Professor Benjamin Dekel

Professor Benjamin Dekel is a pediatrician, pediatric nephrologist and scientist whose work the whole world is watching with great hope. He achieved his first professional successes at a young age, and today the aim of his life is to develop a cell-based drug for treating renal failure and renal cell carcinoma.

Professor Dekel's name is widely known in international medical circles as an outstanding scientist and an expert in regenerative therapy with renal stem cells. After completing his doctorate, he became the first physician in the world to isolate stem cells from the kidney of an adult human.

As a result of the fundamental work carried out by the young professor, nephrology learned of the possibility of cultivating fully functional nephrons from cell material, which gave rise to the concept of growing kidney tissue in vitro. Benjamin Dekel also demonstrated the ability of stem cells and progenitor cells to treat malignant tumors in children.

Unprecedented talent, hard work and an interest in the medicine of the future have made the professor Israel's most promising and brilliant physician-researcher. Over the years he has written more than 90 works published in leading medical reference books, journals and literature.

Benjamin Dekel was educated at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Faculty of Medicine, where he received his bachelor's degree. He completed his internship and residency at Safra Children's Hospital at Sheba Medical Center. He defended his doctoral dissertation, "Biology of hematopoietic stem cells", at Schneider Children's Medical Center. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in pediatric nephrology at the Weizmann Institute of Science. He was awarded the academic rank of adjunct professor and professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University. After recognition in his home country, he went as a visiting professor to Stanford University in Palo Alto.

Currently the professor heads the pediatric nephrology center and the stem cell institute at Safra Children's Hospital, Sheba Medical Center.

Benjamin Dekel is an honorary member of the following medical societies:

• International Pediatric Research Foundation
• American Society for Clinical Investigation
• UK scientific advisory committee on regenerative and cell therapy
• Israeli Pediatric Association

The professor's work has been recognized and supported by many patrons, including the Israeli Ministry of Health, Israeli and international research foundations, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Cedars-Sinai in California and other authoritative organizations. He has received a number of prestigious awards, among them the Yodim family prize for outstanding achievements in cancer research.

Benjamin Dekel's main professional interests are genetics, pediatric nephrology and onco-nephrology, molecular biology, tissue engineering, cell and regenerative therapy, and the study of renal progenitor cells. He treats conditions such as congenital malformations and anomalies of the urinary system, renal cell carcinoma, acute and chronic renal failure, and rare and dangerous forms of nephritis and pyelonephritis.

The professor provides the following services:

• Comprehensive diagnosis of kidney pathology in a child, including genetic and molecular testing
• Treatment of nephrological pathologies with stem cells and progenitor cells
• Treatment of malignant tumors using immune conjugates and monoclonal antibodies
• Targeted therapy for kidney cancer
• Therapy of solid tumors with inhibitory cells and T-killer cells
• Pharmacological treatment with the newest patented and experimental drugs
• Supervision of kidney transplantation and follow-up of the patient afterward

The doctor and scientist's global goal is to develop an effective stem cell-based drug that would be universal in treating critical nephrological pathologies and dysfunctions.