Health

The IDF presented the recommendations of the Almoz Committee for examining the response to discharged soldiers and reservists not on active duty, who took their own lives due to their service. Head of the Manpower Directorate, Brigadier General Wadmani: “In light of the implications and exceptional circumstances, the committee recommended that regarding the ‘Swords of Iron’ war, a unique and tailored response should be implemented.” According to army data, in 2025, 22 cases of suicide were recorded, including 12 conscripts, one officer, and 9 reservists. Committee Chairman, MK Stern: “The fight against suicide is not a personal fight, it is a fight for all of us as a Society.”
The IDF was asked to present the committee’s conclusions for examining the response provided to discharged soldiers and reservists not on active duty, who took their own lives due to their service (Almoz Committee). Committee Chairman, MK Elazar Stern: “I am full of appreciation for the military personnel involved in saving lives, but to reach everyone who needs help, we must continue to invest more Budgets, professionals, and appropriate accessibility for those in need. The fight against suicide is not a personal fight, it is a fight for all of us as a society. We will not abandon anyone to cope alone, it is our duty to help, listen to their distress, and be there for them.”
Head of the Manpower Directorate, Brigadier General Amir Wadmani, presented the committee’s recommendations: “The committee recommended maintaining the unique status of an IDF fallen soldier and preserving the existing distinction between a civilian and a soldier. At the same time, in light of the implications of ‘Swords of Iron’ and the exceptional circumstances, it recommended that regarding the ‘Swords of Iron’ war, a unique and tailored response should be implemented.
The response involves two stages – if someone takes their own life after military service and there are circumstances related to their military service, the matter is brought before the Head of the Manpower Directorate. The Head of the Manpower Directorate examines whether the suicide event meets the criteria, including the duration of service, the nature of the role, exposure to exceptional events during service, the proximity in time between service and death, and whether there were indications of mental distress during military service. The information is immediately clarified between the IDF and the police, and if the Head of the Manpower Directorate decides there are unique circumstances, with the family’s consent, military insignia are allowed during a civilian funeral ceremony.
In the second stage, the IDF accompanies the family in the process with the Ministry of Defense to receive rights according to the law. If the Ministry of Defense accepts the causal link, commemoration on the Wall of Remembrance at Mount Herzl, on the Yizkor website, placing a candle and flag on memorial day, and a military cantor at the memorial service are added.”
According to army data, in 2025, 22 cases of suicide were recorded, including 12 conscripts, one officer, and 9 reservists. For comparison, in 2024, 21 cases were recorded. In terms of conscripts, there was an increase from 7 to 12, while among reservists, there was a decrease from 12 to 9.
In the year before the war, i.e., 2022, there were 14 cases among conscripts and zero cases among reservists. The IDF explains that the increase among reservists in 2024 and 2025 is due to the very extensive activation of reservists.
50% of the cases in 2025 were of combat soldiers, 75% of the cases were not treated by a mental health officer (קב”ן), and 85% of the cases involved suicide by weapon.
MK Ofer Cassif presented data from a report by the Knesset Research and Information Center, written at his request, which shows that between 2017 and 2022, the proportion of combat soldiers among all IDF soldiers who committed suicide ranged between 42% and 45%. In 2023, this proportion decreased to 17%, and in 2024, it increased significantly to 78%. In 2024-2025 (until the end of July), 17% of soldiers who committed suicide had met with a mental health officer in the two months prior to their suicide.
Regarding suicide attempts, between January 2024 and July 2025, 279 soldiers attempted suicide – meaning, for every soldier who committed suicide in the IDF, another seven suicide attempts were documented. In the clinical report of the Medical Corps, 12% of these suicide attempts were defined as severe (i.e., actions whose execution could have led to the person’s death or significant injury), and 88% were defined as moderate (suicidal actions with low risk potential).
Head of Clinical Services, Lt. Col. Dr. Carmel Kahlah: “Regarding the treatment of career soldiers in their first year, there is the Liba unit that deals with career soldiers in their first year. We are engaged in awareness campaigns to reduce stigma regarding seeking help, and we are also seeing an increase in inquiries. It is important for me to clarify that the primary goal of mental health officers is to treat.”

The Committee for the Rights of the Child, chaired by MK Kتي Shtrit, conducted a tour today at Safra Children’s Hospital at the Sheba Medical Center. The committee visited the Pediatric Psychiatry Department and the Pediatric Eating Disorders Department. MKs Pnina Tamano-Shata and Adi Azoulay also participated in the tour.
committee chair, MK Kتي Shtrit: “We were exposed to one of the flagship departments in the healthcare system for treating eating disorders, but even this department cannot meet the national need. This model must be replicated everywhere.
I was exposed to the professional, dedicated, and sensitive work of the medical and therapeutic staff. This is high-quality personnel who work with exceptional dedication and under appropriate conditions, out of a deep commitment to the well-being and rights of children and adolescents struggling with eating disorders.
Alongside this, a serious problem arose that cannot be ignored – a significant national shortage of inpatient beds. This distress impairs the ability to provide timely care to children and adolescents who need life-saving treatment, and puts families in an unbearable situation of waiting and uncertainty.
As Chair of the Committee for the Rights of the Child, I will do everything to ensure the increase in the number of beds and resources in the eating disorder departments, to ensure that every child across the country receives accessible, appropriate, and timely treatment. This is an urgent need, and it is a national responsibility.”
Prof. Doron Gothelf, Director of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Safra Children’s Hospital at Sheba: “The past few years have presented children and youth in Israel with unprecedented psychological and emotional challenges. The unique model we have developed in the Psychiatry Department at Safra Children’s Hospital was built to provide a precise response to these distresses.
We hope it will be adopted as a national model and expanded to additional hospitals and medical centers across the country, alongside a significant strengthening of community care.
Our responsibility is clear: to build an accessible and high-quality continuum of care, which will allow every child to receive professional psychological care, in a timely manner, and wherever they need it.”

committee chair Limor Son Har Melech: We must ensure that those who need these medications for medical purposes can obtain them with dignity and accessibility, while on the other hand – erecting a barrier that will make it difficult for those attempting to acquire them for trade or misuse.
The Health Committee today (Monday) approved the cancellation of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations (Dispensing and Transfer of Drugs), 1983. The cancellation is in light of an amendment approved by the committee about a year ago, which established a new version of regulations governing the dispensing of drugs for the purpose of drug rehabilitation. The committee chair, Limor Son Har Melech (Otzma Yehudit), emphasized that “we all understand that for patients who need them, drug substitutes are a necessity and an integral part of the treatment path. However, we cannot ignore the changing reality: in recent years, with accelerated technological development, the forgery of prescriptions and illegal purchase and trade has become easier and more accessible than ever before. Our goal is to close this loophole as much as possible. We want to create a precise balance: to ensure that those who need these medications for medical purposes can obtain them with dignity and accessibility, but on the other hand – to erect a barrier that will make it difficult for those attempting to acquire them for trade or misuse.”
Eliyahu Marom, Deputy Director of the Pharmacy Division at the Ministry of Health, explained that the regulations were drafted about 43 years ago and are no longer adapted to the drugs currently in use for drug rehabilitation. The Pharmacists Regulations stipulate the process for handling dangerous drugs for the purpose of rehabilitation from drugs used as drug substitutes that were registered at that time, and they were primarily intended for the treatment of severe street drug users. However, today there is a wider variety of drug preparations registered in Israel for rehabilitation purposes, not just the drugs defined in the regulations’ appendix, and rehabilitation processes have also been expanded for the purpose of overcoming addiction to opioid drugs, which patients began using as part of medical treatment and became addicted to over the years.
The Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, in its new version, regulates the handling of dangerous drugs, and based on it, the Dangerous Drugs Regulations, 1979, were enacted, which regulate the conduct with dangerous drugs. The Dangerous Drugs Regulations were amended about a year ago and updated according to the needs that arose over the years with the rise in the use of dangerous drugs. Even today, they are undergoing legislative amendment as part of the Ministry of Health‘s response to the opioid epidemic in Israel. As part of this amendment, the Dangerous Drugs Regulations will include an updated list of drug substitutes used to treat drug users within the framework of addiction rehabilitation.
 
For background material and the Ministry of Health‘s appeal:
https://main.knesset.gov.il/Activity/committees/health/Pages/CommitteeMaterial.aspx?ItemID=2238253
 

​​The special committee for the Rights of the Child, chaired by MK Kathrin Shitrit (Likud), conducted on Sunday a tour of the Sheba Medical Center’s Edmond and Lily Safra Children’s Hospital. At the hospital, the committee visited the Department of Child Psychiatry, and its eating disorders unit. In addition to committee chair MK Shitrit, the tour was attended by MKs MK Pnina Tameno Shete (Blue and White—National Unity Party) and Adi Ezuz (Yesh Atid).

 
Committee Chair MK Shitrit said, “We were exposed to one of the flagship departments in the healthcare system for treating eating disorders, but even this department cannot meet the national need. It is essential to replicate this model everywhere.
 
“I was impressed by the professional, dedicated, and sensitive work of the medical and therapeutic staff. It is a high-quality workforce that operates with exceptional devotion and under adequate conditions, with a deep commitment to the well-being and rights of children and adolescents dealing with eating disorders.
 
“At the same time, a serious issue arose that cannot be ignored – a significant national shortage of hospital beds. This shortage harms the ability to provide timely care to children and adolescents who need life-saving treatment and puts families in an unbearable state of waiting and uncertainty.
 
“As Chair of the Special Committee for the Rights of the Child, I will do everything I can to ensure an increase in beds and resources in the eating disorders departments, to make certain that every child across the country receives timely, accessible, and appropriate treatment. This is an urgent need, and it is a national responsibility,” she said.
 
Prof. Doron Gothelf, Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit at the Safra Children’s Hospital, said, “In recent years, Israeli children and adolescents have faced unprecedented emotional and mental challenges. The unique model we developed in the Psychiatry Unit was designed to provide a precise response to these difficulties. We hope that it will be adopted as a national model and expanded to additional hospitals and medical centers across the country, alongside a significant strengthening of community-based treatment services.
 
“Our responsibility is clear: to build an accessible and high-quality treatment continuum that will allow every child to receive timely, professional mental health care, wherever and whenever they need it,” he said. 
​

​The foreign affairs and Defense Committee’s Subcommittee for IDF Human Resources, chaired by MK Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid), convened on Sunday for a debate on the measures the IDF is taking to prevent suicidality.

 
The IDF was asked to present the conclusions of the Almoz Commission, which reviewed the support to be provided to the families of discharged soldiers or reservists who are not in active duty, who take their own lives after their release from military service, under circumstances that may be related to their service. Subcommittee Chair MK Stern said, “I have great respect for the soldiers who work to save lives, but in order to reach everyone who needs help, we must continue to invest more in budgets, professionals, and appropriate accessibility for those in need. The fight against suicidality is not an individual struggle, it is our collective battle as a society. We will not leave anyone to fight alone. It is our duty to help, listen to their distress, and be there for them.”
 
Brig. Gen. Amir Vadmani, Chief of Staff for the IDF Personnel Directorate, said, “The [Almoz] Commission recommended maintaining the unique status of fallen IDF soldiers and preserving the distinction between civilians and soldiers. However, given the consequences of the Swords of Iron war and the exceptional circumstances, it recommended a unique and tailored response for this war. The response includes two stages – if someone takes their life after their military service and there are circumstances related to their service, it will be brought before the head of the Personnel Directorate, who will assess whether the suicide meets criteria such as the duration of service, the nature of the role, exposure to extraordinary events during service, the timing of the death in relation to service, and whether there were indications of mental distress during service. The information is immediately verified between the IDF and the police. If the head of the Personnel Directorate determines that there are unique circumstances, in accordance with the family’s wishes, military symbols may be included in the civilian funeral ceremony.
 
“In the second stage, the IDF assists the family in the process with the Ministry of Defense to receive rights according to the law. If the Ministry of Defense accepts that there was a causal connection, commemoration is added, including placing the name on the memorial wall at Mount Herzl, on the Yizkor memorial website, the placement of a candle and flag on memorial day, and the presence of a military cantor at the memorial ceremony,” he said.  
 
According to IDF data, in 2025, 22 suicide cases were recorded, including 12 soldiers in compulsory service, one soldier in standing army service, and nine reservists. In comparison, 21 cases were recorded in 2024. Among soldiers in compulsory service, there was an increase from seven to 12 suicides, while among reservists, there was a decrease from 12 to nine. In 2022, there were 14 cases – 13 among soldiers in compulsory service and none among reservists. The IDF explains that the rise in suicides among reservists in 2024 and 2025 is due to a massive activation of reservists.
 
Fifty-percent of the suicides in 2025 were committed by combat soldiers, 75% of those who committed suicide had not been treated by a mental health officer (Kaban), a​nd 85% of the cases involved suicides with weapons.
 
MK Ofer Cassif (Hadash-Ta’al) presented data from a report by the Knesset Research and Information Center, written at his request. The report shows that between 2017 and 2022, the percentage of combat soldiers among all IDF soldiers who committed suicide ranged from 42% to 45%. In 2023, this rate dropped to 17%, and in 2024, it rose significantly to 78%. Between 2024 and 2025 (until the end of July), 17% of the soldiers who committed suicide had met with a mental health officer in the two months prior to their suicide.
 
Regarding suicide attempts, between January 2024 and July 2025, 279 soldiers attempted suicide – meaning, for every soldier who committed suicide in the IDF, seven more suicide attempts were recorded. According to the IDF Medical Corps’ clinical report, 12% of these suicide attempts were classified as severe (i.e., actions that could have led to death or significant injury), and 88% were classified as moderate (suicidal actions with low risk potential).
 
Lt. Col. Dr. Carmel Kala, head of the Clinical Branch in the IDF Medical Corps, said, “Regarding treatment for soldiers in their first year of standing army service, there is the Unit for the Designated treatment of a Young Commander​. We are engaged in awareness efforts to reduce the stigma attached to seeking help, and we are seeing an increase in requests. It is important to clarify that the primary goal of mental health officers is to provide treatment.'”
​

​Over the past year, there has been an increase of approximately 74% in the number of medical graduates of An-Najah National University in Nablus and Al-Quds University in east Jerusalem who are undergoing medical residency training in hospitals in Israel. While in 2024 there were approximately 70 such medical residents, the number has now risen to 122. This was disclosed Wednesday at a meeting of the Health Committee, which discussed the prioritization of residency positions.

 
committee chairMK Limor Sonn Har Melech (Otzma Yehudit) said, “Israel‘s medical residency positions are a strategic, valuable, and limited national resource. These residency positions are where the practical training of the next generation of physicians takes place. My policy is that those who serve [should be first in line]. These positions are too costly for the state to allocate indiscriminately, and the system must clearly prioritize army veterans and reservists, including those who studied abroad – individuals who devote the best years of their lives and even risk their lives for the country.
 
“The time has come to abolish the distortion known as ‘affirmative action’ for those who do not bear the burden,” she said. “It is inconceivable that those who do not serve, and who do not share in the most basic civic duty, should receive priority or reserved residency positions at the expense of those who do serve. Anyone who does not bear the burden of defending the State of Israel should not be allowed to bypass those who are, at this very moment, on the front lines.”
 
Committee Chair MK Sonn Har Melech further stated: “Anyone who chose to study medicine at institutions that serve as incubators of terrorism and denial of Israel’s right to exist – institutions located in Nablus or east Jerusalem – cannot be part of Israel’s healthcare system. I do not trust a physician who studied at Al-Quds University or An-Najah University in Nablus, in an environment of incitement and proximity to terrorist elements, to operate on an IDF soldier or to treat our children. According to Ministry of Health data, 14 medical residents who studied at Al-Quds University are currently training at Soroka Medical Center, four at Sheba Medical Center, and one at Wolfson Medical Center. This is a reality that cannot continue. We must halt the distorted affirmative action in admission to medical training programs, prioritize those who serve, and exclude graduates of the Palestinian Authority’s terror incubators. If a rapid, comprehensive, and systemic policy change is not presented, we will advance urgent private legislation to regulate the matter in all its aspects.”
 
MK Moshe Saada (Likud) said, “Because of this corrupting affirmative action, many graduates of An-Najah University in Nablus and Al-Quds University in east Jerusalem – both described as terror incubators – are accepted into medical residency programs. Moreover, during the height of the war, physicians from the Palestinian Authority are doing their residencies in our hospitals.”
 
MK Iman Khatib Yassin (United Arab List – Ra’am) said, “This is a racist and generalizing discussion that harms Israeli citizens who choose to study in Nablus because they were not accepted to medical schools elsewhere.”
 
According to Rachel Shalem, Senior Division Director for Workforce and Economic Planning at the Ministry of Health, the state allows medical students to study abroad at recognized institutions, while graduates of unrecognized institutions are not placed in residency programs in Israel. “Our objective is to increase the number of physicians trained in Israel from 1,200 to 1,700 by 2027, primarily by expanding domestic medical training rather than relying on studies abroad. The vast majority of residency slots will be filled by graduates trained in Israel. Currently, 122 graduates who studied in Nablus and east Jerusalem are undergoing medical residency training in Israeli hospitals.
 
“With the outbreak of the war, the Director General of the Ministry of Health asked Israeli medical faculties to admit reservists who received emergency call-up orders and were studying medicine abroad. Israeli universities provide reservists with preferential conditions, and beginning in 2026, a reservist entering a residency program in Israel will not be required to pay for residency training. Incorrect pricing of residency positions and benchmarks for training previously limited full utilization of residency slots, and we are now removing these barriers,” she said.
 
Dr. Orly Greenfeld, head of the Medical Professional Licensing Division at the Ministry of Health, added that the ethics, academic standards, and professional quality of each institution are examined, and that any information indicating an institution’s involvement in terrorist activity is investigated. A physician’s license is also contingent upon a criminal background check.
 
Prof. Dan Schwarzfuchs, Deputy Director of Soroka Medical Center, said, “Our responsibility is to ensure that residents of southern Israel have an adequate healthcare system. I do not have the luxury of choosing which physicians enter residency training at my institution.”
 
According to Dvora Margolis, a representative of the Council of University Heads, approximately 100 medical students who studied abroad and enlisted during the war have been absorbed into Israeli medical faculties, and “there is no affirmative action based on sectoral affiliation.”
 
Dr. Efrat Arbel, who is in charge of equality at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, noted that many physicians who were trained abroad lack even basic Hebrew proficiency, and that “many candidates from the Arab sector were accepted despite a low level of Hebrew proficiency.” 
​

By Pesach Benson • January 6, 2026

Jerusalem, 6 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — More than half of Israel’s hospital beds lack adequate protection from rocket and missile attacks, exposing patients and medical staff to grave danger and raising doubts about the healthcare system’s ability to function during prolonged conflict, according to a sharply critical State Comptroller report released Tuesday.

State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman found that 56 percent of general hospital beds — more than 10,000 beds across 27 hospitals — are either unprotected or located in areas that cannot withstand missile strikes. The report defined these protection gaps as failures that “harm the ability of hospitals to protect the lives of patients and medical, nursing, and other staff, as well as their ability to maintain continuity of treatment and functioning during emergencies.”

The State Comptroller regularly reviews Israel’s preparedness and the effectiveness of government policies. Englman’s office also released an audit on Israeli schools being unprepared for remote learning during the war despite lessons learned during the COVID pandemic.

The audit, conducted between January and September 2024, took on heightened urgency after an Iranian ballistic missile struck the Soroka Medical Center in Beer-Sheva in June. Although patients had been evacuated hours earlier and no casualties were reported, the hit “severely damaged the hospital’s functional continuity and impaired its ability to continue operating in a continuous and effective manner to provide essential medical services,” the report said.

According to the findings, the deficiencies extend well beyond patient beds. The report found that 41 percent of operating rooms, 61 percent of medical imaging equipment, and 43 percent of intensive care beds in the hospitals examined are not adequately fortified. In hospitals near Israel’s borders with Gaza and Lebanon, the situation is even more severe. There, “significant protection gaps exist at sites used for vital activities,” including 67 percent of imaging devices and nearly half of all hospital beds.

Since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, more than 37,500 rockets and missiles were fired at Israeli territory through June 2025. During the war’s first months, hospital occupancy rates fell by between 13 and 24 percent, while some hospitals near conflict zones were forced to cut ambulatory services by as much as 72 percent.

Conditions were found to be especially alarming in psychiatric and geriatric hospitals, where patients often have limited mobility or difficulty understanding emergency instructions. In the Tel Aviv Metropolitan area, only 7 percent of beds in long-term care facilities are protected. In one psychiatric hospital, staff were instructed that, during missile alerts, patients should “get out of their beds and lie on the floor,” because no protected spaces were available.

At another psychiatric hospital with 300 beds, three entire departments were transferred to other facilities when the war began. The remaining patients were concentrated in a single protected building designed to hold only about 200 people. The report described the result as “extreme crowding, combined with risks stemming from patients’ mental conditions and prolonged confinement in a shared space.”

Fully addressing the protection gaps would require an estimated NIS 4.8 billion ($1.52 million), the report said. Yet the government has allocated only NIS 500 million ($158.2 million) for hospital protection during the current war — roughly 10 percent of the required sum. Englman criticized the absence of a comprehensive national plan, noting that since 2007, hospital fortification has been handled through “partial and point-specific programs that do not provide sufficient response to the significant protection gaps.”

The report stressed that protecting hospitals is vital not only for civilian care but also for national security, warning that failure to do so could “harm the resilience of the home front and the fighting capability at the front,” as wounded soldiers depend on the same medical infrastructure.

Englman called on the government to adopt a multi-year national plan with dedicated funding and clear priorities, cautioning that without it, “the ability of many hospitals to continue providing medical services to the population during a prolonged, multi-front war will be limited.”

By TPS-IL • January 6, 2026

Jerusalem, 6 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — A new University of Haifa study, shared exclusively with The Press Service of Israel, suggests that the degree to which two strangers’ brains synchronize during an initial conversation may help predict their resilience to Trauma later in life.

Researchers found that individuals whose brain activity showed stronger synchrony with an unfamiliar conversation partner during an initial social interaction were more psychologically resilient months later, following exposure to the October 7 terror attacks and the ensuing war. Their findings were published recently in the peer-reviewed journal Translational Psychiatry.

Interpersonal brain synchrony refers to the alignment of neural activity patterns between people during social interaction. Previous research has shown that such synchrony emerges naturally during conversation and is linked to empathy, emotional attunement, and social connection. It is also understood to reflect a stable individual tendency, with some people more readily aligning their attention and emotional processing with others.

According to the researchers, higher levels of interpersonal brain synchrony measured before the outbreak of violence were associated with lower levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms, depression, and general distress afterward, even when accounting for the degree of exposure to traumatic events.

“This is a biological and social indicator that can help predict who is more resilient to trauma,” lead researcher Dr. Oded Mayo of the university’s Psychology Dept. told TPS-IL. “It also opens the door to interventions that could strengthen social synchrony and, in turn, support psychological resilience.”

The current study set out to test whether this tendency could serve as a predictor of mental resilience following trauma.

Ninety-eight participants were paired with strangers and asked to take part in a brief introductory conversation. During the interaction, the brain activity of both participants was measured simultaneously using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, a non-invasive imaging method that tracks changes in oxygenated hemoglobin in brain regions associated with empathy, emotional regulation, and social communication.

The researchers analyzed synchrony across six predefined brain areas. These measurements were taken months before the October 7 attacks.

After the outbreak of the war, the research team contacted the same participants and asked them to complete questionnaires assessing their personal exposure to the terror attacks and the severity of psychological symptoms, including post-traumatic stress, depression, and general distress.

By comparing the pre-war brain synchrony data with post-war mental health outcomes, the researchers were able to assess whether early neural alignment during a simple social encounter predicted later resilience.

The results showed that participants with higher levels of interpersonal brain synchrony during the initial conversation experienced a weaker link between trauma exposure and psychological symptoms. In other words, similar levels of exposure had a smaller negative mental health impact on individuals whose brains had synchronized more strongly with others beforehand.

Mayo acknowledged that the findings cannot establish causality, but do point to a clear correlation and predictive link between higher brain synchrony and greater psychological resilience.

“We cannot say anything definitive about causality,” he told TPS-IL, “but the data indicate that brain synchrony can serve as a predictor of who is more resilient.”

The findings suggest that the ability to naturally connect with others at a neural level may support emotional regulation and resilience during periods of extreme stress.

According to Mayo, these insights could help explain why people exposed to similar traumatic events respond so differently, and may open new avenues for identifying vulnerability and resilience factors before trauma occurs.

“We will be able to identify and help the more vulnerable people,” Mayo said.

By TPS-IL • January 5, 2026

Jerusalem, 5 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — A biological chip developed at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel could dramatically shorten the time it takes to analyze how the human immune system responds to new viruses, according to research recently published by the institute.

The technology is designed to rapidly map antibody responses and may become a key tool in preparing for future pandemics.

The chip was developed in the laboratory of Prof. Roi Bar-Ziv during the early months of the COVID-19 outbreak, when researchers worldwide were racing to understand a virus with little existing data. According to the Weizmann Institute, the team recognized that experimental tools originally designed for basic research could be adapted to address urgent public health needs. Their findings were recently published in the peer-reviewed Nature Nanotechnology.

“During the pandemic, we realized that tools developed by our lab could be repurposed for exploring viruses and become immediately relevant,” Bar-Ziv said.

Traditionally, identifying which antibodies recognize a virus requires producing viral proteins one at a time and testing how they interact with human serum, a process that can take days or even weeks. Some laboratories rely on microfluidic systems to speed this up, but those setups require complex pumps and precise mechanical control.

The new chip bypasses those limitations. Instead of using pre-manufactured proteins, it produces viral proteins directly on its silicon surface. Each region of the chip contains printed DNA instructions encoding a specific viral protein or fragment. When researchers add a biochemical mixture that enables protein synthesis, the chip generates dozens of viral antigens simultaneously, without the need for living cells or complex equipment.

By applying less than a drop of blood serum, scientists can observe how antibodies bind to each antigen separately. According to the institute, this allows researchers to reconstruct an individual immune fingerprint, showing not only whether antibodies are present, but also how strongly they interact with different parts of a virus.

To test the system, the researchers analyzed blood samples from people who had recovered from COVID-19 and compared the results with standard tests. They found that the chip could detect subtle antibody responses that traditional methods sometimes overlooked. The experiments also revealed that immune responses varied widely between individuals, including differences in how antibodies reacted to coronavirus variants.

“If a new outbreak emerges tomorrow, we could take that virus’s genetic sequence, make its proteins on the chip, and test antibodies immediately. It’s an incredibly powerful tool for preparedness,” Bar-Ziv said.

The research group is now collaborating with Sheba Medical Center to track immune responses over time in people who recovered from COVID-19.

According to the Weizmann Institute, combining this data with patients’ medical histories could support the development of more targeted vaccines and treatments. The team is also exploring how artificial intelligence models could be used alongside the chip to accelerate the design and testing of engineered antibodies.

By Pesach Benson • January 5, 2026

Jerusalem, 5 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Israeli scientists have uncovered, for the first time, how breast cancer cells adapt to and survive in the brain, Tel Aviv University announced. The discovery could pave the way for new treatments, improved risk prediction, and earlier intervention for brain metastases — a highly lethal condition for which no effective targeted therapy currently exists.

The findings come from a large-scale international study led by scientists at the Gray Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with 14 laboratories across six countries. The research — led by Prof. Uri Ben-David and Prof. Ronit Satchi-Fainaro, together with Dr. Kathrin Laue and Dr. Sabina Pozzi — addresses a long-standing mystery in oncology: why certain breast tumors preferentially metastasize to the brain.

The study was published in the peer-reviewed Nature Genetics.

“Most cancer-related deaths are not caused by the primary tumor but by its metastases to vital organs,” Prof. Satchi-Fainaro said. “Among these, brain metastases are some of the deadliest and most difficult to treat. One of the key unresolved questions in cancer research is why certain tumors metastasize to specific organs and not others.”

Among people with metastatic breast cancer, about 10%–15% develop brain metastases during the course of their illness, according to Breastcancer.org, a nonprofit site offering expert-reviewed information and support on breast cancer.

While the tumor suppressor gene p53 has long been associated with aggressive cancer, the study reveals a previously unknown, brain-specific role for the gene. The researchers identified a distinct chromosomal alteration — the loss of the short arm of chromosome 17 — that strongly predicts the later development of brain metastases in breast cancer patients. This deletion results in the loss of functional p53.

“We found that when chromosome 17 in a cancer cell loses a copy of its short arm, the chances of the cell sending metastases to the brain greatly increase,” Prof. Ben-David said. “The reason for this is the loss of an important gene located on this arm. This gene is p53, often referred to as ‘the guardian of the genome.’”

Crucially, the researchers found that p53 loss does not simply make cancer cells more aggressive overall. Instead, it enables a specific metabolic adaptation that allows breast cancer cells to survive and proliferate in the brain, an environment fundamentally different from the breast tissue where the primary tumor originates.

“The brain’s environment is fundamentally different from that of the breast,” Prof. Satchi-Fainaro said. “The question is how a breast cancer cell, adapted to its original environment, can adjust to this foreign one.”

According to the study, p53 normally regulates fatty acid synthesis, a metabolic pathway particularly important in brain tissue. When p53 is impaired or absent, cancer cells dramatically increase fatty acid production, giving them a growth advantage in the brain. In experiments, breast cancer cells lacking functional p53 proliferated far more aggressively when introduced into the brains of mice than cells with intact p53.

The team also uncovered a previously unrecognized interaction between cancer cells and astrocytes, support cells in the brain that normally secrete substances to nourish neurons. In the absence of p53, cancer cells intensify their interaction with astrocytes and hijack these secreted substances, using them as raw materials for fatty acid synthesis.

A central player in this process is the enzyme SCD1, which plays a key role in fatty acid production. The researchers found that SCD1 expression and activity were significantly higher in cancer cells with impaired or missing p53, making the enzyme a critical vulnerability.

“Once we identified the mechanism and its key players, we sought to use the findings to search for a potential drug for brain metastases,” Prof. Ben-David said.

The researchers tested several drugs that inhibit SCD1, some already under development for other diseases. “We found that SCD1 inhibition in brain metastatic cells with impaired p53 was effective and significantly hindered the development and proliferation of cancerous metastases,” Ben-David said. The effect was observed both in mouse models and in samples taken from brain metastases of women with breast cancer.

Doctors could use the study’s findings to identify breast cancer patients at higher risk of brain metastases before the cancer spreads. By testing tumors for p53 mutations or deletion of part of chromosome 17, clinicians could tailor monitoring, such as more frequent brain MRIs, while sparing low-risk patients from unnecessary imaging or aggressive treatments.

The research also points to a potential treatment by targeting SCD1, an enzyme essential for fatty acid production in cancer cells lacking p53. Drugs that inhibit SCD1, some already in development, were shown to slow the growth of brain metastatic cells in lab and animal models, offering hope for the first effective therapy against breast cancer brain metastases.

“We identified several characteristics of cancer cells causally linked to this deadly phenomenon,” the researchers concluded. “While the road ahead is still long, the potential is immense.”