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.
https://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.
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.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/nanostructures-made-in-solar-furnace-using-sunlight/
Nov 29, 2015...
Prof. Reshef Tenne
A report on a fundamentally new and unprecedented molecular closed-cage nanostructure, produced by immensely concentrated sunlight was published recently by a team combining researchers in Beersheba, Rehovot and Russia. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Profs. Jeffrey Gordon and Daniel Feuermann, Prof. Reshef Tenne’s group at the Weizmann Institute of Science, and Dr. Andrey Enyashin at the Ural Federal University explained their work in a recent issue of one of the foremost journals in nanotechnology, ACS Nano.
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.
Dec 19, 2017... The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, today announced the installation of the Biospec® 15.2 Tesla USR™ preclinical ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) instrument from Bruker. The new instrument is installed in the Daniel Wolf building of the Department of Chemical Research, and is used by the MRI Biosensors laboratory, led by Dr. Bar-Shir, and the laboratory of Professor Neeman, to open new frontiers in molecular and microscopic imaging, adding to the team’s existing world-class MRI instruments.
Sep 04, 2015...
Dr Rafal Klajn of the Weizmann Institute’s Department of Organic Chemistry has developed a method for coaxing nanoparticles to self-assemble by focusing on the medium in which the particles are suspended.
The existing method of self-assembly requires nanoparticles to be coated with light-sensitive molecules; these then switch the particles’ state when light is shined on them.
However the new research indicates uncoated nanoparticles placed into a light-sensitive medium would be simpler, as the resulting system is more efficient and durable than existing methods. Possible applications range from rewritable paper (paper that does not use ink but instead uses dyes that respond to ultraviolet light), water decontamination, and the controlled delivery of drugs.
Feb 24, 2020...
If you’re Jewish and observe kosher dietary restrictions, you likely have never looked into a shrimp’s eye.
However, if you have, you might have noticed that it gleams in low light. That is because the shrimp has a reflector underlying its retina (a “tapetum”) made up of tightly packed nanoparticles that allow the eye to collect more light underwater.
This was discovered by scientists from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, central Israel.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/scientific-method/
Dec 01, 2007... This article can be viewed by downloading the PDF.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/the-self-synthesizing-ribosome/
Apr 20, 2020... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—April 20, 2020—As the cell’s protein factory, the ribosome is the only natural machine that manufactures its own parts. That’s why understanding how the machine itself is made could unlock the door to everything from understanding how life develops to designing new methods of drug production. An intensive research effort at the Weizmann Institute of Science has now demonstrated the self-synthesis and assembly of the small subunit of a ribosome – 30S – on a surface of a chip. The findings were published in Science Advances.