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Genetics

A street lit with petunia plants with gardens of fireflies. The illustration was prepared using DALEE and is not a scientific image.

Glowing Botany: Glow-in-the-dark petunias are coming to cities

The Light Bio company has developed petunia plants that contain a lighting garden of fireflies. Will they give up the street lights?
Muscle in the making: stem cells of muscle tissue (their nuclei are marked in blue) gradually change their structure and function and become mature muscle cells (the cells whose nuclei have turned red). These cells will eventually fuse into one long, multinucleated muscle cell. The ability of this muscle to contract is thanks to a large number of protein fibers produced in the mature muscle cells (marked in green)

How a muscle is born

An artificial intelligence model sheds light on the specialization pathway of muscle cells and reveals an important control node along the way
Social hierarchy in mice. The image was produced using DALEE and should not be considered a scientific image

The race to the top of the wild mouse

Research in field mice under conditions simulating a natural environment reveals the different strategies used by females and males in creating social hierarchies
The bright twinkling is the supernova SN 2023ixf in the Vane Galaxy. Image based on telescopic data obtained on May 20, 21 and 22, 2023. Credit: Travis Dew, University of Arizona (Hosseinzadeh et al. 2023)

A once-in-a-lifetime supernova: unprecedented mapping of a stellar explosion

Marco Polo won, posthumously. Source: Wikipedia, Maria Lee

About the man who cloned a giant sheep and released it into the wild against the law

An American farmer who illegally cloned a giant sheep - and tried to develop a new hybrid species throughout the United States and release it into the wild
Smoking and ultraviolet radiation end the effects of aging. Credit: The Science website via DALEE

The cause of aging: cumulative damage from factors such as radiation and smoking causes low expression of long genes

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Dutch researchers found that this process happens all the time and damages all genes, but the longer the genes, the more likely they are to be damaged because they have more sites. Especially the great damage is to nerve cells due to their inability to regenerate
The new yeast was discovered for the first time by chance in a mouse intestine (fluorescence microscope image of intestinal tissue, in red - yeast cells named after Weizmann)

Yeast against yeast: Healthy competition between different fungal species in the gut may protect against life-threatening infections

Scientists of the Weizmann Institute of Science have discovered a new species of Schmer that is able to push the legs of other species that may be dangerous to health; The scientists named the new species after Dr. Chaim Weizman
Cut in a fetal body. Courtesy of the researchers

How - and where - does a disease begin?

Researchers discovered which genes are required for each stage of cell differentiation into neural stem cells and neurons, i.e. for brain development, and which of them are involved in diseases of the nervous system
The experimental setup: microfluidic channels with a diameter of 1 micron in which E. coli bacteria were grown for several generations using a variety of fluorescent markers. These markers make it possible to follow important events in the bacterium's life cycle at the single cell level

How does a bacterium know it's time?

on the cellular division plan
pluripotent stem cells. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Stem cells used as a basis for innovative medicine may contain cancerous mutations

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A study by researchers at the Hebrew University found that in mature cells derived from stem cells, which are used in the field of regenerative medicine that focuses on renewing living tissues and creating organs for transplantation, cancerous mutations may appear
cutting Courtesy of the researchers, Tel Aviv University

What improves the cutting process of plants that is considered critical in agriculture?

Researchers have discovered a way to significantly optimize the rooting process in the natural genetic cloning process of plants
Personalized medicine. The image was prepared with the help of DALEE artificial intelligence software and is not a scientific image

Towards a treatment for Huntington's: two small molecules may revolutionize the treatment of an incurable disease

Weizmann Institute scientists have shown in a mouse model that the drugs succeed in penetrating through the blood-brain barrier, delaying the progression of the disease and even reversing it
The cover of the scientific journal shows the 3D structure of a new protein, as predicted by three different artificial intelligence algorithms

Proteins without parents

Collaboration between Israeli researchers, Chinese students and artificial intelligence reveals new wrinkles between the folds of orphan proteins and updates chapters in the theory of evolution
Mouse, rabbit and human embryos (right to left) in the same developmental stage - gastrulation (days 8-7.5 of pregnancy in rabbits and mice and around day 18 of development in humans). At this stage the human, rabbit and other vertebrate embryos are almost flat disc-shaped, while the mouse embryo is elongated cylinder-shaped. The images of the mouse and rabbit embryos were created as part of the current study, the image of the human embryo is taken from a study published in 2021 (Richard CV Tyser et al. Single-cell transcriptomic characterization of a gastrulating human embryo. Nature 600: 285-289)

In the rabbit hole

The institute's scientists developed a method that allows real-time monitoring of the development of embryos at the beginning of their journey and applied it for the first time to rabbits. The comparison they made between embryonic development in rabbits and mice gave rise to answers to fascinating questions about the formation of humans
Canaanite finds from Megiddo Hill (courtesy of Megiddo Archaeological Expedition)

Researchers have analyzed the genetics of the Canaanites and its relationship to modern populations such as Jews, Palestinians and Bedouins

The DNA analysis showed that the Canaanites were created from the mixing of populations that migrated to the southern Levant mainly from the Caucasus region (or western Iran) with ancient local populations that stayed there, a process that lasted at least 1,000 years
The pituitary gland of the zebrafish. The variety of cell types are marked in different colors: in purple - phytocytes, in red and green - two types of hormone-producing cells

Where does the fish secrete from: back to the origins of the pituitary gland

Weizmann Institute scientists are challenging a 200-year-old doctrine about the formation of the gland from the secretion of hormones. Their findings may lead to new approaches in the treatment of various medical problems
Nerves. Credit: Mahmoud Ali-Saleh

A mechanism has been discovered that causes sleep apnea in sick children

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One of the diseases resulting from such mutations in the PHOX2B gene is the disease CCHS. This is a rare and life-threatening syndrome in which babies, children and adults stop breathing as soon as they fall asleep. The patients must be connected to ventilators in order not to die in their sleep
Embryonic stem cells. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Going deeper into the roots of the diseases

Researchers have built cellular models of genetic diseases such as fragile X syndrome and found the mechanism that causes them
Antibody engineering. Illustration: depositphotos.com

humanize the messenger

An algorithm developed by the institute's scientists heralds a leap forward in the field of humanizing antibodies and may enable the rapid, efficient and cheaper development of new drugs. The key: stability
Tomatoes. Now it will be possible to grow in drier areas. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Genetic editing to grow water-efficient tomatoes

The scientific breakthrough will help increase the yield of plants in drought conditions
Battle team: A dendritic cell (right) and a T cell connected by BiCE antibody (in yellow). were produced from a lymph node of a mouse with skin cancer

Together we will win: combining forces between the cells of the immune system may lead to improved cancer treatments

Weizmann Institute of Science scientists have developed a new approach to immunotherapy based on communication between the cells of the immune system
Oats and grains of wheat. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Local heroes

The growth of wheat has become an Israeli symbol of hope and renewal after a disaster. So are Prof. Avraham Levy's field experiments in the Gaza Envelope, which continue a glorious Israeli legacy of researching the evolution and genetics of the world-famous grain
Cells infected with the corona virus. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Medicines in the evolution test

Drug safety tests often focus on "physiological safety", meaning their possible effect on patients. Weizmann Institute of Science scientists propose a new type of test: evolutionary safety
Fertilization process illustration: depositphotos.com

Eggs from men and sperm cells from women: How stem cells may change the way we reproduce

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In theory, a male skin cell can be turned into an egg and a female skin cell into a sperm cell. There is also the possibility of a child genetically connected to several parents, or only to one parent
Monsoon rains in a rural area in India.

Heavy rain is about to fall

Weizmann Institute scientists have shown that dry air crossing the equator intensifies the monsoon rains over India. These surprising findings may improve flood warning capabilities and be good news for hundreds of millions
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