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