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/feature-stories/using-our-senses-to-fight-coronavirus/
Jun 10, 2020...
Just as COVID-19 is still advancing, so is the research of Weizmann Institute scientists as they develop ways to identify, predict, treat, and prevent the illness. One particularly innovative researcher is Prof. Noam Sobel.
A neurobiologist who is a world leader in olfaction research, Prof. Sobel works in the Weizmann tradition of following his curiosity as he harnesses the sense of smell to fight COVID. His previous studies have shown that our olfactory system has powers that many of us would never have imagined; he has used the sense of smell – our most ancient sense – to quantify the smell of fear; shed light on social miscues in autism and diagnose the condition; help locked-in, vegetative patients communicate; reveal subconscious reactions to the opposite sex; and much more.
May 28, 2020...
The first comprehensive survey of the microorganisms that live inside tumours has found that bacteria reside in those from many different cancer types, but it is unclear whether they contribute to tumour growth.
These bacteria make up part of a tumour’s microbiome – the complex community of bacteria, fungi and other microbes that live inside it.
Bacteria have previously been found in tumours in the bowel and other tissues in the body that are routinely exposed to microbes. However, less is known about their presence in tumours from other cancers, like those of the bone, brain and ovary.
Jun 25, 2020... The question as to how life began on Earth is one of the most fundamental to science, yet it remains one of humanity’s great mysteries. The first cells emerged relatively quickly after the Earth formed, meaning life wasted no time getting started once it had the right ingredients. Yet even the simplest cell is a complex bags of organelles, proteins, lipids and other molecular parts — and no one knows quite how such a complicated thing formed from random, inorganic processes.
May 26, 2020...
Israeli researchers say they have found that autoimmune diseases, such as diabetes or thyroid dysfunctions, are generated by immune cells that become overzealous in their protective mission and end up causing harm — and they created a mathematical model that demonstrates this.
In a study published in Immunity, scientists at Rehovot’s Weizmann Institute of Science, decided to find out why some organs are susceptible to autoimmune diseases while others are not. For example, the thyroid gland is often attacked by the autoimmune disease thyroiditis — an inflammation of the thyroid gland that can cause fatigue, weight gain, confusion and depression — while other organs, like the parathyroid gland, in charge of regulating the amount of calcium in the blood and bones, are almost never hit by autoimmune diseases.
Jul 16, 2020... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—July 16, 2020—Choosing the right drug for each cancer patient is key to successful treatment, but physicians currently have few reliable pointers to guide them in designing treatment protocols. Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have now developed a new method for selecting the best drug therapy for a given tumor, based on assigning scores to the cells’ internal messaging activities. In addition to helping physicians choose from a list of existing treatments, the method can help identify new molecular targets for the development of future drugs. In fact, the researchers have already used it to single out a gene that can be targeted for effectively treating breast cancers with a BRCA mutation. The study was recently published in Nature Communications.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/blog/the-gender-of-medication/
Jul 29, 2020...
You wouldn’t give a toddler the same dose of ibuprofen that you, an adult – let’s assume you’re a woman – take. Likewise, should your dose be the same as a man’s?
It’s so clear when you take a moment to consider it; in the article “Should medicine be gendered?” (which also cites Weizmann Institute research), the BBC’s Science Focus nutshells it for us: “Men and women have completely different biologies, and yet doctors prescribe the same drugs and doses to everyone, regardless of sex.”
Aug 13, 2020... Hosted by the Embassy of Israel to the United States, this engaging virtual dialogue features Weizmann Institute President Prof. Alon Chen in conversation with Tammy Ben Haim, Minister of Public Diplomacy. Prof. Chen and Minister Ben Haim discuss a wide array of topics, including the Weizmann Institute's rapid response to the coronavirus. Prof. Chen explains how Weizmann's collaborative, multidisciplinary approach and focus on fundamental, curiosity-driven research enabled its scientists to quickly mobilize to fight COVID-19.
Sep 01, 2020...
Israeli and German researchers have successfully tested a new treatment for heart repair in pigs, the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) in Israel said on Tuesday.
In a study, published in the journal Circulation, WIS researchers, in collaboration with the Technical University of Munich, found that a human protein called Agrin could limit scarring in the heart muscle.
This means that Agrin might serve as an effective therapy after heart attacks, promoting heart repair and helping to prevent chronic heart failure, it said.
Jan 19, 2021...
Prof. Maya Schuldiner of Weizmann’s Department of Molecular Genetics uses analogies to clarify the nature of cells. These tiny living beings are highly organized communities, and while there are different types – blood, skin, etc. – they have basically the same elements. One of these is the peroxisome, an organelle whose malfunction or absence can lead to devastating diseases in children.
Because cells are so similar, Prof. Schuldiner’s lab is able to use common Baker’s yeast as a stand in for the human cell to study peroxisomes. She hopes to someday offer treatment – even a cure – for the unique children suffering from peroxisomal diseases.
Jan 27, 2021... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—January 27, 2021—Chronic stress could be the prevailing condition of our time. In the short term, our jaws or stomachs may clench; in the long term, stress can lead to metabolic disease and speed up diseases of aging, as well as leading to more serious psychological disorders. The physical manifestations of stress originate in the brain, and they move along a so-called “stress axis” that ends in the adrenal glands. These glands then produce the hormone cortisol. When the stress axis is continually activated, changes occur in the cells and organs along the way, and the continual production of cortisol then substantially contributes to the symptoms of chronic stress.
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