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Genetics

A farm in Scotland. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Britain eases the restrictions on creating gardens in crops and commodities

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The British government plans to ease restrictions on gene editing in order to speed up research and allow genetically modified crops and stocks to reach the market * In any case, these are changes that could have been made in other ways, but at a much greater speed
Biological clock. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Cell jam session

To what extent are the different biological clocks in our body coordinated with each other?
Night imaging of the Giant Magellan Telescope. The construction is planned to be completed towards the end of the decade. Photo: GMTO

Directing a view to the edge of the universe: the Weizmann Institute joins the partnership with the giant "Magellan" telescope in Chile

The joining will open up new possibilities for the institute's scientists in space research and will allow them to observe billions of light-years away with a resolution 10 times higher than that of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Cancer treatment. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Break the boundaries of immunotherapy

The method that may make the new generation of cancer treatments accessible to more patients
A simple mechanism could explain the growth and self-replication of protocells - the putative ancestors of modern living cells, illustration: depositphotos.com

The origin of life: the first cells divided with the help of temperature

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A simple mechanism could explain the growth and self-replication of protocells - the putative ancestors of modern living cells
Dr. Nir London, whose laboratory at the Weizmann Institute of Science is a member of the Moonshot partnership. His tweet on Twitter on March 18, 2020 started the project. Photo: Weizmann Institute spokesperson

A special grant will make it possible to promote the development of a simple and cheap pill against Corona

The international partnership for finding a cure for Corona, which was born on Twitter based on the principles of open science, is expected to reach the clinical trial stage during 2022
Simulating the collision as it could have been if the detector was more accurate (in the top image), allows the computer to be taught to analyze the collision more accurately and efficiently (in the bottom image). The red lines indicate the trajectory of the particles after the collision

A new collision course at CERN

A snapshot (based on a micro CT scan) of the integration of the engineered scaffold into the tissue two weeks after implantation. Left: top view of the engineered coronary artery, located between the two dashed white lines. In red: the laminin protein that is mainly found inside the printed part and helps in the blood vessels. In green: blood vessels (mapped based on the presence of endothelial proteins). Right: side view. Courtesy of the Technion spokesperson, Prof. Levenberg's lab

Printing a tissue rack with a branched vascular network The goal: fast and efficient transplantation in damaged organs

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The researchers of the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering at the Technion developed the tissue by printing with biological ink
The cover of the issue in which the study was published

Oh why is it mother, why, are the tears crying by themselves?

Tears do not flow by themselves - Weizmann Institute scientists reveal the surprising mechanism by which saliva, tears and digestive juices are secreted
Proliferation of cancer cells in mice without eosinophils Credit: Tel Aviv University

The white blood cells may help to damage and destroy cancerous tumors

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The researchers found that the negative destructive properties of eosinophil type white blood cells can also be used to damage and destroy cancerous tumors * The researchers discovered that eosinophils fight cancer cells in two ways: they are able to kill cancer cells directly, and also recruit T cells of the immune system that fight cancer
Right: Microscope images of a muscle cell nucleus in the fruit fly maggot. The DNA chains (in red) are attached to the nuclear envelope (in green). Left: XNUMXD visualization of the conventional spatial arrangement reminiscent of a bowl of soup rich in noodles

Nuclear secrets

Contrary to the image they got, the DNA molecules in the cell nucleus do not float in the center and do not fill most of its volume
A superhero Pegasus fights a Chimera, according to Greek mythology. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Things that Yoram knows: Is it possible to create a hybrid of a human and a monkey?

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Elior asks: Is it possible to take a woman's egg and fertilize it with another animal's sperm? (For example, a monkey or a tiger..)  
Top row: cells that produce new proteins (in green) before being infected with the corona virus (in blue - the cell nuclei); Bottom line: in cells infected with the corona (red), the production of cellular proteins is impaired

Cells in a quiescent state

This is how the corona virus disrupts the cell's antiviral warning system
Quantum computing. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Atoms with long memory for quantum computers

How can the lifetime of a qubit - the quantum memory unit - be extended?
Left: the structure of the ACE2 protein (the black outlines mark the binding site on the receptor). Right: The original binding site of the virus (top) compared to the "super-plug" (bottom). Decoding the protein structure was carried out by Dr. Nadav Elad from the Department of Chemical Research Infrastructures and Dr. Orli Diem from the Department of Life Science Research Infrastructures using a cryogenic electron microscope. Courtesy of the Weizmann Institute

put a stop to the epidemic

Through "evolution in a test tube" scientists of the Weizmann Institute of Science created a molecule that may be used as an effective cure for Corona
Illustration: Yuval Robichak, Weizmann Institute.

Hello, is this DNA?

Weizmann Institute scientists discovered that the DNA coil can be used as a communication wire to transmit messages between distant destinations
genetic editing. CRISPR/CAS9. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Corrective editing

A natural editing mechanism of RNA molecules may make it possible to cure genetic diseases
structures of different proteins. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Google's DeepMind has published an accurate picture of the human proteome

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In what has been cited as "the most significant contribution that artificial intelligence (AI) has yet made to the advancement of human scientific knowledge," DeepMind and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) have released the most complete database for predicting the three-dimensional structures of human proteins.
The hourglass of the fetus - a proposal for a hypothesis submitted by the scientists to the scientific journal Cell. "A deep understanding of embryonic development requires consideration of the time dimension." Courtesy of the Weizmann Institute

cell film

The wonderful world where the first embryonic cells are formed is now more accessible to us than ever before
A discovery by the institute's scientists may make it possible to increase the amount of stem cells in bone marrow transplants - and improve their chances of success You are here Homepage > Publications > Science news in a friendly language > New blood flows Share Tags Idit Shehartai stem cell immunology bone marrow transplant stem cell transplant The blood in our arteries is constantly renewed Thanks to a small and inexhaustible supply of stem cells in the bone marrow that ensure a continuous supply of fresh blood cells. In bone marrow transplants, these stem cells are harvested from donors and transferred to patients who need them, for example leukemia patients or other types of blood cancer. However, the amount of stem cells is not always sufficient and there is currently no way to grow these cells in the laboratory without them losing their unique properties. The scientists of the Weizmann Institute of Science recently discovered a method that may make it possible to increase the amount of stem cells for transplantation, thus improving the chances of success of bone marrow transplants. Prof. Idit Shahar from the Department of Immunology and her group members are researching a receptor called CD74 which is found on the membranes of blood cells. After in a previous study, the scientists discovered that this receptor improves the survival ability of type B white blood cells - they wanted to check if the receptor is also used in a similar way in the stem cells in the bone marrow. To their surprise, it turned out that in the stem cells its action is completely opposite: it initiates a chain of biochemical reactions leading to the death of the cells. From the right: Hadas Levinsky, Dr. Shirley Becker-Herman, Prof. Idit Shahar and Keren David. Down to their bone marrow This fact was revealed after, in one of the experiments, larger than normal amounts of stem cells were found in the bone marrow of genetically modified mice without the CD74 receptor. In other words, disabling the receptor prevented the cells from dying and allowed them to survive for a long time and accumulate. How is it possible that the same receptor performs completely different actions in two types of cells? The reason for this probably lies in the conditions, for example the oxygen levels, or the different environments in which the cells operate - the blood circulation in the case of B cells and the bone marrow in the case of the stem cells. Later, the scientists implanted in bone marrow-deficient mice doses that included identical amounts of normal stem cells and stem cells without CD74. They were amazed to discover that the cells without the receptor were absorbed better, multiplied quickly and in a short time filled the entire bone marrow. In the next step, the scientists conducted a "competition" between the two types of cells - they performed a series of experiments in which they gradually increased the amount of normal stem cells at the expense of the engineered cells. The results were unequivocal: even when the cells without the receptor constituted only one tenth of the total number of cells in the transplanted portion, they were still absorbed better, divided rapidly and were the ones that eventually filled most of the bone marrow. In additional experiments, in mice that underwent chemotherapy treatments - similar to those given to cancer patients - it became clear that mice without CD74 survived and restored their immune system more efficiently than the control mice. "The research may help produce stem cells for transplantation in larger quantities and of higher quality" Finally, the scientists found that an antibody that blocks the active site of the CD74 receptor does indeed cause the stem cells to accumulate in large quantities both in laboratory vessels and in the skeleton of mice. In addition, they showed that blocking CD74 in stem cells taken from humans led to molecular changes similar to those observed in mice. These findings indicate that blocking the receptor may be relevant to bone marrow transplantation in humans. When there is no XNUMX% matching donor for a patient in need of a bone marrow transplant, it is sometimes possible to overcome the lack of a complete match by using huge doses of stem cells. Also, sometimes the source of cells for transplantation is umbilical cord blood, which contains a small amount of these cells. In both cases, increasing the amount of stem cells is essential. "Our research may help produce stem cells for transplantation in larger quantities and of higher quality," concludes Prof. Shahar.

Infusing new blood

A discovery by the institute's scientists may make it possible to increase the amount of stem cells in bone marrow transplants - and improve their chances of success
A section of the digestive system of a Crohn's patient. Illustration: depositphotos.com

The secret is in the texture

Changes in the intercellular texture may predict inflammatory bowel disease
The hollow crystals under a scanning electron microscope

Crystals that eat crystals

From the creator of yo-yo crystals, now comes the next generation - hollow crystals
The types of cells in the human body. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Breakthroughs in identifying the proteins that make up the individual cell

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Researchers at the Technion and their partners abroad present an outline for significant breakthroughs in deciphering the protein profile of a single cell, something that will advance the field of personalized medicine. A review article by the international research group, recently published in the journal Nature Methods, describes the newest developments in these fields
neural network. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Neurons search for meaning

A new research approach makes it possible to document how the brain learns new rules
Dr. Amir Raz. Photo: Communications

Research in molecular genetics and genetic engineering in fertilization mechanisms examines the self-fertilization ability of trees without the help of bees

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Genetic characterization of varieties is very important for farmers, because it allows choosing the right combination of planting the varieties in the orchard, to obtain a maximum yield. Characterizing varieties that are 'self-fertile', i.e. self-fertilizing (as in apricots, for example), allows planting plots with only one variety (without the need for an additional variety for fertilization - male and female) that yield a high yield, regardless of the environmental conditions at the time of fertilization, such as temperatures or bee activity such as Also saving agricultural land
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