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.
Jun 17, 2013...
How does a social animal — mouse or human — gain dominance over his or her fellow creatures? A unique experiment conducted by Dr. Tali Kimchi and her team in the Weizmann Institute’s Department of Neurobiology provides some unusual insight into the social behavior that enables a social hierarchy, complete with a head honcho, to form.
Dr. Kimchi and her research team, Aharon Weissbrod, Genady Wasserman, and Alex Shapiro, together with Dr. Ofer Feinerman of the Department of Physics of Complex Systems, developed a system that enabled them to observe a large group of animals living together in semi-natural conditions. This setup was a sort of mouse version of the television show Big Brother. Different strains of mice were placed in the “house” — a four-meter-square pen — and allowed to go about their lives with no intervention from the human team. To automatically track the mice day and night, each mouse was implanted with an ID chip similar to those used in pet cats and dogs, and video cameras were placed strategically around the area, with infrared lighting that enabled nighttime filming. With the combined chip reporting and continuous video footage, the system could automatically keep tabs on each individual mouse, knowing its precise location down to the half centimeter, in measurements that were recorded 30 times a second for days — and sometimes even months — on end.
May 12, 2010...
Neuroscientists have found that the mirror neuron system, which is thought to play a central role in social communications, responds normally in individuals with autism. Their findings counter theories suggesting that a mirror system dysfunction causes the social difficulties exhibited by individuals with autism. Photo © iStockphoto/ktaylorg.
A team of neuroscientists has found that the mirror neuron system, which is thought to play a central role in social communications, responds normally in individuals with autism. Their findings, reported in the journal Neuron, counter theories suggesting that a mirror system dysfunction causes the social difficulties exhibited by individuals with autism.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/science-on-the-brain/
Aug 01, 2006...
The American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science (ACWIS) and New York University (NYU) recently held a Day of Science on the topic of “Unveiling the Secrets of the Brain: Collaborations in Neuroscience.”
While the topic of neuroscience could be perceived as daunting, the half-day seminar, which featured four prominent scientists, attracted about 150 people to the Helen & Martin Kimmel Center for University Life at NYU. This large turnout is perhaps because, as Prof. Ilan Chet, President of the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS), Israel, indicated in his welcoming remarks, brain research is one of the areas of science that attracts the most interest from the public. We all want to know who we are, and what makes us “us,” both as a species and as individuals.
Mar 09, 2020...
JERUSALEM, Feb. 24 (Xinhua)— Israeli scientists found that short-term acute inflammation in the mother's body during pregnancy can cause autism to the embryo, said Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) in central Israel on Monday.
Signs of autism usually appear around two or three years old, but it is considered a neurodevelopmental disease, which suggests that changes could already be “brewing” in the embryonic brain.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/shining-new-light-on-the-mysteries-of-the-brain/
Jul 20, 2015...
On Thurs. July 16, the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science held a conference called “Shining New Light on the Mysteries of the Brain” with Ofer Yizhar, a neurobiology researcher at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.
Yizhar completed his undergraduate degree at Tel Aviv University and then his graduate degree in neurobiology at Stanford University, where he completed research until 2011.
Jun 19, 2013...
What does it take to be a leader? It turns out you have to be somewhat social. At least that's one possible takeaway from a mouse study conducted by neurobiology researchers in Israel's Weizmann Institute.
The researchers monitored the social behavior of mice by filming them "Big Brother" style. What they discovered about the development of social hierarchies may shed light on human as well as mouse behavior.
https://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.
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.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/science-tips-january-2015/
Jan 21, 2015...
Japanese and Israeli scientists at the Advances in Brain Sciences conference
Following the visit of Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, to Israel early in the week of January 18th, the end of the week held a visit by a group of leading Japanese scientists to Rehovot, Israel. The Advances in Brain Sciences conference the scientists attended was jointly hosted by the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot and the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan. The parallels were more than incidental: Abe and Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, discussed furthering business, research, and development contacts between the countries; Weizmann and RIKEN researchers are already working to advance scientific collaboration between the two institutes and the two countries.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/sensing-autism-advances-in-research/
Apr 22, 2019...
There is a reason that a puzzle piece is the symbol of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Despite all the research, despite the advances, ASD continues to be an enigma. What causes it? Can it be diagnosed earlier? What are the differences between an autistic and a neurotypical brain?
One field of research – the role of the sense of smell – is producing surprising results that could lead to means of early diagnosis and intervention, as well as shed light on the misreading of social cues that is so common in autism.
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