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.
Nov 30, 2021... Like every Israeli, Alon Chen had to do three years of military service, and was posted with the paratroopers to the middle of the war in Lebanon. “I lost a friend. When you go and you treat the person that is injured and is dying, and you cannot help him, it leaves its mark,” he recalls. From then on, he knew he wanted to dedicate the rest of his life to understanding what happens to a brain that suffers a traumatic experience.
May 31, 2022... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—May 31, 2022—Ketamine, a well-known anesthetic used in smaller doses as a party drug, was hailed as a “new hope for depression” in a Time magazine cover story in 2017. Two years later, the arrival of the first ketamine-based antidepressant – the nasal spray esketamine, made by Johnson & Johnson – was applauded as the most exciting development in the treatment of mood disorders in decades. Yet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration still limits the spray’s use. It is mainly given to depressed patients who have not been helped by other therapies – in part, because the new drug’s mechanism of action is insufficiently understood, leading to concerns over its safety.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/new-hope-for-depression/
Jul 15, 2022...
According to the World Health Organization, depression afflicts nearly 300 million people worldwide. Yet despite decades of research, there are very few new treatments, and we still have so much to learn about how depression itself works.
A new study published in Neuron – conducted at the Weizmann Institute of Science and at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, Germany, in collaboration with the Helmholtz Zentrum, Munich – might lead to a better understanding of depression itself and increase the treatment options. These developments could help address two challenges that many people, and especially underrepresented groups, face when it comes to depression: stigma and lack of options for care. In honor of National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, we want to acknowledge those unique challenges and share Weizmann research that provides new hope for depression.
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