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.
Sep 01, 2020...
Israeli and German researchers have successfully tested a new treatment for heart repair in pigs, the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) in Israel said on Tuesday.
In a study, published in the journal Circulation, WIS researchers, in collaboration with the Technical University of Munich, found that a human protein called Agrin could limit scarring in the heart muscle.
This means that Agrin might serve as an effective therapy after heart attacks, promoting heart repair and helping to prevent chronic heart failure, it said.
Oct 27, 2020...
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—October 27, 2020—Acute liver failure is a devastating, rapidly progressing disease that results in death in 80% of cases, unless an emergency liver transplant is performed. In the developed world, its leading cause is a substantial overdose of acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol.
In a study published in Nature Medicine, researchers from the labs of Prof. Eran Elinav and Prof. Ido Amit in the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Department of Immunology have, using mouse models of acute liver failure, discovered three liver-cell subsets that orchestrate the development of this condition. The scientists also identified signals – from the gut microbiome as well as the diseased liver – that jointly activate these cells, and showed that selectively blocking the signals and depleting the microbiome led to marked improvement in liver function and prolonged survival in the mice. An analysis of liver tissue from human patients with acute liver failure revealed a molecular pattern strikingly similar to the one identified in mice in the study, raising hopes that the findings may in the future be translated into a treatment for humans.
Oct 27, 2020...
A new study from the Weizmann Institute of Science, published in Nature Medicine, has found new subsets of cells and signals from the gut microbiome and the diseased liver that contribute to acute liver failure.
The researchers, who work in the labs of Profs. Eran Elinav and Ido Amit in the Immunology Department, hope that this and other research findings will contribute to new treatments for the condition.
Aug 07, 2020...
Israeli scientists have discovered that the lymphatic system has a crucial role in repairing the heart from injury, the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) said Tuesday.
This finding may help develop new ways of promoting heart repair and facilitating the growth of heart tissue for transplant, the WIS said.
The researchers have shown that not only blood flowing through its vessels is essential for heart recovery, but also the lymph colorless fluid that circulates in a parallel network, and the lymphatic vessels in which it moves.
Jan 19, 2021... Prof. Karina Yaniv, Department of Biological Regulation, explains why it is so important to understand embryonic development. Across life forms, development is similar; in fact, it can be hard to distinguish between embryos from different species...
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/february-is-american-heart-month-2/
Feb 10, 2021...
Covid-19 is now, by some measures, the leading cause of death in the U.S., surpassing heart disease. Yet not only is heart disease not going away, its rates are expected to increase due to Covid; as the American Heart Association recently reported, Covid’s influence “will directly and indirectly impact rates of cardiovascular disease prevalence and deaths for years to come.”
While coronavirus research at the Weizmann Institute of Science continues full speed ahead, so does critical work on heart disease. February is American Heart Month, so we’d like to share current Weizmann Institute research on this most celebrated organ.
May 19, 2021... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—May 19, 2021—Our livers work hard to perform a significant range of activities: helping us digest food, maintaining body temperature, and serving as an important checkpoint of the immune system for everything that we eat. It is inside the liver that the unique, rich, and complex network of immune cells and pathways is set up to decide whether a food particle is harmless or a dangerous pathogen that should be neutralized and removed. The liver is, therefore, very sensitive to the food we consume, and sometimes a poor diet can induce a serious dysregulation of the immune activities within it.
Jan 05, 2022...
Scientists have been exploring the idea of growing organs outside the human body for transplantation procedures but nothing concrete has come yet. However, new research by a team from the Weizmann Institute shows that we may be drawing closer to that being possible.
The ability to culture organs in labs would make a whole lot of difference in medicine. It could make it possible to preserve millions of lives each year. Numerous people require transplantation but getting an organ is a problem.
May 25, 2022...
REHOVOT, ISRAEL – May 25 2022 – Our family origins tend to shape our future in many ways. A Weizmann Institute of Science study, published today in Nature, found that the same holds true for blood vessels. The researchers discovered blood vessels forming from unexpected progenitors and went on to show that this unusual origin determines the vessels’ future function.
“We found that blood vessels must derive from the right source in order to function properly – it’s as if they remember where they came from,” says team leader Prof. Karina Yaniv.
Aug 01, 2022... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—August 1, 2022— An egg meets a sperm – that’s a necessary first step in life’s beginnings, and it’s also a common first step in embryonic development research. But in a Weizmann Institute of Science study published today in Cell, researchers have grown synthetic embryo models of mice outside the womb by starting solely with stem cells cultured in a petri dish – that is, without the use of fertilized eggs. The method opens new horizons for studying how stem cells form various organs in the developing embryo, and may one day make it possible to grow tissues and organs for transplantation using synthetic embryo models.
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