Last week, Ben Gurion University
researchers made an “accidental”
discovery, when testing an experimental anti-inflammatory drug, that
could signify a breakthrough in the treatment of deadly infections. My immediate thought was how “lucky” the BGU
scientists were - but in reality, the discovery followed the proscribed use of
methodical testing procedures and meticulously careful observations. Here are some further recent cases of where
Israelis definitely do not rely on “luck” when it comes to vital innovations
and activities.
Traditional cancer chemotherapies depend on
the laws of chance in that sufficient numbers of cancer cells will be destroyed
alongside the (unwanted) death of normal, healthy cells. Several Israeli companies, however, are
working on removing this random, “splatter-gun” approach. One of these, Quiet Therapeutics, has
developed the “GAGomer,”
a new class of nano-particle that specifically targets tumors and blood
cancers. Another Israeli biotech,
Compugen, has announced positive initial experimental results for two
Antibody-Drug Conjugate (ADC) treatments.
ADC
therapy uses antibodies to target proteins present at high levels in
cancer cells, releasing a toxic payload to kill the cells.
Some say that those who inherit a high risk
of cancer are simply “unlucky”. That
may indeed be the case, however with genetic screening, it no longer needs to
be a question of luck as to whether the onset of cancer is detected and treated
early enough to save their lives. So it
is fortunate that researchers at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem have
discovered a genetic
mutation that can identify those at risk of colon and uterine
cancers. Similarly, doctors and
researchers no longer need to rely on luck when examining patients for the
early onset of Parkinson’s disease.
Patients can now be monitored continuously, using smart watches linked
to smartphones. The data is then transmitted to an advanced
analytics platform developed by Intel Israel that can handle 300 observations
per second from each patient.
On a Syrian street, a 23-year-old man was unfortunate
to have been hit by a bullet that shattered his lower jaw and blew his teeth to
bits. Luckily
for him, he was rushed across the Israeli border and taken to Haifa’s Rambam
hospital where doctors implanted a custom-made 3D-printed titanium jaw in a pioneering operation.
One day after surgery, the patient was eating and speaking. Meanwhile, a Palestinian Arab baby with
heart problems suffered a heart attack whilst on his way to Jordan for
treatment. Luckily
for him, IDF medics arrived to resuscitate him and evacuated him and
his grateful parents to Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital.
Many Israeli children were “lucky” to enjoy
a couple of days playing in the
snow that fell across the country.
Following a request by the Palestinian Authority, the IDF have been
helping to clear snow blocking roads to the PA city of Ramallah, helping to
clear flooding in Tulkarem and pushing a not-so-lucky
Palestinian Arab taxi driver out of frozen mud. Overseas, the Philippines has been very unlucky with the weather,
as typhoon Hagupit (Ruby) has just devastated a country still reeling from last
year’s typhoon Haiyan. Luckily, an IsraAID
emergency response team has again responded quickly with medical relief
and humanitarian aid.
Anyone unlucky enough to have lost their
water supply due to a burst
water main will appreciate the monitoring systems from Israel’s TaKaDu. The water utilities that have engaged
TaKaDu’s services don’t wait for a lucky phone call from a dutiful member of
the public and instead are saving billions of liters of water otherwise lost
through leaking pipes.
Having proved that Israelis don’t rely on
luck, I will conclude with two recent news stories where fortune (or something
else) must have been involved. First,
it was lucky that art historian Nirit Shalev-Khalifa stopped to answer her cell
phone when she was driving away from Jerusalem. The tour guide that called her had just happened to be visiting
Jerusalem’s Ades “Great” Synagogue and seen someone begin some very amateurish
restoration work. Nirit made a quick
“U” turn, just in time to save the
Stark Murals – an early 20th Century masterpiece of Jerusalem’s Syrian
Jewry.
Finally, a baby faun in Hebron had a lucky
escape from being eaten by poachers.
Israeli police were busy uncovering a weapons and drugs cache when they
heard noises coming from inside a barrel.
Instead of dismissing the noise as just rats, they checked the barrel
and found the faun (a protected species in Israel) chained up inside it. The faun was transferred to the Jerusalem
Biblical Zoo for medical treatment.
Put your trust in Israeli ingenuity - you won’t believe your luck.
Michael Ordman writes a free weekly
newsletter containing positive news stories about Israel.
For a free subscription, email a request to
michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com
