THE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE No. 4 FALL 2013 OF SCIENCE & PEOPLE

Turing Award to Prof. Shafi Goldwasser Cover Story PAGE 8 Solving the Sign Problem Mandy Moross: PAGE 26 A Steward Immune System Science Over Time PAGE 32 PAGE 4 Cover Story

Mandy Moross: A Steward Over Time PAGE 4

The Weizmann International Magazine of Science & People No. 4, Fall 2013

Editor • Yivsam Azgad Editorial board • Kelly Avidan, Yivsam Azgad, Prof. Israel Bar-Joseph, Judy Halper and Tamar Morad Assistant editor • Judy Halper Copy editor • Evelyn Katrak Writers • Staff writers of the Publications SAVE THE DATE! and Media Relations, and Resource Development Departments Reunion of the alumni of the Faculty of Chemistry Graphic design • Irit Sher 7 pm, October 3, 2013 Photo research • Naama Pesso and Heidi Shulman Graduates of all years invited Data research • Irit Oz Photography • Yael Ilan, Roya Mey-Dan, Matthew Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot Septimus, Kibbutz Gat Archives, Ohad Herches For more information: [email protected] and Itai Belson of the Weizmann Institute Photo Department, Weizmann Institute Archives Images • Thinkstock Print • A.B. Offset Ltd., Israel

FALL 2013 From the President

keep moving. In fact, for a scientific gardeners to scientists, from technicians institution, not moving is even more to accountants, from students to board treacherous: Not only will it fall, it can members − we have, for the last 64 be much more difficult to get itself years, succeeded in keeping our balance back up on the wheels. This is because, and never losing our way. Every day, unlike the bicycle, which only needs a each and every one of us gets out of bed strong rider to keep moving, an institute in order to push the limits of scientific like Weizmann requires a good number knowledge, to keep discovering what of highly qualified people to keep the world is made of and to renew propelling it forward. our attempt to understand what life To stretch the metaphor, the Institute is all about. In this magazine, you will is like a bicycle with a lot of riders: One find that we are moving into ever new of the major difficulties inherent in this territory. That is natural: While riding our is that they all need to be riding in step, “bicycle,” we encounter a continuously so that not only does the thing move, it changing landscape. New discoveries are also travels in a well-defined direction. always made when fresh landscapes are Otherwise, we might be keeping our visited. balance, but we will be going in circles. I wish all of you a happy new year, And going in circles, for a scientific “Shana Tova.” Keep pedaling, and don’t Albert Einstein once said: “Life is like institution, is simply “reinventing the forget that there are many gears − on riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, wheel.” a bike as well as in life. To paraphrase you must keep moving.” Every time I One of the most outstanding features a famous poem: We use the gears less hear this quote, I feel it perfectly fits of the Weizmann Institute is that even pedaled/ And that has made all the the spirit of the Weizmann Institute: If though our many “riders” have very difference. we want to keep our balance, we must different skills and backgrounds -- from Daniel Zajfman

CONTENTS

SCIENCE BRIEFS New Career Development Chair The Human Body 2 A Mouse in the House 14 Establishment of the Leah Omenn 32 Immune System Science “Cell on a Chip” Produces Proteins Career Development Chair 3 Limits to Growth eDUCATION Expanded GeneCards Database Around the World 38 At Home with Science and Math Finds a New Framework 16 Mission to Weizman Institute 40 Spotlight on ISEF Students in May 41 New Prize Established by UK Donors Cover Story 18 The Brazilian Connection 4 Mandy Moross: 21 Q&A with Larry Blumberg On campus A Steward Over Time 42 Sculpture: Dani Karavan New Scientists Mathematics 24 Beating Biofilms Alumni 8 Turing Award to Prof. 26 Solving the Sign Problem 44 Building Israel’s Biotech Industry Shafi Goldwasser Women In Science 46 THANK YOU Executive Board Meeting 28 Newly Hired Scientists 10 Focus on INCPM 29 Capmany Award to 49 10 THINGS WE DIDN’T KNOW the Weizmann Institute About Albert Sabin Planetary Science 12 News of the Solar System Awards 30 Gruber Award to Prof. Yardena Samuels

P 1 FALL 2013 SCIENCE BRIEFS

strain of the mice. in previous experiments, Bar-Ziv and his One of the study’s more interesting team attached strands of DNA to one part Limits to Growth findings emerged from experiments with of the chip. To another part, they affixed mice that had been bred to exhibit signs antibodies for trapping proteins − the What makes a lettuce leaf grow to the of autism − little social engagement and products of the DNA expression. Because size of a salad plate, or a clover leaf to the compulsive behavior patterns. When the the DNA encoded a green fluorescent size of a fingernail? Prof. Yuval Eshed, the house residents consisted solely of male marker, when the experiment succeeded Jacques Mimran Professor, and his group “autistic” mice, leaders either did not and proteins were produced, they investigated this question with the help arise or were quickly overthrown. showed up as a green glow on the of the standard lab plant Arabidopsis These findings suggest that observing antibody side of the chip. thaliana, a type of mustard cress that the social structures of mice can reveal Further experiments in Bar-Ziv’s lab normally has relatively tiny leaves. much that is common to all types of elaborated on the idea. In one version, They began with proteins they had social animals, including humans. Such the researchers used a viral gene that discovered in previous research into the Mice in a Big Brother setup research may be especially useful for encodes proteins which roll up into very first steps of leaf growth, when the develop social structures investigating the societal aspects of tubes. Sure enough, when they observed cells of the nascent leaf differentiate into disorders that affect the group order, the chips under an electron microscope, top and bottom. When the plants were A Mouse in including autism and schizophrenia. they saw a forest of minuscule tubes genetically engineered to produce only populating the antibody section. In top or bottom cells, the leaves did not the House another, they added a gene encoding grow, and a number of proteins normally a red fluorescent protein on top of the produced in healthy leaves were not Here is a version of Big Brother that “Cell on a Chip” ones for green fluorescent proteins. generated in the miniature ones. Plant on the left is normal, center and right are missing factors that limit growth won’t be coming to your TV screen They found that the colored proteins Assuming that these proteins were anytime soon: Dr. Tali Kimchi, Produces Proteins competed for the antibodies, with the involved in leaf growth, the researchers and disease. To create the additional incumbent of the Jenna and Julia green ones ending up closer to their created new plants, each overproducing Expanded sections, Belinky and the team integrated Birnbach Family Career Development Can we build an artificial cell − one that genes and the red ones trapped farther one of these proteins. To their surprise, and unified information from 15 different Chair, places groups of mice together in will carry out such functions of natural away. about half of the proteins appeared to GeneCards ncRNA databases. a large “house” in her lab and films their living cells as gene expression, protein These chips, says Bar-Ziv, demonstrated have no effect on leaf size, while the GeneCards and its sister database, every action day and night. Together production and molecular interactions? a system for observing protein other half reduced it. Database Finds a MalaCards, which offers a similar web- with Dr. Ofer Feinerman, incumbent of Prof. Roy Bar-Ziv and his research team production and activities in real time. The next step was to create plants that card format for information on diseases, the Shlomo and Michla Tomarin Career created a simplified, two-dimensional, But he envisions future applications, in did not produce various members of the New Framework are now included in the computerized Development Chair, she and her team cell-like system on a glass chip that which such miniature cell-like systems growth-suppressing protein family they diagnostic and genomic analysis toolkits developed a setting that was somewhat suggests this feat may be possible in the could provide the basis for techniques to had identified. Now the leaves of their GeneCards, the online, comprehensive offered by Appistry, Inc. Appistry natural but still enabled them to observe future. create complex, active protein structures Arabidopsis grew larger and larger, until database of human genes, nearly doubled recently entered into a partnership with and analyze in precise detail what each Using a technique they had developed on demand. they more resembled lettuce or kale in size following a recent study carried LifeMap Sciences, Inc., which is licensed mouse was doing at any given time. Over than cress. Further research revealed out in the laboratory of Prof. Doron by Yeda Research and Development, the periods of days to months, they watched the precise mechanism by which these Lancet, the Ralph D. and Lois R. Silver technology transfer arm of the Weizmann as individual and social behavior patterns proteins limit leaf growth. Professor of Human Genomics and Head Institute, to market GeneCards and led to the formation of a mouse social The findings, says Eshed, have of the Crown Human Genome Center. MalaCards. Lancet’s GeneCards team, structure. overturned some basic assumptions GeneCards, which was first developed headed by Marilyn Safran, continues to Among other things, they found that about the plant’s mechanisms for at the Weizmann Institute in 1996 by develop and maintain the databases at a caste system developed as one mouse regulating leaf size. Growth appears to Lancet and his team, offers an easy-to- the Weizmann Institute. became the dominant leader of the be the “default setting,” so it does not use web-card format for each gene. Dr. Dr. David Warshawsky, CEO of LifeMap, group while sub-alpha mice waited for require a lot of mechanisms to promote Frida Belinky, a postdoctoral researcher says: “The combination of GeneCards’ signs of weakness that might allow them it. Putting the brakes on growth, on in Lancet’s laboratory, and her colleagues and MalaCards’ comprehensive gene- to take his place. Using an automated the other hand, is tightly regulated. It have now added information on non- and disease-related knowledge with the system to identify behavioral patterns, depends on such diverse factors as the coding sequences (ncRNA) − genetic analysis workflow offered by Appistry the researchers found they were able to Protein interaction on a chip: Red proteins concentrated more on the right, availability of water or nutrients, cold, information that does not get translated will greatly enhance the potential for predict such typical social phenomena as farther from the chip-bound genes, while green proteins are more highly heat or daylight, and many regulatory into proteins but nonetheless plays a improved diagnosis, prevention and hierarchy as well as know the gender and concentrated on the left, closer to the genes that encode them factors may be involved. number of important roles in both health treatment of devastating conditions.”

P 2 FALL 2013 3 Ma n dy M oross

A Steward Over Time Mandy Moross looks back on his long relationship with the Weizmann Institute and why it is Israel's ‘jewel in the crown’

Since his first visit to the campus in the UK for Imperial Chemical Industries, relationships and began to understand 1956, Mandy Moross has witnessed the married Edna and went back to South Israel, what it represented, its challenges transition of the Weizmann Institute Africa, where he worked in the mining and potential,” he recalls. Meeting to an institution whose scientific industry. In 1970, eschewing apartheid, “Dayan, the charismatic soldier, and Gibli accomplishments and technology the family moved back to England. (who had been engaged in what became transfer successes “are massive relative During his first trip to Israel, shortly known as the Lavon Affair, Israel’s covert to its size,” he says. Today, as Chairman after the Suez Crisis in 1956, he visited operation in Egypt intended to convince of the International Board − of which fellow South African Prof. Peter Hillman, Britain not to withdraw its occupying he has been a member for more than a professor of physics at the Weizmann force in Egypt), coupled with my three decades − helping steward that Institute, where Hillman later headed exposure to the cerebral power at the transformation successfully while the Nuclear Physics Department. His Weizmann Institute and its exceptional maintaining the character of the meeting with Prof. Amos de-Shalit, who campus, was the start of my meaningful Institute has become an essential and was to become director-general of the relationship with Israel and Weizmann.” stimulating task. Moross, 82, says the Institute is today “I learned much from A commitment to the “in its prime.” And he would know: narrative of Israel and the Though he resides in London, he is these relationships Jewish people intricately familiar with the Institute and and began to The Moross’ first major gift to the can expound on its challenges, goals and understand Israel, Weizmann Institute came in 1981, with history, not unlike a US president giving the establishment of a professorial a State of the Union address. Mandy and what it represented, chair in honor of Mandy’s father − the his wife Edna have also given generously its challenges and Dr. Hymie Moross Professorial Chair to the Weizmann Institute throughout − and a year later Mandy was elected the years; their 1998 gift to establish potential” to the Board of Governors for the first the M.D. Moross Institute for Cancer time. Prof Tamar Flash, who explores Research, for instance, was the biggest- Weizmann Institute, made a profound motor control in humans and the use of ever philanthropic donation received by impression on Moross. robotics, is the current incumbent. The the Weizmann Institute up to that time. In 1963, he came to Israel to meet with family’s interest in robotics grew and And their legacy of leadership and giving Ephraim Ilin, who built Israel’s first car led to the establishment of the Moross has been conveyed to their children. assembly plant. He also met Benjamin Laboratory for the Study of Vision Born and raised in Johannesburg, Gibli, who was Director of Military Research and Robotics in 1996, where South Africa − his father was a medical Intelligence in the Israel Defense Forces Prof. Shimon Ullman, the Ruth and Samy doctor who instilled in him an interest intelligence branch. These meetings Cohn Professor of Computer Sciences, in science − Moross received his were the start of long-term friendships. is defining the computations underlying undergraduate education in science at Gibli introduced him to Moshe Dayan, vision and motor control. These studies Witwatersrand University and enrolled who was Chief of Staff at the time, are leading to a better understanding of in Harvard Business School at the young and that, too, developed into a lasting the human brain and to the development age of 19. After graduating, he worked in friendship. “I learned much from these of a new generation of intelligent and Edna and Mandy Moross

P 4 FALL 2013 5 Ma n dy M oross

”At the center of his passion for Israel is the Weizmann Institute“ David Moross

useful computer systems. and the stimulating pursuit of answers “I believe Mandy saw in its creation extraordinary leader.” In Zajfman’s The Morosses also acquired the original for all of Israel’s challenges and great two essential factors,” says Prof. Yoram first years in office, Moross helped the written correspondence between Dr. opportunities. His passion has been a Groner, the Dr. Barnet Berris Professor of management make key governance Chaim Weizmann and his UK scientist driver for all of us, his children and his Cancer Research and Head of the Moross changes, including the creation of an colleague Harold Davis, and donated grandchildren, in focusing our attention Institute for Cancer Research. “First, it Executive Board to make management it to the Institute where it is housed in on Israel as the home of the Jewish would encompass the interdisciplinary more efficient and effective, and the the archives at Yad Chaim Weizmann. people. And of course, at the center of research so central to the Institute’s transformation of the Board of Governors In another tribute to the memory of his passion for Israel is the Weizmann nature. And second, the establishment of into the International Board, with a Dr. Chaim Weizmann, they responded Institute.” such a funding mechanism, which gives corresponding change in roles and positively to a request from personal The importance of philanthropy was support to early-stage research initiatives responsibilities. friend and Institute supporter David Sieff also transmitted to the four children “by when external funding is still difficult to Then, in 2009, a new major gift from to fund the restoration of Dr. Weizmann’s osmosis,” says Mandy. obtain, is a very effective tool to leverage the family established the Moross School laboratory, which is located in the Daniel His daughter Karen recalls the same: the investment. It enables fledgling ideas of Mathematics and Computer Sciences, Sieff building. This “fascinating project,” “Philanthropy was always part of the to advance to a stage in development in one of the Feinberg Graduate School’s says Moross, entailed searching for value system in our family − it is in our which external grants can be obtained five research schools. “We felt strongly scientific instruments that were used at DNA. And at the heart of it has always with relative ease.” about attracting the best students to the time. The lab is a point of interest for been the Weizmann Institute, which he In his years as president, Prof. Harari the field, providing more of them with many campus guests. views as the jewel in Israel’s crown.” (now chairman of the Davidson Institute exposure to opportunities, the ability to It is the Morosses’ firm belief that the Karen is a generous supporter of of Science Education) says Moross participate in international conferences fate of the Jewish people and that of the women scientists at the Institute and its initiated important efforts to change the and better access facilities − thus adding State of Israel are interdependent. It is educational arm, the Davidson Institute financial management of the Institute. to the quality of education so Israel this belief that has motivated their strong of Science Education. “Mandy prodded and encouraged me can continue to be a world leader in feelings for Israel. In 1979, the Morosses to create a central endowment fund computer science,” he says. funded the establishment of a still- A steward over decades for the Institute similar to the Harvard He has high hopes for the future, thriving community center in Jerusalem’s Throughout the years, Mandy has made Management Company and those of which he rests on the high quality of the Clockwise from top: Mandy Moross, Karen Siem; Dominic, Old City. They were early supporters substantive changes to the management other American universities. At the time, scientific talent. “The Institute does a Philip, Edna and David Moross of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and and financial well-being of the Institute. our funds were invested in multiple superb job in recruiting the best young are members of its Directors’ Circle. “There is always more in Mandy’s places, and we needed centralization scientists to join the faculty,” he says. “Our children share our feelings about questions than in many others’ answers,” and a cohesive strategy,” he says. That “And time and again these Israelis come Israel, and Weizmann in particular,” says says Institute President Prof. Daniel effort came to fruition in the form of back to Israel (after their postdoctoral Mandy. “Edna and I could not wish to be Zajfman. the Weizmann Global Endowment fellowships abroad), not only because more richly rewarded.” As chair of what was then the Board Management (W-GEM) in 2002, which the Institute makes offers that can A history of commitment Their son David, who lives in New York of Governors, Mandy developed close is managed in New York and functions closely compete with the best Western and is a member of the International relationships with the Institute presidents like most university endowments, universities, but also because their Major gifts to the Weizmann Institute Board, agrees that his father’s passion over the years, including Profs. Michael in which the interest supports the families are in Israel and they want their by Mandy and Edna Moross rubs off of on him and his other siblings: Sela and Haim Harari. The establishment research and educational needs of the children to grow up there. To many Karen Siem (who is also a Board of the M.D. Moross Institute for Cancer Institute. “Mandy’s business acumen people who think Israel is under threat, • Dr. Hymie Moross Professorial Chair (1981) member), Dominic and Philip. “In the Research came in 1998, with the Moross has guided us for many years and the this is an amazing and important thing • Dr. Chaim Weizmann letters (1989) last 20 years, in tandem with my father’s family responding to the Institute’s wish creation of W-GEM was one of his major for them to hear − that this country • Dr. Chaim Weizmann laboratory refurbishment (1993) years of deepening involvement with to consolidate its vast and diverse cancer contributions,” says Harari. and this Institute have created the right • Moross Laboratory for Vision Research and Robotics (1996) the Weizmann Institute, many of our research initiatives under one roof. Moross chaired the search committee conditions to bring back the top minds • M.D. Moross Institute for Cancer Research (1998) conversations and e-mail exchanges Mandy received a Ph.D honoris causa that selected Prof. Zajfman as president, and for these people to educate the next • Moross Research School of Mathematics and Computer Sciences (2009) have involved the subject of Israel the same year. whom Mandy calls a “tireless, generation of leading scientists.”

P 6 FALL 2013 7 m a t h em a Turing Award tics to Prof. Shafi Goldwasser

This summer, Prof. Shafi Goldwasser proofs” in which an attack on security is be a method for enabling wary users became the third member of the translated into a fast algorithm for solving working together over the Internet to Weizmann Institute to receive an hard classical mathematical problems − compute joint functions while keeping A.M. Turing Award, the highest honor for example, factoring integers. their data secret from one another. awarded internationally in the field of This paper also introduced the Goldwasser, Micali and Rackoff’s computer science. Goldwasser, who is “simulation paradigm” − a way to prove 1985 paper on the subject was a radical also on the faculty of the Massachusetts security in a system by asking whether departure from the idea of a classical Institute of Technology (MIT), received an enemy could have simulated on mathematical proof, which can always be the award together with Prof. Silvio his own any information gained in the written down. A zero-knowledge proof, Micali of MIT. employment of a cryptographic system. in contrast, is a sort of conversation in Two influential papers written by This paradigm has since become the which a “prover” tries to convince a Goldwasser and Micali in the 1980s most general method for proving the “verifier” that she knows the proof of laid many of the foundations of modern security of authentication methods, a mathematical statement. The verifier cryptography, and they became software protection schemes and can be convinced that the proof exists − the basis of research fields that are cryptographic protocols that involve without learning the proof itself − by the active today. Their 1982 paper on many participants, for example, answers the prover gives to a series of “Probabilistic Encryption” introduced electronic elections and auctions. random, but linked, questions. formal security definitions that are In addition to providing a powerful now the gold standard for security. In Zero-knowledge cryptographic tool, the concept of contrast to the deterministic encryption interactive proofs interactive proofs has had a major schemes that had been proposed until Imagine an ATM machine that would impact of the field of complexity then, Goldwasser and Micali suggested not ask you to enter your PIN number, theory, enabling faster verification randomized methods that could satisfy but would only need to verify that you, of mathematical proofs and giving the most stringent security requirements. yourself know it. This is an example of mathematicians the ability to prove the These were based on “reductionist a zero-knowledge proof. Another would “nonexistence” of classical proofs.

Turing Triple well as improving the methodology of safety-critical The Institute’s Prof. Amir Pnueli received a Turing Award system design. in 1996 for his development of sophisticated methods for Prof. Adi Shamir received a Turing Award in 2003, verifying the correctness and reliability of computer systems. along with Ronald L. Rivest and Leonard M. Adelman, His method was based on temporal logic in mathematics − co-developers of the RSA algorithm for the delivery of the incorporation of time into mathematical reasoning. This encrypted codes and their decryption between parties tool, which can distinguish between things that are true at that have never previously been in contact. First developed all times and those that are only true sometimes, is useful, in 1977 when the three were at MIT, RSA encryption is among other things, in analyzing reactive systems in which based on the multiplication of very large prime numbers: the external environment affects the internal function of the Factoring the products cannot be completed by today’s system. He also developed mathematical tools for the control computers in a reasonable time. Today, RSA is still the main of hybrid systems − for example, factory production lines encryption algorithm used, among other things, in secure that include both discrete and continuous components − as Internet transactions. Prof. Shafi Goldwasser P 8 FALL 2013 9 Ex ec u ti v e bo a r d meetin g

Focus on INCPM Young Scientists and geopolitics of the Middle East

“No matter how complex the problems I presented them with, they always succeeded to come up with innovative ideas” Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin

Dr. Eran Elinav Prof. Yardena Samuels Dr. Shalev Itzkovitz

At the meeting of the Executive Board − including the experimental data,” she Samuels, the Knell Family Professor, Shalev Itzkovitz, incumbent of the Hezbollah − which was attributed to he played an active part in Israel’s overt of the Weizmann Institute of Science in said. Board members were also invited to spoke about her efforts to use genomics Philip Harris and Gerald Ronson Career Israel by foreign media sources − Yadlin and covert campaign against the Iranian early May, members and others toured join a tour of the Maurice and Vivienne tools to study melanoma; she recently Development Chair, described his gave a message of no-panic. He also sent uranium enrichment centrifuges. Today new laboratories of the Israel National Wohl Institute for Drug Discovery’s joined the Molecular Cell Biology work in the blossoming field of systems a calming message about the potential he is the director of the Institute for Center for Personalized Medicine temporary laboratory, guided by its head, Department, after heading the Cancer biology and his particular focus on threat of chemical weapons, saying that National Security Studies, a think tank at (INCPM). They also heard from some of Dr. Haim Barr. “We now have at hand Genetics Branch of the US National the study of the design principles of they lack efficiency against a strong Tel Aviv University. the Institute’s newest scientists about the large spectrum of instrumentation Human Genome Research Institute at mammalian tissues using his expertise in opponent such as Israel. His final message related to the talent their research pursuits at a dinner that for drug discovery − or what researchers the NIH. physics. Amos Yadlin’s military career spanned of Israel’s younger generation, which he took place on the Weizmann House call chemical biology − needed to Physician-scientist Dr. Eran Elinav Former chief of intelligence for the 40 years of service and more than 250 witnessed first hand in his role as IDF lawn. meet the broad research demands of talked about his experience at both Israel Defense Forces, Major General combat missions as a fighter pilot, intelligence chief. He said that no matter Dr. Berta Strulovici, Director of the the Weizmann Institute and Israel in bedside and bench relating to the (res.) Amos Yadlin, talked at the event including Operation Tamuz − the how complex the problems he presented Israel National Center for Personalized general,” said Barr. “amazing and intriguing interactions” about Israel’s security challenges. destruction of the Osirak nuclear reactor them with, “they always succeeded to Medicine, emphasized the unique nature At the Weizmann House event, hosted that transpire inside the human Speaking on the day of an air strike inside in Iraq, in 1981. He later became deputy come up with innovative ideas.” of the INCPM − “as a research center by the Israeli Friends of the Weizmann gastrointestinal tract with the multitudes Syrian territory that reportedly targeted commander of the air force and, finally, that is integrated on all possible levels Institute of Science, Prof. Yardena of microbes that inhabit it. And Dr. advanced Iranian missiles headed for head of military intelligence. In this role,

P 10 FALL 2013 11 P 12 13 map of these planets. Generating a map of these planets. Generating a model of an idealized, becalmed planet’s gravitational field and comparing the two revealed the contribution of winds to the outer planets’ gravity maps. Further analysis showed that the winds are confined to a layer that is − at most − just a fraction of a percent of the planets’ masses. In other words, although these worlds are utterly alien, their weather turns out to have some very Earth- like features. Kaspi plans to apply this method in greater detail when NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter begins measuring the gravitational field of that gas giant sometime in 2016. The rapid rotation of these planets The rapid rotation of these planets under the surface? Are these extreme under the surface? Are these extreme weather systems shallow features or do they arise from deep within the planets? Kaspi realized that a relatively simple measurement of these planets − that of their gravitational fields − could reveal the winds’ depth. (days on Uranus and Neptune are about 17 and 16 hours, respectively) causes the winds to swirl around areas of high and low pressure. Using physical calculations to convert pressure to local fluctuations in the gases’ mass, and thus to variations in the gravitational field, the researchers created a first-ever wind-induced gravity The spots seen on Neptune in this 1989 Voyager II image are giant storms II image are giant storms The spots seen on Neptune in this 1989 Voyager Dr. Yohai Kaspi winds and rain, so the map should give winds and rain, so the map should give scientists a good basis for modeling the moon’s weather patterns. Planetary weather forecast Dr. Yohai Kaspi, together with Prof. Oded Aharonson and researchers at Tel Aviv University and the University of Arizona, set out to answer a question about the weather on the two farthest- out planets, Uranus and Neptune. In the 1980s, Voyager II snapped close-up images of these giant gas planets, revealing super-storms as big around as Earth, with winds of up to 1000 km/h that last for years. But what happens In contrast to the giant, ringed gas In contrast to the giant, ringed gas and Mars have been mapped globally. and Mars have been mapped globally. planet it orbits, Titan seems strangely Earth-like. Though its atmosphere is poisonous and methane flows on its surface instead of water, this distant moonscape has mountains, dunes and lakes, and its weather undergoes seasonal changes. One of the most interesting features of the Titan map, says Aharonson, is the elevation of its lakes. This can tell researchers whether those lakes are isolated − like high crater lakes − or whether liquid flows between them. In addition, as on Earth, Titan’s topographical features directly affect its 100 Titan flybys − providing enough 100 Titan flybys − providing enough topographical information to begin mapping the moon’s surface, says the Weizmann Institute’s Prof. Oded Aharonson. Aharonson, project leader Dr. Ralph Lorenz of the Applied Physics Laboratory, and other members of the Cassini RADAR team in the US and around the world, assembled the noodle-shaped strips of topographical data provided by Cassini’s radar and altimetry equipment and interpolated them to produce a map of the entire moon. Titan thus joins an elite group: Besides Earth and our moon, only a few other such objects as Mercury, Venus Solar System Solar of the of News Dr. Yohai Kaspi FALL 2013 FALL FEBRUARY 2012 FEBRUARY For the past nine years, the Cassini For the past nine years, the Cassini Moon map What processes shape the planets and satellites with which we share our solar system? Members of the Weizmann Institute’s Helen Kimmel Center for Planetary Science participated in two recent studies that are providing vital insights into the mysteries of giant gas planets and far-off moons. spacecraft has been orbiting Saturn and, in addition to stunning images of that planet and its rings, it has been sending us flyby snapshots of two of Saturn’s moons, Titan and Enceladus. To date, it has completed around

Planetary Science Ca reer De v e l opment Cha ir

Establishment of “My mother attained a university education when it was a rarity for women to do so, and pursued a life the Leah Omenn dedicated to her family and the future of Israel” Career Development Chair Dr. Gil Omenn

Dr. Gil Omenn Dr. Ayelet Erez

The new Leah Omenn Career Great Depression and went on to teach populations in Israel and also provides recently opened a pediatric cancer an amino acid that plays an important metabolic changes that are critical Development Chair (CDC) was recently science and German before marrying Dr. assistance for complex dental cases that genetics clinic at the Sheba Medical role in enabling the body to avoid a for tumor formation and progression, established in memory of Mrs. Leah Leonard Omenn, a dentist. While raising require special funding. Center, the first of its kind in Israel. toxic buildup of ammonia, which can enabling the identification of novel Omenn by her children Dr. Gil Omenn her children and working with her Omenn was also an admirer of Prof. Previously, she was an assistant damage the body’s organs and brain. therapeutic targets. Her findings also of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Neil Omenn husband, Omenn was very involved with Ephraim Katzir and the Weizmann professor of molecular and human She also discovered that the enzyme open new treatment avenues for of Boynton Beach, Florida. Mrs. Omenn, the Jewish community both locally and Institute. The new CDC has been genetics at Baylor College of Medicine has an additional function regulating multiple disorders involving nitric who passed away in May 2012, was in Israel. A lifetime Hadassah member, earmarked for incoming female scientists and a medical geneticist at Texas the production of nitric oxide, which oxide dysregulation. “a remarkable woman,” says Gil. “She Omenn endowed the Dr. Leonard and at the beginning of their scientific Children’s Hospital. There, she is involved in virtually every process in The choice of Dr. Erez as the first attained a university education when Leah Omenn Program in Community careers, a fitting legacy for a woman who investigated a rare inherited disorder the body. incumbent of the Omenn CDC, says it was a rarity for women to do so, and Dentistry at the Hadassah Medical Center was trained in the sciences. called argininosuccinic aciduria (ASA), In her new lab at the Weizmann Gil, reflects the family’s commitment pursued a life dedicated to her family and and the Hadassah/Hebrew University Dr. Ayelet Erez, who is the first caused by a lack of the functional gene Institute, Erez is exploring the to nurturing the careers of women the future of Israel.” School of Dental Medicine in Jerusalem. incumbent of the Leah Omenn CDC, necessary to make an enzyme called relationship of various enzymes scientists, a major Weizmann Institute Leah Omenn graduated pre-med from This community dental program joined the Weizmann Institute in 2012. argininosuccinate lyase. Without this and processes to cancer. She hopes priority. Temple University in the throes of the offers dental services to lower income Erez is a scientist and a physician; she enzyme, patients cannot make arginine, her research will shed light on the

P 14 FALL 2013 15 a ro u n d t h e w or ld

involved in health and disease; and Head of Educationals at Interpharma, mission represented her first trip to Prof. Oded Aharonson on his an association of research-based Israel. She was most intrigued, she said, investigations of the moon Titan. The pharmaceutical companies in by the inside look at Israeli innovation mission also involved a day trip to Switzerland, who also develops and entrepreneurship in the sciences. Jerusalem and a tour of old Jaffa. and produces teaching tools and As Head of the Health and Environment At a luncheon hosted by Prof. Yossi games, said she was most interested Department at the AIT, Austrian Institute Nir, the Amos de-Shalit Professor of in learning about the programs of of Technology, her efforts are devoted Theoretical Physics and Dean of the the Davidson Institute of Science to developing innovative technologies Faculty of Physics, and physicists Dr. Education. “In Switzerland, science to improve human health and ecological Nirit Dudovich and Dr. Roee Ozeri spoke teachers need better tools and sustainability. about their research and why they chose innovative programs so that their “Visiting the Weizmann Institute was to establish their careers and laboratories students are exposed to the latest a wonderful experience of learning at the Institute. Dudovich talked about developments of science,” she says. about what science can do for mankind developments in ultra-fast photography “The Weizmann Institute offers a and a better future. Apart from this, it for the purpose of capturing biological great model − a strong support system is all about people, and the people we processes in action, and Ozeri spoke to the educational system, so that met at Weizmann are certainly special,” about one of the greatest challenges in outstanding students can be stimulated says Edda Fels, Senior Vice President developing quantum computers: finding and challenged, and so that a wide Corporate Communications at Axel appropriate units, or qubits, for storing array of other students are exposed to Springer AG. information, towards the development of things they may not be exposed to in the computers of the future. their classrooms.” Mission participant Janine Hermann, For Dr. Michaela Fritz of Austria, the

Members of the European mission to the Weizmann Institute

“What has come through loud and and exciting to see the investment in Mission Brings clear to me is how Weizmann Institute research in personalized medicine and research is driven by curiosity, and how the vast resources devoted to cancer More than Two freedom to think and explore creates a research in particular,” he said. successful research culture,” said Prof. The group, which hailed from Dozen Participants Jörg Menno Harms, Chairman of the Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, supervisory board of Hewlett Packard Italy, Austria, Lichtenstein and Spain, to Weizmann GmbH. “Witnessing this first hand heard presentations from a number of confirms to me that the Institute has the scientists, including Prof. Zvi Livneh, the Institute in May right approach to science, and the results Maxwell Ellis Professor of Biomedical are obvious.” Research and Dean of the Faculty of The European Committee for the Among the mission participants was Biochemistry, on plans for the Israel Weizmann Institute of Science hosted 28 Wendelin Zellmayer of Switzerland, CEO National Center for Personalized Europeans on campus in May for a four- of the Rising Tide Foundation, which Medicine; Dr. Ofer Yizhar, incumbent day program that emphasized Institute recently gave a major gift to support of the Gertrude and Philip Nollman advancements in personalized medicine, translational research initiatives. “We are Career Development Chair, on the brain research, environmental science big fans of Israel and of the Weizmann promising field of optogenetics for and science education. Institute, and for us it is important the understanding of neural networks In May, a gala was held in New York to honor Prof. Michael and Sara Sela. In the photo: (l-r) Nadav Kaplan, Tamar, Irit and Prof. Michael Sela, Orly Sela Kaplan and Sara Sela

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The Brazilian Connection

Philanthropists from South America’s biggest country are backing alternative energy research in Israel and also promoting a biomedical research collaboration between the Weizmann Institute of Science and Brazilian scientists and physicians Dr. Claudio Lottenberg, Einstein Medical Center President (l-r) Institute President Prof. Daniel Zajfman, and Roberto Ruhman and his son Daniel at the Weizmann Institute

Brazil is an epicenter of global attention suggestion of our participation in the increase the efficiency of carbon fixation techniques for stem cell therapy. scientists have so far visited colleagues they are helping uncover how a specific on environmental issues: It has had Weizmann Institute’s initiatives in this (the biological process that converts “The combination of the strengths in Brazil – in 2010 and 2012 – and seven protein can cause disease. By combining the highest deforestation rate in the field was presented to us, it just seemed CO2 into organic compounds), which of the Weizmann Institute and Albert Brazilian scientists gave lectures and Schlesinger’s findings in humans world – which threatens the Amazon a perfect fit. We are very proud of the would contribute to biofuel production. Einstein Hospital may be unique, and workshops at the Weizmann Institute with Schuldiner’s findings in yeast, Basin and its biodiversity, and increases achievements of these first years and we The Fund has also supported Prof. Avi these can also be leveraged by building in 2013. Several labs have exchanged the Einstein-Weizmann collaboration greenhouse gases. The country grapples look forward to further enhancement of Levy, the Gilbert de Botton Professor of a new, positive agenda in interfaces and students, and the relationship continues is attaining novel insights into this with endangered species, illegal wildlife the Brazil-Weizmann connection.” Plant Sciences, in his discovery of wheat cooperation between Brazil and Israel,” to grow. devastating disease. trade, air and water pollution, and land To this end, a group of nine Brazilian strains with highly digestible straw that says Ruhman, whose initiative launched The Einstein Medical Center has one Says Schuldiner: “The collaboration of degradation related to mining. At the donors, including Fleck, created the could serve as feedstock for biofuel the collaboration. “Hopefully these are of the biggest “brain banks” in the a basic science research institute such same time, it is a world leader in biofuels Brazil-Israel Alternative Energy Research production. the first steps toward a high-level, long- world – a repository of brain tissue, as Weizmann with an institute that is as a major producer of ethanol. With Fund in 2008, which goes to the term relationship that could be inspiring genetic information and medical histories focused on applied human therapy, these topics at the forefront of the minds Institute’s Alternative and Sustainable Brainy partnerships in many fields besides science.” A donor of deceased individuals. Dr. David such as the Einstein Medical Center, has of many Brazilians, it was “a natural Energy Research Initiative (AERI) and is Brazilian Friends’ support is also making and board member of the Weizmann Schlesinger and his group at Einstein enabled us to create a unique blend of choice” for a group of Brazilian friends earmarked for biofuels research projects. a difference in another research direction Institute, Ruhman is also a long-time are drawing on this invaluable resource science. Led by Dr. Schlesinger’s group, of the Weizmann Institute to launch a In one project supported by the Fund, in recent years. The generous gifts of board member of Einstein Medical to conduct whole-genome studies in we have been able to go all the way philanthropic initiative directing funds Prof. Ed Bayer, the Maynard I. and Roberto and Renata Ruhman of São Center, which was established by the human patients and find genes important from the patients to characterizing new to alternative energy research at the Elaine Wishner Professor of Bio-Organic Paolo have enabled the development of Jewish community of São Paulo in the for the progression of Alzheimer’s and disease variants, finding the mutated Institute, says Mario Fleck, Chairman of Chemistry, is searching for ways to an extraordinary collaboration between 1950s. other diseases. This work has led to a disease gene and understanding the basic the Brazilian Friends of the Weizmann efficiently break down the cellulose in the Weizmann Institute, the Albert The three-way partnership gives collaboration with Dr. Maya Schuldiner’s cell biology behind its malfunction. This Institute of Science and a resident of São crop wastes into usable sugars to create Einstein Medical Center in São Paulo and Weizmann Institute researchers new lab in the Weizmann Institute’s Molecular is really the ‘holy grail’ of translational Paolo. alcohol-based fuels. In another project, the University of São Paulo, bringing clinical partners in South America and Genetics Department; Schuldiner research, and we could not have done it “Brazil has been researching and Dr. Ron Milo, incumbent of the Anna and together scientists and physicians who builds bridges of scientific cooperation uses high-throughput and systematic without this collaboration.” developing alternative energy sources Maurice Boukstein Career Development are investigating Alzheimer’s disease, between Israel and Brazil. approaches to characterize protein Leukemia is the focus of a second for many years,” says Fleck. “When the Chair in Perpetuity, is exploring ways to amoebic dysentery and improved Two teams of Weizmann Institute functions in the cell. Working together, collaboration – between the Weizmann

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I was then elected to the Institute’s I was then elected to the Institute’s Do you recall your first visit to the Institute? “In 1981, I joined the Impact of Science Symposium − a week at the Institute for lay people. It transformed my life. After to five days of scientific lectures, visits high-tech companies, and meetings with Israeli political and social leaders, we were all exhausted but exhilarated. I was enthralled by the concept of basic science, of supporting brilliant people to follow their curiosity. I returned home knowing that this is where I wanted to spend my time. ACWIS embraced me, at age 34, as one of its youngest leaders. Board of Governors and its Executive Committee and began to travel to Israel each November and May for the next 30 I graduated from law school in 1973 I graduated from law school in 1973 and attended my first ACWIS event in 1976, shortly before I joined my father in practicing law.

In his more than three decades of In his more than three decades of How did you first become involved with ACWIS? “My parents, Rhoda and Gerald, were involved, and they encouraged my involvement. My father, also an attorney, had steered a substantial bequest to the Institute in 1973 to establish the Harold L. Korda Chair in Cancer Research. My father joined the ACWIS board, where he assisted the organization in establishing a planned giving program. Ph.D honoris causa. service, Larry has served in numerous senior leadership positions in ACWIS, including secretary, vice president and general counsel, chair of the New York Region, and head of the Planned Giving Committee. He was elected Chairman of the American Committee in late 2007. Larry concludes his term as chairman in October, when he will be succeeded by longtime Institute supporter Ellen Merlo.

(l-r) Sir David Sieff, Sara and Prof. Michael Sela, and Larry Blumberg in 1982 (l-r) Sir David Sieff, Sara and Prof. Michael Larry has served in multiple Larry has served in multiple Q&A with Larry Blumberg Lawrence S. Blumberg has served as Chairman of the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science (ACWIS) for the past six years. Larry, 66, is a New York attorney. He has represented many of the donors and estates that have provided significant support to the Weizmann Institute. leadership positions on the Weizmann International and Executive Boards since his first election in 1984 to its Board of Governors. The Blumberg family is a major source of support to the Institute, and Larry and his wife, Robin Lynn, are charter members of the President’s Circle. In recognition of his decades of work for and commitment to the Weizmann Institute mission, in 2001 the Institute awarded Larry a For Einstein Medical Center, a research research Medical Center, a For Einstein Research, is working with a Brazilian a Brazilian with is working Research, of UV radiation the effect on counterpart signaling. on cellular scientists regularly hospital where physicians, the connection interact with Institute is “natural,” to the Weizmann of Lottenberg, President says Dr. Claudio the Center, who visited Einstein Medical May to explore Weizmann Institute in collaboration new opportunities for medicine. – this time in personalized connection to “I’m very proud of the both personally the Weizmann Institute my as a Jew, because it strengthens and professionally connection to Israel, is one of the – because the Institute research.” world’s leaders in scientific Prof. David Mirelman is working with is working with Prof. David Mirelman birthday, held at Weizmann House and hosted by the British Council birthday, held at Weizmann House and hosted by the British Council up a mesenchymal stem cell technology stem cell technology up a mesenchymal core facility for Einstein transfer and in research Zipori specializes researchers. cells stromal progenitor on mesenchymal cell-based are an attractive (MSCs), which defects, for developmental therapy tool and tissue injuries. degenerating diseases on a genetically two Brazilian scientists causes amoebic modified parasite that modification dysentery. The genetic harmless; thus rendered the parasite against the it could serve as a vaccine in many illness, which is common For instance, in developing countries. the north of Brazil, the Amazon Basin in because potable the disease is prevalent by sewage. And water is often polluted Yale S. Lewine and Prof. Rony Seger, the Ella Miller Lewine Professor for Cancer th FALL 2013 FALL (l-r) British Ambassador to Israel Matthew Gould and Israel's President Shimon Peres raise a glass to Queen Elizabeth II raise a glass to Queen Elizabeth II (l-r) British Ambassador to Israel Matthew Gould and Israel's President Shimon Peres during a celebration in honor of her 87 Prof. Dov Zipori, the Joe and Celia Prof. Dov Zipori, the Joe and Celia Institute’s Prof. Yair Reisner, the Henry Henry Prof. Yair Reisner, the Institute’s of Immunology, H. Drake Professor Alice Feitosa Ribeiro and Dr. Andreza They are working at Einstein Hospital. stem cell together to improve for leukemia replacement therapy matching patients without a genetically rejection. donor, in order to minimize for elderly This is especially important tolerate intensive patients who cannot as well as radiation or chemotherapy, shared goal for other disorders. “Our is to streamline the bench-to-bedside therapy and organ process for new cell and to share transplantation techniques, clinicians and perspectives between basic researchers,” says Reisner. Weinstein Professor, is working with Einstein’s Dr. Anna Carla Goldberg to set around the world P 22 23 Larry Blumberg What is the Weizmann Institute to you? “So much. Of course it is a great scientific institution, but is has also become a home. I have made so many friends among its scientists and staff. My many trips to Institute meetings have connected me to Israel in so many ways. The Weizmann Institute is one of the most important things in my life, and I look forward to many decades of further involvement.” It is one of the world’s great scientific It is one of the world’s great scientific institutions − and it’s in Israel. Our work benefits humanity; it just happens to be done by Israelis in Israel. One of the models of the ACWIS donor is what we call a “Jewish maverick” − a person who is not actively connected to the Jewish institutional structure or Israeli politics. For this person, the Institute’s goal of science for the benefit of humanity and support for Israel is a perfect mix. The Weizmann Institute has something The Weizmann Institute has something Now, one of the things I am focused on Now, one of the things I am focused on What will motivate the next generation to continue to care about the Weizmann Institute and Israel? “My generation was strongly moved by the founding of Israel after the Holocaust, the War of Independence and the Six Day War, and especially by Israel’s ideals. Things are more complicated now, with fewer Americans visiting Israel and more diverse outlets for philanthropy. Visiting Israel and making personal connections is so important, and programs like Birthright Israel are effective and should be encouraged. special that many others don’t have: was well insulated from the scandal. It was well insulated from the scandal. It was a challenging time to be chairman, but the skills I learned then have served me well. is better engaging a new generation of leaders. Incoming ACWIS Chair Ellen Merlo and Larry Blumberg Incoming ACWIS Chair Ellen Merlo and Larry FALL 2013 FALL In the mid-1980s I helped ACWIS in its In the mid-1980s I helped ACWIS in its I became ACWIS chairman during a

“I have been involved, in one way or “I have been involved, in one way or another, in almost all the most significant gifts from ACWIS donors, mostly estates. It has been a privilege to witness people’s generosity and how they wish to be remembered, and to help them achieve their goals. efforts to attain a more sound financial footing for the Institute, and I was very proud of the role I played. during very challenging time in 2007, the height of the financial crisis and recession in the US. The Madoff fraud that followed a year later threw the world of Jewish philanthropy into shock and turmoil. Fortunately, the Institute What have been your biggest achievements and challenges over the years? years. I have made many friends among years. I have made many friends among the Institute’s scientists and developed other friendships that tie me to Israel. around the world P 24 25 Dr. Ilana Kolodkin-Gal In her new Weizmann Institute lab, In her new Weizmann Institute lab, Kolodkin-Gal also conducts studies too thick to let in nutrients and and too thick to let in nutrients bacterial waste. accumulate too much small molecules She managed to identify that are released by called D-amino acids Her studies bacteria to dissolve biofilms. other biofilm- suggest that these and she discovered dissolving molecules can be manipulated to break down existing biofilms as well as prevent their formation. Kolodkin-Gal carries these studies further. She intends to clarify, for instance, how their internal scaffolding holds the biofilms together, as well as investigate structural changes in the bacteria’s outer envelopes that affect their behavior within the biofilm community. Among the biofilms that are medically relevant, Kolodkin-Gal is particularly interested in those formed by Staphylococcus, a bacterium commonly involved in infectious diseases. on beneficial bacteria that might lead to ways of enhancing their communal organization − for example, to provide better protection for plant roots and reduce the need for chemical pesticides in agriculture. In yet another environmentally relevant project, new ideas for dealing with carbon dioxide, thought to be a major contributor to global warming, might be gleaned from biofilms that convert this gas into mineral deposits. Biofilms grant but the nature of poorly understood bacteria resistance to many antibiotics, this resistance is still On the other hand, biofilms that On the other hand, biofilms that During her postdoctoral studies at dangerous. Treatment of these infections dangerous. Treatment of these infections is particularly challenging because biofilms grant bacteria resistance to many antibiotics, but the nature of this resistance is still poorly understood. coat plant roots can be exceptionally beneficial, protecting the roots against pest invasions. Harvard, Kolodkin-Gal began to study the natural breakup of biofilms that sometimes occurs when they become up biofilms or, conversely, how to how to up biofilms or, conversely, can be of immense keep them together practical importance. Biofilms, for instance, tend to form on artificial heart valves, catheters, joint prostheses and virtually all other prosthetic devices implanted into the human body. Those that form on the wounds of people with diabetes or in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients are particularly gain extra protection. gain extra Biofilms Beating Dr. Ilana Kolodkin-Gal investigates Dr. Ilana FALL 2013 FALL from summa cum laude from live communally that bacteria or worse, For better As a student, Kolodkin-Gal became As a student, Kolodkin-Gal became Kolodkin-Gal earned her Ph.D. in Kolodkin-Gal earned her Ph.D. in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2009. That same year, she received an award from the Weizmann Institute’s National Postdoctoral Program for Advancing Women in Science, for which she is exceptionally grateful: It enabled her husband, Dr. Dror Kolodkin-Gal (both had adopted the hyphenated name when they married) to accompany her to Boston. Ilana joined the Weizmann Institute faculty in 2011; Dror conducts research in virology and cancer at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. interested in biofilms: giant communities of bacteria that thrive in a variety of situations. Their inhabitants, shielded by a matrix, are much better protected against environmental insults than free- living bacteria. Knowing how to break Setting up a new lab while raising a Setting up a new lab while raising a young child is challenging, but Dr. Ilana Kolodkin-Gal says the pressure is well worth it: “Biology is my third greatest love, after my husband and my son.” After giving birth to Yuval two years ago, in the midst of her postdoctoral studies at Harvard University, she didn’t cut down on work, only redistributed it: Since she could no longer stay in the lab till 9 pm, she made up for that by working through the weekend. Today, when her schedule is even more intense, she finds the time to write grant proposals and read books after 11:30 pm. microbiology

New Scientists N e w S cientists Solving the Sign Problem

Theoretical physicist Dr. Erez Berg’s research is leading to better models of high-temperature superconductivity

Growing up in Haifa, Dr. Erez Berg says lowest reaches of the temperature change in conditions can send the he first learned about physics from his scale − just a few degrees above absolute material from this state to one of father, an electrical engineer. By the zero (-273°C). superconductivity and vice versa, though time he finished high school, Berg was The discovery in the 1980s of high- the connection between the two states is already on his way to a promising career temperature superconductors, mainly not understood. in the field, taking a silver medal in that exotic ceramic compounds that gain Berg recently found a solution to a year’s International Physics Olympiad. He superconductive properties at somewhat problem that has plagued efforts to joined a prestigious army/study program, warmer temperatures (up to -137°C), model the transition to the new spin serving in the Theoretical Physics provided a ray of hope that the ultimate state. To work out the probability of a Division of Rafael, Israel’s Armament goal − room temperature superconductors particular physical process occurring Development Authority, while earning − might be achievable. But these new − for example, the movement of a his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the Technion materials soon presented physicists with particle between two points − physicists − Israel Institute of Technology. Berg take the sum of all paths through which continued on to Ph.D. studies in the process can take place. But when the theoretical condensed matter physics at process involves many particles, as in the Stanford University and a postdoctoral Berg’s recent movement of all the electrons in a fellowship at Harvard University, where research concerns material, the number of possible paths his research subjects included high- a phenomenon that becomes too large to calculate. Thus, temperature superconductors, strongly researchers have come up with a way of correlated materials and the topological was discovered over estimating the probability, dubbed the properties of matter. Berg joined the 100 years ago but Monte Carlo method because it is based Weizmann Institute’s Faculty of Physics remains mysterious on a random lottery of a small number of in 2012; he lives on campus with his representative paths. The problem is wife, Bar. even today that, when the total is around zero, the Berg’s recent research concerns a final result might be either positive or phenomenon that was discovered over negative. That switch in signs (called the 100 years ago but remains mysterious a new set of puzzles. In low-temperature sign problem) turns a small error in even today: superconductivity. In a superconductors, the electrons manage estimation into a much larger possible superconductor, all resistance to the to overcome their natural repulsion for error in prediction. passage of electric current disappears. one another and travel in pairs. But in the Berg found a way to avoid the sign Clearly such materials would be highly high-temperature materials, another problem in the Monte Carlo method useful: Electricity flowing through phenomenon also takes place: The spins − one that ensures a positive total. superconducting wires could travel long of their particles take on a new Computerized experiments using the distances without energy loss, electrical configuration such that the total of model seem to give results that fit well devices that don’t heat up could be all the spins averages around zero. This with observed reality, and Berg hopes devised and more. The only catch is that phenomenon is seen close to the that this will lead to lab experiments that superconductors mostly exist at the appearance of electron pairing: A small will test the model in the near future. Dr. Erez Berg

P 26 FALL 2013 27 Women in S cience Newly Hired Scientists include alumnae of overseas postdoc award program for women

Among the approximately one dozen Our New Women Scientists Dr. Noam Stern-Ginossar, who is joining new scientists who will join the Dr. Karen Michaeli is joining the the Molecular Genetics Department, Weizmann Institute’s faculty in 2013- Condensed Matter Physics Department, received her Ph.D. in Immunology at 2014, three are women − all three of where she completed her Ph.D. In the the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and whom were recipients of the Weizmann interim, she has been a Pappalardo continued her postdoctoral studies at the Institute’s National Postdoctoral Award Postdoctoral Fellow in the Physics University of California, San Francisco, in for Advancing Women in Science. Department at the Massachusetts its Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology This nationwide program was founded Institute of Technology. Her research Department. There, she used a at the Institute in 2007 to address the focuses on electron correlations, which combination of techniques to study the need to increase the number of women lie at the heart of quantum condensed complete set of expressed proteins of who choose science as a career and the matter physics. Interactions between the human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). percentage of women in top academic electrons can drive transitions into a This deeper look at HCMV provides faculty positions. The program is meant plethora of new phases, ranging from the first steps toward understanding to help young women through the magnets to superconductors. Michaeli how this virus and others hijack human main bottleneck that prevents many of is particularly interested in exploring cells during infection. At the Weizmann them from continuing on to academic the novel phases arising from strong Institute, Stern-Ginossar will continue to positions in Israel: the need to conduct interactions and the signatures of delve into the study of viruses in order postdoctoral research in the world’s the corresponding unconventional to decode the processes which occur Dr. Karina Yaniv (right) accepts the Capmany Award from leading labs in the US and Europe. quasiparticles in electron transport and during viral infection that have so far a representative of the Barcelona city council By the time they have completed other measurements. Dr. Michal Rivlin been overlooked, with the potential of their Ph.D.s, many women have young revealing fundamental cellular principles. families, and the expense of moving Dr. Michal Rivlin completed her Ph.D. Maria Aurèlia The 27th Maria Aurèlia Capmany Award the entire family abroad for several in the Interdisciplinary Center for was given to the Institute for its National years can be prohibitive. Each year, Neural Computation at the Hebrew Capmany Award Postdoctoral Award for Advancing the Weizmann Institute gives special University of Jerusalem and was a Women in Science. Supported by the awards to 10 outstanding young women postdoctoral fellow in the Molecular to the Weizmann Charles H. Revson Foundation in New who have completed their doctorates and Cell Biology Department and the York, the Clore Israel Foundation and in the natural or exact sciences in one Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the Institute additional philanthropic sources, this of Israel’s academic institutions and University of California, Berkeley. She is program gives young women additional have been accepted to a postdoctoral joining the Neurobiology Department. On International Women’s Day, grants, on top of fellowships they have position abroad. The program is headed Rivlin studies the retina of the eye and March 4, the Weizmann Institute of already received, to move their families by the Weizmann Institute’s Adviser to its relation to neuronal circuitry. The Science received an award from the abroad so they can conduct postdoctoral the President for Advancing Women in retina has a simple layered structure and city of Barcelona for its commitment to research in leading labs around the Science, Prof. Varda Rotter. yet it performs complex computations advancing young women in science. Dr. world. Since the program was founded on the visual field. She has studied the Karina Yaniv, incumbent of the Louis at the Institute in 2007, 64 women have direction-selective retinal ganglion cells and Ida Rich Career Development Chair, received these awards, and the benefits that encode motion and her findings a successful woman scientist and native to Israeli science are already being felt. represent a paradigm shift in our Spanish speaker, accepted the award in As of March, 17 of the young women understanding of retinal circuits as well the name of the Institute in Barcelona city had already completed their postdoctoral Dr. Karen Michaeli as of the entire visual pathway. hall from members of the city council’s research and returned to academic Dr. Noam Stern-Ginossar section for Women and Civil Rights. positions in Israel.

P 28 FALL 2013 29 P 30 31 During the Gruber Award ceremony, Gruber Award ceremony, During the worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Johns fellow at Johns as a postdoctoral worked of Medicine School University Hopkins as an to 2006. She served from 2003 and independent assistant professor with the Cancer Genetics investigator the (US) National Human Branch of NIH. Institute at the Genome Research that, “It is hard to Patricia Gruber noted have passed since believe that 10 years with the we started our association but we could not be Weizmann Institute, with all the more proud to be associated cutting-edge work.” filled to capacity. Some of this year’s attendees got an filled to capacity. Some of this year’s attendees got an added dollop of culture: Several poets and writers who deal with science-related topics read from their work during the evening. In the photo: Anat Arzi, a student in the neurobiology group of Prof. Noam Sobel, describes her findings on a unique type of sleep learning in which volunteers learned to associate smells with sounds. Samuels received her B.Sc. from her B.Sc. from Samuels received that she accepted our offer to join our our our offer to join that she accepted a very comfortable ranks, leaving of the National Institutes position in of which is at the center Health (NIH), area.” that happens in this everything Cambridge Newnham College at and earned an University, UK, in 1993, and Cancer M.Sc. in Immunology University of Research at the Hebrew Medical School, in Jerusalem, Hadassah a Ph.D. in 1997. She completed at the Ludwig Molecular Cancer Biology Imperial Institute for Cancer Research, Samuels College, London, in 2002. Science on Tap A unique event in which Weizmann Institute scientists go to bars, coffee shops and restaurants in Tel Aviv to talk about their subjects was bigger and better than ever this year. The event took place midweek at the end of April in 61 different venues in the city and, as always, they were investigators: the New Horizons in in the New Horizons investigators: that That honor indicates Physics Prize. right selecting the “we are probably for the Gruber Award,” candidates “We will remarked Israel Bar-Joseph, current recipient in hear more about the Prof. Yardena the coming years, too. and her Samuels is part of a revolution, Institute is arrival at the Weizmann the most profound generating it. One of lately is to decisions we have taken Center for establish the Israel National She is the perfect Personalized Medicine. that would make example of a researcher we were thrilled use of the Center, and At the award ceremony, Samuels At the award ceremony, Samuels Dr. Zohar Komargodski, the sixth One of her discoveries, a mutation found One of her discoveries, a mutation found in nearly one-fifth of all melanoma cases, was particularly encouraging because it is located in a gene already targeted by a drug approved for certain types of breast cancer, and preliminary clinical trials are under way. Her studies provide the kind of data required for truly personalized cancer therapy. thanked the Grubers for what she considered a great honor, explaining that, “the award will help me greatly in establishing my new lab at the Weizmann Institute.” Gruber Award recipient, in 2012, recently received one of the highest honors given today to young A three-way videoconference ceremony A three-way videoconference ceremony Samuels uses the power of DNA enabled seven rising talents from the enabled seven rising talents from the Weizmann Institute, including Samuels, to develop research in a variety of fields, including neurobiology, particle physics, astrophysics and organic chemistry. between the University of the US Virgin Islands in St. Thomas, the Weizmann Institute and Belgium was held on April 23, 2013; Prof. Israel Bar-Joseph, Weizmann Institute Vice President for Resource Development and Public Affairs, participated in the ceremony with Samuels, and Patricia Gruber and her guests. sequencing to identify new groups of genetic mutations involved in the deadliest form of skin cancer: melanoma.

Prof. Yardena Samuels FALL 2013 FALL

Yardena Samuels Prof. Yardena Samuels, the Knell Family Professor, is the 2013 recipient of the Peter and Patricia Gruber Award for Scientific Excellence, funded by Patricia and Peter Gruber of St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. The award funds the work of promising young scientists for a period of three years. Supported by the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation and part of the Foundation’s International Young Scientists Award, the award has Geneticist Prof. to Cancer Gruber Award awaplanetrdsary science P 32 33 Profs. Yair Reisner and Idit Shachar

and and ® , in clinical trials for , in clinical trials for ® for multiple sclerosis, as well for multiple sclerosis, as well ® Weizmann Institute research involves Weizmann Institute research involves uterus to help prepare the “nursery” uterus to help prepare the “nursery” for a new embryo. for a new embryo. many different aspects of the immune system. Treatments for autoimmune diseases, including Copaxone as Diapep277 type 1 diabetes, are just some of the type 1 diabetes, are just some of the applications to arise from Institute labs. Other research explores ways of using the immune system to fight cancer, how white blood cells get to infection sites and the genetics of the immune system, among other things. The following is a mere sample of recent immune system- related research at the Institute. Rebif Science populations before immune systems populations before immune systems kick in. And then there are autoimmune diseases, in which immune cells attack the body’s own tissues; these are estimated to affect up to 12% of the population − more than heart disease or cancer. Our immune system also plays a role in cancer − both in aiding cancer growth and in preventing its progression. And recent research has been turning up some surprising new roles for the immune system. For example, a study in the lab of the Weizmann Institute’s Prof. Steffen Jung revealed that a type of immune cell called a dendritic cell, more often known to patrol the body looking for potential threats, congregates in the FALL 2013 FALL System Immune Epithelial cells (blue) in the lining of the small intestine. Dendritic cells (green) intestine. Dendritic cells (green) Epithelial cells (blue) in the lining of the small the lab of Dr. Guy Shakhar reach between them to grab pathogens. From The complexity of the human immune The complexity of the human immune system is rivaled only by that of our brains. While its enemies − pathogenic bacteria, viruses and fungi − manage by mutating and evolving rapidly, such longer-lived organisms as humans have had to evolve a system that is stable, yet highly adaptable; selective, yet able to respond to a broad range of threats; fast-acting, yet long-lasting. So it is no surprise that, for all of its wonders, our immune system seems to be constantly under construction. There are failures − spectacular ones like HIV, in which the virus hides out in immune cells − as well as such relatively common ones as new flu strains that can sweep through

The Human Body Th e H u m a n B o dy

Two-photon microscope image of dendritic cells (green) around blood vessels (red) in the wall (l-r) Dr. Guy Shakhar and Prof. Steffen Jung of the large intestine (blue). From the lab of Dr. Guy Shakhar

Gut reaction Jung and Dr. Guy Shakhar − have been promoting inflammation, even after One of the more fascinating revelations working together to uncover the details the infection has cleared, rather than Convincing expressed in excess on the cells’ surface. In a recent of recent years has to do with the of the relationship. preventing it. study, they investigated a link in that chain − a protein makeup of our gut microbiota − the Research led by Jung’s lab has focused The gut microbiota forms a sort of Cancer Cells to Die called CD84. billions of bacteria that reside in the on immune cells, called macrophages bacterial ecosystem that generally CD84, like CD74, is highly overproduced in cancer and, intestines of each and every one of us. (literally, big eaters), which help keep exists in harmony with the immune Long life is not always a blessing, at least in the case of because it is also found on the cell’s outer surface, the These bacterial communities, which add our insides clean and healthy by clearing system. How does the immune system certain lymphocytes − white blood cells. When these researchers thought that it might present a good target for around two kilos to our weight, are vital up debris − used cells, dead bacteria, differentiate between these and harmful normally short-lived cells refuse to die − in such cancer as treatment. Working with malignant cells from CLL patients, to maintaining our health − helping us etc. Rather than arriving in the gut fully bacteria, for example Salmonella, which chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) − they accumulate in Shachar and her team, along with physicians from Kaplan digest our food and train our immune formed, macrophages are released from even in low numbers can infiltrate the small blood vessels, lymph nodes and bone marrow. This Medical Center, created antibodies against CD84 and added system, among other things. Scientists the blood in a precursor form called peaceful gut community and cause common form of leukemia is mostly incurable, and the them to the cell cultures. The cancer cells died. Shachar are just beginning to understand the monocytes. Among other things, to disease? Using a two-photon microscope treatments often have serious side effects. and her team are continuing to investigate the actions of ways in which our microbiota and our become a full-fledged macrophage, a that enabled them to observe goings-on Prof. Idit Shachar, the Dr. Morton and Anne Kleiman CD84 to understand exactly how blocking it can shorten the immune systems communicate. There monocyte must receive training within in the gut lining in real time, Shakhar and Professor, wants to know how the disease-causing cells cells’ lifespan, but they believe that future treatments which are some indications, for example, the context of the gut. The team’s his team watched as Salmonella bacteria manage to stay alive. She and her group had discovered that specifically target this protein might be better at killing the that inflammatory bowel disease, an findings suggest that if newly arrived entered a mouse’s small intestine. The a protein on the cell membrane, CD74, can be activated by cancerous cells and cause fewer side effects than today’s autoinflammatory disorder, might be tied monocytes stumble upon a scene of Salmonella latched on to the cells lining messengers outside the cell, setting off a chain of events chemotherapy. to upsets in the microbiota balance or to gut inflammation − from an infection, the gut − something that normal gut that promotes survival. In CLL, CD74 is produced and problems in the crosstalk between the for example − their education can be bacteria don’t seem to do − prompting bacteria and the immune system. Two disrupted. If, as a result, they receive the intestinal cells to send a message Institute immunologists − Prof. Steffen the wrong lesson, they can end up to the immune system. Within half an P 34 FALL 2013 35 P 36 37 They also found that, over time, They also found that, over time, specialized immune cells. When the specialized immune cells. When the CNS is injured, healing immune cells can travel to the injury site through the choroid plexi, rather than having to cross the blood-brain barrier. the choroid plexi’s immune cells can undergo subtle shifts, similar to those seen in the rest of the immune system as it ages. These changes can lead to inflammation of the barrier, something Schwartz calls “rusty brain syndrome.” Because this malfunction bears a resemblance to certain other immune system diseases of filters, for example, asthma in the lungs, she believes it will be possible, in the future, to develop methods of treating or preventing age- related memory loss. Schwartz and her team, including her Schwartz and her team, including her in the CNS, while a parallel study in her in the CNS, while a parallel study in her lab has shown that the brain, like the rest of the body, is susceptible to the problems of an aging immune system. student Kuti Baruch, and in collaboration with Dr. Nir Friedman, incumbent of the Pauline Recanati Career Development Chair, found that a unique store of immune cells is maintained within structures in the brain called the choroid plexi. These structures, with their fingerlike extensions that reach into the brain, are middlemen in the exchange of nutrients and waste products between the brain’s cerebrospinal fluid and the blood. Although the choroid plexi present another barrier − the cerebrospinal-fluid barrier − Schwartz and her team found that this barrier was more of a gateway, guarded by the In the choroid plexus: T lymphocytes (red) in the stroma (green), outside the in the stroma (green), outside the In the choroid plexus: T lymphocytes (red) of Prof. Michal Schwartz endothelial capillaries (blue). From the lab For over a decade, Prof. Michal For over a decade, Prof. Michal Immunity in the brain Our brain and central nervous system (CNS) have extra layers of shielding that separate them from the rest of the body. This so-called blood-brain barrier keeps out many pathogens, as well as other substances, including many drugs. For years, it was thought that this barrier should always block the entry of immune system cells. Schwartz, the Maurice and Ilse Katz Professor of Neuroimmunology, and her team have been overturning that assumption, showing that certain immune cells not only act on the brain and CNS, but may be essential for the upkeep of certain functions, including learning and memory. Her most recent research has shown exactly how healing immune cells get directed to injury sites In recent years, research groups around around research groups In recent years, In his Weizmann lab, Diskin, among out in these cells for years without being being cells for years without out in these the immune system. detected by the have been investigating the world who of the lucky few immune systems but do not test positive for the virus to learn the secret develop AIDS, hoping his postdoctoral of their resistance. In Institute of work at the California Diskin, incumbent Technology, Dr. Ron of the Tauro Career Development a Chair in Biomedical Research, recently joined crystallographer who faculty, and the Weizmann Institute a crucial piece of his colleagues solved why the this puzzle. They investigated developed to antibodies these people more mutations the virus carried many some of them than a normal antibody, in unexpected sites on their structures. While most antibodies sport mutations in the sites that actually make contact with the pathogen, these antibodies also bore changes in sites that impart structural support. In experiments, these mutations proved essential to the antibodies’ efficiency. Since HIV is, itself, a master of mutation, the antibody mutations could be a sort of “fighting fire with fire” strategy that enables them to attack a broad range of virus structures. other things, intends to attempt reveal the structure of a triple protein complex on the HIV envelop that enables it to infect immune cells. While parts of the single-protein structure have been solved, researchers have not yet obtained a detailed enough picture of the entire complex to understand exactly how it works, or how it might be blocked. Prof. Tsvee Lapidot, the Edith Arnoff Stein Professor Prof. Tsvee Lapidot, the Edith Arnoff Stein Professor prevent their differentiation, thus ensuring a viable prevent their differentiation, thus ensuring a viable reservoir of stem cells to supply blood and immune cells for the next time. in Stem Cell Research, and his student Dr. Aya Ludin led a team that revealed exactly how these macrophages prevent stem cell differentiation. On the one hand, their research provides an explanation for why certain stem cells often survive chemotherapy and, on the other, it has led to insight that may improve the efficiency of a leukemia treatment based on stem cells extracted from umbilical cord blood. the bacteria spiny dendritic layers of the gut through the upper the through cells could be seen lining and grabbing Within half an hour, Within half an hour, squeezing their way The research involves immune cells cells immune involves The research could exert a protective effect. When the could exert a protective effect. When the scientists grafted skin from black mice onto white mice, along with a dose of the improved veto cells, the white mice tolerated the grafts well, with just mild suppression of their immune systems. massive immune suppression. suppression. immune massive are veto cells. These cells known as cells, to the host’s immune highly toxic with ready-made poisons killing them host cells have a chance before the Reisner and his team to fight back. that are in creating veto cells succeeded but still manage less toxic than normal, those immune to preemptively eliminate are meant to reject cells in the host that enabled them. Further experimentation the veto cells the researchers to equip that directed with a navigation system where they them to the lymph nodes, Resisting HIV HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, manages to infiltrate the very immune cells that are meant to fight infection. It can hide

FALL 2013 FALL

Members of the macrophage family − the same types of Members of the macrophage family − the same types of immune cells that clean up debris around our bodies and kill invading bacteria − were recently discovered carrying out a different task altogether. A rare sub-population of macrophages actually puts a damper on immune system activity by holding back some of the stem cells in the bone marrow from differentiating into blood immune cells. In cases of infection, for instance, when a call goes out to the bone marrow for extra immune cells, these macrophages take some of the stem cells under their wing and physically Saving Stem Cells By fitting together various pieces of pieces of By fitting together various Research in the lab of Prof. Yair Research in the lab of Prof. Yair hour, spiny dendritic cells could be seen seen could be cells spiny dendritic hour, the upper way through their squeezing the gut lining and grabbing layers of the off to they then hauled bacteria, which system nodes − the immune the lymph and for assessing a threat headquarters an all-out attack on invading launching pathogens. in the gut, the inflammatory process to be able to the researchers hope flare-ups of suggest ways of preventing disease, a problem inflammatory bowel for which there that affects millions and treatment, is no cure and little effective today. Tolerance for donor immune cells Bone marrow transplants can involve a clash between two immune systems: that of the donor and that of the recipient. Even when the match between the two is good, recipients must often take drugs that strongly suppress the immune system to prevent rejection of the transplanted cells. And, occasionally, graft-versus-host disease can develop, in which the foreign immune cells attack the recipient’s own immune system. Reisner, the Henry H. Drake Professor of Immunology, may be pointing the way toward an end to the hostilities. In addition to making bone marrow transplants safer, methods based on his research could make the procedure available to those suffering from such debilitating but non-fatal disorders as sickle-cell anemia, as well as elderly people who are too frail to endure

The Human Body e du c a

tion At Home with Science and Math Two innovative science teaching programs bring physics and math professional development to teachers’ doorsteps, thanks to funding from the Trump Foundation of Israel

Israeli math teachers have taken a page Israel and focuses on advancing science experiences of their colleagues. from the playbook of professional sports and math education in Israeli schools. Although math video clubs are − the video playback analysis. These master teachers are expected prevalent in the US, their focus is In a new program, researchers from the to lead similar sessions with their typically on student thinking rather than Institute’s Science Teaching Department colleagues. In this way, they hope to on teaching practices, says Karsenty. are filming math lessons all over Israel. create a trickle-down effect in which American teachers who were recently Physics teachers at an end-of-year get-together at the Clore Garden of Science The footage then becomes a platform for a wide peer network of math teachers exposed to the project found this reflective discussions with teachers that will continue developing their skills. approach refreshing and constructive, aim to raise the quality of math teaching. The footage will be available online, she adds. The program, named VIDEO-LM ultimately forming a searchable The Weizmann Institute’s Science (Viewing, Investigating and Discussing web-based film bank accessible to Teaching Department is a national Environments of Learning Mathematics), leader in math and science education, The program, also funded by the Trump improving the activities, and the teachers bringing each one’s activity into a aims at raising teachers’ awareness of conducting cutting-edge research on Foundation, aims to “cultivate high- report an improvement in their skills − wider and more significant context, and their teaching practices and decisions, instruction and learning in the sciences; quality, creative and appealing teaching and their students’ learning. offering a unique model of professional prior to and during lessons. The Teachers meet generating fresh learning, teaching by bringing the subject to the teachers’ The number of participating development for outstanding teachers.” program is “unique in both Israeli and regularly to watch and and assessment materials geared regions so they can balance work and communities doubled in the second year, Kobi Schwartzbord, a physics international terms,” says Dr. Ronnie analyze filmed lesson toward enhancing student learning and professional development without one and it is expected to further increase teacher and a community leader in the Karsenty, who heads the program with motivation; and offering professional coming at the expense of the other,” next year, including the addition of program, says his participation was a Prof. Abraham Arcavi of that department. footage together, development for teachers. she says. In its second year of activity, online communities. “The quality of natural extension of his experience The duo leads a team that consists of not unlike a football A second new program offers advanced the program involves 75 teachers in six the teacher is the decisive element in in the Rothschild-Weizmann Program experienced math teachers who edit, training for physics teachers close to communities throughout Israel, thereby learning − it affects students’ knowledge for Excellence in Science Teaching transcribe and analyze these lessons, team and coach going home, in a regional instruction format reaching thousands of students. and grades, their interest level and their at the Weizmann Institute. The M.Sc. as well as others from abroad. In the through a play-by- that aims to foster teacher communities. Each regional group is led by teachers desire to take physics once it becomes program offers advanced professional current pilot year, they have also play retrospective “Physics is a particularly challenging high who are trained by Eylon, Bagno, Dr. an elective subject,” says Bagno. “One development to active science and math established a forum of lead teachers who school subject, demanding high-quality Hana Berger, Ph.D. student Smadar Levy, of our points of focus is customizing teachers. meet regularly to watch and analyze instruction and typically attracting only and other members of the department. the teaching to the learners, so that we “Physics teachers invest a great amount filmed lesson footage together, not unlike the most talented students. The field is In biweekly meetings at the Weizmann can reach beyond the top students to of time and effort at home, outside of a football team and coach going through teachers from anywhere, says Arcavi. rapidly developing, and teachers must Institute, the leaders are exposed to recognize each student’s capabilities and school hours, so commuting to the a play-by-play retrospective. In this The repository will serve multiple keep up with those developments as well new activities and methods, which they talents.” Weizmann Institute on a regular basis for way the teachers sharpen mathematical purposes, from providing ideas on how as developments in the teaching of the then present in their regional groups. Dr. Tammy Halamish Eisenmann, the professional training courses is difficult,” ideas, discuss the lesson’s goals and to approach a problematic topic, to subject,” says Prof. Bat Sheva Eylon, Head They later report on their experiences Trump Foundation’s Program Officer he says. “The close-to-home communities arising dilemmas, reflect on reactions to enabling teachers from geographically of the Science Teaching Department. She using the new activities and approaches − who is also an alumna of the Science make this easier, providing materials and students’ answers and learn from one distant locations to participate in a directs the Physics Teachers’ Professional in class, and their feedback is relayed Teaching Department − says: “The ideas teachers can take to class, and a another. The program is funded by the professional community of teachers, to Learning Communities program with back to the department’s staff. This program creates a bridge connecting network of peers who learn from one Trump Foundation, which is based in enabling teachers to capitalize on the Dr. Esther Bagno. bidirectional process leads to honing and individual teachers to their colleagues, another.”

P 38 FALL 2013 39 e du c a tion Spotlight on ISEF Students

Reut Yosef is conducting research on why cells die. Cell death is a normal biological process but one that plays a New Prize Established role in age-related diseases and tissue aging. Interested in better understanding this process, called cell senescence, Reut by UK Donors is studying towards her Ph.D. in the lab of Dr. Valery Krizhanovsky, incumbent of the Carl and Frances Korn Career for outstanding research Development Chair in the Life Sciences . Her interest in this area developed and written English during her master’s degree studies with Prof. Avraham Ben-Nun, the Eugene and Marcia Applebaum Professor, when she A new annual prize was recently War II. Having experienced arrests and The Lonia and Jose Roth Memorial studied the effect of a particular protein inaugurated at the Weizmann Institute the camps, they survived the Holocaust Prize was instituted by Nelson, Joyce and on multiple sclerosis. of Science, recognizing, for the first without ever having lost their admiration Dr. Alan Roth in memory of their parents Throughout these critical years of her time, the written communication skills for science and fine writing. They and to honor their lifelong support of advanced education − and during her of Ph.D graduates. The first Lonia and remained devoted followers of scientific the Weizmann Institute of Science and undergraduate degree at the Technion − Jose Roth Memorial Prize was conferred achievement and world literature for the of Israel. Reut has received grants from the ISEF by President Prof. Daniel Zajfman at rest of their lives. Foundation, which supports hundreds the annual graduation ceremony of the of Israelis from underserved and Feinberg Graduate School in May. The immigrant communities through living prize went to Dr. Arren Bar Even, whose stipends and/or tuition expenses. At the thesis focused on the design principles Weizmann Institute, where all students of cellular metabolism. attend tuition-free, ISEF grants are used The Roth Prize recognizes the by recipients as personal living stipends. exceptional research achievements of a In addition to the financial assistance Ph.D. candidate or recent graduate who she receives, says Reut, ISEF alumni and has communicated research outcomes current students comprise a worldwide in a Ph.D. thesis or publication with network that she hopes and expects will an equally high standard of writing in “be a very powerful tool once I finish my Reut Yosef and Eldad Marom English. The ability to write well is a Ph.D.” critical skill required of scientists at all Since its founding in 1977 by the late put my efforts into my Ph.D studies at students,” she says. stages of their careers, one that goes Edmond J. Safra, his wife, Lily, and Nina the Weizmann Institute and broaden “It is exciting to see the progress hand-in-hand with lucid organization Weiner − its president still today − ISEF the scope of my research,” says Eldad ISEF has made in 36 years of success of scientific thought. The prize has awarded 19,000 scholarships; more Marom, who is studying in the Science stories,” says Weiner. "We are extremely serves to inspire Weizmann Institute than half of the recipients are the first in Teaching Department. happy to have been able to increase Ph.D. candidates to strive toward their families to be educated beyond high Weiner says that ISEF, which originally the number of our scholarships from communicating well and effectively school. In addition to Reut, there are targeted Sephardi students, now makes 250 each year to 500, to be distributing sharing their results with the scientific currently three other students on campus grants across the Israeli population, and our scholarships to students at 20 community at large. who have received ISEF grants. the percentage of female students has institutions of higher learning in Israel, Lonia and Jose M. Roth were Polish “Being a member of the ISEF grown to about half, up from one-fifth and to have increased our percentage Jews whose formative years were Foundation (as a grantee) has enabled in the early years. “ISEF is dedicated to of women to 52 percent, up from 15-20 disrupted by the outbreak of World Dr. Arren Bar Even me to focus on my academics − to empowering hundreds of outstanding percent in our early years.”

P 40 FALL 2013 41 P 42 43 The text is central to the composition, the composition, The text is central to and enlightenment, ultimately becoming becoming and enlightenment, ultimately of Amos: “New a quote from the Book mountains and wine will drip from the and I will bring my flow from all the hills, exile.” people Israel back from the Tree of which moves between of Life. Strongly Knowledge and the Tree drive of humans hinting at the endless to create, the work is a call to nurture knowledge for the benefit of the living. Knowledge, it tells us, leads to growth and to life itself. residence that is currently undergoing undergoing residence that is currently first bas relief renovation. This is the would go on to Karavan created; he main assembly hall create the wall in the The work of the Knesset in 1964-1965. relief carvings of echoes the ancient bas Egypt. In it, plant Assyria, Babylon and elements are intertwined with Hebrew letters, reminding the viewer of the Tree of Knowledge. The Tree of Knowledge is created out of primordial chaos, and the snake is an essential element in the creation of the Tree. The letters form words and sentences relating to wisdom in flight and crashing to Earth and crashing in flight The angle of the scroll suggests that it that suggests of the scroll The angle hovers in the balance – between taking off – between in the balance hovers (1962-1964) (1962-1964) The sculpture incorporates both both The sculpture incorporates graces the entrance to the Charles graces the entrance to the Charles Clore International House, a student Between the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life Between the Tree of Knowledge Between the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life fire and water; the latter trickles, like trickles, like fire and water; the latter faces of the tears, down the inner fire is a channel stones. Leading to the ties – of wood containing two railway by Chaim and iron. Words spoken at a Zionist Weizmann in Yiddish congress encircle the base of the sculpture. sculpture, of bronze and stone, depicts sculpture, of bronze and stone, depicts a Torah scroll split in half along its length and bathed in natural light. The white stone cube on which the scroll is precariously tilted is also split through. The scroll is burnt and engraved with names of Jews who perished in the Holocaust and the numbers tattooed on their arms. The angle of the scroll suggests that it hovers in the balance – between taking off in flight and crashing to Earth. (1971-1972) is the central (1971-1972) is the central Sculpture: Sculpture: Karavan Dani work is exhibited in various acclaimed work is exhibited in various acclaimed museums, and he has received numerous international awards, including being named a UNESCO Artist for Peace, an Israel Prize for sculpture in 1977 and the Praemium Imperiale of Japan in 1998. ictims of the Memorial to the Victims of the Holocaust feature of Memorial Plaza, near feature of Memorial Plaza, near Weizmann House and the Davidson Institute of Science Education. The FALL 2013 FALL Memorial to the Victims of the Holocaust Dani Karavan, one of Israel’s preeminent Dani Karavan, one of Israel’s preeminent artists, left his mark on the Weizmann Institute through several important works. Karavan was born in Tel Aviv in 1930, the son of the chief landscape architect of Tel Aviv. He began studying art at age 14 in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, continuing his education in Florence and Paris. Karavan, who represented Israel in the 1976 Biennale of Venice, has become known around the world for his site- specific environmental sculptures. His onpla cnetamparuys science P 44 45 Havron says he has remained close to Havron says he has remained close to where they are today: in Rehovot. the Weizmann Institute, seeing members of his class rise in their fields and even become dean of their faculties. “Today, I tell students starting out that it’s not what you study, it’s what you learn,” he says with another laugh. “It is what I learned at the Institute, and over the years, that has brought me to where I am today.” In April 2013, Prolor Biotech In April 2013, Prolor Biotech Kiryat Weizmann Science Park. Today Kiryat Weizmann Science Park. Today Prolor has 30 employees, a third of them alumni of the Weizmann Institute. announced that it had signed a definitive merger agreement under which OPKO Health Inc., a US based pharmaceutical company, will acquire Prolor in the largest acquisition deal ever made in the Israeli bio-pharmaceutical industry. Following the closure of the deal, Prolor’s operations will continue on Prolor, which started as a Haifa-based Prolor, which started as a Haifa-based technologies: one licensed from technologies: one licensed from Washington University in St. Louis and the second from the Weizmann Institute. These technologies have the potential to dramatically reduce the injection frequency of therapeutic recombinant proteins and peptides. incubator company, was reincorporated by Havron and his partner in 2005. They raised funds to get the company on its feet and started operating it in Dr. Avri Havron , the multiple , the multiple ® Havron then moved to Biotechnology Havron then moved to Biotechnology When the Israeli conglomerate Clal Havron’s most recent project is development; the company had obtained had obtained development; the company the patent for Rebif sclerosis drug developed by Weizmann sclerosis drug developed by Weizmann Institute researcher Prof. Michel Revel, through Yeda, the Institute’s technology transfer arm. Though he did not see the product all the way to market, he “had the privilege of working on one of the first Israeli drugs to be developed and marketed by a major international firm.” General, a company started and run by another Weizmann Institute alumnus, Prof. Haim Aviv. In his 12 years there as vice president for manufacturing and product development, Havron worked on several projects, some of them involving Institute discoveries. Industries decided to invest in biotech, in 1999, Havron and yet another Weizmann graduate, the late Dr. David Haselkorn took the reins. For the next four years with Haselkorn as CEO and Havron as CTO, Clal Biotech invested in and guided a number of startups. Prolor Biotech Inc., a clinical-stage, biopharmaceutical public company developing long-acting versions of therapeutic drugs utilizing two international firm” “I had the privilege Dr. Avri Havron: Dr. Avri Havron: to be developed and the first Israeli drugs of working on one of marketed by a major Building Industry In 1980, Israel Makov, later CEO of In 1980, Israel Makov, later CEO of After receiving a scholarship through After receiving a scholarship through strides in academe, he realized his future strides in academe, he realized his future would be in a different world. Havron’s infectious laugh surfaces when he says: “I wanted more action!” the Israeli pharmaceutical firm Teva, invited him to return to Israel and join the founding team of Interpharm, a daughter company of the Swiss firm Serono. Havron headed research and a solid grounding in those areas − one a solid grounding in those areas − one that set me on my future path.” the Institute for postdoctoral studies, Havron went to Harvard University, where he worked on developing contrast agents in the new field of computerized tomography. But even as he was making CEO of Prolor Biotech CEO of Prolor Biotech Biotech Israel’s FALL 2013 FALL Havron grew up in Pardess Hanna, Havron grew up in Pardess Hanna, Dr. Avri Havron has been one of the Dr. Avri Havron has been one of the leaders of Israel’s biotech industry since its early days. The Kiryat Weizmann Science Park in Rehovot, which is today home to hundreds of high-tech offices had “just three or four buildings back then,” he recalls. In the intervening years, Havron has held senior positions in some of the country’s most successful firms, as well as being involved in some 15 startups. And he has managed to do it all without leaving Rehovot. and he received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in chemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. When he decided to move in the direction of biochemistry, a friend of the family suggested the Weizmann Institute. “He told me I would get along well with the people there. He wasn’t wrong,” he says. Havron conducted his Ph.D. studies under the late Profs. Dov Elad and Yossi Sperling of the Organic Chemistry Department. “I was Yossi’s first student,” he recalls. “I had debated continuing my studies − this was during the Yom Kippur War − and I had not been especially interested in proteins. But then I was exposed to the world of protein science and to a wide variety of research methods. The Institute gave me alumni We would like to thank all of the generous supporters of the Weizmann Institute research and Thank You activity reported in these pages

Prof. Oded Aharonson Dr. Eran Elinav Dr. Nir Friedman Dr. Tali Kimchi Prof. Tsvee Lapidot Prof. David Mirelman Environmental Sciences and Immunology Immunology Neurobiology Immunology Biological Chemistry Energy Research The Benoziyo Endowment Fund Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Erica A. Drake and Robert Drake, The Helen Kimmel Center for for the Advancement of Science for Neurological Diseases for Neurological Diseases Charitable Trust Scarsdale, NY Planetary Science, which he heads Abisch Frenkel Foundation for the Clore Center for Biological Physics Murray H. and Meyer Grodetsky Center J & R Center for Scientific Research Promotion of Life Sciences The Henry Chanoch Krenter Institute for for Research of Higher Brain Functions Prof. Avraham Levy Prof. Yosef Nir Estate of Joseph and Erna Lazard The Gurwin Family Fund for Biomedical Imaging and Genomics The Joan and Jonathan Birnbach Family Plant Sciences Particle Physics and Astrophysics Scientific Research Victor Pastor Fund for Cellular Laboratory Fund Dana and Yossie Hollander, Israel Center for Experimental Physics, Prof. Roy Bar-Ziv Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Disease Research Abisch Frenkel Foundation for the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley which he heads Materials and Interfaces Charitable Trust Abraham and Sonia Rochlin Foundation Promotion of Life Sciences Charitable Trust Yeda-Sela Center for Basic Research Yael and Rami Ungar, Israel Adelis Foundation Peter and Patricia Gruber Awards Brazilian Friends of the Weizmann Dr. Roee Ozeri Estate of Jack Gitlitz Norman E. Alexander Family Foundation Mike and Valeria Rosenbloom through Institute of Science Physics of Complex Systems Prof. Ed Bayer Estate of Lydia Hershkovich Jeanne and Joseph Nissim Foundation the Mike Rosenbloom Foundation European Research Council Crown Photonics Center Biological Chemistry for Life Sciences Research Harris Foundation for Brain Research The Jacob and Charlotte Lehrman Yeda-Sela Center for Basic Research Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Dr. Ayelet Erez Crown Endowment Fund for Estate of Fannie Sherr Foundation Wolfson Family Charitable Trust Charitable Trust Biological Regulation Immunological Research Prof. Levy heads the Melvyn Martin Kushner Schnur, Mexico Brazilian Friends of the Weizmann Adelis Foundation Estate of John Hunter Dr. Ilana Kolodkin-Gal A. Dobrin Center for Nutrition Institute of Science Joseph Piko Baruch, Israel Estate of Suzy Knoll Molecular Genetics and Plant Research; the Charles W. Prof. Yair Reisner Dukler Fund for Cancer Research The Morris Feder Family Philanthropic and Tillie K. Lubin Center for Plant Immunology Prof. Avi Ben-Nun Paul Sparr Foundation Prof. Yoram Groner Fund through the Weizmann Institute Biotechnology; and the Harry and Belle S. and Irving E. Meller Center for Immunology Estate of Fannie Sherr Molecular Genetics of Science National Postdoctoral Jeanette Weinberg Center for Plant the Biology of Aging, which he heads Jeanne and Joseph Nissim Foundation The Kekst Family Institute for Award Program for Advancing Molecular Genetics Research. Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley for Life Sciences Research Prof. Yuval Eshed Medical Genetics, which he heads Women in Science Charitable Trust Croscill Home Fashions Charitable Trust Plant Sciences M.D. Moross Institute for Cancer The late Rudolfine Steindling, Austria Prof. Zvi Livneh Steven and Beverly Rubenstein Charitable Ellie Adiel, New York, NY Lerner Family Plant Science Research, which he heads Ayala Benjamin-Mashat, Switzerland Biological Chemistry Foundation Maria Halphen, France Research Endowment Fund David and Fela Shapell Family Center Y. Leon Benoziyo Institute for Roberto and Renata Ruhman, Brazil for Genetic Disorders Research, Dr. Zohar Komargodski Molecular Medicine, which he heads Estate of Samuel and Valerie Rodetsky Dr. Ron Diskin Prof. Bat Sheva Eylon which he heads Particle Physics and Astrophysics Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Estate of Lola Asseof Structural Biology Science Teaching Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Peter and Patricia Gruber Awards Charitable Trust The Abramson Family Center The Maurice and Ilse Katz Center for Charitable Trust Rosa and Emilio Segré Research Award Dana and Yossie Hollander, Israel Prof. Yardena Samuels for Young Scientists Science Teaching, which she heads Wolfson Family Foundation Robert Rees Fund for Applied Research Molecular Cell Biology The Enoch Foundation Rothschild Caesarea Foundation Dr. Ron Milo The Henry Chanoch Krenter Institute Abraham and Sonia Rochlin Foundation Dr. Shalev Itzkovitz Dr. Valery Krizhanovsky Plant Sciences for Biomedical Imaging and Genomics Dr. Nirit Dudovich Molecular Cell Biology Molecular Cell Biology Mary and Tom Beck-Canadian Center Louis and Fannie Tolz Collaborative Physics of Complex Systems Dr. Ofer Feinerman The Henry Chanoch Krenter Institute Simms/Mann Family Foundation for Alternative Energy Research Research Project Crown Photonics Center Physics of Complex Systems for Biomedical Imaging and Genomics Victor Pastor Fund for Cellular Lerner Family Plant Science Research Laboratory in the name of M.E.H Jay Smith and Laura Rapp Laboratory The Clore Foundation The Leir Charitable Foundations Disease Research Endowment Fund Fund established by Margot and for Research in the Physics of The Cymerman-Jakubskind Prize Lord David Alliance, CBE European Research Council Ernst Hamburger Complex Systems Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley De Benedetti Foundation-Cherasco 1547 Jacques and Charlotte Wolf Prof. Steffen Jung Prof. Doron Lancet Charitable Trust Estate of Alice Schwarz-Gardos Research Fund Immunology Molecular Genetics Dana and Yossie Hollander, Israel Estate of John Hunter The Enoch Foundation The Leir Charitable Foundations Crown Human Genome Center, The Jacob and Charlotte Lehrman Friends of the Weizmann Institute in Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley which he heads Foundation memory of Richard Kronstein Charitable Trust Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center The Larson Charitable Foundation Adelis Foundation for Neurological Diseases Wolfson Family Charitable Trust Lord David Alliance, CBE Dr. Dvora and Haim Teitelbaum Charles Rothschild, Brazil The Wolfson Family Charitable Trust Endowment Fund Selmo Nissenbaum, Brazil Estate of Olga Klein Astrachan Estate of Nathan Baltor Anthony Stalbow Charitable Trust Estate of Rosa and Ernst Guttmann Estate of David Arthur Barton

P 46 FALL 2013 47 Dr. Maya Schuldiner Prof. Idit Shachar Dr. Ofer Yizhar Molecular Genetics Immunology Neurobiology The Kahn Family Research Center for Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center The Henry Chanoch Krenter Institute for Systems Biology of the Human Cell for Neurological Diseases Biomedical Imaging and Genomics European Research Council Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Clore Center for Biological Physics Berlin Family Foundation Charitable Trust Adelis Foundation James and Ilene Nathan, Beverly Hills, CA Quinquin Foundation Carolito Stiftung Minna James Heineman Stiftung Marla L. Schaefer, New York, NY Iby and Aladar Fleischman Foundation The Enoch Foundation Shmuel Cabilly, Israel The Candice Appleton Family Trust Roberto and Renata Ruhman, Brazil Minna-James-Heineman Stiftung Georges Lustgarten Cancer Research Dr. Guy Shakhar The Irving B. Harris Fund for New Fund Immunology Directions in Brain Research Karen Siem, UK Clore Center for Biological Physics The Joseph D. Shane Fund for Yeda-Sela Center for Basic Research Neurosciences Prof. Michal Schwartz Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Corinne S. Koshland Equipment Neurobiology Charitable Trust Endowment Fund Jeanne and Joseph Nissim Foundation Dr. Dvora and Haim Teitelbaum Estate of Tony Bieber for Life Sciences Research Endowment Fund Adelis Foundation Simone Pastor, Monaco Prof. Dov Zipori European Research Council Lord David Alliance, CBE Molecular Cell Biology Nathan and Dora Oks, France Paul and Tina Gardner, Austin, TX Helen and Martin Kimmel Institute for Hilda Namm, Larkspur, CA Steven and Beverly Rubenstein Stem Cell Research, which he heads Charitable Foundation J & R Center for Scientific Research Prof. Rony Seger Paul Sparr Foundation Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Biological Regulation Charitable Trust Aharon Katzir-Katchalsky Center, Prof. Adi Shamir David and Molly Bloom, Canada which he heads Computer Science and Applied Roberto and Renata Ruhman, Brazil Willner Family Center for Mathematics Vascalar Biology, which he heads The Citi Foundation M.D. Moross Institute for Cancer Microsoft Corporation Research Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Prof. Shimon Ullman Center for Biomolecular Structure Computer Science and Applied and Assembly Mathematics Kirk Center for Childhood Cancer and European Research Council Immunological Disorders Jeanne and Joseph Nissim Foundation Dr. Karina Yaniv for Life Sciences Research Biological Regulation Adelis Foundation Willner Family Center for Katy and Gary Leff, Calabasas, CA Vascular Biology Estate of Charles E. Carter Yeda-Sela Center for Basic Research Karen Siem Fellowship for Women in Science Carolito Stiftung Adelis Foundation Lois Rosen, Los Angeles, CA Edith Frumin, Havenford, PA

P 48 FALL 2013 49 10 THINGS w e d i n ’ t k no a b o u

THINGS we didn’t know 10 about Albert Sabin Prof. Albert Sabin, discoverer of the most widely administered vaccine for polio, was the fourth President of the Weizmann Institute, from 1970 to 1972, and a member of the Institute’s Board of Governors for 25 years. His rivalry with Jonas Salk, who had developed a killed, rather than a live, vaccine, is well known. The Sabin vaccine became the main immunization given to millions of children around the world, even though there was a slightly greater risk associated with its weakened viruses, because it could be given orally and a single dose granted lifetime immunity.

as well as being tested on Sabin himself and members of his family. 6. It was also tested on Kibbutz Gat, in Israel. Members of the Kibbutz are still proud of their contribution to the development of the vaccine. 7. It was first given to children in the US in Cincinnati, where Sabin had his lab, on April 24, 1960, dubbed “Sabin Sunday.” 8. Sabin was the first president of the Weizmann Institute to serve under 1. Sabin, whose original family name many of the patients died before the rule requiring the president was Saperstein, immigrated with the diagnosis could be made, he to be a scientist. In this position, his parents as a young teenager developed a way to shorten the Sabin reorganized the Institute’s from Bialystok (today in Poland) to procedure to three hours. The test structure, establishing the five Patterson, New Jersey. As a child, for pneumococcus still carries his faculties that exist today, a council he had lost the vision in his right name. of deans and a Scientific Advisory eye in an anti-Semitic rock-throwing 4. As a lieutenant colonel in the Committee. incident. He later remarked: American army in WWII, Sabin 9. He first met his second wife, “Judaism came to me through my isolated the virus that causes Heloisa, at a reception for the right eye.” sandfly fever, developed a vaccine Weizmann Institute held in Brazil. 2. Finishing high school at age 16, against dengue fever, studied the 10. He was considered a great humanist he went on to study dentistry at parasites that cause toxoplasmosis -- not only because his vaccine the urging of a dentist uncle but, and developed a vaccine against saved millions. Sabin donated his after reading The Microbe Hunters the encephalitis to which American strains of the polio virus to the by Paul de Kruif, Sabin decided troops in Japan were exposed. World Health Organization so the to pursue a career in medical 5. The Salk vaccine was already in use vaccine could be made available research. in the US when Sabin’s vaccine was to developing countries. He truly 3. His first job, while still in school, ready for trial. His vaccine was first believed that science, like painting, was to inject mice with the sputum given, in 1958 and 1959, to millions sculpture or theater, could instill of pneumonia patients. Seeing that of people in the Soviet Union; beauty in one’s life. FALL 2013 www.weizmann.ac.il