Finishing strong with much to ponder
Our first stop on June 11th was at Pluristem, a biotech company in Haifa that manufactures its own brand of modified placental cells for use in a wide variety of therapies. Pluristems's patented PLX cells are currently in different stages of clinical trials for indications ranging from myocardial infarctions to preeclampsia to Buerger's disease, an FDA designated orphan illness. Ohad Karnieli, Pluristem's Vice President of Technology, gave us a thorough explanation of his company's goals, process, and business model and easily fielded our many questions, both technical and otherwise. Afterwards we got a brief tour of the manufacturing facilities-- we weren't able to enter the clean rooms, of course, but we got a good view of a lot of Pluristem's equipment and devices.
As a dual Mathematics and Biology major, I found this visit to Pluristem's facilities very enlightening. I have a particular interest in infectious diseases and at MIT I work in the Runstadler lab, which focuses on surveillance and infection mechanisms of avian influenza. I love my lab work, but the Runstadler lab is rather insular in that it is well connected to the scientific community and some related government organizations (such as NOAA, USDA, and the CDC) but not to scientific industry. In essence, the work that I have observed and done so far during my short tenure as a member of the scientific community has been purely information-based, important but nonetheless intangible. This visit to Pluristem has given me insight into the industrial side of my field-- its main output is not journal articles, but physical products that have the potential to make a tangible difference in the lives of real people. I have yet to decide whether I want to remain in academia and research or go into the biotech/pharmaceutical industry, but this visit has really opened my eyes to the wealth of possibilities that could be available to me with my interests and developing skill set.
Echoing the sentiments of my friends and colleagues on the trip, I would like to thank you for making this extension a possibility. While I have known that Israel has a prolific tech industry, I was unaware until this experience of how diverse and extensive that industry is. These company visits--even the ones not directly related to my fields of interest--have given me important insight into my options both in Israel and the scientific world at large.
