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.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/former-village-fool-takes-the-prize/
Mar 08, 2008...
When she mounted the podium of the sumptuous hall at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris to receive her $100,000 prize on Thursday, Weizmann Institute of Science Prof. Ada Yonath could justifiably tell herself: “You have reached your scientific target!”
Ironically, one of Israel’s most distinguished scientists - male or female - was for decades treated “like the village fool” by Israeli and foreign colleagues who had doubts about her findings in the rather obscure and complex field of ribosomal crystallography
Sep 14, 2012... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—September 14, 2012—Cancer chemotherapy can be a life-saver, but it is fraught with severe side effects, among them an increased risk of infection. Until now, the major criterion for assessing this risk has been the blood cell count: if the number of white blood cells falls below a critical threshold, the risk of infection is thought to be high. A new model built by Weizmann Institute of Science mathematicians, in collaboration with physicians from the Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba, Israel, and the Hoffmann-La Roche research center in Basel, Switzerland, suggests that for proper risk assessment, it is essential to evaluate not only the quantity of these blood cells, but also their quality, which varies from one person to another.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/science-tips-september-2015/
Sep 01, 2015...
Tiny sea sapphires’ iridescence, created by a regular array of thin, transparent crystal plates, is also the secret of their “disappearance”
Tiny ocean creatures known as sea sapphires perform a sort of magic trick as they swim: One second they appear in splendid iridescent shades of blue, purple, or green, and the next they may turn invisible (at least the blue ones turn completely transparent). How do they get their bright colors and what enables them to “disappear?” New research at the Weizmann Institute of Science has solved the mystery of these colorful, vanishing creatures, which are known scientifically as Sapphirinidae. The findings, which recently appeared in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, could inspire the development of new optical technologies.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/trained-bacteria-can-lead-to-better-biofuels/
Jun 05, 2009... Bacteria are not dumb. Israeli researchers have proven that these pathogens can anticipate a future event and prepare for it. The discovery - just published in the prestigious journal Nature - is not merely a curiosity. The scientists believe that if bacteria gain the genetic ability to prepare themselves for the next step in a process, the conditioned response could be used for fermenting plant materials and producing more efficient biofuels.
Nov 19, 2015...
The research was featured on the cover of the journal Cell
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—November 19, 2015—Which is more likely to raise blood sugar levels: sushi or ice cream? According to a Weizmann Institute of Science study reported in the November 19 issue of the journal Cell, the answer varies from one person to another. The study, which continuously monitored blood sugar levels in 800 people for a week, revealed that the bodily response to all foods was highly individual.
Oct 22, 2014...
The Persistence of Memory, by Salvador Dali.
Your genome is the same right now as it was yesterday, last week, last year, or the day you were born. But your microbiomes – the combined genes of all the trillions of microbes that share your body – have shifted since the sun came up this morning. And they will change again before the next sunrise.
Christoph Thaiss from the Weizmann Institute of Science has discovered that the communities of microbes in out guts vary on a daily cycle. Some species rise to the fore during daylight hours and recede into the background at night, while others show the opposite pattern.
Sep 17, 2014...
Sweeteners alter the microbiome, the population of bacteria that is in the digestive system. Weizmann Institute of Science
Artificial sweeteners may disrupt the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar, causing metabolic changes that can be a precursor to diabetes, researchers are reporting.
That is “the very same condition that we often aim to prevent” by consuming sweeteners instead of sugar, said Dr. Eran Elinav, an immunologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, at a news conference to discuss the findings.
Nov 15, 2016...
Yanna Lee
Yale researchers have partnered with scientists at the Jackson Laboratory, the University of Connecticut and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel to form the Metabolic Research Alliance to study metabolic diseases, such as diabetes and obesity.
Milton Wallack, founder of the Connecticut Stem Cell Research Coalition and the Metabolic Research Alliance, said that once the stem cell initiative began, a committee was formed to peer review grant requests for research projects.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/germs-humans-and-numbers/
Jan 28, 2016... How many microbes inhabit our body on a regular basis? For the last few decades, the most commonly accepted estimate in the scientific world puts that number at around ten times as many bacterial as human cells. In research published today in the journal Cell, a recalculation of that number by Weizmann Institute of Science researchers reveals that the average adult has just under 40 trillion bacterial cells and about 30 trillion human ones, making the ratio much closer to 1:1.
Dec 19, 2007... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—December 19, 2007—Prof. Ada Yonath of the Department of Structural Biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, is among five distinguished women researchers in the life sciences who will receive a L’OREAL-UNESCO Award For Women in Science. Prof. Yonath was recognized for “structural studies of the protein-synthesizing system and the mode of action of antibiotics.” She is the first Israeli to receive the prestigious prize.