Israel Institute for Biological Research

IIBR's official contact address is P.O.B. 19, 7410001 Ness Ziona, and its official website is iibr.gov.il.[3] The institute is attached to the Prime Minister's Office "for historical reasons," a designation it shares with the Atomic Energy Commission.[5] The State Comptroller describes IIBR more precisely as an R&D institute and auxiliary unit of the Ministry of Defense, under the responsibility of the Defense Minister's Assistant for Defense Affairs, with the "Tvuna" Unit in that office professionally responsible for guiding and supervising the institute's plans.[6]

A 2020 Jerusalem Post account described IIBR as working closely with the Defense Ministry while operating under the auspices of the Prime Minister's Office, and reported that most of its work was secret and subject to military censorship.[8] Its publicly described applied research spans biology, medicinal chemistry, environmental science, and related fields.[3] Former director general Shmuel Shapira, who led the institute from 2013 to 2021, described it as an academic institute with practical objectives that requires finding "the right balance" between open scientific inquiry and national security imperatives.[1]

At the time of its 2020 reporting, the Jerusalem Post estimated approximately 350 employees, including about 160 scientists holding doctorates in biology, chemistry, physics, and environmental science, and a further 160 technicians and administrative staff.[8] N12 similarly estimated about 350 employees, though with roughly 100 scientists, while Ynet placed the number of researchers and scientists at approximately 300; these figures use different categories and may not be directly comparable.[4][9]

The institute's roots lie in a biological research department established by the Haganah in 1946, with assistance from researchers at the Hebrew University, the Technion, and the Ziv Institute — later known as the Weizmann Institute.[4] The IDF Science Corps established a biological-warfare unit called HEMED BEIT in 1948, housed in an orange grove outside Ness Ziona.[8] After the Haganah unit became part of the IDF's Science Corps, researchers from the military and academia formally established the Israel Institute for Biological Research in 1952, and the institute has remained in Ness Ziona ever since.[4]

Ernst David Bergmann, appointed Defense Ministry chief of research and scientific adviser to the prime minister in 1951, played a central role in shaping the institute's identity. Bergmann wanted IIBR to carry a civilian character, so it pursued a broad range of scientific projects intended to benefit the young state rather than focusing exclusively on military chemical and biological programs.[8] Its documented civilian achievements include a polio vaccine developed in 1959, explosive-detection kits developed in 1980, and a treatment for Sjögren's syndrome developed in 1984.[4] Its broader work has included pharmaceuticals, vaccines, treatments, antibodies, disease diagnosis, and environmental solutions.[8]

Distinguished microbiologist Ludwik Fleck, a pioneer in the sociology of knowledge, worked at the institute after he and his wife moved to Israel in 1957 to join their son.[10]

IIBR's stated purpose is to provide a scientific response to chemical and biological threats to Israel.[4] Shapira outlined its medical-response methodology as studying a pathogen or agent, developing preventive measures and response and defense protocols, and pursuing therapy or vaccination when feasible.[1] The institute operates national laboratories capable of detecting and identifying such threats, and its research staff include doctoral-level specialists in chemistry, biology, mathematics, and environmental science.[1][4]

The institute publishes in open scientific literature, including journals such as Science and Nature, and collaborates with Israeli universities and international research partners in the United States, France, and Germany — including the Louis Pasteur Institute, the Robert Koch Institute, and the Paul-Ehrlich Institute.[1] Its environmental-science work ranges from numerical modelling to laboratory and field experiments in meteorology and atmospheric contaminants, with capabilities for detecting hazardous materials, predicting weather and dispersion, and evaluating potential risks.[3]

A notable infrastructure addition came in 2015, when the institute established an environmental wind tunnel — the only one of its kind in Israel at the time. Spanning three floors with a 14-metre metal testing passage capable of reproducing specified wind speeds, humidity, and temperatures, the facility has supported work on wind turbines, urban planning, and air pollution, including models assessing comfort around buildings and identifying extreme conditions in urban environments.[11]

On the biological side, IIBR has reported research on antibodies against orthopoxviruses. Human-like monoclonal antibodies developed from vaccinia-virus-immunized non-human primates were identified and evaluated in vivo; combining two antibodies targeting the virus's infectious forms fully protected against a lethal ectromelia-virus challenge even when treatment was administered five days after infection, and also provided post-exposure protection against currently circulating monkeypox virus.[3]

Shapira said that soon after becoming director general in 2013, he made preparedness for a future pandemic one of IIBR's priorities and expanded its general vaccine-production and diagnostic capabilities. During COVID-19, the institute worked on vaccines, therapeutic antibodies, PCR testing, antigen-kit and mask evaluation, and models of viral spread; Shapira said it was among the earliest facilities in Israel able to perform proper PCR testing for the virus.[1]

Shapira recalled being interrupted at a cinema on a Saturday night by five calls from an unknown number before being summoned the following day — February 2, 2020 — to present vaccine and therapeutic-antibody options to the prime minister.[1] That morning, after consulting institute officials and before the broad-forum discussion, IIBR's director wrote that the institute could develop and manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine and antibodies. The prime minister then instructed it to begin immediate R&D.[6] The State Comptroller found that the proposal was formulated without involvement of the Defense Minister's Assistant's staff, and that the National Security Council permitted it to be presented without giving that office advance notice.[6]

The institute pursued two parallel tracks: a protein-based vaccine and a vaccine using the vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) platform, the latter of which became BriLife. Shapira described BriLife as a genetically modified animal-virus platform onto which SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins were transplanted, and noted that the VSV platform had already underpinned an Ebola vaccine administered to approximately 300,000 people in the preceding three years.[1] He said the team found the candidate effective and safe in preclinical animal testing and was ready to proceed by early July 2020.[1]

A phase 1/2 clinical study of the candidate — designated IIBR-100, or rVSV-ΔG-spike — enrolled 82 participants in phase 1 and 762 in phase 2 across eight sites in Israel. Phase 1 tested three single-dose levels, with an additional booster for the low-dose group, and reported no safety concerns. Phase 2 tested mid- and high-dose prime-boost regimens and a higher single dose; the most commonly reported adverse events were injection-site pain, fatigue, and headache. In the top-dose group, neutralizing and binding antibody titers peaked on days 35 and 42 respectively, and the studied regimens were characterized as safe, well tolerated, and immunogenic in healthy adults.[7] The Ministry of Health approved progression to Phase II in December 2020, with 1,000 volunteers planned compared with 80 in Phase I.[12]

The State Comptroller reported that about 60% of subjects who received a high dose developed neutralizing antibodies.[6] However, the project's estimated timeline stretched from 11 months to roughly 36 months, and its projected budget grew from an initial NIS 63 million to NIS 1.4 billion by December 2020; approximately NIS 230 million had been invested by the time the audit concluded in July 2022.[6] The audit also found that IIBR's manufacturing facilities were obsolete, had not operated regularly before the outbreak, and had been reported as non-compliant with updated good manufacturing practices (GMP) as recently as 2018. The Ministry of Health issued a GMP certificate in January 2021, but a required inspection of the production line had not occurred by the audit's end.[6]

The institute also developed therapeutic monoclonal antibodies against COVID-19 but encountered a manufacturing bottleneck, as Israel lacked capacity to produce antibodies under good manufacturing practice at scale. Negotiations with two potential manufacturing partners did not advance beyond what Shapira called "an academic achievement."[1] BriLife was licensed to NRx Pharmaceuticals, but NRx subsequently decided not to pursue the project; in April 2022 Israel's Defense Ministry said IIBR was examining alternatives for developing and commercializing it.[1]

The project was formally closed in July 2022 without completed vaccine development or regulatory approval. By August 2022, 41 COVID-19 vaccines had been approved around the world.[6] Shapira argued that the process retained lasting value: "Even if it will never be used, it's very important that we went through the whole process so it will be easier and faster next time."[1]

The State Comptroller found that the government plans and instructions examined in its audit did not assign IIBR a specific role in pandemic preparedness or vaccine development, even though the institute treated pandemic preparedness as a "Main Vector" in its work plans.[6] Its 2023 audit of the COVID-19 vaccine project also found serious shortcomings in planning and oversight: required foundational documents and risk analysis were absent, a development committee was never established, and milestone conditions were lacking. The report found that the institute began human trials without resolving doubts about the vaccine's immunizing mechanism and did not reassess its platform after a major pharmaceutical company reported failure of a comparable approach.[13] The Ministry of Defense responded that the vaccine completed two rounds of clinical trials under relevant authorities' supervision and that production and trials stopped after most Israelis had been vaccinated.[13]

The governance of IIBR has been described inconsistently across sources. A 2020 Jerusalem Post account placed it under the Prime Minister's Office; the State Comptroller's report characterizes it as an auxiliary unit of the Ministry of Defense. These descriptions may reflect different administrative emphases or periods.[6][8]

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the institute was involved alongside the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Health, and IDF Medical Corps in anthrax-vaccine trials known as "Omer." N12 reported that 800 soldiers participated, with the second trial administering seven doses over two and a half years beginning in April 2000. A 2009 Histadrut medical-association report cited by N12 found the trial scientifically unjustified, concluded that participants had not been given all relevant information, and criticized the use of soldiers subject to military authority as an ethical matter.[4] A separate Ynet account described roughly 1,000 soldiers from elite units and military intelligence as having been exposed to what it characterized as an unapproved and unsafe vaccine, with some reporting side effects over subsequent years; inquiry committees criticized institute director Avigdor Shaperman and other researchers, including over secrecy in handling the affair.[9]

Foreign-media accounts have alleged that IIBR was involved not only in defensive research but also in developing offensive chemical or biological materials, with claims linked to the 1997 attempted assassination of Hamas leader Khaled Mashal in Jordan, the 1978 death of PFLP figure Wadie Haddad, and the 2010 killing of Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. These claims were presented in Israeli media as attributions to outside publications, not as established findings.[4] Allegations of biological attacks during Israel's War of Independence — including claims by military historian Uri Milstein that Haganah forces used a biological agent in Acre in May 1948 — similarly remain contested and are not independently verified in the available sources.[14]

Former deputy director Marcus Klingberg, a senior researcher, was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union in 1983 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.[4]