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.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/science-tips-may-2009/
May 05, 2009...
One can have a dream, two can make that dream so real, goes a popular song. Now a Weizmann Institute study has revealed that it takes two to perform an essential form of DNA repair.
Prof. Zvi Livneh of the Weizmann Institute’s Biological Chemistry Department has been studying DNA repair for some two decades: “Considering that the DNA of each cell is damaged about 20,000 times a day by radiation, pollutants, and harmful chemicals produced within the body, it’s obvious that without effective DNA repair, life as we know it could not exist. Most types of damage result in individual mutations – genetic ‘spelling mistakes’ – that are corrected by precise, error-free repair enzymes. Sometimes, however, damage results in more than a mere spelling mistake; it can cause gaps in the DNA, which prevent the DNA molecule from being copied when the cell divides, much like an ink blot or a hole on a book page interferes with reading. So dangerous are these gaps that the cell resorts to a sloppy but efficient repair technique to avoid them: it fills in the missing DNA in an inaccurate fashion. Such repair can save the cell from dying, but it comes at a price: this error-prone mechanism, discovered at the Weizmann Institute and elsewhere about a decade ago, is a major source of mutations.”
Jan 22, 2020...
Israeli researchers discovered the unique structure and mechanism of shrimp’s eyes, which allow it to see in the dark seabed, said the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) in central Israel on Monday.
The scientists, from the WIS and Ben-Gurion University in southern Israel, said they hope their findings will lead to the creation of new optical coatings and specialized paints in ultra-thin layers.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/science-tips-july-2007/
Jul 26, 2007...
A New Technique May Speed the Development of Molecular Electronics
Often, things can be improved by a little “contamination.” Steel, for example, is iron with a bit of carbon mixed in. To produce materials for modern electronics, small amounts of impurities are introduced into silicon—a process called doping. It is these impurities that enable electricity to flow through the semiconductor and allow designers to control the electronic properties of the material.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/science-tips-march-2015/
Mar 02, 2015...
Manot Cave cranium
A partial human skull unearthed in 2008 in northern Israel may hold some clues as to when and where humans and Neanderthals might have interbred. The key to addressing this, as well as other important issues, is precisely determining the age of the skull. A combination of dating methods, one of them performed by Dr. Elisabetta Boaretto, head of the Weizmann Institute’s D-REAMS (DANGOOR Research Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) laboratory, has made it possible to define the period of time that the cave was occupied and, thus, the skull’s age. The combined dating provides evidence that Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis could have lived side by side in the area.
Mar 11, 2019...
JERUSALEM, March 11 (Xinhua) – Israeli researchers have revealed the multilayered structure of the exoskeleton that covers the scorpions' pincers, which can lead to the creation of new synthetic materials, the Weizmann Institute of Science located in the center of the state published on Monday.
The researchers examined the sophisticated arrangements that have evolved to create these pincers, on the nanometer scale up to the level of millimeters.
Apr 12, 2019...
On April 2, Patricia Gruber presented the 13th annual Gruber Award for Scientific Excellence to the Weizmann Institute’s Dr. Sivan Refaely-Abramson. Established by Patricia and her late husband, Peter, through their Gruber Foundation, the three-year award recognizes brilliant early-career Weizmann scientists.
New Weizmann faculty members require significant support to establish their labs and launch their careers. By empowering these “bright lights,” as Patricia calls them, the Grubers understood that they were making a worthy investment in the future of science.
Oct 27, 2014... (A-D) This image shows H&E and Safranin O/Fast Green staining of sections through the fracture site during the healing process (P3–P9). Scale bar, 2 mm. (A'-D') Magnifications of the boxed areas are in the upper panel. The dashed lines separate between the concave side (on the right) and convex side. The red arrow indicates cells appearing as chondrocytes, and black arrows indicate cells appearing as hypertrophic chondrocytes. (A''-D'') As indicted by Safranin O staining (pink-to-red colors), as the healing process progresses the soft callus is increasingly composed of cartilage. Scale bar, 200 mm. Credit: Developmental Cell, Rot et al.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/science-tips-august-2014/
Aug 11, 2014... Blood stem cells have the potential to turn into any type of blood cell, whether it be the oxygen-carrying red blood cells, or the immune system’s many types of white blood cells that help fight infection. How exactly is the fate of these stem cells regulated? Preliminary findings from research conducted by scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Hebrew University are starting to reshape the conventional understanding of the way blood stem cell fate decisions are controlled, thanks to a new technique for epigenetic analysis they have developed. Understanding epigenetic mechanisms (environmental influences other than genetics) of cell fate could lead to the deciphering of the molecular mechanisms of many diseases, including immunological disorders, anemia, leukemia, and many more. It also lends strong support to findings that environmental factors and lifestyle play a more prominent role in shaping our destiny than previously realized.
Jul 20, 2017...
Manufacture of microscopic silk-protein capsules on a polymer chip; viewed with an ultra-fast Phantom camera taking 700,000 pictures per second. ©2017 Knowles Group
Scientists have managed to design microscopic silk capsules that mimic, on a very small scale, the structure of silkworm cocoons. The capsules can serve as a protective environment for the transport of sensitive “cargo” such as natural silk proteins, antibodies, or other delicate molecules. The collaborative research – which was performed by an international team of academics from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel; the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, and Sheffield in the UK; and the ETH in Switzerland – may lead to a host of applications in the cosmetics, food, and pharmaceutical industries, particularly in the delivery of drugs within the body. The findings were reported in Nature Communications.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/video-gallery/physics-on-the-edge-dr-efi-efrati/
Jul 03, 2019... Meet Dr. Efi Efrati, a member of the Department of Physics of Complex Systems. Dr. Efrati speaks about his research on “geometric frustration,” a physical state that could help us understand a host of phenomena—from the behavior of plastics to how living tissue remodels itself. His work may lead to the design of new materials, improved surgical procedures, and more. Find out why Dr. Efrati believes the Weizmann Institute is “the best place to do science in Israel … perhaps in the world.”
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