Biotechnology is a science which deals with the exploitation of biological systems, on the organism or sub-organism level, in the molecular system and biological processes level, or in the biological information level for the industrial, medical and agricultural fields, as well as other fields. The Life Sciences field has developed substantially during the past several decades. We now began the period of harvesting the fruits, and using the vast data collected on this field.
The State of Israel is blessed with a relatively large number of excellent and very active researchers in the international level, in the field of Life Sciences, thus the relative advantage for Israel in the international competition in the field of Biotechnology. This field has a great potential for producing better quality of life. It can produce a new approach for dealing with chronic issues in medicine (producing medicines and compounds, further development of personally tailored medicine etc;), agriculture (producing plants with higher nutritional values, agricultural products with longer shelf life, plants with stronger durability like durability to heat, saltiness, diseases etc;) and in other industrial fields. An example for an Israeli success is the development of the Copaxone as a medicine for multiple sclerosis, which now provides "Teva" revenue of hundreds of millions of dollars. It is no surprise that the Government of Israel has declared Biotechnology as a field with a high national priority, and that Prime Minster Sharon designated additional funds for strengthening and promoting this field in Israel.
Since its establishment, the Ministry of Science and Technology has supported this field. This was clearly manifested in 1995, when the Infrastructure Program was initiated. The objective of this program is to provide the research infrastructure in universities and in research institutions in Israel. This infrastructure will provide the opportunity to turn basic academic research into practical research with economical, medical, agricultural and industrial values. In the framework of this program, the National Committee for Biotechnology was established. Members of this committee are experts on the subject, from the academy, the industry and from the relevant government ministries. The committee deals with issues related to the development and promotion of Biotechnology in Israel. This fact aided in locating main obstructions to the further development of the field in Israel. The committee has recommended the Ministry of Science and Technology on ways to overcome these obstructions. The committee has also identified several subjects in which Israel has a relative advantage vies-a-vie the international competition, and which holds a financial potential. By referring to these recommendations, The Ministry of Science and Technology has managed to invest its limited resources usefully and in a more focused fashion, which ultimately made a great influence on the development of biotechnology research in Israel.
The Ministry of Science and Technology supports biotechnology research in three different ways:
1. Infrastructural Research Studies: Supporting research studies dealing with an infrastructural and generic profile
2. Eshkol Grants: For doctorate and post-doctorate students, in the same infrastructural research fields
3. Knowledge Centers: Supporting the establishment of infrastructure laboratories in specific subject, in order to develop generic infrastructural technologies that could eventually be harnessed for a wide variety of biotechnology research studies. The main objective of these centers is to develop specific technologies which form a bottleneck on the development of biotechnological research in that specific field in Israel, and to make these technologies available for the researchers, research institutes, and for the medical and industrial centers. The knowledge centers provide advanced scientific services, requiring knowledge, experience, and a highly qualified manpower, and up to date heavy equipment, which could not be procured by single research groups. This service's cost is competitive (in regards to the international market) and it is offered to all the researchers in Israel.
Several fields were supported, by utilizing the mentioned method. The main fields were:
1. Transgenic Fauna and Flora: This infrastructural laboratory was established on 1995, and was administered by Prof.MosheShani, from the Vulcanic Institute, in cooperation with Prof.PeterLonai from the Weizmann Institute. The laboratory was operational for three year, and its activity was terminated according to it's steering committee's recommendations, which stated that as a result of the laboratory's activity, the technology for producing transgenic animals was assimilated in Israel, thus rendering the laboratory's objective accomplished.
2. Analytic Proteomics: This is a knowledge center established on 1995, as a infrastructural laboratory in the Technion, and which was upgraded to serve as a knowledge center on 2001. The Center was headed by Prof.ArieAdmon for the Biology Faculty. The Center provides services in the field of determining a sequence and identity for proteins and peptides for all the researches in Israel, and has enabled the discovery of tens of new proteins.
3. Structural Proteomics: This is a new knowledge center established on 2001 in the Weizmann Institute, headed by Prof.YoelSusman, in cooperation with Prof.YigalBorshtein and Prof.GidonShrieber. The center provides services related to the characterization of the spatial structure of proteins, a field of great significance in relation to the development of various medicines.
4. Genomic Technologies: Established in 1997 as an infrastructure laboratory, and upgraded to a knowledge center in 2001. This is a double-headed knowledge center, headed both by Prof.DoronLancet, and in the HebrewUniversity by Prof.Bat-ShevaKerem. The Center provides a wide variety of services in the field of genomic technology, such as genomic sequencing, gene identification, disease-inflicting mutations, etc.
5. Bioinformatics: This is a knowledge center established on 2002 in the Wiezmann Institute and is headed by Prof.MeirEdelman. The Ministry supports this field since 1991, and the support budget was increased in the framework of the Infrastructure Program since 1995. This is actually a bioinformatics network established with the assistance of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
6. Locating new materials with biological activity: This is a infrastructural laboratory, established in 1998 in the Tel-AvivUniversity, headed by Prof.YosiLevaia, which was replaced after two years of extensive activity by Prof.MichaIlan. The objective of the activity in this laboratory is to locate materials from the nature, which are biologically active, and which also have an economical, medical and industrial significance.
7. Genetic Therapy: This is an infrastructural laboratory established on 1997 in the HadasaEin-KaremHospital, headed by EitanGalon. The laboratory was upgraded to a knowledge center on 2002 and it provides services in the field of Genetic Therapy, with an emphasis on vectors manufacturing.
8. Stem Cell Research: This is a field supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology since 1997. The Ministry funds research studies by the best and well known researchers in the world, such as Prof.Itzkovitch, Prof.Skortzi from the Technion, Prof. Benjamin Reuvinuf for the Hadasa Hospital, and Prof. Benbenisty from the Hebrew University. This field holds a great medical potential, and it is regarded as a harbinger of hope in respect to finding a cure for chronic terminal diseases.
On the International Level:
The Ministry has established cooperation contact on the field of Biotechnology with several countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, France, China, India, and Korea.
9. Polysaccharide research:This is a knowledge center established on 2002 in the Ben-GurionUniversity headed by the Late Prof. Shimona Geresh, which was subsequently replaced, after she tragically passed away, by Dr.Ya'akovT'koa. This is a very unique center, both in Israel and worldwide, which deals with the field of identifying and characterizing polysaccharide, a field which was neglected for a very long time, and recently discovered as a field which holds a great economical, medical, applicable and industrial potential.