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.
Sep 12, 2018...
T cells (red) attacking melanoma cells (green). The neo-antigen-specific T cells in this image are especially effective at killing cancer cells
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—September 12, 2018—With new immunotherapy treatments for melanoma, recovery rates have risen dramatically – in some cases to around 50%. But they could be much higher. A new study led by researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science showed, in lab dishes and animal studies, that a highly personalized approach could help the immune cells improve their ability to recognize the cancer and kill it. The results of this study were published in Cancer Discovery.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/two-steps-ahead-of-the-coronavirus/
Mar 22, 2020... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—March 22, 2020—A method for monitoring, identifying, and predicting where the coronavirus will spread has attracted considerable international interest. It was initiated and developed by scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science, in collaboration with researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Clalit Health Services and in coordination with Israel’s Ministry of Health. Other governments have now begun to implement the method, which is based on questionnaires for the general public and analysis of the data obtained from them. The questionnaires track the development of virus-induced symptoms, and the analysis relies on Big Data algorithms and artificial intelligence. Viral spread occurs in clusters of infection; thus, early identification of clusters may facilitate various actions aimed at slowing down the spread of the virus.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/the-importins-of-anxiety/
Dec 11, 2018...
In genetically engineered mice lacking the protein importin alpha-5 (right), a molecule called MeCP2 (red), known to affect anxiety behaviors, stayed on the outside of the nuclei (blue) of brain neurons, instead of getting inside the nuclei as it does in regular mice (left). Images were obtained with a confocal microscope and displayed using computational reconstruction.
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—December 11, 2018—According to some estimates, up to one in three people around the world may experience severe anxiety in their lifetime. In a study published in Cell Reports, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science have revealed a previously unknown mechanism underlying anxiety. Targeting this biochemical pathway may help develop new therapies to alleviate the symptoms of anxiety disorders.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/lego-proteins-revealed/
Aug 20, 2017...
Yeast cells producing a bacterial symmetric protein complex with eight units. When it is not mutated (left), the complex diffuses freely inside the cell, but a single mutation (right) triggers its assembly into long filaments
The proteins in our bodies are social molecules. But now and again, new ties between proteins can get you into trouble. For example, when hemoglobin – the protein complex that carries oxygen in our blood – undergoes just one mutation, the complexes stick to one another, stacking like Lego blocks to form long, stiff filaments. These filaments, in turn, elongate the red blood cells found in sickle-cell disease. For over 50 years, this has been the only known textbook example in which a mutation causes these filaments to form. According to Dr. Emmanuel Levy and his group in the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Structural Biology Department, Lego-like assemblies should have formed relatively frequently during evolution, and so they asked: How easy is it to get proteins to stack into filaments? Their answer, which was recently published in Nature, may have implications for both biological research and nanoscience.
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.
Jan 22, 2020...
Israeli scientists have discovered the effect of a gene in causing epilepsy and autism, which may lead to new therapies, the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) reported Thursday.
In a study published in the journal Nature Communications, the WIS researchers examined a non-coding gene, which is not translated into protein but replicated into control molecules.
The researchers found that by releasing the grip of this gene from another gene that produces proteins, the genetic defect responsible for these diseases can be corrected.
Jan 13, 2020...
A group of scientists led by a team from the Weizmann Institute of Science has devised a decoy molecule that could lead to the treatment of viruses that cross over from animals to humans.
A host of disease-causing viruses, which are called arenaviruses, “lurk in animal populations in various parts of the world, sometimes crossing over into humans,” the Rehovot-based Weizmann Institute said in a statement. “When they do cross over, they can be lethal, and only very few treatments exist.”
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.
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.
Oct 07, 2009...
October 7, 2009—The American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science congratulates Prof. Ada Yonath on receiving the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and is proud of her scientific achievements. We are delighted that the Nobel Committee for Chemistry has recognized the significance of Prof. Yonath's scientific research and awarded her this important prize.
Prof. Yonath's research is driven by curiosity and ambition to better understand the world and our place within it. This research aims high: to understand one of the most complicated "machines" of the biological system.
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