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 future of humanity.
Jan 07, 2021... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—January 7, 2021—Some people lose their eyesight, yet continue to “see.” This phenomenon, a kind of vivid visual hallucination, is named after Swiss doctor Charles Bonnet, who described in 1769 how his completely blind grandfather experienced intense, detailed visions of people, animals, and objects. Charles Bonnet syndrome was investigated in a study led by scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science. The findings, published in Brain, suggest a mechanism by which normal, spontaneous activity in the visual centers of the brain can trigger visual hallucinations in the blind.
Jan 19, 2021... Prof. Rony Paz, Head of the Department of Neurobiology, speaks about our still-mysterious brains. While they can do remarkable things, they also produce conditions such as PTSD, anxiety, autism, and the like – all of which are on the rise worldwide.
Jan 09, 2021...
Scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science have found what they say might be the cause of "Charles Bonnet syndrome," a phenomenon in which blind people continue to "see" due to vivid visual hallucinations. The research also indicated that the same visual system that humans use to see is active when humans hallucinate or even imagine.
The findings, published in the journal Brain, show a mechanism which may enable normal activity in the brain's vision centers to trigger the hallucinations in the blind. Researchers revealed a connection between resting-state brain fluctuations - mysterious but common brain occurrences which happen when humans are not conscious - and visual hallucinations in the blind.
Jan 05, 2021... SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA—January 5, 2021—The American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science announced that Bay Area philanthropists Dr. Gladys Monroy and Larry Marks have increased their support of brain research at the Weizmann Institute by more than $5 million. Their giving towards neuroscience at Weizmann now totals more than $11 million. Located in Rehovot, Israel, the Weizmann Institute is one of the world’s leading centers of multidisciplinary scientific research and graduate study.
Apr 14, 2021... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—April 14, 2021—Being constantly hungry, no matter how much you eat – that’s the daily struggle of people with genetic defects in the brain’s appetite controls, and it often ends in severe obesity. In a study published in Science, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science, together with colleagues from the Queen Mary University of London and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, have revealed the mechanism of action of the master switch for hunger in the brain: a receptor called melanocortin 4 (MC4). They have also clarified how this switch is activated by setmelanotide (brand name Imcivree), a drug recently approved for the treatment of severe obesity caused by certain genetic changes. The team’s findings shed new light on the way hunger is regulated and may help develop improved anti-obesity medications.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/brain-research-gets-a-boost-from-mosquitos/
May 11, 2021... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—May 11, 2021—Can a protein found in a mosquito lead to a better understanding of the workings of our own brains? Prof. Ofer Yizhar and his team in the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Department of Neurobiology took a light-sensitive protein derived from mosquitos and used it to devise an improved method for investigating the messages that are passed from neuron to neuron in the brains of mice. This method, reported in Neuron, could potentially help scientists solve age-old cerebral mysteries and pave the way for new and improved therapies to treat neurological and psychiatric conditions.
Apr 21, 2021...
Scientists may have discovered how a “switch” in the brain controls appetite, raising hopes for a new class of anti-obesity drugs.
Many people would like to lose a few pounds, with the temptation of favourite dishes and snacks often proving too much for our willpower.
For some, however, genetic defects cause them to feel famished no matter how much food they consume, resulting in severe obesity.
May 11, 2021...
Israeli scientists have developed a way to switch off connectors that link different parts of the brain, in an advance they say could prove key to treating neurological disorders like epilepsy.
The innovation, which relies on a light-sensitive protein from mosquitos, was reported on Tuesday in the peer-reviewed journal Neuron. The breakthrough has been discussed in medical circles for several weeks, and dozens of neurobiology teams around the world are already ordering the protein and using the protocol in their own labs.
May 27, 2021...
The Bat-Tunnel: A Unique Setup for the Study of the Neural Basis of Navigation
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—May 27, 2021—The brain is often likened to a computer: neurons organized in complex circuits serving as its hardware; its software a plethora of codes that govern the neurons’ behavior. But sometimes the brain performs exceptionally well even when its hardware seems inadequate for the task; for example, the puzzle of how we and other mammals manage to navigate large-scale environments even though the brain’s spatial perception circuits are seemingly suited to representing much smaller areas. A team of researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science, led by Prof. Nachum Ulanovsky of the Department of Neurobiology, tackled this riddle by thinking outside the experimental box. By combining an unusual research model – fruit bats – with an unusual setting – a 200-meter-long (about one-eighth of a mile) Bat-Tunnel – the team successfully revealed a novel neuronal code for spatial perception. The finding was reported in Science.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/june-is-alzheimer-s-brain-awareness-month/
Jun 07, 2021...
Despite decades of research, we don’t know much about the brain. It is as strange as the deep sea, as complex as a computer, as mysterious as the universe – and it makes us who we are, as humans and individuals.
Understanding this most complex of organs is more important now than ever: lifespans are increasing and, thus, so are age-related conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s; awareness of mental illness is rising, as is the need for effective treatments; rates of autism are still going up. Fortunately, technological advances over the past several years are, for the first time, allowing scientists to study the brain at a level of detail never before possible.
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