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.
Dec 16, 2020... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—December 16, 2020—Cancers like melanoma are hard to treat, not least because they have a varied bag of tricks for defeating or evading treatments. Now, a combined research effort by the Weizmann Institute of Science, the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, and the University of Oslo shows exactly how tumors, in their fight to survive, will go so far as to starve themselves in order to keep the immune cells that would eradicate them from functioning. The work was published in Nature.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/video-gallery/bacteria-in-tumors-improving-cancer-treatment/
Dec 17, 2020... This virtual conversation, hosted by the American Committee, features Weizmann’s Dr. Ravid Straussman, the NIH’s Dr. Daniel Douek (Chief of the Human Immunology Section of the Vaccine Research Center), and is moderated by Dr. Alan Leishner, former CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which publishes the prestigious journal Science.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/bacteria-may-aid-anti-cancer-immune-response/
Mar 17, 2021... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—March 17, 2021—Cancer immunotherapy may get a boost from an unexpected direction: bacteria residing within tumor cells. In a new study published in Nature, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science and their collaborators have discovered that the immune system “sees” these bacteria and shown that they can be harnessed to provoke an immune reaction against the tumor. The study may also help clarify the connection between immunotherapy and the gut microbiome, explaining the findings of previous research showing that the microbiome affects the success of immunotherapy.
Mar 17, 2021...
Cancer cells present bacterial peptides on the outside of their walls, marking them as a foreign element to the body’s immune system, Weizmann Institute scientists report in a new article published in Nature.
This is crucial as while immunotherapy has been able to help melanoma cancer patients in roughly 40% of cases, the new findings could pave the road to more effective treatments and many lives saved in the future.
May 14, 2021... This summer, after more than a year of pandemic shutdowns, we are more excited than ever to get outside. But we can’t let down our guard when it comes to sun exposure, which is the primary cause of the most common cancer in the world: skin cancer. In fact, the Skin Cancer Foundation says that over 85% of melanomas are linked to UV radiation, and having more than five sunburns doubles your risk of developing this deadliest form of skin cancer.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/making-cancer-immunotherapy-more-accessible/
Oct 15, 2021... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—October 15, 2021—Immunotherapy has sparked new hope for people with cancer, but for it to work, the patient’s immune system must be able to “see” the tumor. There are ways of enhancing this recognition in individual cases, yet such solutions are, by definition, personalized, which greatly limits their use. Prof. Yardena Samuels and her PhD student Dr. Aviyah Peri of the Weizmann Institute of Science, together with their colleagues, have now developed a method for identifying cancer “hotspots,” features that are common to many tumors and can therefore be used to develop effective immunotherapy for entire groups of patients. The researchers have already used the method to identify a hotspot characteristic of a particularly aggressive form of melanoma in one major subset of patients. The study is being published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Oct 18, 2021...
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time that is typically packed with runs, walks, and other events. While this year is different due to the coronavirus, stepping up to support and advance the science is as important as ever.
Breast cancer research is actively underway at the Weizmann Institute of Science, with researchers applying their formidable skills to improve understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of this still-too-common disease. Working in collaboration with oncologists and other medical professionals around the world, Institute scientists are continually making groundbreaking progress, demonstrating the role that curiosity-driven, interdisciplinary science plays in the battle against breast cancer. Just a few of the innovative projects taking place right now include:
Sep 23, 2021...
Although only around five out of every 100,000 people suffer from blood cancer, the disease is among the most serious and deadly.
An estimated 68,000 people die from blood cancer each year in the United States alone, according to the Leukemia Research Foundation. The statistics in Israel are unknown.
But new and innovative treatments are being explored, according to Dr. Martin Ellis, Chairman of the Israel Society of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/spotting-hotspots-for-cancer-immunotherapy/
Nov 18, 2021...
Immunotherapy has a great deal of potential for cancer patients, but for it to work, the immune system must be able to spot the tumor. Fortunately, new research by Weizmann’s own Prof. Yardena Samuels and her team is helping to do just that, and it could lead to off-the-shelf therapies being developed for entire groups of patients.
Prof. Samuels, her PhD student Dr. Aviyah Peri and their colleagues have now developed a method for identifying cancer “hotspots,” which are features that are common to many tumors and can therefore be used to develop effective immunotherapy for entire groups of patients. The researchers have already used the method to identify a hotspot characteristic of a particularly aggressive form of melanoma in one major subset of patients.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/antibodies-fight-cancer-too/
Mar 23, 2022...
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—March 23, 2022—Immunotherapies for cancer rely on recruiting the patient’s immune system, but they still fall far short of tapping into the entire arsenal of the body’s natural defenses. In fact, most such therapies draw on one type of immune defense: the ability of T cells to battle the tumor.
A new study at the Weizmann Institute of Science, published in Cell, paves the way toward an immunotherapy that will exploit a different, previously unused immune system weapon: naturally produced antibodies.
©2023 American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science
