Improving Health and Medicine

February 27, 2024

Toward a Treatment for Huntington’s Disease

Weizmann Institute of Science scientists have discovered two small molecules that can cross the blood-brain barrier in mice, slowing and even reversing the effects of Huntington’s, which is incurable. The...

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February 16, 2024

Proteins without Parents

Using three AI protein prediction tools, a Chinese-Israeli study at the Weizmann Institute of Science uncovered new wrinkles in the folding story of ‘orphan’ proteins. When Weizmann Professors Joel Sussman...

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January 23, 2024

Standing United: When Immune Cells Join Forces, Cancer Therapy Is More Effective

A new kind of immunotherapy, based on crosstalk between different immune cells, could pave the way for innovative treatments of cancer and autoimmune diseases Winning on the battlefield takes a...

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December 22, 2023

Tears without Fears: Sniffing Women’s Tears Reduces Aggression in Men

New research from the Weizmann Institute of Science shows that exposure to tears activates human smell receptors and alters aggression-related circuits in the brain. All land mammals have tear glands...

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December 18, 2023

Why People with Diabetes Are More Prone to Respiratory Risk

A new study from the Weizmann Institute of Science reveals how high blood sugar makes lung infections worse and the findings may lead to a strategy for reversing this susceptibility....

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December 14, 2023

Unlocking a Secret Nerve Cell Regenerator

New research from the Weizmann Institute of Science reveals that a protein facilitating nerve cell repair in the peripheral nervous system might one day point to treatments for neurodegenerative diseases....

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December 4, 2023

Traces of Trauma in the Young Brain – and How to Erase Them

Weizmann Institute of Science researchers have revealed in mice how exposure to trauma in infancy alters the brain; they show that early treatment to reverse these changes is vital for...

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December 4, 2023

Newly Discovered Autoimmune Disorder Disrupts Tooth Enamel Development

A new study lead by the Weizmann Institute of Science shows that celiac disease in children might be associated with sensitivity to a protein abundant in dairy products. The new...

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November 12, 2023

An open-access format for drug discovery is helping design medications against potential viral threats

An international crowd-sourced campaign to discover an anti-COVID-19 drug has created a blueprint for the accelerated, patent-free development of drugs to treat viral threats to humanity. The results of the...

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September 7, 2023

Synthetic human embryo models up to 14 days old grown from stem cells in Weizmann Lab

A research team headed by Professor Jacob Hanna at the Weizmann Institute of Science has created complete models of human embryos from stem cells cultured in the lab – and...

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August 3, 2023

Vive la Différence: Brain Cells of Males and Females Respond Differently to Chronic Stress

A new study in mice could pave the way to personalised therapy for depression, anxiety and other stress-related disorders known to produce different effects on men and women. Scientific excellence...

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June 14, 2023

​How B-Cell Eaters Clean Their Plates

Mysterious macrophages, found to rapidly digest dying B cells, may hold clues to future treatments of autoimmune disorders new Weizmann research shows. Parents tell their children to eat all the...

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May 2, 2023

Plant Research Reaches a New High

A South African plant called a woolly umbrella is completely unrelated to the cannabis plant, yet it makes a slew of the active compounds found in cannabis – cannabinoids –...

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April 28, 2023

Decades-Old Mystery of Red Blood Cell Production Finally Solved

To get life-giving oxygen into every cell, the human body produces two to three million oxygen-carrying red blood cells, or erythrocytes, each second – about one-quarter of all the new...

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November 20, 2022

Down to the Synapse: Connecting Brain Circuits to Behaviour

When a threat is looming and an escape route is open, one would expect any animal to flee imminent danger. But when microscopic worms faced a threatening signal in a...

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November 18, 2022

Weizmann Institute scientists reveal how viruses outwit cellular immune systems

We are used to thinking of the immune system as a separate entity, almost a distinct organ, but the truth is much more complicated. Breakthroughs in recent years – some...

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August 26, 2022

Neurons Caught Rapidly Switching Gears

Even during routine tasks such as a daily stroll, our brain needs to shift gears, switching from navigating the city to jumping out of the way of a bike or...

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August 20, 2022

Sweetness That Comes at a Price: Sugar Substitutes May Affect the Human Body in Unanticipated Ways

Non-nutritive sweeteners – also known as sugar substitutes or artificial sweeteners – are supposed to deliver all the sweetness of sugar without the calories. But a controlled trial conducted by...

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August 5, 2022

The Viruses That Fight Disease: A Surprising Precision Weapon against Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis

The myriads of microbes in our gut, collectively termed the microbiome, are considered important to our health, but they can also harbour bacteria that contribute to inflammatory bowel disease or...

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August 3, 2022

Without Egg, Sperm or Womb: Synthetic Mouse Embryo Models Created Solely from Stem Cells, Outside the Uterus

An egg meets a sperm – that’s a necessary first step in life’s beginnings, and it’s also a common first step in embryonic development research. But in a Weizmann Institute...

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