A new company, established at the Enbox Center for Entrepreneurship at Bar-Ilan University, has developed a technology for predicting pregnancy complications at the very beginning, by characterizing the microbiome (bacteria) population
Studies show that about 50% of women will experience some complication during pregnancy. A new project, which is based on research conducted in the laboratory of Prof. Omri Koren from the Faculty of Medicine and Prof. Yoram Luzon from the Department of Mathematics at Bar-Ilan University, tries to identify possible complications in advance. This, through artificial intelligence models based on microbiome tests conducted at the beginning of pregnancy, and the medical information on the woman's condition.
Adi Eshel, a doctoral student who is a partner in the project and research, says that the researchers are examining various aspects of the microbiome in the laboratory, in the first 1,000 days of the formation of man. "The microbiome is the collection of different bacteria that exists in our body, and it is now known that there are many interactions between the population of bacteria and our body. In this framework, we conducted a study in collaboration with hospitals in Israel in which we collected hundreds of samples from women from the beginning of pregnancy. This research allowed us to develop AI-based models and expand the company's databases from different clinical centers in the world, for the benefit of predicting the various pregnancy complications."
The first topic the researchers focused on is gestational diabetes. "One out of every 10 women will develop gestational diabetes, and the incidence is only increasing," Eshel explains, "Today, diabetes is only diagnosed towards the end of the second trimester, and the intervention is not always effective. Besides the risk of complications related to gestational diabetes in the short term of the pregnancy itself, the bigger problem is an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. We offer a first-of-its-kind solution - early prediction and an intervention plan if necessary. Through a simple stool test taken in the first trimester, when a woman does not yet have diabetes at all, we can predict if she will develop diabetes later in the pregnancy. This leaves a wide window of opportunity that allows prevention. As soon as we locate the women who are at increased risk, we will allow them to enter an intervention program adapted to change their lifestyles. In addition, we are in the advanced stages of developing models for predicting additional pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and premature birth, with our vision being to become a complete platform that provides a solution for a woman from conception to postpartum."
Recently, as part of the collaboration between Bar Ilan University and Sheba Hospital, Dr. Avi Zur, a senior physician in the women's health department and director of innovation in women's health at the hospital, joined the project.
The company, named "Mickmark", presented the project on 8.12, as part of FemTech event of Bar Ilan's "Enbox" center - the first in Israel to offer a model of establishing start-ups with researchers from the university, and accompanying the researcher-entrepreneurs from the idea stage to raising capital. The center, which was founded by CEO Ariel Sela, has been operating for four years, and will soon begin a series of networking meetings to promote solutions in aspects of personalized medicine.
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