Latest Making Connections Grants Announced

Encouraging scientific collaboration between UK Universities and the Weizmann Institute is central to our mission and we are delighted to announce that five new Making Connections grants have been made for 2017-18.  There have now been a total of 43 grants awarded since the Making Connections programme began in 2008. Thanks to the generosity of UK philanthropists, the scheme has brought Weizmann scientists from a variety of fields into contact with scientists from 25 UK universities and research institutes.

The latest round of grants for 2017-18  have been awarded to:

• Prof. Shahal Ilani and Prof. Eli Zeldov from the Weizmann Institute and Prof. Andre K Geim from the University of Manchester for their project: Visualizing Energy Dissipation in Strongly-Interacting Quantum Fluids
• Dr Neta Regev-Rudzki from the Weizmann Institute and Dr Jake Baum from Imperial College,  London for their project: Discovering the role of malaria-derived exosomes in modulating parasite transmission through the mosquito vector
• Professor Yinon Rudich from the Weizmann Institute and Professor Benjamin J. Murray from the University of Leeds for their project:  Analysis Of Ice Nucleating Particles And Their Biological Content In The Eastern Mediterranean Using Microfluidic Devices
• Dr Jacob Hanna from the Weizmann Institute and Prof. Roger Pedersen and Dr Mark Kotter from the University of Cambridge for their project: Regenerative potential of human pluripotent stem cells and their differentiated progeny revealed through transplantation into mouse embryos
• Dr Valery Krizhanovsky from the Weizmann Institute and Professor Jesús Gil from Imperial College London for their project: Interplay between senescent cells and stem cells

The benefits of collaboration between the UK and Israel run far beyond the potential for scientific development. Prof Maya Schuldiner from the Weizmann Institute's Department of Molecular Genetics says:  "The grant gave us something not related to science…when one UK student spent 6 weeks enjoying the wonderful Weizmann Institute, she got to know Israeli culture, and spent weekends travelling around the country learning about its history and its wonders. As people often do when they get to know Israel, she fell in love with it. So the Making Connections and BIRAX grants give us the best gift of all…that of friendship."  

Past Making Connections grant recipient, Professor Avishay Gal-Yam, from the Department of Particle physics and Astrophysics said who collaborated with Dr Mark Sullivan from the University of Oxford said: “For me this programme has been a tremendous success and I have really moved the UK up the list of countries I work with. Now my main EU connection is the UK”. 

Read more  about our Scientific Collaboration programmes including Making Connections, Get Connected and BIRAX.

Published: April 05, 2017