On September 13, the finals of the Bio-Mix 2021 competition for innovative technologies in TEVA’s life sciences took place.
The competition is a collaboration between Teva in collaboration with laboratories and young researchers from the best academic institutions in Israel, in the fields of life sciences and medicine.
The purpose of the program is to connect the laboratory to real life and to bridge the gap between a promising scientific invention and a product or drug entering the market.
The EpiPatch biosensor is the winning project of this year’s competition. It was developed by the student team: Ron Kleiner, project leader, Shirley Weiss and Roi Rabinowich from Tel Aviv University, Michal Levi from the Hebrew University, Gabe Javitt and Mor Kenigsbuch from the Weizmann Institute, and the Technion doctoral student Ofir Levin Piada from the laboratory of Prof. Yoram Reiter in the Faculty of Biology.
This patch is a body sticker for early treatment of a severe allergy. Integrated detector an application for providing early warning to the anaphylactic market in case of life-threatening allergies: This is a patch that will be attached to the skin and will include sensitive subcutaneous detection based on blood markers that can indicate the development of the anaphylactic market. When the sensor will be connected to an app that will alert rescue and rescue forces or an adult in the area who can assist immediately (in the case of children) when detecting the warning signals.
A little about the program itself:
“This is the second year that the program takes place in a process that combines community with brilliant young minds from the Israeli academy. A process in which scientific ideas are translated into inventions and applied into medical solutions. “There is no doubt that the potential inherent in the development of research-academic thinking into applicable medical solutions is enormous, especially these days,” says Dr. Dana Bar-On, Teva’s director of academic relations at the Global R&D Division.
As part of the program, a forum and community of young scientists/entrepreneurs – the Bio Innovators community – was established last year.
This year the program included 33 outstanding doctoral and postdoctoral fellows from Tel Aviv University, the Technion, the Hebrew University, and the Weizmann Institute of Science.
This year, 7 outstanding students were selected from the Technion, including 2 students from the Faculty of Biology – among them doctoral student Avi Rutenberg from Prof. Tomer Shlomi’s laboratory, who came up with his project up to the 10 selected ideas.
Among the five projects that reached the final competition was the Peptiburn project – an innovative antimicrobial bandage that will prevent burn infections – developed by doctoral student Mor Sela, from the laboratory of Prof. Avi Schroeder in the Faculty of Chemical Engineering.
Throughout the year, the program exposes outstanding students to the worlds of biotech and entrepreneurship and provides them with the tools and skills to become future researchers-entrepreneurs. A vibrant community designed to help them advance these ideas.
This year’s competition was opened by Prof. Nachman Ash, Director General of the Ministry of Health and Director General of Teva, Mr. Kåre Schultz, and was judged by five leading judges from industry, academia, and venture capital funds, including Dr. David Wilson, Head of Global Discovery of Teva as well as the person who moderated the competition – Yaakov Ayalon.
