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/news-releases/science-tips-november-2013/
Nov 25, 2013... Chromosomes — the 46 tightly wrapped packages of genetic material in our cells — are iconically depicted as X-shaped formations. However, those neat X’s only appear when a cell is about to divide and the entire contents of its genome duplicated. Until now, researchers have not been able to get a good picture of the way that our DNA — some two meters of strands, all told — is neatly bundled into the nucleus while enabling day-to-day (non-dividing) gene activity. A combination of new techniques for sequencing DNA in individual chromosomes and analyzing data from thousands of measurements has given us a new picture of the three-dimensional (3D) structures of chromosomes. This method, reported recently in Nature, is the result of an international collaboration that promises to help researchers understand the basic processes by which gene expression is regulated and genome stability is maintained.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/lighting-up-the-mechanisms-of-brain-disease/
Mar 28, 2017...
It was late 2005, and Dr. Ofer Yizhar was busily conducting neurobiology research at Tel Aviv University for his doctorate, unaware that his life plans were about to change, when a fellow doctoral student burst into the lab, a scientific paper in hand.
“You won’t believe what they did in this paper,” he told Dr. Yizhar, who was surprised to read that scientists were able to genetically modify a neuron – a brain cell – to make it sensitive to light.
Mar 30, 2014...
Prof. Edna Mozes. Photo: WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE
There are a number of potentially devastating disorders much more common to one gender than the other. Males are much more likely to develop autism, while females are nine times more likely than men to contract systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and are also at higher risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune disorders. Both autism and SLE have a definite genetic component, but there are other factors that contribute even more to the appearance of these diseases.
Sep 17, 2018... September is both Prostate Cancer Awareness Month and Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month in the U.S., where prostate cancer is the most common cancer (after skin cancer) in men: about 1 in 7 will be diagnosed during his lifetime. However, as the American Cancer Society points out, prostate cancer is now quite treatable, and “most men diagnosed with prostate cancer do not die from it.” But there is still progress to be made: for example, current treatments can have undesirable side effects, such as erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/science-tips-march-2013/
Mar 18, 2013... For years, scientists around the world have dreamed of building a complete, functional, artificial cell. Though this vision is still a distant blur on the horizon, many are making progress on various fronts. Prof. Roy Bar-Ziv and his research team in the Weizmann Institute’s Materials and Interfaces Department recently took a significant step in this direction when they created a two-dimensional, cell-like system on a glass chip. This system, composed of some of the basic biological molecules found in cells — DNA, RNA, proteins — carried out one of the central functions of a living cell: gene expression, the process by which the information stored in the genes is translated into proteins. More than that, it enabled the scientists, led by research student Yael Heyman, to obtain “snapshots” of this process in nanoscale resolution.
Jul 13, 2013...
Kertesz. 'Israel has an abundance of talent and motivation, but not of biotech investments. [Biotech] requires tens of millions of dollars and years of development, which aren’t always fruitful.' Photo by Eyal Toueg
A small American start-up managed to streamline complex DNA-sequencing techniques. Its co-founder, Mickey Kertesz, thinks the greatest breakthrough may come in the field of cancer treatment.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/to-stay-young-kill-zombie-cells/
Oct 25, 2017...
Image via Shutterstock
Jan van Deursen was baffled by the decrepit-looking transgenic mice he created in 2000. Instead of developing tumours as expected, the mice experienced a stranger malady. By the time they were three months old, their fur had grown thin and their eyes were glazed with cataracts. It took him years to work out why: the mice were ageing rapidly, their bodies clogged with a strange type of cell that did not divide, but that wouldn’t die.
Dec 24, 2014...
An "embryoid" at the start of the appearance of Sox17 positive cells (green cells), which depict the birth of the human germ cell lineage. (Walfred Tang / University of Cambridge)
Scientists say they have discovered a key factor in the lab formation of human primordial germ cells – the precursors to egg and sperm – and that it differs significantly from experiments involving rodent cells.
In a paper published Wednesday in the journal Cell, researchers at the University of Cambridge in England and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel said their discovery raises questions about how much mouse experiments can tell us about early human cell development.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/bacterial-immune-systems-take-the-stage/
Jan 25, 2018...
Bacteria like these have numerous defenses against the phages (dots) that infect them
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—January 25, 2018— Until a decade ago, scientists were not aware that bacteria had complex immune systems – ones that could keep up with the pace of evolution in viruses called phages that infect bacteria. That changed with the discovery of what is now the most famous bacterial immune mechanism: CRISPR. Scientists realized that CRISPR is a natural gene editor, and it has revolutionized the world of biological research in thousands of labs around the world. Researchers now understand that most microorganisms have sophisticated immune systems, of which CRISPR is just one element, but there has been no good way to identify these systems.
Oct 11, 2011...
“What I find most amazing about plants is that they’re a great source for thousands and thousands of chemicals,” says Dr. Asaph Aharoni of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Department of Plant Sciences. “A single plant can produce 10,000 to 20,000 metabolites, or active compounds, which we can use for nutrition and in products like drugs and cosmetics.”
Dr. Aharoni studies how plants regulate the production of metabolites during development and under conditions of stress, such as insect attack or exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. His goal is to identify novel genes that are associated with, for example, better nutritional quality and enhanced resistance to insect pests. In the future, his findings could help scientists develop better crops. “We’re interested in how we can help address a major challenge: improving the nutritional quality of plants and solving problems of malnutrition around the world,” he says.
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