playing 
a role in the development of a vaccine to 
thwart this horrible disease,” Walz said. 

Fast-Track 
Testing

Israeli imaging company 
teams with Sheba 
Medical Center to 
develop fast-tracing 
COVID test.

BY ELIZABETH KATZ 
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Health

LEFT: A member of Sheba Medical Center in Israel 
holds a re-engineered ventilator used for coronavirus 
patients. Staff at Sheba have partnered with various 
start-up companies created by the Israeli Defense 
Force to re-engineer the ventilators.
BOTTOM: Professor Eli Schwartz, director of the 
Center for Geographic Medicine, is working with 
Israeli startup Newsight Imaging to develop a 
COVID-19 test that will provide almost instantaneous 
results. Schwartz is shown here treating a child 
in Mozambique. He is the first doctor to introduce 
travel medicine to Israel, according to Sheba Medical 
Center’
s website.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SHEBA MEDICAL CENTER

