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Biodesign Medical Innovation<br />
Biodesign is a multi-disciplinary, team-based approach<br />
to medical innovation created by Hebrew University<br />
and Hadassah Medical Center. The program accepts<br />
medical fellows, bioengineering and business<br />
graduate students; they study science and practice<br />
bringing a medical innovation to the market.<br />
During <strong>2016</strong>, Biodesign produced four medical<br />
innovations that improve medical procedures,<br />
including their accuracy. Among the innovations are<br />
a microfiber pad that improves UTI diagnostics and<br />
helps infant and elderly patients; intelligent socks,<br />
which when paired with smartphones, helps diabetic<br />
patients; an optical guide to help doctors perform<br />
orthopedic procedures; and a lifesaving device that<br />
shortens chest tube insertion from minutes to seconds.<br />
Covert Inflammation as a Cancer Trigger<br />
Research teams led by Professor Yinon Ben-Neriah, MD, Ph.D., of Hebrew University’s Lautenberg Center<br />
for General and Tumor Immunology, and Professor Atul Butte, MD, Ph.D., director of the Institute for<br />
Computational Health Sciences at UC San Francisco, identified a subtle and elusive form of “parainflammation”<br />
in cancer cells. Parainflammation, or low-grade inflammation, has been implicated in fast-growing cancers<br />
such as pancreatic and bladder cancers. At high levels, it is linked to increased mortality.<br />
This important finding enables a better understanding of how cancer develops: the recently discovered<br />
gene-expression signature is giving researchers a way to more closely study the link between inflammation<br />
and cancer. This joint research was published online in Genome Biology (July <strong>2016</strong>).<br />
A High-Tech Recovery Mission: The Scroll from Ein-Gedi<br />
By using advanced tomography technology, scientists<br />
at the University of Kentucky, collaborating with<br />
Hebrew University archeological experts, unlocked<br />
the hidden text of an ancient, damaged Ein-Gedi<br />
scroll. Hebrew University faculty discovered this rare<br />
treasure during an archaeological excavation they<br />
conducted in 1970 in the synagogue in Ein Gedi. A<br />
process known as “virtual unwrapping” revealed<br />
the verses on the ink-based scroll, enabling textual<br />
analysis of the biblical text. The unique reclamation<br />
process regarding a scroll that dates back to the first<br />
centuries made headlines in the New York Times and<br />
the Wall Street Journal (September <strong>2016</strong>).<br />
10 / AFHU NEWS
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