About Us
Founded in 1944, the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science develops philanthropic support for the Weizmann Institute in Israel, and advances its mission of science for the benefit of humanity.
In the latest episode of “Weizmann in Focus,” Dave Doneson invites us to gaze up at the stars and planets—and learn about the Institute’s efforts to uncover the mysteries of the cosmos. Dave highlights the ULTRASAT satellite mission, part of Weizmann’s flagship Frontiers of the Universe initiative, which will search for cosmic events such as supernovas and black holes. It will then alert astronomers around the world in real time to their occurrence. In partnership with NASA and others, Institute scientists plan to launch ULTRASAT into space in 2023.
April 21, 2021
While Earth Day is 51 years old this year, the Earth is 4.54 billion years old – “plus or minus about 50 million years,” says the National Geographic Society. And yet in less than 200 years, the blink of an eye, humankind has thrown a wrench into our small planet’s carefully tuned systems.
Since the Industrial Age, our remarkable advances have had a flip side: chemicals, pharmaceuticals, fossil fuels, and the like have fouled our water, land, and climate. We have increased Earth’s temperature, causing mass extinctions, stronger storms, devastating wildfires, flooding, and food shortages – consequences that will only increase. And while we can all take personal steps, there is ultimately one hope for mitigating human impacts on the planet: science.
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—April 14, 2021—Being constantly hungry, no matter how much you eat – that’s the daily struggle of people with genetic defects in the brain’s appetite controls, and it often ends in severe obesity. In a study published in Science, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science, together with colleagues from the Queen Mary University of London and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, have revealed the mechanism of action of the master switch for hunger in the brain: a receptor called melanocortin 4 (MC4). They have also clarified how this switch is activated by setmelanotide (brand name Imcivree), a drug recently approved for the treatment of severe obesity caused by certain genetic changes. The team’s findings shed new light on the way hunger is regulated and may help develop improved anti-obesity medications.
April 14, 2021
How did scientists develop an effective vaccine for Covid-19 in less than a year? In this webinar, the American Committee welcomed Dr. Mikael Dolsten, Chief Scientific Officer and President, Worldwide Research, Development, and Medical at Pfizer. In conversation with former American Committee President and renowned AIDS researcher Dr. Jay Levy, Dr. Dolsten shed light on the breakthroughs that enabled his team, in collaboration with researchers around the world, to produce a viable vaccine at such an extraordinary speed. He also shared his own scientific journey, including the transformative semester he spent at the Weizmann Institute as a PhD student. During a dynamic Q&A led by CEO Dave Doneson, Dr. Dolsten discussed the role of basic science in advancing lifesaving technologies and treatments.
March 23, 2021
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—March 18, 2021—It’s not just how hot the fires burn – it’s also where they burn that matters. During the recent extreme fire season in Australia, which began in 2019 and burned into 2020, millions of tons of smoke particles were released into the atmosphere. Most of those particles followed a typical pattern and settled to the ground after a day or week; however, the particles created in fires burning in one area of the country managed to blanket the entire Southern Hemisphere for months. When studying particle-laden haze, two researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science noticed puzzling spikes in a certain measurement, and tracked the elevated levels to the fires in that area. Next, as reported in Science, the Israeli scientists uncovered the “perfect storm” of circumstances that swept the particles emitted from those fires into the upper atmosphere and spread them over the entire Southern Hemisphere.
March 18, 2021
New Scientist reports on research showing that the Australian fires “led to record aerosol levels over the southern hemisphere.” Prof. Ilan Koren and Dr. Eitan Hirsch (Israel Institute for Biological Research) conducted the study.
March 18, 2021
A year into Covid-related shutdowns, we are seeing a host of devastating impacts unrelated to the illness itself. One of these is hunger.
Food insecurity – lack of consistent access to sufficient, nutritious food – was a major public-health concern before the pandemic. Climate change’s extended droughts, destructive fires and storms, and rising waters are wiping out resources in many areas, notably India and Africa. Poverty is another contributing factor, particularly in cities with “food deserts” where it is hard to find fresh fruit and vegetables and other healthy options. (Interestingly, the World Bank reports that “children who are properly nourished during the first 1,000 days of their lives are 33% more likely to escape poverty as adults.”)
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—March 17, 2021—To observe how a tiny ball of identical cells on its way to becoming a mammalian embryo first attaches to an awaiting uterine wall and then develops into the nervous system, heart, stomach, and limbs: This has been a highly sought-after grail in the field of embryonic development for nearly 100 years. Now, Prof. Jacob Hanna of the Weizmann Institute of Science and his group have accomplished this feat. The method they created for growing mouse embryos outside the womb during the initial stages after embryo implantation will give researchers an unprecedented tool for understanding the development program encoded in the genes, and may provide detailed insights into birth and developmental defects as well as those involved in embryo implantation. The results were published in Nature.
March 17, 2021
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—March 17, 2021—Cancer immunotherapy may get a boost from an unexpected direction: bacteria residing within tumor cells. In a new study published in Nature, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science and their collaborators have discovered that the immune system “sees” these bacteria and shown that they can be harnessed to provoke an immune reaction against the tumor. The study may also help clarify the connection between immunotherapy and the gut microbiome, explaining the findings of previous research showing that the microbiome affects the success of immunotherapy.
March 17, 2021
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