The IDF Medical Corps and the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command held a joint seminar in Israel last week aimed at coordinating R&D efforts in new military-medical fields.

Possible joint projects include freeze-dry blood technology for battlefield transfusions and diagnostic tools for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The annual workshops have been ongoing for 30 years and are held alternately in Israel and the US. The US delegation counted 70 officers, including Maj.-Gen. James Gilman, head of the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.

According to a report in The Jerusalem Post, IDF sources said it was possible the seminar could lead to the receipt of US funding for ongoing Israeli projects such as research into a freeze-dry blood technology that would enable soldiers to carry a unit of their own blood that could be hooked-up intravenously if necessary.

Discussions were also held about the challenge of diagnosing soldiers with PTSD. The IDF Medical Corps presented the US delegation with the results of a study conducted recently with Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, which show that Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging – a type of specialized MRI scan which measures neural activity – could be an effective tool in the diagnosis and treatment of PTSD.