We need you to contribute to the Psifas medical database

The primary mission of the National Initiative for Genomic Medicine is to promote medicine and science through the establishment of a massive medical and genetic database that will be used to conduct medical research.
We invite you to join the Psifas project and contribute to its work by providing a blood sample.

Psifas is a national project for the promotion of health in Israel, with the joint participation of the Ministries of Health, Treasury, Defense, Education, and the” c (Council for Higher Education) and the PBC (Planning and Budgeting Committee), the National Digital Agency and the Innovation Authority.  It is managed through inter-university cooperation and currently operates in partnerships with Clalit Health Services and the Rabin, Carmel, Soroka, Lynn, HaEmek, and the Sheba, Ichilov, Wolfson and Hadassah Medical Centers. Within Israel, the project is overseen by the Privacy Protection Authority and the National Cyber Directorate.

To view the status of the personal sample

The State of Israel is notable for the unique genetic diversity of its population. Despite this, the genetics of most communities in Israel have so far only been studied in a very superficial way, due to either low numbers of participants in the study, or only partial genetic mapping being performed. One of the goals of the Psifas project is to review the genetic diversity of Israel’s communities as comprehensively as possible, thereby enabling all communities within the country to equally benefit from the project’s results.

 

As part of the project, we will sample around 50 individuals from each of the approximately 60 sub-populations in Israel. These will include Jews from various denominations, Muslims from different regions of Israel, and members of other religions and communities. Sequencing the genomes of these groups will represent a breakthrough in genetic research in Israel, enabling, for the first time, medical and demographic genetic studies on the entire population. In this way we can, for example, we could learn which genetic variations are related to a disease and which are simply random variations, or why a certain group is more resistant to a certain disease while another is more susceptible to it. Furthermore, it will be possible to learn about the biology of genome variation over time, as well as to study migrations or other demographic events that have occurred within Israeli sub-populations.

In addition, through the establishment of a national health data system that combines medical and genetic information, we will be able to identify chronic diseases like diabetes, liver and kidney disease, cancer, and stroke, and treat them more effectively.

For more information on the reported genes

The decision to launch this project has put the State of Israel at the forefront of modern healthcare, shoulder to shoulder with the world’s most advanced countries, such as the USA and UK, which have also decided to establish large medical and genetic databases for the advancement of medical science.

 

Psifas (a public benefit company) aims to advance medical science in Israel. In order to help researchers perform broad or focused studies, and thereby improve existing medicines, develop new medicines adapted to specific groups, and treat diseases more effectively and at an earlier stage, we need you to volunteer to help us. By joining the Psifas community, you will help to improve research and medicine in Israel, all without having to do much at all! As part of the study, we will also perform genetic testing and sequence your DNA. This is an expensive test that is not routinely performed, but our study participants will undergo it free of charge.

*You can volunteer for the project if you are age 18 or older and insured by Clalit Health Services.

 
Learn more about joining Psifas

Participation in Psifas is on a purely voluntary basis. You have the right to decide whether to join or not. Regardless of your decision to join or not, today or in the future, it will not affect your treatment.

You can reverse your decision to participate in Psifas at any time by submitting an online application.

If you decide to cancel your participation in the Psifas project, you can let us know by Email: info@psifas.org.il

How to leave Psifas

How can I join the project?

During your time at any of the health organizations that has partnered with Psifas, once the project has begun, an MDA research coordinator or on behalf of the medical center, will give you a consent form to sign, which will authorize Psifas to receive, in a secure manner, your medical information once the identifying details (like your name, address, and ID number) have been removed, via your HMO and the medical centers treating you. After you have joined Psifas, a blood sample will be taken and sent for genetic sequencing.

The Importance of Genetic Information

Genetic Sequencing

DNA is found in every cell of your body, including blood cells. It is the basic building block of your genes, which determine the color of your hair and eyes, as well as your risk of contracting certain diseases. Genes are passed from parents to children, half from the father and half from the mother, and this is how diseases or health conditions can be inherited.

In order to more thoroughly understand the development of diseases, there is a huge advantage in combining medical data analyses (diagnoses, lab results, and medical history) and cross-referencing them with the genetic characteristics (DNA) of the patients. This way, we can get at the genetic roots of the diseases, understand how and why they develop, and discover new ways to deal with them.

  • Who are the researchers who will have access to the database? – Researchers from academia and industry, universities, medical institutions, commercial companies, and the Ministry of Health, who are interested in using the large database in order to discover new ways to diagnose and treat diseases. Each study must be approved in advance by the Ministry of Health’s Helsinki Committee and then the study must be approved by a Psifas committee. Psifas databases will sign a commitment letter that details the restrictions that apply to the use of the information. In any case, the researchers will not be able to reveal your personal details, and the Psifas team will verify this and monitor the researchers’ use of the databases.

 

  • How the research is performed: Any researchers who wish to use the Psifas database will have to present the research question they are investigating to two different committees: the Higher Helsinki Committee of the Ministry of Health, and the Psifas Committee. These committees will examine the proposal/request and approve it only if they believe it is both ethical and important.

 

  • In the next step, Psifas’s team will define the patient group from the Psifas database that is relevant to this study. Their anonymized information (free from identifying details) will be allocated to a designated “Research Room” (computer) for the approved study. A Psifas data security specialist will accompany the researchers in their work in the Research Room, guide them, and supervise their activities. It will not be possible to download information from Psifas computers and all data analysis work will only be conducted on the computers within the Research Rooms.

 

  • Upon completion of the study, the information stored in this Research Room will be erased.
 
 
 
pexels-chokniti-khongchum-3082451-scaled
pexels-edward-jenner-4031323-scaled
pexels-chokniti-khongchum-2280549-scaled

Data Security

Your privacy and the confidentiality of your medical information are of the utmost importance to us!
All your identifying data will be removed from the information transferred to the Psifas database.
More information about data security at Psifas

Website built by Dolphinsoft

In the study, we will perform sequencing (testing) of all genes in the DNA.

Only genetic changes whose detection indicates the need to report to a medical authority results in changes in follow-up or treatment will be reported to volunteers. The list of reported genes is based on the American College of Medical Genetics (see the following link): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/clinvar/docs/acmg/

As part of your DNA sequencing test, genes or mutations defined as predicting a high risk of disease (about 4% of the population) may be found. In this case and subject to your consent, you will be invited for a consultation and recommendation for treatment by the partner medical center where you volunteered.

Psifas is a research project and not a therapeutic study, so you are not expected to receive any immediate medical benefits from joining Psifas. If researchers use the data to create new scientific developments, such as new drugs or commercial products, you will not be entitled to the profits, if any. These developments will be owned by the researchers responsible.

Despite what has been said above, we focus part of our recruitment efforts on patients with certain diseases (a decision on which patient group will be targeted will be made in this months). If you belong to one of these selected groups, you may benefit from the research that will be performed on their data, which may reveal more effective treatment courses.

If you decide to cancel your participation in the Psifas project, you can let us know by Email: info@psifas.org.il

After sending the request, your information will be removed from the servers where it is stored, and the periodic update of your medical information from the partner health organizations will cease. However, we will not be able to remove your information from research databases that have been temporarily established for a specific study that has already been approved at an earlier stage, as we will not be able to identify your information within those databases. Once the study has been completed, the information gathered in its dedicated database will disappear, including your records.