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.
Jun 03, 2022...
In the late 1960s, as a researcher at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Prof. Sela wanted to shed light on the causes and nature of the potentially disabling disease. He and two colleagues—Ruth Arnon and Dvora Teitelbaum—injected synthetic proteins into lab animals in an attempt to induce something akin to multiple sclerosis as part of that quest.
To their surprise, none of the laboratory animals developed the malady. “We wanted to cause disease, and we were unsuccessful,” Prof. Sela later told TheMarker, an Israeli newspaper.
Sep 29, 2022...
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—September 29, 2022—Cancer tumors contain multiple species of fungi that differ per tumor type, according to a large study led by researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science and the University of California, San Diego.
The study, published today in Cell, potentially has implications for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, as well as for the detection of cancer through a blood test. It complements scientists’ understanding of the interaction between cancer cells and the bacteria that exist in tumors alongside fungi, bacteria that have been shown to affect cancer growth, metastasis, and response to therapy. The researchers systematically profiled fungal communities in more than 17,000 tissue and blood samples taken from patients with 35 types of cancer. They found that fungi can be detected in all of these cancer types. Fungi were mostly found “hiding” inside the cancer cells or in immune cells inside the tumors.
Sep 29, 2022...
Look up an image of a tumor on Google, and you’ll probably end up with a brightly colored cluster of cancer cells on a drab background of healthy tissue. A tumor may also contain millions of microbes, representing dozens of species.
“I think this is an ecosystem,” she said. “It means the cancer cells are not alone.”
Scientists have long known that our bodies are home to microbes, but have tended to treat tumors as if they were sterile. In recent years, however, researchers have laid that notion to rest, demonstrating that tumors are rife with microbes.
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