“We choose the research that is not lost in translation,” said Professor Daniel Shouval, Dean of the Hadassah University Medical School. He spoke before a meeting of health reporters invited to meet with a dozen leading researchers and hear their latest discoveries. The medical school includes the two Hadassah University Medical Centers, the HU-Hadassah School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Hadassah-HU School of Nursing, the HU School of Pharmacy and the Hadassah-HU School of Occupational Therapy.

The faculty has 3,000 students, including 600 in medical school, only in the last year alone, 1,200 have conducted clinical and laboratory studies, according Shouval. Researchers at the faculty publish more than 1200 items per year in prestigious journals.

“But only amount is not enough, we seek quality. Our researchers are able to publish their studies in the best means, and compete well for grants funding for better schools,” he said before launching into a description of some of the most interesting up at school.

NUCLEAR MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY PET

Using nuclear medical technology, Positron Emission Tomography – PET – (a positron is a positively charged electron), Hadassah scientists are making giant leaps in science to pinpoint diagnosis and treatment of disease.

“PET offers significant advantages over other imaging systems,” said Dr. Eyal Mishani, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biophysics and Nuclear Medicine in the HU / Hadassah. The basis of PET are marked BioVector directed at a target like a guided missile.

“His ability to measure the biochemical and pharmacokinetics at the cellular level make it a superior tool for the diagnosis and monitoring targeted in many disease states. According to the rate of growth of a malignant tumor, can also determine the effective treatment. “

The scientific staff of the Hadassah entrepreneur demonstrated how PET imaging is used to detect biochemical differences in the tumor cell, and with the help of radioactive isotopes of short half-life is determined whether it is malignant or benign. A malignant tumor “lights.” In another case, what initially appeared to be a lung tumor was rapidly be nothing serious.

“This technology saves time and money and especially unnecessary patient concern,” said Mishani.

The system is based on the use of medical radioactive biological markers. These highly sensitive markers can be tracked throughout its journey through the body, even at the molecular level. “They can detect a recurrent tumor and distinguish between a tumor and a tear post-radiation,” said Mishani.

Hadassah researchers found that PET imaging of the prostate and brain tumors are much clearer when using a new biomarker vectorized labeled radioactive isotope carbon 11 (C-11). A sometimes hidden tumor in the brain or prostate gland, but can not escape the power of “eye” of bio-marker.

The group of Nuclear Medicine and Medical Biophysics, Hadassah / HU leads the use of specific inhibitors irreversible biological labeling (radio-pharmaceutical) for the diagnosis and treatment of various cancers. These inhibitors marked point to the first link in the chain leading to tumor cell growth.

Going beyond the diagnosis and monitoring of the disease, the Hadassah group has discovered specific radiopharmaceuticals that can be used to treat the disease.

“We follow FDA guidelines calling as radiotherapy,” says Mishani. One of the objectives of the Department of Nuclear Medicine and Medical Biophysics is to find new biological and biomedical markers for diagnosis and monitoring.

“PET in the diagnosis, the patient is exposed to minimal levels of radioactivity,” says Mishani. Only tiny amounts are used and are of short duration. Trace amounts of radioactive material have been used for diagnostic thyroid tests for over 20 years without ill effects. Given its “clean health history, nuclear medicine seems one of the safest bets for the diagnosis and treatment of disease states in the XXI century.

NATURAL MURDERER

HU researchers have the track from NK cells Natural Killer (NK), part of one’s own defense system of human body series. NK cells are waiting for tumors or viral infection to switch to attack. Why they work, and why not, understand the mechanisms that trigger or “contain” these cells opens the way for the development of new medicines for cancer patients and people with viral infections.

“The Natural Killer (NK) normally” lie “in the bloodstream,” says Dr. Ofer Mandelboim, Senior Lecturer at the Lautenberg Center for General and Tumor Immunology. “They are at rest until they are activated by signals (chemical changes, a call for help) in a cell that has been infected by cancer cells or a virus.”

The award-winning scientist joined the medical research center at Hebrew University after completing a post doctorate at Harvard. He had earned a BA, Cum Laude, from Bar Ilan University and a Ph.D. Suma Cum Laude from the Weizmann Institute of Science (both in Israel).

“In the past two years, our laboratory found an important clue to discover why certain types of melanoma are resistant to NK attack. Found inhibitory receptors on the NK cell surface proteins that interact with target cells, inhibiting action of NK cells, “says Mandelboim.

What paint the Natural Killer in the decidua, the membrane aligned with the womb of a pregnant woman?. HU researchers were surprised to find a high concentration of killer cells (70-80% of the population of cells) in the uterus. The cells do not harm the fetus. “They can help the fetus develop, and / or protect against infection which is particularly important when it suppresses the immune system of the mother,” says Mandelboim.

A key interaction between the fetus and the mother was observed by the researchers who discovered that the fetus secretes a material that attracts NK cells into the uterus.

“NK cells can prevent viral attack against the mother. One of the most damaging, is cytomegalovirus. An attack during pregnancy can cause blindness and retardation in the baby,” says the researcher.

These findings have important implications not only for a basic understanding of the interactions between the fetus and mother, but also for the development and novel treatment of women with recurrent viral infections.

Equally important is the study of the lack of activity of natural killer cells that can lead to recurrent viral infections and even death at an early age. HU scientists are trying to discover the mechanisms that lead to a deficiency of NK. Mandelboim and colleagues hope that this research will affect the development of drugs to treat viral infection.

STEM CELL RESEARCH

Embryonic cell research promises to become a key tool for the treatment of the disease in the XXI century. Among the leading scientists of the Hebrew University / Hadassah are planning new paths for the treatment and cure for people suffering from neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s, diabetes, and heart failure, and focused on the treatment of diseases in there is failure or cellular degeneration.

More than a million people in the United States suffer from Parkinson Worldwide, 16 million people suffer from neurological diseases, 120 million have diabetes.

Hadassah, working together with Monash University in Australia and the National University of Singapore was the second group in the world to make daughter cells from human embryos. The researchers have succeeded in producing six lines of human embryonic stem cells available for federally funded research in the United States. Five of these lines are currently distributed among 12 researchers from the U.S. and are provided to more than 50 additional laboratories worldwide involved in stem cell research.

“After one or two weeks in culture, as embryonic cells begin to differentiate into different cell types, such as nerve or muscle cells,” said Professor Benjamin Reubinoff, Director of Hadassah Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Center.

The Hadassah group was the first group, in parallel with a group of Wisconsin, in identifying and producing nerve stem cells from human ES cells. The results serve as a platform for producing specialized nerve cells for treating conditions such as Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis.

“We focus on the development of developing nerve cells and insulin-producing pancreatic cells,” says Reubinoff. A graduate of the Hadassah Medical School, specializing in obstetrics and gynecology, Reubinoff achieved a doctorate (summa cum laude) in neurobiology and completed a PhD in biology in Australia.

Already, there have been exciting advances in neural stem cells were extracted from human ES cells. The results suggest that it is possible to transplant embryonic primitive nerve cells in the brains of newborn mice and who will participate in brain development.

“The transplanted cells integrated into the host brain respond to signals from the host brain and could” communicate “with the host brain cells,” Reubinoff said.

The doctor / researcher hopes that the progress of the investigation also lead to improved therapy for genetic disease problems. The success casts a dim light on the hidden treasure that embryonic cell research can offer to medical science.