Researchers from the Technion and Japan will collaborate to develop a platform for the creation of blood vessels and cells from embryonic stem cells.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyau said last week that the children of Israel should study Chinese as well as English. Personally, I would like to see more Israeli children doing the final exams, but I agree with his general approach. It’s pretty obvious that the market is heading east: to India, China and Japan. And it’s just as obvious that Israel, as a small country with almost no natural resources of its own, needs to start developing trade and business connections with that area of the world.

It is for that reason that I was quite happy to read that researchers from the Technion and from Japan are beginning the joined development of a platform for the creation of blood vessels and cells from embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (adult cells that were reprogrammed into an embryonic-like state). This is the first scientific agreement ever to be signed between Japan and Israel, and it’s quite beneficial for researchers from both countries.

Both Prof. Joseph Itskovitz from the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine in the Technion and researchers from the Rikan research center in Japan received a joined grant of 600,000 dollars from the Ministries of Science in Japan and Israel, for development of the unique platform. According to Prof. Itskovitz, this is a historical scientific agreement, and he hopes many more will follow. “Japan is a power in the field of stem cells and reprogramming adult stem cells into embryonic cells,” he emphasized. “Its scientists are world leaders in this field, and the unique platform we’re jointly developing with the Japanese researchers will enable a novel use of stem cells in human beings in the future.”

Source: The Technion Site

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