Tal Dvir's engineered spinal cord moves toward its first human patient

On 19 August 2026 Tel Aviv University announced that an engineered spinal cord developed in the laboratory of Prof. Tal Dvir, head of its Sagol Center for Regenerative Biotechnology, had taken a concrete step toward implantation in a person. Matricelf, the Israeli biotech company developing the technology, where Dvir serves as chief scientist, signed a collaboration agreement with Loewenstein Rehabilitation Medical Center, part of Clalit Health Services.

Under the agreement, Loewenstein's spinal-injury specialists will identify and evaluate people paralysed by spinal cord injury who may be suitable candidates and will collect their blood samples. The blood cells are reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells, which become the living part of an autologous, patient-specific neural implant. In Dvir's approach, a small sample of the patient's own fatty tissue supplies a scaffold material processed into a personalised hydrogel, so the finished implant should not be rejected by the immune system.

Producing each implant takes several months, and Matricelf plans to run manufacturing in parallel with regulatory review. The company estimates that, if all goes to plan, a first selected patient could be treated in the first half of 2027, with the operation expected at Sheba Medical Center under a separate collaboration. Matricelf describes the goal as the world's first implantation of an engineered spinal cord in a paralysed person. Both the university and the company stress that the agreement is not yet approval for a clinical trial, which still requires final sign-off from Israel's Ministry of Health.

The milestone builds on preclinical work in which Dvir's team reported restoring walking ability in most paralysed mice treated with engineered human spinal-cord tissue, including animals with long-term chronic paralysis. Dr. Dianne Michaeli of Loewenstein's spinal-injury rehabilitation department said the partnership combines the hospital's clinical and rehabilitation expertise with the new technology.