To tackle degenerative diseases, four new joint medical research projects that use stem cells will get funding totaling £1.5 million ($2 million) from the Britain Israel Research and Academic Exchange program (BIRAX), a £10 million initiative of the British Council that invests in groundbreaking research jointly undertaken by scientists in Britain and Israel.
The projects bring together scientists from the University of Edinburgh, the Weizmann Institute for Science, the Technion – Israel Institute for Technology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Exeter University, University of Cambridge and the University of Glasgow.
The projects which will develop stem cell therapies to treat diabetes, heart disease, leukemia, anemia and Alzheimer’s, are the latest additions to projects funded by BIRAX.
The United Kingdom’s ambassador to Israel David Quarrey said, “Some of the UK’s leading medical foundations will be working together with their Israeli counterparts to deliver world-class, cutting-edge collaborative research projects that will both bring the UK and Israeli academic communities closer together, and take us a step closer to making the world’s most debilitating diseases a thing of the past.”
The funded projects are ‘Regenerating new blood vessels to restore healthy tissue’, University of Edinburgh and Weizmann Institute of Science; ‘How aging affects the blood and immune system’, University of Cambridge and Weizmann Institute of Science; ‘A new window into understanding, diagnosing and treating type 1 diabetes’, University of Exeter and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; ‘Combating Alzheimer’s disease’, University Of Glasgow and Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.
BIRAX was initiated 6 years ago by the British Council, the British Embassy in Israel and the UK Science & Innovation Network in collaboration with founding partners Pears Foundation and the UJIA. Through the initiative they teamed up with philanthropic foundations and leading UK medical research charities including the British Heart Foundation, JDRF, and Alzheimer’s Society.