By Althea Peterson
The Norman Transcript

Opportunity, outreach and Oklahoma — for these Israeli businessmen, Tuesday was a day to combine all three.

An Israeli delegation, along with representatives from the University of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Israel Exchange (OKIE) met Tuesday at Stephenson Research and Technology Center to discuss future collaboration opportunities in bioscience. This was the second day of the delegation’s visit to Oklahoma.

For four of the five Israeli guests, it was their first trip to the state of Oklahoma. Alex Harel, managing director of Brilliant Biomedical Magnetic Solutions, said his first impressions were good.

“People of Israel are very full of intrigue,” Harel said. “We like to know as much as possible. Even if we don’t need to know, we want to know… It was a very good visit (to Oklahoma).”

Harel’s company is searching for ways to differentiate tumor and normal cells during cancer treatment, which is similar to another delegation member’s company. Ofer Taran, CEO of Biosan Medical, said his business partner is looking for ways to cut down treatment time during red blood cell and CSF separation, leading to less pain and medication for stroke patients.

“My partner invented the MRI machine back in 1969 in Russia,” Taran said. “Unfortunately, that was communist Russia, so when he filed the patent, it was a Russian patent. He later developed a device based on selective magnetic fields 16 years ago. He brought his idea and technology to Israel… Now, we would like to come here (to Oklahoma) and work here.”

Sherwin Pomerantz, director of the Israel office for OKIE, said the Israeli guests were all visiting Oklahoma on their own accord and their own budget, wanting to look into future business opportunities in the state.

“All we provide is hospitality,” Pomerantz said. “Norman should actually be complimented. The university community is always an attractive option. I think there is a natural synergy with the university community and the state.”

Susan Currie, executive director of OKIE, said the bioscience event Monday in Oklahoma City and Tuesday in Norman was only a fraction of the programs designed to “forge a relationship between the state of Oklahoma and Israel.”
“What we’re doing here today is the mission of OKIE,” Currie said. “There are no limits to what we can do.”

The Israeli delegation also had the opportunity to tour Stephenson, which OU vice president for research Lee Williams said reflected OU’s mission for an open research environment.

“The idea is for the university to give a general overview of our technology and for our visitors to give an overview of their companies,” Williams said. “This is exactly the type of event the university wants. This is central to what the university likes to do… we compete for the world’s best faculty, we compete for the world’s best students. We walk the walk.”

After a first trip to Oklahoma, will the Israeli delegation return? First impressions were a good sign, Taran said.

“I’m totally impressed and overwhelmed with the hospitality and the life science environment.”