molecular genetics

Human fat cells. Illustration: depositphotos.com

The Fat Sense: How the Nervous System Affects Metabolism and Obesity

Weizmann Institute researchers have found that nerve cells sense mechanical changes in fat tissue and regulate the body's energy burning. Suppressing this mechanism makes mice immune to obesity and diabetes

A new direction for fighting cancer: making it incriminate itself

Prof. Yardena Samuels' lab at the Weizmann Institute of Science has succeeded in making cancer cells surrender themselves to the immune system. The new approach may offer hope to incurable patients
The list of crystals in the zebrafish: in the gill covers (top row) - long and narrow crystals, in the eye of the fish (middle row) shorter crystals, and in the skin (bottom row) - the shortest

The animals' secret recipe book for creating colorful and versatile crystals has been revealed

An electron microscope image of phages that replicated inside bacterial cells that possess the immune system discovered in the study. The immune system attached a ubiquitin-like protein (marked with black dots and white arrows) to the tails of the phages, thus preventing them from infecting additional bacterial cells

to the tail of viruses

Weizmann Institute of Science scientists have discovered a bacterial immune system that "neuters" the tails of viruses. The new system is based on a protein previously discovered by Nobel laureates Avraham Hershko and Aharon Chachanover
Illustration: depositphotos.com

The fertilized egg and its war in patriarchy

If you asked yourself why we only inherit the mitochondria from the mother, the answer is - the egg is the one that destroys the father's mitochondria very shortly after fertilization
The researchers used protein staining techniques to reveal the identity of the cells in the organoids they created. In the picture you can see four organoids of the central nervous system in the fetus, where in purple are proteins associated with the development of the front and middle brain, in green - the hindbrain, and in red - the center of the spinal cord

from the brain to the tail

Researchers from the University of Michigan and the Weizmann Institute of Science have for the first time developed a central nervous system on a chip that faithfully simulates that of the human fetus - from the end of the spinal cord to the forebrain
grow old. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Age slowly, live longer

A study in C. elegans worms found that a type of small RNA molecule is essential for slowing the rate of aging and prolonging the lives of animals with a damaged reproductive system
Microglial cells that were "ripened" in the laboratory from stem cells derived from ALS patients (in green), the cell nuclei - in blue. Photographed using a confocal microscope

The good mutation

Weizmann Institute of Science scientists have discovered a new pathway that may protect nerve cells in the brain and slow down the development of degenerative brain disease
vortex. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Vortex of one atom

The institute's scientists and their research partners from the Technion and Tel Aviv University have for the first time created mixed beams of individual atoms
An eye of a fruit fly engineered to develop an ALS-like disease. Left: Defective protein aggregates leading to ALS-like degeneration. Right: the eye returned to normal following the expression of one of the "sumo" proteins

Heavy weight pellets

Weizmann Institute of Science scientists deciphered the molecular mechanism of "return to normal" and discovered that it is based on labeling proteins for destruction with a special code known as "SUMO"
A bacteriophage (upper right) penetrates a bacterial cell (center of the picture). Bacteria have highly sophisticated immune systems specially prepared to fight viruses

Antivirals discovered in bacteria may be used as drugs for viral diseases

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These days, the ability of these substances to fight viruses that harm humans, including the flu and corona viruses, is being tested
The silencing of the Piezo2 gene in the neurons of the proprioception system led to deformities in the hip joint in the transgenic mice (right) compared to a normal hip joint (left). Photographed using a micro-CT system

The movement to repair the skeleton

It is possible that movement therapy can become part of the treatment protocol for scoliosis, hip dislocation and other skeletal deformities, the treatment of which is currently generally based on the restriction of movement
An olive orchard is infected with the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa in the province of Puglia in Italy. The bacterium damages the flow of fluids in the trees and causes dehydration. Photo: shutterstock

Farmers and anti-bacterial viruses

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The researchers mapped the different versions of circular nucleotide systems

Which is good for bacteria

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From the right: Dr. Ronit Nir, Ran Shahar, Miguel Engel Garcia-Campos, Dr. Modi Safra, Dr. Sharit Adelheit-Flor and Dr. Shraga Schwartz. There are many tags in the cell. Photo: Weizmann Institute Spokesperson

The golden tag: How does the m6A chemical tag involved in the control of the human genome work?

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cell division (mitosis). Illustration from PIXABAY.COM

Proteins are also allowed to make mistakes

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The world champions in evolution. Illustration: Yuval Robichak, for the Weizmann Institute

The world champions in evolution

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From the right: Dr. Noam Stern-Ginosar, Aharon Nachshon, Julie Tai-Schmidel and Roni Winkler. Uninvited guests. Photo: Weizmann Institute spokeswoman

Why is there a mechanism in healthy cells that allows viruses to multiply and spread themselves?

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The cells labeled with fluorescent dyes in the primary tissues of the wing (left), eye (center) or leg (right) in the fruit fly larva, do not migrate when they have normal caspase activity (top row). When the caspases are removed, these cells begin to migrate after irradiation to other parts of the tissue (bottom row)

What happens when the mechanism for programmed cell death is removed from the cell

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Microscope image of yeast cells. Mitochondrial organelles (indicated in red) are attached to peroxisomes (in light blue) by tiny "ribbons" (in green). Illustration: Weizmann Institute

No organ is an island

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Illustration: pixabay.

When the genetic messenger discovers independence

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Illustration: Weizmann Institute magazine.

Researchers have identified 6,500 genes that are expressed differently in women and men

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"Throughout evolution, the cells that knew how to produce proteins in the most 'cheap' way acquired a huge advantage. You can say that the one who was the most economical survived." Source: Weizmann Institute magazine.

A traffic light of bacteria

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How do we know how to locate our nose in space or follow the position of the arm during its movement without the sense of sight?. Photo: Barbara Piuma / Wikimedia.

Knowing where the nose is: the mechanisms of action of the sixth sense

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"Super-pathways" in the PathCards online database: the map of human biological pathways - each vertex symbolizes a biological pathway, and each connecting line symbolizes a connection between pathways. The colors symbolize the sources from which the routes are taken. Each linked group constitutes a super-pathway, which groups together several closely related pathways, and enables a more efficient study of biological pathways from several different sources. Illustration: Prof. Doron Lantz

Kindergartens also have social networks

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Chemotherapy. Illustration: shutterstock

LIP-LAP

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Survival - in the brain

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Bacteriophages attack bacteria. Illustration: shutterstock

Viruses in the service of future medicine

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Prof. Trudy McKay, University of North Carolina. Winner of the 2016 Wolf Prize for Agriculture

The pioneer of the genetic architecture of complex traits, Prof. Trudy McKay from the USA won the Wolf Prize for Agriculture

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Male fertility. Illustration: shutterstock

Mutants from Venus, Mutants from Mars

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Modular model: two different groups of cells - the builders of the cartilage (orange) and the builders of the bone protrusions (green) - are involved in the development of the bone in the fetus

The collagen puzzle

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Danit Oz Levy and Amir Gelman. Standing in the back, from the right: Prof. Doron Lantz and Prof. Zebulon Elazar. rare mutations

Mistakes on the way to recycling

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Growth of bacteria that produce only the antitoxin (left), only the toxin (center) or both (right)

Germ Wars

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Completely neutral human induced stem cells, produced by Dr. Hanna's method (in green and yellow), integrate into different tissues of a mouse embryo (in red) Video: A video showing the integration of neutral human induced stem cells, produced by Dr. Hanna's method (in green and yellow) in the tissues of a mouse embryo (in red). Photo: Dr. Yaakov Hana, Weizmann Institute

For the first time: completely "neutral" human stem cells, which developed into tissues inside a mouse embryo

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The bacterial background consisting of Salmonella, Streptococcus and Staphylococcus bacteria. Illustration: shutterstock

A ballad for leaving a kibbutz

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Dr. Yaakov Hana. Photo: Weizmann Institute

A new method for increasing the production efficiency of stem cells

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Confocal microscope observation of two mature fruit fly testes filled with dividing germ cells (in green). About a quarter of these cells (in red and pink) die in the alternative death pathway

Alternative death

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From the right: Prof. Tzachi Falpal, Avihou Yona and Dr. Orna Dahan. Flexibility

Temporary backup

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Embryonic stem cells that develop into gametes, from which the gene encoding the Utx enzyme has been deleted, are labeled with a bright green fluorescent protein. In each of the columns is marked (in red, purple or orange) a gene essential for the survival and development of the gametes. A comparison of the tenth day of cell development (top row) with day 12 (bottom row) shows that the expression of the four essential genes is stopped. As a result, the stem cells do not develop into sperm or egg cells, but die. Photo: Weizmann Institute

back to the Future

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A scanning electron microscope image of phages attacking a bacterium. Photo: Dr. Graham Bird, Wikimedia Commons

Anti-bacterial viruses

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Dr. Maya Schuldiner and Yonatan Herzig. Traffic laws

connected

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Mouse hypothalamic neurons expressing leptin receptors

It's in our heads

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Professor Yossi Shiloh. Photo: Ayelet Klartag

The Israel Prize - 2017: The Minister of Education, Gideon Sa'ar, announced today the winning of the winner of the Israel Prize in the field of life sciences research

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To Prof. Yoram Gruner. Photo: Weizmann Institute

Prof. Yoram Gruner from the Weizmann Institute of Science will receive the Rothschild Prize in Life Sciences on Thursday

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From the right: Dr. Anat Shmoeli, Prof. Orli Rayner, Dr. Tamar Sapir and Michal Segal. transport

grease

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Cosmic scene with DNA, stars, solvents and atomic circles in oral flow.

How do DNA coils Individuals join together

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Cosmic scene with DNA, stars, solvents and atomic circles in oral flow.

The correct size of gene copies

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Cosmic scene with DNA, stars, solvents and atomic circles in oral flow.

The molecular basis of Down syndrome

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Cosmic scene with DNA, stars, solvents and atomic circles in oral flow.

Delinquency? The cause is environmental and not genetic

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Cosmic scene with DNA, stars, solvents and atomic circles in oral flow.

stop under pressure

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