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/news-releases/profiling-a-killer-in-warm-blood/
Dec 06, 2018...
Tumor heterogeneity, clonal evolution, and therapy resistance are revealed using single-cell profiling of multiple myeloma patients
REHOVOT, ISRAEL —December 6, 2018—Cancer arises when cells lose control. Deciphering the “blueprint” of cancer cells – outlining how cancer cells hijack specific pathways for uncontrolled proliferation – will lead to more efficient ways to fight it. Now, in a joint effort, scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science and clinicians from major hemato-oncology departments in Israel have successfully created detailed profiles of myeloma cancer in both pre-cancer stages, in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients, as well as post-treatment and relapse. These detailed blueprints will help in future precision diagnosis and treatment of this disease.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/why-chemotherapy-fails/
May 29, 2012... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—May 29, 2012—The fight against cancer is not won in a single battle: long after a cancer has been beaten into remission, it can return. The reason for this is under debate, and much is unclear. New research led by Weizmann Institute scientists shows that, at least for one type of blood cancer, the source of cancer recurrence is in a set of cells that do not proliferate as quickly as regular cancer cells, and thus are able to survive chemotherapy. The findings, which appear in the journal Blood, have some important implications for the future of the war on cancer.
Jan 19, 2017...
White blood cell squeezing through endothelial cells (grey) on its way out of the blood vessel walls. The actin cytoskeleton of both cells is exposed; the white blood cell nucleus is shown in brown and the large actin-rich extension that dismantles the endothelial actin is shown in yellow
One of the mysteries of the living body is the movement of cells – not just in the blood, but through cellular and other barriers. New research at the Weizmann Institute of Science has shed light on the subject, especially on the movement of immune cells that race to the sites of infection and inflammation. The study, published in Cell, revealed that these cells – white blood cells – actively open large gaps in the internal lining of the blood vessels, so they can exit through the vessel walls and rapidly get to areas of infection.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/science-tips-may-2009/
May 05, 2009...
One can have a dream, two can make that dream so real, goes a popular song. Now a Weizmann Institute study has revealed that it takes two to perform an essential form of DNA repair.
Prof. Zvi Livneh of the Weizmann Institute’s Biological Chemistry Department has been studying DNA repair for some two decades: “Considering that the DNA of each cell is damaged about 20,000 times a day by radiation, pollutants, and harmful chemicals produced within the body, it’s obvious that without effective DNA repair, life as we know it could not exist. Most types of damage result in individual mutations – genetic ‘spelling mistakes’ – that are corrected by precise, error-free repair enzymes. Sometimes, however, damage results in more than a mere spelling mistake; it can cause gaps in the DNA, which prevent the DNA molecule from being copied when the cell divides, much like an ink blot or a hole on a book page interferes with reading. So dangerous are these gaps that the cell resorts to a sloppy but efficient repair technique to avoid them: it fills in the missing DNA in an inaccurate fashion. Such repair can save the cell from dying, but it comes at a price: this error-prone mechanism, discovered at the Weizmann Institute and elsewhere about a decade ago, is a major source of mutations.”
Apr 16, 2019... The Weizmann Institute brings together scientists from a variety of disciplines to tackle cancer head-on. In the fourth episode of Weizmann in Focus, CEO Dave Doneson highlights a recent headline-making breakthrough from the labs of Profs. Ido Amit and Amos Tanay. Working with hospitals across Israel, the scientists identified a very small number of malignant cells in what is considered a pre-malignant stage of multiple myeloma—the second-most common type of blood cancer. Their discovery holds the promise of earlier, more precise treatment.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/science-tips-october-2012/
Oct 22, 2012... Not long ago, some unassuming bacteria found themselves at the center of a scientific controversy: a group claimed that these microorganisms, which live in an environment that is rich in the arsenic-based compound arsenate, could take up that arsenate and use it — instead of the phosphate on which all known life on Earth depends. The claim, since disproved, raised another question: How do organisms living with arsenate pick and choose the right substance?
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/the-transformation/
Sep 15, 2014...
An experimental new drug can make some leukemic cells mature into healthier ones. Illustration by Brian Stauffer
For almost thirty years, William Kuhens worked on Staten Island as a basketball referee for the Catholic Youth Organization and other amateur leagues. At seventy, he was physically fit, taking part in twenty games a month. But in July of 2013 he began to lose weight and feel exhausted; his wife told him he looked pale. He saw his doctor, and tests revealed that his blood contained below-normal numbers of platelets and red and white blood cells; these are critical for, respectively, preventing bleeding, supplying oxygen, and combatting infection. Kuhens was sent to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, in Manhattan, to meet with Eytan Stein, an expert in blood disorders. Stein found that as much as fifteen per cent of Kuhens’s bone marrow was made up of primitive, cancerous blood cells. “Mr. Kuhens was on the cusp of leukemia,” Stein told me recently. “It seemed that his disease was rapidly advancing.”
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/leukemia-cells-are-addicted-to-a-healthy-gene/
Sep 29, 2013... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—September 29, 2013—What keeps leukemia cells alive almost forever, able to continue dividing endlessly and aggressively? New research at the Weizmann Institute of Science suggests that, in about a quarter of all leukemias, the cancer cells rely on an internal “balance of terror” to keep going. When one version of a certain gene is mutated, it becomes a cancer-promoting gene – an oncogene. But the new findings show that the second, normal version of the gene, which functions alongside the mutation, is what keeps the cells both cancerous and alive, able to continue forging their destructive pathway in the body. This research appeared last week in Cell Reports.
May 20, 2013...
Emily Whitehead, 8, celebrates a year of remission after cancer therapy at Children's. Photo from The Philadelphia Inquirer
It is vanishingly rare for an experimental treatment to wipe out advanced, recurrent cancer, then keep the disease from coming back.
Yet therapies driven by CARs have been doing exactly that in a small but growing number of blood-cancer patients at the University of Pennsylvania and other centers.
Oct 28, 2014...
Targeting cognition through the body. Cognition by Shutterstock
When we age our whole body gradually deteriorates. This includes our brains, where our personality, memories and personal values reside. It is therefore understandable that dementia and memory loss are some of the most devastating hallmarks of aging, for the elderly, their families, and the healthcare system.
This is why researchers want to find ways to rejuvenate the brain and therefore maintain the young mind and cognition in old age.
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