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/feature-stories/developing-the-next-generation-of-drugs/
Nov 20, 2011... Enzymes—the proteins responsible for chemical reactions in living cells—change their structure at dizzying speeds.This dynamic action makes them very efficient, but it can also make them difficult to study. Prof. Irit Sagi of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Department of Biological Regulation develops new experimental tools and procedures to study shape-shifting enzymes in real time and at the scale of individual atoms.
Dec 26, 2011... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—December 26, 2011—A team of Weizmann Institute of Science researchers has turned the tables on an autoimmune disease. In such diseases, including Crohn’s and rheumatoid arthritis, the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s tissues. But the scientists managed to trick the immune systems of mice into targeting one of the body’s players in autoimmune processes, an enzyme known as MMP9. The results of their research appear in Nature Medicine.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/science-tips-july-2013/
Aug 01, 2013...
Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of a logic circuit based on 14 nanowires. From the work of Prof. Joselevich.
Researchers working with tiny components in nanoelectronics face a challenge similar to that of parents of small children: teaching them to manage on their own. The nano-components are so small that arranging them with external tools is impossible. The only solution is to create conditions in which they can be “trusted” to assemble themselves.
Oct 10, 2015...
© Photo courtesy of Flickr, Judit Klein. Blue cheese is among the many foods that may help repair circadian clocks and lower the risk of age-related diseases.
Imagine a dietary supplement that could slow down age-related diseases and possibly lengthen the life humans live. Well, polyamines, compounds found abundantly in nearly every living cell, may have the power to do this. They play an intrinsic role in the body’s internal clock and regulate cell growth and death. Researchers discovered that as mice aged, their levels of polyamines began to drop, slowing down the body clock’s natural cycle (roughly 24 hours), and increasing their susceptibility to disease. The findings, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, explain that by eating polyamines, we may be able to stave off disease and even increase longevity.
Jan 24, 2011...
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—January 24, 2011—Protection against nerve gas attack is a significant component of the defense system of many countries around the world. Nerve gases are used by armies and terrorist organizations, and constitute a threat to both the military and civilian populations, but existing drug solutions against them have limited efficiency.
A multidisciplinary team of scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science succeeded in developing an enzyme that breaks down such organophosphorus nerve agents efficiently before damage to nerves and muscles is caused. Their results were recently published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology. Recent experiments performed in a U.S. military laboratory (the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense, or USAMRICD) have shown that injecting a relatively small amount of this enzyme into animals provides protection against certain types of nerve agents, for which current treatments show limited efficacy.
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/news-releases/nobel-prize-in-chemistry-2013/
Oct 09, 2013...
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—October 9, 2013—The Weizmann Institute of Science extends its hearty congratulations to the new winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2013. Two of the three new laureates have strong ties to the Weizmann Institute, and their work on the use of computers to map chemical reactions of large molecules such as enzymes on the atomic scale was first developed at Weizmann.
Profs. Arieh Warshel and Michael Levitt began their scientific collaboration in the 1960s at the Weizmann Institute, where Prof. Warshel was a doctoral student. The two of them worked with the late Prof. Shneior Lifson in the Department of Chemical Physics. Together, they developed a computer program that ran on the Institute’s Golem computer – a powerful device in those days – to model molecules. This program had special relevance for large biological molecules.
Sep 01, 2012... Lipids are fatty substances found in every cell in our bodies. They make up the membranes that separate the cell from its surroundings and are responsible for regulating the passage of nutrients to and from the cell. One particular family of lipids — sphingolipids — fascinates Prof. Anthony (Tony) Futerman of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Department of Biological Chemistry. “Sphingolipids were discovered in the 19th century by the German biochemist Johann Thudichum, who named them after the sphinx because they were enigmatic,” says Prof. Futerman.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/new-hope-for-gaucher-patients/
Jan 21, 2014... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—January 19, 2014—What causes brain damage and inflammation in severe cases of Gaucher disease? Little is known about the events that lead to brain pathology in some forms of the disease, and there is currently no treatment available — a bleak outlook for sufferers and their families. Now, scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science have discovered a new cellular pathway implicated in Gaucher disease. Their findings, published today in Nature Medicine, may offer a new therapeutic target for the management of this disease, as well as other related disorders.
Oct 12, 2015... As we age, our biological clocks tend to wind down – but why? A Weizmann Institute of Science research team has now revealed an intriguing new link between a group of metabolites whose levels drop as our cells age and the functioning of our circadian clocks – mechanisms encoded in our genes that keep time to cycles of day and night. Their results, which appeared in Cell Metabolism, suggest that the substance, which is found in many foods, could help keep our internal timekeepers up to speed.
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