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.
Nov 30, 2016...
Combining two inhibitors (right) was much more effective than either alone in preventing cancer growth.
A promising new combination therapy for a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer has been identified by Weizmann Institute scientists, as was recently reported in the journal Cancer Research. The potential dual-acting therapeutic strategy not only inhibits tumor growth and survival but also circumvents the problem of drug-induced resistance.
Jun 03, 2015...
Lung cancer cells (green) cultured together with normal lung cells (red). The triple-antibody combination EGFR, HER2, and HER3 strongly impairs the survival of tumor cells while sparing normal cells. Modified confocal microscopy image: Maicol Mancini, lab of Prof. Yosef Yarden
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, responsible for some 1.59 million deaths a year. That figure is due, in part, to the fact that lung cancer often returns after what seems at first to be successful treatment. However, the recurring cancer is often resistant to the chemotherapy and other drugs that originally drove it into remission. But now, according to new research by the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Prof. Yosef Yarden, a new strategy involving a three-pronged approach might keep an aggressive form of lung cancer from returning.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/to-stop-cancer-block-its-messages/
Mar 30, 2015... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—March 30, 2015—The average living cell needs communication skills: It must transmit a constant stream of messages quickly and efficiently from its outer walls to the inner nucleus, where most of the day-to-day decisions are made. But this rapid, long-distance communication system leaves itself open to mutations that can give rise to a “spam attack” that promotes cancer. Prof. Rony Seger of the Department of Biological Regulation and his team have now proposed a method of shutting off the overflow of information before it can get to the nucleus. If the initial promising results hold up, the method could be used to treat a number of different cancers – especially several that develop resistance to current treatments – and might possibly induce fewer side effects than those treatments do. These findings appeared on March 30, 2015, in Nature Communications.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/time-to-rethink-chemotherapy/
Jun 14, 2012...
Leukemia cells dividing. Photo courtesy of Public Library of Science
For cancer patients undergoing treatment, the ups and downs can feel like living through one of those B-level movies where the zombies just never seem to die: Victories of remission can quickly end in disappointment as the cancer returns once more.
Why this happens has long puzzled scientists around the globe, but a new multi-center team in Israel whittles the problem down to the roots of where cancer begins.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/mother-nature-to-the-rescue/
Apr 30, 2012... Natural molecules that protect the body against disease are finding their way into the treatment of advanced cancer. Prof. Michel Revel of the Department of Molecular Genetics has played a leading role in the discovery and study of two natural molecules now employed as drugs. In the late 1970s, Prof. Revel isolated the gene for interferon-beta, a human protein that fights viral infection in the body and is used as a drug against a variety of ills, including certain types of cancer—particularly glioma and non-small-cell lung carcinoma.
Mar 08, 2017...
Hockey player Sam Fields was diagnosed with cancer at age 27, just weeks before he was scheduled to go to NHL training camp. (Courtesy ICRF)
This story is sponsored by the Israel Cancer Research Fund.
CHICAGO — Hockey had been the focal point of Sam Fields’ life for almost as long as he can remember.
A Chicago native who got into the sport at the age of eight, Fields had been playing professional hockey for about five years when he was tapped for a tryout with the National Hockey League. At the age of 27, he was on the cusp of becoming one of a handful of Jews in the NHL.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/repairing-dna-fighting-cancer/
Sep 17, 2018...
Prof. Zvi Livneh
Our genetic material – DNA – is under constant assault. It is damaged every day by external forces like sunlight, radiation, tobacco smoke, air pollution, and food additives, and internal ones like waste products left over from the body’s metabolic processes.
“The DNA of each cell in your body is damaged about 50,000 times each day,” says Prof. Zvi Livneh. “That’s a massive attack.”
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/a-year-of-achievements-and-advances/
Jan 18, 2017... The prostate cancer therapy Tookad® is the product of a decades-long cross-disciplinary partnership between a plant scientist, Prof. Avigdor Scherz, and a biochemist, Prof. Yoram Salomon. The chlorophyll-based method destroys the tumor but not the healthy tissue nearby – and without the quality-of-life impacts of other prostate cancer treatments. This past year, Mexico approved Tookad® for treatment of early stage prostate cancer. Europe and Israel are nearing approval, and late-stage clinical trials are ongoing at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Mar 02, 2010...
Prof. Yoram Salomon (left) and Prof. Avigdor Scherz (right)
By combining three individually innocuous components, Weizmann Institute of Science researchers Prof. Yoram Salomon of the Department of Biological Regulation and Prof. Avigdor Scherz of the Department of Plant Sciences have created a toxic combination that destroys solid tumors. This cancer therapy, which is the result of nearly 20 years of collaboration between the two scientists, is being studied as a frontline treatment for prostate cancer. However, the strategy may work for other types of cancer as well. "In principle, right now, every solid tumor is potentially a target for this treatment," says Prof. Salomon.
Jan 05, 2004... Weizmann Institute scientists have succeeded in reversing the metastatic properties of colon cancer cells, in vitro. The findings, published in The Journal of Cell Biology, uncover a key process involved in the metastasis of colon cancer cells and raise hopes that target-specific drugs might be devised to prevent, or reverse, the invasive behavior of metastatic colon cancer cells. Colon cancer is the second most-prevalent type of cancer in men and third in women in the Western world.
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