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/stem-cells-might-heal-damaged-lungs/
Jul 14, 2015...
In this image from a photon-2 microscope, new lung cells are continuously created to replace the damaged ones: (left) lung tissue 6 weeks after stem cell transplantation and (right) 16 weeks after transplantation. Cells that originated in the transplanted stem cells are green, as opposed to the uncolored host lung cells.
Collectively, diseases of the airways such as emphysema, bronchitis, asthma, and cystic fibrosis are the second leading cause of death worldwide. More than 35 million Americans alone suffer from chronic respiratory disease. Weizmann Institute of Science researchers have now proposed a new direction that could, in the future, lead to the development of a method for alleviating some of the suffering of these patients. The study’s findings, which recently appeared in Nature Medicine, show how it might be possible to use embryonic stem cells to repair damaged lung tissue.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/science-tips-september-2015/
Sep 01, 2015...
Tiny sea sapphires’ iridescence, created by a regular array of thin, transparent crystal plates, is also the secret of their “disappearance”
Tiny ocean creatures known as sea sapphires perform a sort of magic trick as they swim: One second they appear in splendid iridescent shades of blue, purple, or green, and the next they may turn invisible (at least the blue ones turn completely transparent). How do they get their bright colors and what enables them to “disappear?” New research at the Weizmann Institute of Science has solved the mystery of these colorful, vanishing creatures, which are known scientifically as Sapphirinidae. The findings, which recently appeared in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, could inspire the development of new optical technologies.
Sep 15, 2015...
Your body's immune system might be able to fight obesity. Photo: Emilio Labrador CC BY 2.0
It is well known that this country is in the midst of an obesity epidemic. No matter how long we exercise or how healthy we try to eat, it just does not seem to be enough, as there also seem to be other causes of obesity, including genetics. Some people even consider it an autoimmune, inflammatory disorder, because fat cells may produce various inflammatory molecules that can disrupt the balance established by a normal immune system. Considering this, is there a way to manipulate the immune system in order to battle obesity?
Oct 22, 2014...
The Persistence of Memory, by Salvador Dali.
Your genome is the same right now as it was yesterday, last week, last year, or the day you were born. But your microbiomes – the combined genes of all the trillions of microbes that share your body – have shifted since the sun came up this morning. And they will change again before the next sunrise.
Christoph Thaiss from the Weizmann Institute of Science has discovered that the communities of microbes in out guts vary on a daily cycle. Some species rise to the fore during daylight hours and recede into the background at night, while others show the opposite pattern.
Sep 17, 2014...
Sweeteners alter the microbiome, the population of bacteria that is in the digestive system. Weizmann Institute of Science
Artificial sweeteners may disrupt the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar, causing metabolic changes that can be a precursor to diabetes, researchers are reporting.
That is “the very same condition that we often aim to prevent” by consuming sweeteners instead of sugar, said Dr. Eran Elinav, an immunologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, at a news conference to discuss the findings.
Mar 11, 2016...
Maybe you heard about it on NPR. Or the BBC. Or your local paper or news station. The world paid attention to the news that a novel cancer treatment is sending blood cancer patients into "dramatic remission."
This is just the latest thrilling progress in the treatment, which uses a patient’s own immune system to defeat cancer. The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, which conducted the new trials, reports that "Twenty-seven out of 29 patients with an advanced blood cancer … experienced sustained remissions," and that "some of the patients in the trial, which began in 2013, were originally not expected to survive for more than a few months because their disease had previously relapsed or was resistant to other treatments," but "today, there is no sign of disease."
Mar 09, 2020...
JERUSALEM, Feb. 24 (Xinhua)— Israeli scientists found that short-term acute inflammation in the mother's body during pregnancy can cause autism to the embryo, said Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) in central Israel on Monday.
Signs of autism usually appear around two or three years old, but it is considered a neurodevelopmental disease, which suggests that changes could already be “brewing” in the embryonic brain.
Nov 15, 2016...
Yanna Lee
Yale researchers have partnered with scientists at the Jackson Laboratory, the University of Connecticut and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel to form the Metabolic Research Alliance to study metabolic diseases, such as diabetes and obesity.
Milton Wallack, founder of the Connecticut Stem Cell Research Coalition and the Metabolic Research Alliance, said that once the stem cell initiative began, a committee was formed to peer review grant requests for research projects.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/coaxing-the-immune-system-to-fight-cancer/
May 08, 2018...
Image via Lightspring/Shutterstock.com
Immunotherapy was once the black sheep of cancer research. Originally conceived over a century ago, it aims to stimulate a patient’s own immune system to fight cancer. That’s a very different approach than chemotherapy, which essentially poisons tumors.
Early trials of immunotherapy in the 1900s and a second round of experiments in the 1980s caused toxic side effects. That led oncologists to dismiss this approach– until 2011, when a new immunotherapy treatment gave patients with metastatic melanoma years of tumor-free extra life.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/battling-glaucoma/
Sep 02, 2003...
One in every hundred adults in the Western world suffers from chronic glaucoma, a disease that causes blindness. In most cases the disease results from increased pressure inside the eye, caused by defective drainage of the transparent liquid that bathes the eye. Yet reducing the pressure does not always solve the problem.
Prof. Michal Schwartz, working in the Weizmann Institute's Neurobiology Department, came up with a novel idea. She suggested that toxic substances triggered by the initial damage are responsible for the ongoing nerve degeneration. These substances spill out of the damaged nerve cells and adversely affect healthy neighboring cells. Schwartz suggested activating the immune system—known to defend the body against external invaders such as bacteria—to combat the body's own toxic substances. She showed that in complete contrast to the generally accepted concept of autoimmunity (i.e., activity against the self) as inherently harmful, it can serve as a defense mechanism against damaging self-compounds. Autoimmune disease results when control of this mechanism breaks down.
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