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 14, 2012... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—September 14, 2012—Cancer chemotherapy can be a life-saver, but it is fraught with severe side effects, among them an increased risk of infection. Until now, the major criterion for assessing this risk has been the blood cell count: if the number of white blood cells falls below a critical threshold, the risk of infection is thought to be high. A new model built by Weizmann Institute of Science mathematicians, in collaboration with physicians from the Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba, Israel, and the Hoffmann-La Roche research center in Basel, Switzerland, suggests that for proper risk assessment, it is essential to evaluate not only the quantity of these blood cells, but also their quality, which varies from one person to another.
Feb 03, 2017...
Renowned Israeli cryptographer Adi Shamir. (YouTube screen capture)
An Israeli computer scientist was among three winners of the 2017 Japan Prize, an award honoring achievement in science and technology, for his work in the field of cryptography.
Adi Shamir, a professor at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, was recognized for his “[c]ontribution to information security through pioneering research on cryptography,” according to the prize’s website. The Japan Prize Foundation announced the awards Thursday.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/video-gallery/rsa-conference-the-cryptographers-panel-2018/
Apr 18, 2018... The Weizmann Institute’s Prof. Adi Shamir, along with Ron Rivest (the S and R in “RSA”) and an international panel of cryptographers, discuss the state of cryptography today.
Nov 19, 2015...
The research was featured on the cover of the journal Cell
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—November 19, 2015—Which is more likely to raise blood sugar levels: sushi or ice cream? According to a Weizmann Institute of Science study reported in the November 19 issue of the journal Cell, the answer varies from one person to another. The study, which continuously monitored blood sugar levels in 800 people for a week, revealed that the bodily response to all foods was highly individual.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/cancer-at-a-breaking-point/
Dec 16, 2012...
Drs. Yotam Drier (left) and Gad Getz at the Broad Institute
Like police detectives using DNA fingerprinting in their effort to eradicate crime, cancer researchers are building a DNA profile of malignancy in an attempt to eradicate cancer. One of their greatest challenges is that they are not dealing with a single criminal: There are at least 200 forms of cancer, and many more subtypes. The goal is to “fingerprint” each one of these subtypes so that, ultimately, people with cancer can be treated with genetically matched personalized therapies.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/ants-in-the-lead/
Jul 30, 2015...
Longhorn crazy ants cooperating to transfer an item much too heavy for one to move alone. Image: Drs. Ehud Fonio and Ofer Feinerman
Anyone who has ever watched a group of ants scurrying to carry a large crumb back to their nest has probably wondered how these tiny creatures manage the task. New research at the Weizmann Institute of Science, which appeared recently in Nature Communications, explains how a balance of individual direction and conformist behavior enables ants to work together to move their food in the desired direction.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/study-shows-how-cell-types-communicate/
Feb 13, 2018...
Irene Kim
A new study based on a cross-continent collaboration between researchers at Yale and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel demonstrates how different cell types communicate with each other.
Researchers at the two institutions have shown that two different cell types common to most human tissues — macrophages and fibroblasts — “talk” to each other through small signaling molecules known as growth factors. Although scientists have conducted decades of research on signaling within one cell type, not much was previously known about communication between different cell types. The study was published in the journal Cell on Feb. 8.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/safer-chemo-thanks-to-israeli-math/
Oct 10, 2012...
Not all white blood cells are created equal. Image via www.shutterstock.com
Waning white blood-cell counts in chemotherapy patients are commonly taken as a warning of an increased risk of infection.
Now, a new Israeli study suggests that it is critical to evaluate not only the quantity of these “neutrophil” blood cells essential to immunity against infection, but also their quality, which varies from one patient to another.
Mar 02, 2016...
Rock Stars of Cryptography. Courtesy RSA Conference
During a panel at the RSA cybersecurity conference yesterday in San Francisco, Adi Shamir, a cryptographer at the Weizmann Institute of Science and co-inventor of the RSA public-key cryptographic standard that became a widely used method to send encrypted messages, sided with the FBI in the ongoing fight about whether Apple must unlock the iPhone of Syed Rizwan Farook, a shooter in the December 2015 San Bernardino attack. His comments sparked a polite but pointed debate about privacy versus security among some of the most distinguished figures in cryptography, including Ron Rivest, who collaborated with Shamir on the groundbreaking RSA work. Also taking part were Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman, who minutes earlier had been named recipients of the $1 million Turing Award for 1976 cryptography work that helped pave the way for secure Internet communication, and Moxie Marlinspike, who founded the company that developed the popular open-source encryption tool Signal.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/zero-knowledge-keeps-your-secrets-safe/
Jun 06, 2010...
If you feel secure keying your credit card information onto a website, thank Prof. Shafrira Goldwasser.
At the end of April, this Israeli professor traveled to Philadelphia's Franklin Institute to accept the 2010 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science for her fundamental contributions to cryptography theory, the basis of techniques for encoding anything from secret messages to financial information on the Internet.
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