https://unitedwithisrael.org/after-missile-strike-weizmann-lab-publishes-breathrough-leukemia-research/
A simple blood test procedure could screen for leukemia non-invasively, well before symptoms begin to express, revolutionizing the ability of the medical community to effectively target and treat the disease.
During the Iranian missile attacks that rocked Israel in the second half of June, few stories captured the resilience of the Israeli spirit like the one that occurred at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot.
On June 15, Weizmann labs took a direct hit from Iranian ballistic missiles, obliterating years, and in some cases, lifetimes worth of irreplaceable scientific research.
While luckily there were no casualties, the hit was a significant loss to an institution dedicated to expanding the scope of human knowledge.
Notably, the Cancer Research Unit was severely impacted, with entire labs destroyed.
Yet despite the mayhem, a joint project led by Professors Liran Shlush and Amos Tanay published a startling breakthrough in leukemia diagnostics, which could fundamentally change the means of diagnosis and treatment of this infamously pernicious form of cancer.
Breakthrough in the bloodstream
Leukemia, or cancer of the blood, is an aggressive cancer that originates in bone marrow and causes rapid proliferation of malformed blood cells.
These cells compromise the body’s ability to fight infection and circulate oxygen.
Current screenings for leukemia require a bone marrow biopsy, a painful procedure to extract bone marrow and test for leukemic cells.