It may sound like science fiction, but Israeli researchers say the world could soon witness a paraplegic walking again—thanks to a groundbreaking treatment developed at Tel Aviv University and commercialized by the biotech company Matricelf.
Led by Prof. Tal Dvir, the team is preparing for the world’s first human spinal cord implant procedure designed to restore mobility in people living with paralysis.
“The basis of our technology is to create tissue out of the patient’s own cells,” Matricelf CEO Gil Hakim explained during a recording of the ILTV Podcast. “The spinal cord tissue connects between the brain and the muscles. And in cases where there is a severe, traumatic injury, like car accidents or others, there is a cut in this connection. We take the patient’s cells and create a micro spinal cord and we place it inside the area where there is a cut or an injury… It connects naturally with the existing host. And these connections regain for the patient all movement and function.”
In other words, when an injury occurs, the body usually develops scar tissue. While harmless in many areas, in the spinal cord it acts like a wall, blocking critical signals from traveling from the brain to the extremities—leaving the person paralyzed from the injury down. Matricelf removes that scar tissue and replaces it with a micro-cord made from the patient’s own cells, preventing rejection. With the barrier gone, signals can flow again, restoring both movement and sensation.
Matricelf, together with Dvir’s Tel Aviv University lab, is the first to develop what Hakim calls a “real cure” for paralysis. Tests in rats have shown overwhelming success, and with recent preliminary approval from Israel’s Health Ministry, the team hopes to soon move to the first human trial. Hakim said it took 10 years of lab work to reach this stage.
“We’re proud of the fact that the first patient who will possibly enjoy this treatment will be in Israel,” he told ILTV.
The first patient will likely be someone young, injured within the past year to 18 months, and paralyzed from the waist down. Over time, the treatment could expand to patients with higher-level spinal cord injuries and even other conditions.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Hakim said. “We started with spinal cord injuries but we will move to traumatic brain injury, to stroke, to various other indications.”
Hakim added that Israel is poised to become the global hub for producing these implants, with Matricelf manufacturing the tissue while local surgeons worldwide carry out the procedures.
“We will be the hub for treating all those people around the world,” Hakim said. “They don’t need to fly to Israel, but we will be the major part to manufacture this.”
PODCAST WITH GIL HAKIM
(ILTV)
