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.
Apr 13, 2023...
The European Space Agency's (ESA) landmark JUICE mission is set to depart for Jupiter on Thursday, April 13 – and some Israeli-made technology is on for the ride.
The Israeli participation is funded by the Israel Space Agency, which is under the auspices of the Science and Technology Ministry.
The JUICE mission, which stands for Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer, is set to embark on a 900 million-kilometer journey to the largest planet in the solar system, where it will spend four years exploring the moons of Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.
Apr 23, 2023... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—April 27, 2023—To get life-giving oxygen into every cell, the human body produces two to three million oxygen-carrying red blood cells, or erythrocytes, each second – about one-quarter of all the new cells that are produced in the body at any one time. This process is controlled by the hormone erythropoietin, commonly known as EPO, which works by binding to cells in the bone marrow that are poised to become erythrocytes, promoting their proliferation. Erythropoietin was discovered decades ago, but the identity of the cells that make this hormone remained unknown – until now.
May 24, 2023...
To get life-giving oxygen into every cell, the human body produces two to three million oxygen-carrying red blood cells each second, a process controlled by the hormone erythropoietin (EPO), which works by binding to cells in the bone marrow and promoting their proliferation. Discovered decades ago, the identity of the cells that make this hormone remained unknown – until now.
In a new paper, published in Nature Medicine, Weizmann scientists from Prof. Ido Amit’s lab and colleagues from Israel, Europe, and the United States have identified a rare subset of kidney cells that are the main producers of EPO in the human body, a discovery that has transformative potential for patients with anemia.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/seeing-the-universe-like-never-before/
Jun 07, 2023...
In early 2026, NASA will launch Israel’s first space telescope – the Ultraviolet Transient Astronomy Satellite, or ULTRASAT – into high-Earth orbit, as part of a newly signed partnership between NASA and Israel’s Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology.
ULTRASAT is a premier project of the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Israel Space Agency. The telescope is expected to revolutionize scientists’ ability to detect and analyze transient events in the universe, such as neutron star mergers and supernova explosions.
Nov 23, 2023... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—November 23, 2023—Organic debris slowly settles into the seabed, where it is consumed by microorganisms. Initially, some microbes use molecular oxygen to oxidize this organic matter, much like we do in the process of aerobic respiration. Once the oxygen runs out, most of the remaining organic matter is consumed by other microbes in an anaerobic respiration process called “microbial sulfate reduction.” In this process, the organic matter is oxidized by sulfate, the fifth most abundant ion in seawater. The sulfate is reduced to sulfide, a small molecule with the distinctive odor of rotten eggs. But in the presence of iron, sulfide is sequestered in a much more appealing (and less smelly) state: the iron-sulfide mineral pyrite, also known as “fool’s gold” because of its golden appearance and relatively low market value.
Nov 10, 2023... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—November 10, 2023—An international crowdsourced campaign to discover an anti-COVID-19 drug has created a blueprint for the accelerated, patent-free development of drugs to treat viral threats to humanity. The campaign, called COVID Moonshot, was co-led by Prof. Nir London of the Weizmann Institute of Science and researchers from the University of Oxford, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and the US-based biotech company PostEra. The results have been published in Science.
©2023 American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science
