Searching for the roots, reaching for the fruits

When the enemies you face are cancer, infectious disease and genetic disorders, improving scientific knowledge is your power -- and your hope

Despite the many achievements of modern medicine, most of the medicines known today may ease patient suffering, while the disease remains uncured.  To actually block cancerous growths, overcome microorganisms that cause infectious ailments and eradicate genetic diseases, we must first track down the biochemical and molecular roots of life.  This means gaining an understanding of how individual molecules can affect the functioning of the human body.  As we near the third millennium, this is precisely the goal of a large group of Weizmann Institute scientists.

Just as physicists in the past investigated the structure of matter and penetrated the nucleus of the atom to reveal its structure and components, today’s researchers in the life sciences and their colleagues in related fields are striving to understand the molecular mechanisms that activate the cells of the human body. Recognizing and understanding differences between individuals at the molecular level may enable physicians of the future to offer us personalized medical treatments tailored to our personal genetic and molecular makeup.  Your specific medication will act on you with unprecedented efficacy, virtually without side effects.

In the brave new world of molecular medicine, individuals will finally be able to take responsibility for their own health and have more control over it.  The result will be greater freedom to live your life “as you like it.”

“Tailored gene-oriented medical treatments based on information inscribed in the genome of each and every one of us will be aimed at inhibiting headaches, immunizing against flu, preventing Alzheimer’s disease, transplanting organs, and curing malignant diseases.”

Prof. Yoram Groner, Vice President of the Weizmann Institute and

Director of the Kekst Family Center for Medical Genetics

Prof. Groner holds the Dr. Barnet Berris Chair of Cancer Research

“Molecular medicine will facilitate the combining of biological sensors and  tiny electronic systems. Thus we will be able to regulate and monitor various processes such as the expression of certain genes, the release of hormones, the targeting of drugs to specific areas of the body, and real-time medical diagnosis.”

Head of the Y. Leon Benoziyo Institute for Molecular Medicine

Prof. Mirelman holds the Besen-Brender Chair of Microbiology and Parasitology

“By taking just a few cells for safekeeping from each newborn child, we will be able to offer him or her a frozen insurance policy that will provide, if needed, an endless supply of cells for transplants and genetic cures of various diseases, including cancer.”