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Improving Health & Medicine
Could Erasing Traumatic Memories One Day Eradicate PTSD?
Israel21c
Israel21c reports on research by optogenetics pioneer Dr. Ofer Yizhar. Working with Weizmann colleague Prof. Rony Paz and others, Dr. Yizhar showed that weakening the communication between two parts of the brain reduced fear levels in mice. “This new technique may one day help extinguish traumatic memories in humans – for example, in people with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.”
April 02, 2017
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Improving Health & Medicine
Lighting Up the Mechanisms of Brain Disease
Weizmann Views, Issue No. 47
In Issue No. 47 of Weizmann Views, serendipity leads Dr. Ofer Yizhar to his life’s work: pioneering the remarkable new field of optogenetics. Optogenetics combines optics – the branch of physics concerned with light – and genetics to offer previously unimaginable new ways of studying the brain. Dr. Yizhar's work has particular import for the understanding of autism.
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Improving Health & Medicine
New Clues Help Doctors Cure Patients, Not Diseases
Israel21c
Israel21c covers the Nancy and Stephen Grand Israel National Center of Personalized Medicine at the Weizmann Institute, including discussion with Dr. Berta Strulovici, the center’s founding director. The G-INCPM is already studying acute myeloid leukemia, soft-tissue sarcoma, and retinitis pigmentosa.
March 27, 2017
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Improving Health & Medicine
Turning Down the Brain to Erase Fearful Memories
Science Tips, Issue 90
Dr. Ofer Yizhar, optogenetics pioneer, has used the tools of that field to successfully shut down a neuronal mechanism that helps form fearful memories in the mouse brain. After the procedure, the mice “forgot” that they had been previously frightened. This research, conducted with Prof. Rony Paz, may someday help extinguish traumatic memories in people.
March 15, 2017
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Exploring the Physical World
Explosive Material: The Making of a Supernova
Science Tips, Issue 90
Weizmann scientists lead the team that observed - and measured - the earliest supernova explosion ever, an estimated three hours after it began. Tight coordination between multiple observatories and institutions enabled these unprecedented measurements, which were then analyzed by a global team.
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Protecting Our Planet
First Oceans May Have Been Acidic
Science Tips, Issue 90
Looking back at the very earliest oceans, Dr. Itay Halevy found that they started off acidic and gradually became alkaline. His work sheds light on how levels of ocean acidity in the past were controlled by carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, an important process for understanding the effects of climate change, as today the oceans are again becoming acidic.
March 15, 2017
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Improving Health & Medicine
Taking an Innovative Nontoxic Approach to Lice
Israel21c
Lice are a perennial plague upon schoolchildren – and their parents. This is particularly true because the miniscule parasites are very difficult to get rid of. Israel21c reports on two new Israeli methods, including Novokid: developed by Weizmann grads, it's a nontoxic, highly effective treatment system that is on track for approval in Europe and the U.S.
March 12, 2017
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Improving Health & Medicine
NeuroSense to Develop ALS Treatment
Globes
Prof. Eran Hornstein discovered that a small molecule already on the market for a different disease can also be active in treating ALS. As
Globes reports, NeuroSense Therapeutics will develop the technology; since ALS is considered a priority, NeuroSense believes that it will be able to bring the drug to market within five years.March 08, 2017
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Fighting Cancer
Miracle Drug with Israeli Roots Saves Jewish Hockey Player Hit With Cancer
JTA
The Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF), which supports cancer research at Weizmann, shares the story of Jewish hockey player Sam Fields, who was felled by aggressive CML just before turning pro. His life was saved, thanks to Gleevec, for which the Institute’s Prof. Eli Canaani helped lay the foundation.
March 08, 2017