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.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/alien-arsenic-life-discredited/
Jan 02, 2013... Two years ago, at a press conference that drew wide attention, scientists described a newfound microbe in California’s Mono Lake that flouted life’s basic instruction manual. They claimed that the bacterium, GFAJ-1, survived not on phosphate (essential to all known organisms) but on arsenate, a toxic arsenic compound. NASA hailed the work as a step forward in the search for alien life. But now other researchers have discredited the discovery.
May 29, 2008...
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—May 29, 2008—A Weizmann Institute study provides important new insights into the process of viral infection. The study, reported in the online journal PLoS Biology, reveals certain mechanisms by which mimivirus—a virus so called because it was originally thought to mimic bacteria in various aspects of their behavior—invades amoeba cells.
Living cells become infected by viruses in two steps. First, the virus penetrates the cell. Next, in the second and crucial step, the cell starts producing new viruses, which spread and infect additional cells. At the beginning of this production process, the cell makes the outer wall of the virus, which is a container of sorts composed of proteins and known as the capsid. The cell then makes copies of viral DNA and inserts it into the capsid. The result is a new, functioning virus that is ready to leave the host cell and infect more cells.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/the-man-who-studies-deadly-diseases/
Dec 01, 2013...
Diskin’s specialty is using X-ray crystallography to image the proteins in viruses.
Ron Diskin, 37, is a world expert on the structural biology of deadly viruses. His critical contribution to the field points the way to unprecedented treatment approaches.
And he is living proof that the supposed “brain drain” from Israel is perhaps better described as a back-and-forth flow of the best and brightest minds.
Mar 25, 2020... In this videoconference hosted by Weizmann Canada, Prof. Sarel Fleishman of the Weizmann Institute’s Department of Biomolecular Sciences gives a progress report on his lab’s coronavirus research. The coronavirus is so named because it is covered in “spikes” that look like the sun’s corona; Prof. Fleishman seeks to bind and neutralize the spike proteins, thus stopping the virus.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/blast-of-thin-air-can-reset-circadian-clocks/
Oct 27, 2016...
Dr. Yaarit Adamovich and Dr. Gad Asher
We might not be aware of our internal “body clocks” until we are jetlagged, but scientists continue to puzzle over what drives them. Now, in a study published on October 20 in Cell Metabolism, the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Dr. Gad Asher has found that changes in surrounding oxygen levels can reset the circadian clocks of mice. If confirmed in humans, the research could help inform how airlines moderate cabin air pressure.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/rewriting-dna-to-understand-what-it-says/
May 31, 2012... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—May 31, 2012—Our ability to "read" DNA has made tremendous progress in the past few decades, but the ability to understand and alter the genetic code – that is, to "rewrite" the DNA-encoded instructions – has lagged behind. A new Weizmann Institute study advances our understanding of the genetic code: it proposes a way of effectively introducing numerous carefully planned DNA segments into genomes of living cells and of testing the effects of these changes. The study is being reported in the June issues of Nature Biotechnology and Nature Genetics.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/looking-in-cellular-trash-cans/
Oct 22, 2018...
The MAPP profile of discarded proteins from healthy subjects (top) and lupus patients (bottom) shows an abnormally high turnover of particular proteins in the histone family (browns)
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—October 22, 2018—If we really want to know how our body’s cells work – or don’t work, in the case of disease – we might need to look beyond our genes and even beyond the proteins the genes are made of. We may need to start going through the cellular “trash.” The group of Dr. Yifat Merbl of the Weizmann Institute of Science developed a system to do just that, finding that “cellular dumpster-diving” contains information about the cell’s function that is not otherwise seen. The group applied their new approach to profiling the immune cells of patients with an autoimmune disorder, discovering clear evidence of a signature pattern that provides a new way of thinking about the underlying causes of the disease. Furthermore, in the future, this may lead to better diagnostic techniques.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/what-are-the-benefits-of-probiotics/
Nov 27, 2019...
Photo Illustration by The New York Times; Getty Images
Walk into a health food store, or even a drugstore, and you’re likely to find an entire aisle, maybe two, dedicated to probiotics. Probiotics are live micro-organisms, usually bacteria, that provide health benefits when consumed at appropriate doses.
According to some surveys, approximately four million Americans take probiotics, which are available as pills, powders, foods and drinks. Probiotics are a huge industry — at least a $40 billion dollar one, according to Zion Market Research — and popular brands sell for 35 cents to $1 a dose, with a shelf life of several months.
Sep 19, 2017...
Humans and fish share about 70% of their protein-coding genes, but only about 0.5% of their regulatory long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs)
One often hears about the multitude of genes we have in common with chimps or other living creatures, but such comparisons are sometimes misleading. “Humans and fish, for instance, share about 70% of their protein-coding genes, but only about 0.5% of an important class of regulatory genes – ones that give rise to so-called long non-coding RNAs, or lncRNAs,” says Dr. Igor Ulitsky of the Department of Biological Regulation at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Mar 16, 2020... Prof. Gabi Barbash, Former Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Health and Director of the Weizmann Institute Bench-to-Bedside Program, which brings together scientists and physicians to fight disease, explains coronavirus from the perspective of public health. He also speaks to how it spreads and how it is different from other contagions.