In the 1980s, Prof. Eli Canaani isolated two genes that abnormally swap pieces of genetic material and lead to the production of a fused protein that triggers chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). It was the first discovery of cancer produced by protein fusion.
Application
Canaani’s research provided the foundation for the development of Glivec (known as Gleevec in the US), the first drug based on the molecular understanding of a specific cancer. Produced by Novartis, it was approved in 2001 by the FDA and is now routinely prescribed around the world to patients with CML.
Since completing his Ph.D. in immunology at the Weizmann Institute, Prof. Zelig Eshhar has focused his research on molecular recognition in the immune system – the mechanisms by which immune cells and molecules "recognize" one another. In the late 1980s, he developed an immune cancer therapy that employs "T bodies" – white blood T cells engineered with receptors that possess the antibodies’ recognition unit, which helps them identify tumors.
Application
In August 2011, University of Pennsylvania researchers reported in The New England Journal of Medicine that they had successfully used this approach in a pilot trial of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The patients were treated with their own T cells, genetically engineered based on Prof Eshhar’s method. Encouraged by this initial success, the researchers plan to apply the method to the treatment of other malignancies, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma, acute lymphocytic leukemia and childhood leukemia that is not alleviated by standard family. They also consider using the T bodies in patients with solid tumors, such as ovarian and pancreatic cancer.
Prof. Emeritus Ephraim Frei, a founder of electronics research at the Weizmann Institute in the 1950s, spent several decades studying the effects of magnetic fields on living tissues.
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An innovative breast imaging system, T-Scan, developed on the basis of Frei's research, is manufactured and distributed by TransScan Medical. In 1999 the FDA approved T-Scan for the detection of breast cancer, citing it as a “significant medical device breakthrough.” Research is under way to apply T-Scan to the detection of skin cancer.
Prof. Ehud Shapiro developed technologies and structural laws for computer networks.
Application
“Virtual Places” software was developed by Ubique Ltd., established to implement programming technologies that grew out of Shapiro’s research. Ubique was a pioneer in the development of virtual “malls” and “meeting places” on the Internet. It was later sold to America Online and today is part of IBM.
Math & Computer Science
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Computer Science and Applied Mathematics›Computer Science and Applied Mathematics
Prof. Leo Sachs was the first to show that cancer cells – in tissue cultures and in living organisms – can be made to revert to normal behavior.
Application
Sachs' studies on reversing malignancy led to the development of a new treatment, differentiation therapy. This approach is now being used clinically in human promyelocytic leukemia and is being tested in other types of cancer.
In the 1960s, Prof. Leo Sachs developed the first ever procedure to grow, clone and induce the development of different types of normal blood cells in a laboratory dish. Using this process he discovered and identified a family of proteins, among them colony-stimulating factors, that control blood cell production in its various stages.
Application
One of the proteins that Sachs identified, the granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, is now used to boost the production of disease-fighting white blood cells in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
In the early 1980s, Prof. Michal Schwartz, an immunologist, started to explore the cross-talk between the immune and nervous systems.
Application
New therapies for spinal cord injury based on original concepts proposed by Schwartz are being developed and tested in clinical trials by Proneuron, a company in Kiryat Weizmann.
For nearly two decades, Prof. David Wallach has studied receptors for the tumor necrosis factor, or TNF, an immune system substance that controls the damaging processes associated with inflammation. In these studies, Wallach identified two classes of proteins that block TNF activity.
Application
The proteins identified by Wallach are being used in clinical trials as anti-inflammatory compounds that may control rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn's disease and colitis).
Prof. Yosef Shaul studies the processes by which viruses interact with cells. In particular, he has been able to define the molecular mechanisms employed by the hepatitis B virus.
Application
Bio-Hep-B, a vaccine for hepatitis B based on Prof. Shaul's research, is produced by Biotechnology General and marketed in Israel; registrations in other countries are under way. Hepatitis B affects an estimated 150 million people in Africa and Asia.
Prof. Yoram Groner has led pioneering studies of chromosome 21. An extra copy of this chromosome causes Down syndrome. One of the genes on this chromosome carries the code for the enzyme superoxide dismutase, or SOD. Groner was the first to clone the human SOD gene and to produce a genetically engineered bacterium containing it.
Application
Genetically engineered human SOD, manufactured based on Groner’s research, is now undergoing clinical trials. The goal: to prevent lung damage common in premature infants. The compound is produced by Biotechnology General in Kiryat Weizmann.
First Discovery of Cancer Produced by Protein Fusion
In the 1980s, Prof. Eli Canaani isolated two genes that abnormally swap pieces of genetic material and lead to the production of a fused protein that triggers chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). It was the first discovery of cancer produced by protein fusion.
Application
Canaani’s research provided the foundation for the development of Glivec (known as Gleevec in the US), the first drug based on the molecular understanding of a specific cancer. Produced by Novartis, it was approved in 2001 by the FDA and is now routinely prescribed around the world to patients with CML.