Graduates and professors of Israeli institute the Technion have made large contributions in the field of cancer research and treatment.
Technion professor Yuval Shaked, together with startup OncoHost, is responsible for the creation of a blood test that will help doctors to provide personalized treatment plans to cancer patients, and plans for clinical trials in the UK in collaboration with the country’s National Healthcare System are in the works.
Initial trials “will focus on patients diagnosed with advanced stages of melanoma or non-small cell lung cancer and will join the company’s existing trials using diagnostic platform PROphet, which uses AI to predict patient response to immunotherapy.” The information provided will assist clinicians in accurately predicting how certain treatment combinations will affect a particular patient as well as how best to approach “treatment resistance.”
OncoHost intends to research other types of cancer and to conduct trials in other locations in the future.
Artificial intelligence-based cancer diagnostic software may also be changing the way the disease is detected and diagnosed, thanks to Ibex Medical Analytics. Dr. Daphna Laifenfeld researched personalized medicine while at the Technion and is now the company’s Chief Scientific Officer.
The technology will require further clinical review and regulatory approval, though the US Food and Drug Administration’s recognition of the technology through its Breakthrough Devices Program is a promising start.
NanoGhost is another technology "that targets cancer cells with modified adult stem cells loaded with medicine,” that also got its start at the Technion. Professor Marcelle Machluf co-founded and invented the technology, having started the research in 2010. NanoGhost has raised $5 million dollars and clinical trials are hoped to begin in 2023.