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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Curbing Candida: The Cells That Keep Fungal Infections at Bay
Of all the fungi that live in the human body, the most infamous is probably the yeast Candida. This distant cousin of baker’s yeast is notorious for causing various types...
Scent of a Friend: Similarities in Body Odour May Contribute to Social Bonding
Weizmann Institute of Science researchers have found that people may have a tendency to form friendships with individuals who have a similar body odour. The researchers were even able to...
Changing the Channel: Study Sheds New Light on a Promising Antidepressant
Ketamine, a well-known anaesthetic 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...
Settled at Birth: Blood Vessels Remember Their Origins
Our family origins tend to shape our future in many ways. A Weizmann Institute of Science study, published in Nature, found that the same holds true for blood vessels. The...
Getting Under the Skin of an Autoimmune Disorder
Supporting actors sometimes steal the show, and in a new study published this week in Cell, researchers, headed by Professor Ido Amit at the Weizmann Institute of Science, showed that...
Mutations in Noncoding DNA Protect the Brain from ALS
Genetic mutations linked to a disease often spell bad news. Mutations in over 25 genes, for example, are associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and they all increase the risk...
Tracking Multiple Genes with Flying Colours
Even fans of black-and-white film cannot deny that colour brought new life to photography and motion pictures – but when it comes to learning what happens inside the body, there’s...
A Noninvasive Test for Gut Inflammation
Today, people suspected of having inflammatory bowel disease are often required to undergo a colonoscopy, an invasive procedure performed under anaesthesia. A new method developed at the Weizmann Institute of...
Muscle Repair Study Could Lead to Better Cultivated Meat
One day the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Professor Eldad Tzahor peered into his lab’s microscope and saw steak. As part of Tzahor’s research into repairing muscle tissue, Dr Tamar Eigler,...
Going Out with a Bang
In the not-so-distant past, the discovery of a supernova – an exploding star – was considered a rare occasion. For example, when Professor Avishay Gal-Yam of the Weizmann Institute’s Particle...
Gut Microbes May Drive Weight Gain after Smoking Cessation
Cigarette smoking, practiced by over a billion people worldwide, is considered a leading cause of disease, accounting for over six million deaths each year. Many people don’t quit smoking, despite...
Insulin-Making Cells Discovered in Foetal Gut
An exclusive ‘licence’ for making insulin in the human body belongs to the beta cells scattered throughout the pancreas. But because beta cells can become scarce or dysfunctional in people...
Bacteria and Plants Fight Alike
A brown blotch on a plant leaf may be a sign that the plant’s defences are hard at work: When a plant is infected by a virus, fungus or bacterium,...
The Weizmann Institute Of Science Receives $50 Million (USD) From The Azrieli Foundation To Help Humanity Unlock The Mysteries Of The Brain
The Weizmann Institute of Science recently announced a lead philanthropic donation of $US50 million from the Azrieli Foundation, to enable catalytic brain research with the establishment of The Azrieli Institute...