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.
This clever and engaging animation accompanies Dr. Ron Diskin’s overview of coronavirus – a whole history in less than three minutes! He takes us from its discovery in the 1960s to the 2002 SARS outbreak to MERS in 2012 to today.
April 05, 2020
In this videoconference, Prof. Benny Geiger, Head of the Institute’s Department of Immunology, gives an overview of what the Institute as a community is doing to fight coronavirus, and how researchers from across Israel have created a scientific support network.
April 02, 2020
In this videoconference, Dr. Ron Diskin shares a new presentation on coronavirus and the state of the research. He goes from the history of the virus – from discovery to how it moves through animals and humans...
April 02, 2020
In this videoconference presentation, Dr. Nir London of the Weizmann Institute’s Department of Organic Chemistry describes what he calls the “COVID Moonshot.” The project is co-led by Frank van Delft of Oxford University and Diamond Light Source (the U.K.’s synchrotron science facility), who was also on the call. Dr. London discusses various approaches to coronavirus, including the value of standard approaches such as vaccines and antivirals.
March 30, 2020
In just one week, Profs. Ido Amit and Eran Elinav, both of the Department of Immunology, have built one of the highest-tech labs in the world. They developed a new type of PCR testing that is tremendously fast: if current capabilities test one patient at a time, the new method can test all of Israel simultaneously. The scientists intend to make their method available to anyone who needs it.
March 25, 2020
Israel is suffering a shortage of coronavirus tests, and the Weizmann Institute – working with the Ministry of Health – has transformed scientific facilities into medical facilities in order to conduct more testing. Institute leadership expects that the labs should be able to run 4,000 tests per day.
March 25, 2020
In this videoconference hosted by Weizmann Canada, Prof. Sarel Fleishman of the Weizmann Institute’s Department of Biomolecular Sciences gives a progress report on his lab’s coronavirus research. The coronavirus is so named because it is covered in “spikes” that look like the sun’s corona; Prof. Fleishman seeks to bind and neutralize the spike proteins, thus stopping the virus.
March 25, 2020
“Vaccination is life.” Weizmann scientists give us a quick history lesson on the vaccine. Dr. Ziv Shulman, Prof Ruth Arnon, and Prof. Ido Amit explain humankind’s long knowledge of the immune system, Edward Jenner’s discovery of the vaccine, and the public-health implications of vaccination.
March 24, 2020
Dr. Nir London of the Weizmann Institute’s Department of Organic Chemistry explains his lab’s approach to fighting the coronavirus: creating a novel antiviral treatment. After identifying candidates for an antibody, he and his team are designing second-generation compounds that will go to colleagues in Germany and the U.K. for testing against the virus. Dr. London emphasizes the fact that this is open science: research that is freely available to all, for the benefit of everyone.
March 23, 2020
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