Israeli lab 'cures' mice of COVID-style inflammation using yogurt molecules - The Times of Israel

Raz Jelinek of Ben Gurion University told The Times of Israel.

The cytokine storm research is one of a string of experiments conducted by Jelinek, his PhD student Orit Malka, and their colleagues, after they identified two molecules in a fermented milk drink called kefir that they say deliver major therapeutic benefits and could be used to make drugs of the future.

“They will utilize both the anti-inflammatory qualities of the molecules, that fight the cytokine storm, and antibacterial qualities that we identified.”.

“After years of research we succeeded in identifying two molecules that have very unusual therapeutic qualities,” said Jelinek.

He said his findings, and hopes for probiotic-based drugs, are limited at this point to the specific molecules he identified in his kefir.

Some of his experiments focused on the anti-inflammatory qualities of the molecules, which are thought to have caused the improvement in the mice with cytokine storms, while others focused on the question of whether the molecules can help fight bacteria.

“While antibiotic resistance is a real problem, these molecules don’t directly attack bacteria, but rather block the communication between them, meaning that the bacteria won’t have [a] chance to develop resistance mechanisms,” Jelinek said?

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