Historic Partnership between the Weizmann Institute of Science and Institut Curie
25.3.2019 19:54:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release
On March 22, the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and Institut Curie in Paris, France, two major world-class research institutes, signed an historic partnership that will allow their teams to work closely together to improve knowledge in the field of life sciences, particularly in the areas of physics and chemistry, and most specifically - in the field of cancer research. This is a milestone in the history of these two institutes that have been working together for 15 years, particularly in the field of biophysics.
Collaborative research programs
This partnership will extend to many disciplines, including physics,
chemistry, cellular biology, epigenetics, genetics, immunology and
single cell approaches, imagery and data collection. The complementarity
of the research between the various groups at Institut Curie and at the
Weizmann Institute has been recognized in particular at the occasion of
joint scientific workshops held regularly alternatively in Paris and
Rehovot. Each research program will be organized around a pair of
researchers with a scientist from Institut Curie and a scientist from
the Weizmann Institute of Sciences, who will receive support on the
annual basis. This partnership also includes exchanges of scientists and
a Curie-Weizmann symposium organized every two years, with alternate
locations in Rehovot, Israel, and in Paris, which will be focused on one
of the subjects of research cooperation.
To finance the start of
this cooperation, Institut Curie and the Weizmann Institute of Sciences
will finance this research program for €200,000 each, and will organize
a joint fundraiser with philanthropists and corporate sponsors.
Projects with high hopes
There are numerous common interests
between the two Institutes. They can range from the description of
defects in cell nuclei to the mechanics of cell migration, or the
behavior of neural networks. A few examples of exciting ongoing projects
are highlighted below.
During his sabbatical visit at Institut
Curie in 2012, Professor Nir Gov (Weizmann Institute) participated in
several projects ranging from cell migration to collective cell
behaviors and neuron growth. For instance, he developed a theory in
collaboration with Raphael Voituriez (Sorbonne University), which
explains the observations of the team of Matthieu Piel (Institut Curie)
on the links between persistence and speed of migrating cells. This
theory gave rise to collaborative developments between these three teams
to predict important aspects of the migratory behavior of immune cells.
He
also collaborated with Pascal Silberzan at Institut Curie to understand
the behavior of cells packed at very high density on a surface. This
joint work combining experiments and theory, has highlighted the
importance of an intrinsic biological ageing of the cell population.
This project has helped understanding how cells can come to an arrest
while maintaining a capacity to respond to external perturbations such
as an injury.
Elisha Moses (Weizmann Institute) has a longstanding
interaction with the group of Professor Jean-Louis Viovy (Institut
Curie), now headed by Stéphanie Descroix, on the applications of
microfluidic devices to the study of living neuronal networks. He spent
three months in Paris, during which he and Dr. Catherine Villard of the
Descroix lab developed an optogenetic assay for guiding axonal growth.
This work has the potential for controlling growth of neurons and of
neuronal tumors within the brain. Drs. M. Vignes and R. Renault, two
talented researchers who were working on the project as students, have
now graduated and branched off into very interesting conceptual and
practical applications of this approach.
An important complementarity
The two institutions are both
highly complementary and display many mutually common attributes.
Institut
Curie is the premier research center in France conducting cancer
research, including all facets of carcinogenesis. Its research center
brings together 1,200 researchers working in 12 joint research units
organized in four areas based on natural scientific interactions and
robust medical potentiality. A strong advocate of international
cooperation , it welcomes more than 80 nationalities. Equipped with
advanced technology platforms, it is an important resource for
researchers around the world. Institut Curie is also a state-of-the-art
hospital complex that provides care and support for all cancer types and
welcomes more than 50,000 patients each year. It has developed
particularly innovative treatments directly from the work of its
research center. Institut Curie also trains students in science and
cancer research with the goal of increasing the knowledge about the
topic.
The Weizmann Institute of Science is among the ten premier
institutes of fundamental research in the world: 2,500 scientists work
on its campus in Rehovot in the complementary fields of mathematics and
computer science, physics, biology, chemistry, and biochemistry. The
Weizmann Institute of Science has a long history of research and
discoveries rooted in a mission of advancement of science for the
benefit of humanity; cancer research accounts for 40% of the total
budget of the Institute, which shapes and hosts a large part of the
leadership in Israel and contributes to the advancement and
understanding of scientific issues among all audiences.
Both
institutions have powerful means of technology transfer that leverage
the discoveries of their labs for the benefit of patients, whether
through the creation of medications, medical devices or other
technologies.
A shared vision of science
Science at the service of people
- this is the best way to describe the credo of the two institutes, both
of which were founded upon great personalities who have made an
important mark in the history of the world.
Chaim Weizmann, chemist
and author of many discoveries and publications, is the founder of the
Weizmann Institute, and was the first president of the State of Israel
between 1949 and 1952. Marie Curie, born Maria Sklodowska, founded the
Radium Institute in 1909. The first female professor and holder of a
chair position at the Sorbonne, the first woman to win two Nobel prizes
and be enshrined at the Pantheon in Paris on her own merit. In many
ways, these two scientists have had a remarkable journey.
But
beyond these prestigious founders, the two institutes share the same
vision of science, at the service of people and driven by strong values,
the same curiosity for discovery and knowledge at the service of human
health.
The
Weizmann Institute of Science and Institut Curie also share a common
belief that international collaborations in the field of institut-curie.org
science and the exchange of ideas across interdisciplinary boundaries
can accelerate progress to the benefit of humanity.
It is this
common ground which today enables this collaboration to take root and
which will tomorrow allow us to multiply efforts and as a result enjoy
major new discoveries.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190325005638/en/
Contact information
Yohan Philippe
yohan.philippe@curie.fr
+33
(0)1 56 24 55 53
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Bending Spoons S.p.A. announces pricing of initial public offering1.7.2026 02:56:00 EEST | Press release
Bending Spoons S.p.A. (“Bending Spoons”), a leading technology company, today announces the pricing of its initial public offering (“IPO”) at $29.00 per share. A total of 57,971,015 ordinary shares are being offered, of which 34,398,640 shares are being offered by Bending Spoons and 23,572,375 shares are being offered by certain selling shareholders (the “Selling Shareholders”). Bending Spoons will not receive any proceeds from any sale of shares by the Selling Shareholders. The shares are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “BSP” on July 1, 2026. The offering is expected to close on July 2, 2026, subject to customary closing conditions. In addition, Bending Spoons and the Selling Shareholders granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 5,244,026 ordinary shares from Bending Spoons and up to an additional 3,451,626 ordinary shares from the Selling Shareholders at the initial public offering price, less underwriting
FDA Issues Modified Risk Tobacco Product Orders for 20 ZYN Nicotine Pouch Products30.6.2026 19:19:00 EEST | Press release
Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) (NYSE: PM) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued Modified Risk Tobacco Product (MRTP) orders for 20 variants of ZYN nicotine pouch products. These are the first MRTP orders granted for nicotine pouches, allowing PMI U.S. to market the following claim for the authorized ZYN products: “Using ZYN instead of cigarettes puts you at a lower risk of mouth cancer, heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis.” “FDA’s decision is an important moment for the more than 45 million legal-age nicotine consumers in America,” saidStacey Kennedy, PMI U.S. CEO. “Today’s news ensures these adultshave access to accurate, science-based information, including FDA-authorized evidence that switching from cigarettes to ZYN reduces the risk of smoking-related diseases like heart disease and lung cancer,” she added. “More broadly, it reinforces the agency’s science-based approach to evaluating products across the co
Caidya Announces Strategic Combination with Simbec-Orion Bridging Early Scientific Insight and Global Clinical Execution30.6.2026 18:00:00 EEST | Press release
Caidya today announced a strategic combination with Simbec-Orion designed to close the divide between early scientific insight and global clinical execution. The combination of Caidya and Simbec-Orion creates a differentiated specialty clinical CRO platform that enables programs to scale, maintaining focus, speed, and accountability. The strategic combination brings together complementary strengths to create a more complete development partner for innovative biopharma companies. With established operations across Europe, the Americas, APAC, and China, the combined organization provides meaningful expertise and execution capabilities in the regions that matter most. Simbec-Orion brings early-phase clinical pharmacology capabilities alongside deep therapeutic expertise for later stage complex oncology and rare disease trials, helping sponsors shape critical decisions early in the development lifecycle. Together, the organizations strengthen their ability to support complex, cross-border
Archer® Proves Purpose-Built AI Beats General-Purpose LLMs on Regulatory Change Management: 95% Verified Accuracy, 80x Faster, 92% Lower Cost30.6.2026 17:13:00 EEST | Press release
For enterprises deploying AI in compliance, a wrong date is a missed deadline. The more dangerous failure is a wrong answer the model returns with high confidence, one that flows silently into a compliance calendar and is only discovered after the window has passed. Archer® today released results showing purpose-built AI beats a general-purpose large language model (LLM) on regulatory work, and it’s not close. This head-to-head test compared Archer’s purpose-built, vertical-specific AI and proprietary data sets against a leading general-purpose LLM, on a core compliance task: determining the publication, effective and comment-close dates of regulatory documents across six jurisdictions. General-purpose models are a genuine breakthrough, and this is no referendum on their quality. The question Archer set out to answer is narrower and more practical: what it takes to make a specific, high-stakes determination reliable, fast and affordable at scale. A vertical, domain-focused process, gro
Altasciences Supports Key Development Milestone for Steel Therapeutics’ Lead Therapeutic Candidate, Fizurex™30.6.2026 17:08:00 EEST | Press release
Altasciences, a leading drug development organization, today announced a significant milestone in the development of Steel Therapeutics, Inc.’s pivotal toxicology study for its lead product candidate, Fizurex™, for the treatment of anal fissures. The successful completion of the study plays a significant role in the advancement of Fizurex™ toward first-in-human trials. The GLP-compliant study demonstrated a favorable safety profile, which has advanced Steel Therapeutics' plans to submit an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for Fizurex™ to the FDA in Q3 2026. Fizurex™, a patent-pending, single-use topical wipe, was designed to provide a standardized, accessible treatment option for a painful and often undertreated medical condition. The product builds on years of use through compounding pharmacy prescriptions and is now advancing toward clinical development and regulatory review. "We are proud to have supported Steel Therapeutics with the generation of the high-quality safety d
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom
