Precision Medicine
At Clalit, we develop and implement a holistic approach to personalized medicine that aims to profoundly change the patterns of diagnosis and treatment known today. Thus, we strive for each patient to receive an answer that is individually tailored to them, according to the set of genetic, biological and personal characteristics of them and their disease. Precision medicine is an innovative approach to tailoring disease prevention and treatment that takes into account differences in people's genes, environments, and lifestyles.
Genomic Center
Our vision of precision medicine is possible thanks to technological advances that enable rapid sequencing and decoding of the human genome. Along with this, the development of advanced computing capabilities enables the analysis of various types of data in very large amounts (Big Data).
Clalit's new genomic center was established as a significant part of this innovative medical vision and gives our clients a much faster and more professional response due to the center's close interface with the clinical staff. Clalit’s Genomic Center - A Central NGS Lab Provides whole exome/ genome sequencing, advanced bioinformatics and genomic variants’ analysis
- Sequencing and bioinformatics services
- Genetic population studies/ specific disorders
- Retrospective genomic control groups
Clalit Biobank
The purpose of Clalit’s Biobank is to promote personalized medicine. The database contains biological samples, which are taken from Clalit's insured persons who have given their consent.
The information obtained from the samples will be used for medical and genetic research, which will advance the methods of diagnosis and treatment of patients suffering from various diseases, and will help to identify factors that may influence the tendency to disease and the ways of developing diseases.
Clalit’s Biobank is set to serve as an advanced infrastructure for scientific research conducted in academia and industry in Israel and around the world. The Biobank provides easy access to biological samples and relevant clinical data, required for controlled basic research, scientific and research-based discoveries at the genomic, proteomic, and molecular levels, in the field of cancer and other diseases, through collection and storage of quality, well-characterized biological samples for the research community.
The Berkowitz Living Laboratory
Untangling the precise factors that underlie such medical mysteries can illuminate individualized treatments based on a person’s genetic predispositions, immune profile, health history, and lifestyle. Such insights can propel forward the science and practice of precision medicine and have a profound effect on human health.
In a decisive step forward on this quest, Harvard Medical School in Boston and Clalit Research Institute in Tel Aviv have launched a joint precision medicine effort, enabled by a donation from the Berkowitz family.
We have established The Ivan and Francesca Berkowitz Family Living Laboratory Collaboration at Harvard Medical School and Clalit Research Institute. The program has two arms:
- The Ivan and Francesca Berkowitz Family Living Laboratory at HMS.
- The Ivan and Francesca Berkowitz Family Precision Medicine Clinic at Clalit.
The two arms work together to conduct joint research. They also feature a clinical component that provides diagnosis and care for patients with rare, undiagnosed, and hard-to-treat conditions, in addition to research.
Bioinformatics program -
Berkowitz Fellows
Exceptional early career scientists will be chosen as Berkowitz Postdoctoral Fellows through a thorough and wide selection process. HMS and CRI will serve as mentors and educators providing research training. The following opportunities are currently available:
- Berkowitz Postdoctoral Fellows based at CRI in Israel.
- Berkowitz Postdoctoral Fellows based at HMS in the US.
Regardless of where they are based, Berkowitz Postdoctoral Fellows will have postdoctoral research appointments at the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School. Fellows at both sites will conduct part of their postdoctoral training and research at HMS in Boston, and part at CRI in Israel, in order to serve as an additional bridge between the two institutions.
PSIFAS
The Psifas Initiative for Precision Medicine
Psifas, meaning Mosaic in Hebrew, is Israel's National Precision Medicine Initiative, a research project first of its kind in Israel.
The project include genetic information of donors, combined with the clinical information about them from the healthcare insurance funds and hospitals, and is expected to put Israel on the leading edge of global innovation in the field of medicine.
Using the genetic information, in combination with the digital information that already exists today in the healthcare system in Israel, the Mosaic Project will make it possible to realize the vision of “personalized medicine” - to tailor treatment to each individual and thus significantly improve the chances of recovery and even prevent maladies in advance.
The Mosaic Project is headed by the Ministry of Health, Clalit Healthcare Insurance Fund, the largest and leading healthcare fund in Israel, together with all the hospitals owned by Clalit, and the Sheba, Ichilov, Sha'arei Tzedek and Hadassah Medical Centers and the Galilee Medical Center.