This morning marked the departure of several members of our group for the airport. The remainder of us continued along to visit Chaim Sheba Medical Center -- the largest medical center in the Middle East. (www.eng.sheba.co.il)
There, we vistied the the Rehabilitation Center, which included the state of the art Virtual Reality Lab. We then visited the Advanced Technology Center and learned more about some of the research being done at the medical center. It was interesting to see how Israel's research practices differ from those in the United States.
The end of Thursday marked the end of our trip. We had a wonderful time, learned a lot, and hope to share this knowledge with the rest of WBL upon our return!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Wednesday, July 18
Today was another busy day of health care business meetings. We woke up early and headed north to visit the Technion. The Technion is located in Haifa - Israel's second largest city, after Tel Aviv. The Technion -Israel Institute of Technology (www.technion.ac.il) - is Israel's leading technological university. Some compare it to MIT in the United States. We arrived at the Technion and first heard from Benjamin Soffer in the Technology Transfer Office of the Technion. The Technology Transfer Office (TTO) is a portion of the Technion that works to see that technologies developed within the university are delivered to the outside world. This includes managing the patents and licensing, and working with potential outside investors -- with proceeds coming back to fund the office and the school. It was interesting to see how the schools work so well with the industry.
Next, we visited the Stem Cells Tissue Laboratory in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Technion. A graduate student showed us the cutting edge stem cell research and how they have been able to separate those cells that form heart tissue. We were able to see newly generated, beating heart tissue cells under a microscope! This was just one example of the amazing research that takes place in Israel and at the Technion.
We then joined three professors from the Technion for lunch in the university's faculty center. We enjoyed an enlightening discussion about women advancing in business and academia -- in the US, Europe, and Israel.
Following lunch, our group headed to Tirat Hacarmel for a warm welcome at InSightec (www.insightec.com). InSightec has developed a product - ExAblate (R) 2000- integrating MRI technology with focused ultrasound energy. ExAblate was approved by the FDA in 2004 to treat uterine fibroids and the company has begun clinical trials for numerous other applications, including breast, bone, liver, and brain tumors.
The group then finished the day with a visit to Misgav Venture Accelerator (www.misgav-venture.com). This company is one of many technology "incubators" found in Israel. These incubators receive government funding and help facilitate development of new technologies -- with one of Misgav's focuses being on medical devices. The group left energized after learning about this public-private partnership to foster the development of new technologies -- and about the many exciting technologies (one of which has already made a cameo appearance on an American television show) that are heading our way. The Misgav center is affiliated with the Trendlines group, so be sure to visit their website, too (www.trendlines.com).
Next, we visited the Stem Cells Tissue Laboratory in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Technion. A graduate student showed us the cutting edge stem cell research and how they have been able to separate those cells that form heart tissue. We were able to see newly generated, beating heart tissue cells under a microscope! This was just one example of the amazing research that takes place in Israel and at the Technion.
We then joined three professors from the Technion for lunch in the university's faculty center. We enjoyed an enlightening discussion about women advancing in business and academia -- in the US, Europe, and Israel.
Following lunch, our group headed to Tirat Hacarmel for a warm welcome at InSightec (www.insightec.com). InSightec has developed a product - ExAblate (R) 2000- integrating MRI technology with focused ultrasound energy. ExAblate was approved by the FDA in 2004 to treat uterine fibroids and the company has begun clinical trials for numerous other applications, including breast, bone, liver, and brain tumors.
The group then finished the day with a visit to Misgav Venture Accelerator (www.misgav-venture.com). This company is one of many technology "incubators" found in Israel. These incubators receive government funding and help facilitate development of new technologies -- with one of Misgav's focuses being on medical devices. The group left energized after learning about this public-private partnership to foster the development of new technologies -- and about the many exciting technologies (one of which has already made a cameo appearance on an American television show) that are heading our way. The Misgav center is affiliated with the Trendlines group, so be sure to visit their website, too (www.trendlines.com).
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