Israeli Researcher Wins Prize For Regenerative Medicine Research

December 6, 2017 | An Israeli researcher nabbed a prize worth close to $50,000 last month for his work on regenerative medicine research over the past 15 years at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Professor Dror Seliktar, who is also the co-founder and chief scientific officer of Regentis Biomaterials, a biomaterials company that develops tissue repair solutions, was awarded the Rita Levi Montalcini Award, established in 2015 by the Israeli government, at an event hosted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in November. The prize promotes “the exchange of scientific scholars between Italy and Israel with funds provided to an Italian researcher to work in Israel and an Israeli researcher to work in Italy,” according to a press release announcing the winner. The award is named after the famed Italian-Jewish scientist and Nobel laureate, honored for her work in neurobiology. Seliktar said receiving the award was “a great honor” and that he was “especially grateful for my collaboration with Tor Vergata University professor Sonia Melino, and look forward to continue researching regenerative medicine technologies in Italy.” He said the collaboration presented “an enormous opportunity to face global challenges while strengthening bonds between countries.” Regentis Biomaterials’ core technology is Gelrin, “a unique hydrogel matrix of polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEG-DA) and denatured fibrinogen,” which Seliktar originally developed while serving as an associate professor in the faculty of biomedical engineering at the Technion.