Bio-convergence

= Bio-Convergence =

Definition
New Technologies, combining a biologic discipline together with one or more engineering discipline, such as; Artificial Intelligence, Computational Biology, Physics, Nanotechnology and Material Sciences, Electronics, Advanced Genetic Engineering etc'

Background
In recent years, global health and medicine have been undergoing a revolution driven by two main factors: first, the global health systems and bio-pharm industry crisis caused by a sharp increase in health expenditures and in the development costs of new medicines. The second factor relates to recent technological breakthroughs in the fields of engineering, biology and medicine. This revolution is fostering a new multidisciplinary industry that is based on the synergy between different technologies from the fields of biology and engineering known as “bio-convergence”.

Global Health System Crisis
Global health expenditure continues to rise dramatically and is expected to reach 10 trillion dollars by 2022. The main causes behind this phenomenon are increased life expectancy that leads to an aging population alongside increased frequency of chronic disease such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Today, approximately 50% of the population in the US are considered chronically ill and these patients account for about 85% of the total expenditure on healthcare services.

Early and efficient medical diagnosis and intervention can prevent or delay most chronic diseases. The health system has therefore undergone significant change in recent years and today pays greater attention to early, efficient intervention and preventative medicine.

Technological breakthroughs and a combination of innovative genetic and digital technologies can assist in identifying and contending with the complexities inherent in chronic diseases. Furthermore, they help identify the “dormant” stage of these diseases to preempt outbreak of symptoms. Accordingly, health systems continue to make the transition from a model whereby success is measured by the number of patients being treated (Volume Based Model) to a model that measures success by the quality and efficiency of the treatment (Value Based Model) and that is also expressed by the ability to avoid medical treatments. This transition, necessary for both governments and service providers and by the patients themselves, is driving the need for technological innovation that can meet the new challenges and needs of the health system.

Western governments invest huge sums to improve and enhance health systems that burden public expenditure. A global comparison of national health expenditure as a percentage of GDP between 1975-2018 the health expenditure in Israel, USA, UK, Canada, Switzerland and Austria as a percentage of GDP in these countries has almost doubled, and in some cases, increased even more.

The Bio-Pharm Industry
The pharmaceutical industry is currently facing a major challenge. Costs of developing a new drug have been increasing markedly in recent years and the return on investment of drug development has nosedived accordingly. In 1970 the cost of developing a new drug stood at an average of 179 million dollars, a cost that almost doubled every decade since. This reflects a 15-fold increase as by the beginning of the 21st century, the average cost of developing a new drug had reached approximately 2.6 billion dollars. Despite the rising costs, there was no significant growth in the number of drugs authorized, which generally remained constant at a few dozens each year.

As a result, the return on the development cost of a new drug has been declining dramatically. According to a Deloitte report that examined 12 large public corporations, the return on development cost in 2010 stood at 10% approximately, while in 2018, this figure dropped to about 2%.

These challenges obligate health systems and the bio-pharm industry to undergo drastic changes, to identify and develop precise, personalized and effective medical solutions. The attempt to contend with these challenges has given rise to a new multidisciplinary industry known as bio-convergence that is based on connecting various technologies from the fields of biology and engineering. This industry is expected to form the future base of medicine and to reshape the global health industry.

The Bio-Convergence Revolution
Technological breakthroughs achieved in recent years, enable to connect and combine fields in a way previously impossible. The genomic revolution, the dramatic decline in the cost and increased speed of DNA sequencing alongside Artificial Intelligence and Big Data are today leading to the development of advanced diagnostic technologies that are based on protein-level, genomic and clinical data. The combination of the multidisciplinary technological breakthroughs that have occurred over recent decades in the fields of engineering and software alongside those in biotechnology creates Bio-Convergence.

Two of the other fields developing alongside biotechnology are that of gene therapy, which is at the cutting edge of personalized healthcare, and synthetic biology that is based on the a combination of innovative technologies such as DNA sequencing, creation and writing of new genes, among others by using CRISPR technology, behavioral modeling of specific genes, and precise measurement of gene behavior.

Other multidisciplinary engineering breakthroughs include, for example, miniaturization of electronic components combined with tissues and engineered "living" materials, smart biosensors, communications, and 3D printing of tissues. All these constitute the foundation of the technological innovation engine termed Bio-Convergence.

The bio-convergence revolution is the next stage of this trend and enables personalized healthcare, not only on the patient level but also on the molecular level so that treatments will be adapted to the disease type down to the level of the individual cell. For example, an individual personalized treatment will be based not only on diagnostic tests but also on a combination of miniature biological sensors that continuously monitor viruses, bacteria and cancerous cells etc'. The results of these tests will allow early detection of disease and administration of preventative treatment. Furthermore, smart nano-robots will allow precise delivery of treatment to damaged cells without harming heathy cells.

Examples of multidisciplinary technologies in the bio-convergence field

 * Nanorobotics for drug delivery: One of the main challenges in the pharmaceuticals industry today is the need for more efficient and precise delivery of drugs to the diseased area and specific cells. Nano-robots engineered from biological systems (such as DNA, cells or bacteria) for drug delivery to target cells are delivery systems that can store in them other drugs and materials, react to the external surroundings to identify the signal for unloading the drug, and release it in a controlled manner and at the appropriate time and location.
 * Therapeutics Discovery: The need for innovative research models that will enable precise forecasting of disease development among patients has become necessary in order to improve treatment precision and efficiency. Furthermore, innovative engineering solutions enable to streamline, accelerate and even lower the costs of development of new drugs and to assist the quick and precise furthering of personalized healthcare. For example, the "organ-on-a-chip" technology enables to grow human tissue with the function of a specific organ (kidney – filter, heart – pump etc.) in a separate environment (a plastic chip for example). A new drug can be tested on this organ, thereby accelerating and lowering the costs of testing new drugs. These innovative micro-physiological systems that combine profound knowledge of biology, biopharma and advanced engineering technologies enable the testing of new drugs. From their preliminary stages, the tests are adapted to human tissue to better simulate the progress of the disease's development in humans. This process markedly improves the ability to identify efficient drugs and to significantly reduce the use of lab animals, an ability that is important as most drugs that successfully pass the animal testing stage fail when tested on humans.
 * Regenerative Medicine: In the bio-convergence era, innovative tissue engineering technologies will change the treatment of damaged organs. This field will be based on innovative 3D Tissues Bio Printing technologies that allow to “build” new organs at individual cell resolution using new nanomaterials. This field also combines the production of “smart” hybrid implants, made of biological materials and electronic components (cyborg tissue) that integrate into the tissues. These technologies will, in the not so distant future, enable us to replace damaged organs and tissues with new tissues that possess enhanced qualities.
 * Biological Sensors and Diagnostics: One of the major healthcare challenges of the 21st century is to reduce the use of antibiotics in order to limit the evolution of multidrug resistant bacteria. This requires improved capability to distinguish between a bacterial and a viral infection. Biological sensing is a new and developing technology that combines biotechnology and nanotechnology. The biological sensing uses biological molecules such as antibodies, enzymes and nucleic acids, and bacteria to discover and identify specific materials. The biosensors are genetically engineered biological molecules which constitute a fusion between a sensor and the reporting system. This technology enables the creation of identifying components for almost any material and its advanced development towards faster and more sensitive, specific, and efficient sensors.
 * Optogenetics: An innovative technology that combines genetic engineering and technologies from the world of physics such as high-speed and precise pulses of light and the use of optic fibers. Optogenetics aims to precisely activate specific neurons in the brain using light.
 * Engineered “Living” Materials: Engineered materials made up of living cells that create or comprise the material itself or regulate its functional performance. For example, it is possible to create “living” materials (for medical devices and other needs) that possess the characteristics of biological systems: replication, self-healing and regulation, response to the surroundings and self-sustainability.
 * Bioelectronics: A field of multidisciplinary research that combines elements of chemistry, biology, physics, nanotechnology and materials science. This field leverages new technological capabilities that allow to combine biomolecules with electronics in order to develop a wide range of functional devices.

Global Development of Bio-Convergence
Multidisciplinary academic research combining engineering with biology has existed for many years throughout the world. Recent years have witnessed an acceleration in this field reflected by the establishment of research institutions and new models in various centers worldwide. Some examples of this phenomenon in the USA are: the WYSS Institute at Harvard University, the KOCH Institute at MIT, the BIO-X and Bio-Design programs initiated at Stanford University, and the Weill Neurohub Institute in San Francisco. These institutes combine biology researchers from different fields and scholars from the fields of mathematics, physics, computer science, and engineering with the aim of accelerating the development of innovative treatments.

Other countries outside the US are also investing significant resources to advance multidisciplinary research in this field. For example, institutes such as KIST,  and KAIST in South Korea, that combine brain science, materials, and life sciences with institutes in the fields of nanorobotics, nanoelectronics, and diagnostics.

The British CRUK Institute for cancer research is another example of a recently established multidisciplinary academic model.

Bio-convergence is still in its industrial infancy, however, the large pharmaceutical companies have recently identified its potential. These companies are starting to search for innovative solutions that combine engineering and biopharma by establishing collaborations with different technology companies. For example, in 2016, the giant British pharmaceutical company GSK and the Google subsidiary Verily invested 715 million dollars in the foundation of a joint initiative in the field of bioelectronics aimed at developing treatment for chronic diseases. This joint initiative, called Galvani Bioelectronics, focuses on development and commercial application of medical treatments that are based on electric nerve stimulus.

The Setpoint Medical corporation is another pioneer in the use of bioelectronics to treat neurological diseases and is based on a combination of immunology, brain science, and electronic engineering. Several companies are leading the field of synthetic biology in the US, including Zymergen and Ginkgo Bioworks.

Bio-convergence requires a multidisciplinary knowledge base that combines research and development capabilities alongside leadership in the fields of engineering, life sciences, and medical devices. Thus, the Israeli innovation ecosystem is well placed to assume a leading role in this field. Israel is a leading center of research in the field of life sciences and exact sciences and is ranked fourth in a global index measuring the average number of quotations per articles published in multidisciplinary research. Israel is ranked in the top five countries for the number of patents per capita, and the Weizmann Institute of Science was ranked second in the world in the prestigious ‘100 Nature Index’. Israel is also home to world-leading clinical research centers. Israel has a strong medical device industry that includes more than 600 companies, exports of approximately 1.6 billion dollars, and R&D centers of the world’s leading medical devices companies (Medtronic, General Electric, Philips and others). Israel is a leader in the field of Artificial Intelligence, including a flourishing digital health industry of more than 500 companies, most of which are based on Artificial Intelligence. The Israel Innovation Authority believes that the Israeli innovation ecosystem has substantial potential to transform the country into a world leader in this developing field. The Israel Innovation Authority is striving to create the conditions to enable the growth and success of the bio-convergence industry in Israel.