Israeli medical start-up prepares to build a better bone (Times of Israel)
Make no bones about it: A one-of-a-kind factory is going up in northern Israel.
Scientists at the Haifa facility there will manufacture bones for use in bone grafts, and they’ll do so using a new technique — taking live fat cells from patients by liposuction –which, according to its inventor, Dr. Shai Meretzki, will significantly change the way doctors relate to orthopedic problems and bone repairs.
And once his company, Bonus BioGroup, has perfected its method of growing bones in a test tube, Meretzki said, it will also move on to developing joint replacements, which could help billions of older people regain their lost freedom of movement.
“Our bone-regeneration methodology is a powerful tool for treating a variety of bone and joint diseases without the risk of tissue rejection and surgery failure, as with current methods of bone replacement and implants,” Meretzki claimed.
Over 2 million bone-graft procedures are performed annually, and problems are endemic to most of them, Meretzki explained to The Times of Israel this week. A bone graft is a surgical procedure that replaces missing bone in the body. It ...
