U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation - BSF

04/06/2026

What do chemistry, cancer biology, and astrophysics have in common this year?

All three fields are represented by the 2026 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel -- and all three laureates are active BSF grantees.

This year’s awardees are Dr. Sergey N. Semenov (Weizmann Institute of Science), Dr. Uri Ben-David (Tel Aviv University), and Dr. Paz Beniamini (Open University of Israel). Each receives an unrestricted US$100,000 prize -- one of the most prestigious honors for early-career scientists in Israel.

🔹 Dr. Sergey N. Semenov, Chemical Sciences Laureate, is collaborating with Prof. Jerome Fox (University of Colorado Boulder) on NSF-BSF supported research into biochemical oscillators and synthetic chemical clocks.

🔹 Dr. Uri Ben-David, Life Sciences Laureate and two-time BSF grantee, is collaborating with Prof. Jason Sheltzer (Stanford University) on research investigating new therapeutic vulnerabilities linked to chromosomal changes in cancer.

🔹 Dr. Paz Beniamini, Physical Sciences & Engineering Laureate and two-time NSF-BSF grantee, is leading a multi-university collaboration studying signals from neutron star and black hole mergers -- making history as both the first laureate from the Open University of Israel and the first astrophysicist recognized by the Blavatnik Awards in Israel.

We're proud to support researchers of this caliber -- and to see U.S.-Israel collaboration reflected in this year's honorees.

Congratulations to all three laureates. 👏

🔗 Read more: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1126803

📷 Image credit: Blavatnik Awards / The New York Academy of Sciences

31/05/2026

Imagine looking in a mirror and discovering that your reflection obeys different physical laws than you do.

That, researchers say, is essentially what happens with “chiral” molecules - mirror-image molecular forms that were long assumed to behave identically.

For more than 150 years, scientists have known that life on Earth consistently favors one molecular “handedness” over the other. Proteins, for example, are built almost exclusively from left-handed molecules, while DNA and RNA rely on right-handed ones. Why nature made that choice has remained one of biology’s deepest mysteries.

Now, a new study published in Science Advances offers a compelling clue.

BSF-supported researchers Prof. Ron Naaman of the Weizmann Institute of Science and Prof. Yossi Paltiel of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, alongside an international team, discovered that the difference between these mirror-image molecules only emerges once electrons begin moving through them.

As the electrons travel, they experience different magnetic forces depending on the molecule’s orientation - creating a subtle asymmetry that may have helped one molecular form gain an advantage on the early Earth.

The findings support a provocative idea: that magnetized mineral surfaces may have acted as a kind of molecular filter billions of years ago, helping determine the “handedness” that became the foundation of life itself.

The implications extend far beyond the origins of life.

In chemistry and medicine, choosing the wrong molecular mirror image can make a compound ineffective - or even harmful. The researchers say their findings could eventually help scientists more precisely control which molecular forms are produced, opening the door to safer drugs and more efficient chemical processes.

The work also connects directly to a joint NSF-BSF collaboration between Prof. Naaman, Prof. Paltiel, and Prof. David H. Waldeck of the University of Pittsburgh, exploring how these same magnetic and electronic effects could eventually be harnessed to better control complex chemical and biological processes.

🔗 Read the study here: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aec9325

24/05/2026

For millions of people living with kidney disease, the body’s ability to repair damaged kidney tissue is frustratingly limited. Once key filtering structures are lost, they generally do not grow back - leaving many patients facing dialysis or transplant.

Now, a new U.S.-Israel study points to a possible new path for regeneration.

Researchers from the University of Washington and Sheba Medical Center found that early-stage kidney cells transplanted after just four days of development were able to integrate into damaged kidneys in mice and form new filtering structures. They outperformed larger, more mature lab-grown kidney organoids - tiny models of kidney tissue.

The timing turned out to matter. By transplanting the cells at this very early stage, the team preserved important early cell populations that later developed into specialized support cells known as mesangial cells - a milestone not seen in previous kidney implant studies.

The findings suggest that transplanting cells earlier in development may produce more robust and complex grafts inside the body than using more mature tissue models.

The work, published in the journal The Innovation, was led in part by BSF collaborators Dr. Benjamin Freedman of the University of Washington and Prof. Benjamin Dekel of Sheba Medical Center through a U.S.-Israel BSF grant.

While much more research is needed before this could reach patients, the study offers an intriguing glimpse into how regenerative medicine may one day help restore key kidney structures rather than simply treat their decline.

🔗 Read more here: https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/youth-triumphs-in-test-to-regenerate-kidney-tissue/

📖 See study: https://www.cell.com/the-innovation/fulltext/S2666-6758(26)00028-7

University of Washington The Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer

17/05/2026

People with obsessive-compulsive disorder often understand that their repetitive behaviors are irrational. What they cannot easily do is stop them.

A new U.S.-Israel study published in Nature Communications may help explain part of the reason.

Researchers discovered that a small group of brain cells can directly trigger serotonin release inside the striatum - a brain region deeply involved in habits and action control.

The finding caught scientists by surprise. These cells, which release a chemical called acetylcholine, were already known to influence dopamine, the brain’s reward messenger. But scientists did not realize they could also directly control serotonin activity in nearby brain circuits.

That matters because serotonin plays a central role in mood and behavior, and many psychiatric medications - including common treatments for OCD - work by altering serotonin signaling throughout the brain.

In mouse models of OCD-like behavior, where acetylcholine activity becomes unusually high, researchers observed massive serotonin surges - effectively allowing the acetylcholine system to “take the wheel” of serotonin signaling. The localized overactivity may help explain why compulsive behaviors can become so hard to stop.

The findings could also point toward more targeted treatments. Rather than broadly altering serotonin activity across the brain, future therapies may eventually focus on the specific circuits where this overactivity occurs.

The study is the latest milestone in a longstanding collaboration between Prof. Joshua Goldberg of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Dr. Joshua Plotkin of Stony Brook University . Supported in part by the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF), the pair are now embarking on their third BSF-funded grant together - a perfect example of how sustained international collaboration drives medical discovery.

🔗 Read more here: https://www.psypost.org/scientists-discover-how-local-brain-cells-hijack-serotonin-signaling/

👉 See study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-70359-6

📸 Image courtesy of Prof. Joshua Goldberg.

06/05/2026

Three hundred million words. More than 130,000 texts. Eighteen centuries.

That’s the scale of a new U.S.-Israel research project asking a deceptively simple question: how does knowledge spread?

Backed by a joint grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) - and part of the first cohort under a new partnership between the two organizations - the project brings together Dr. Michael Satlow (Brown University), Dr. Binyamin Katzoff and Prof. Maayan Zhitomirsky-Geffet (Bar-Ilan University), and Prof. Jonathan Schler (Holon Institute of Technology).

Using AI adapted for historical Hebrew and Aramaic, the team will analyze more than 130,000 texts - one of the longest continuous traditions of written scholarship in human history - from ancient legal texts and correspondence to biblical and Talmudic commentary.

Their goal is to map networks of citation and influence across time and place, tracing how ideas spread, evolved, and took on new meaning across communities.

It’s a shift from reading individual texts to seeing an entire ecosystem of knowledge - and uncovering connections that were previously invisible.

Beyond Jewish studies, the project points to something bigger: how AI can open new ways of understanding the movement of ideas across the humanities.

Congratulations to the full U.S.–Israel research team on this award, and to all involved in launching this new NEH-BSF partnership - an important step in advancing collaborative humanities research.

🔗 Read more here: https://www.brown.edu/news/2026-02-04/jewish-texts-ai-grant-satlow

Supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, Brown University scholar Michael Satlow will use cutting-edge computational techniques to analyze 18 centuries of traditional Jewish texts.

27/04/2026

Can sharpening your kitchen skills be the clinical key to keeping weight off?

A new study led by Dr. Rani P***k (Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Sheba Medical Center), in collaboration with his BSF partner, Prof. Amir Tirosh (Sheba Medical Center), suggests that lasting health may depend less on restrictive diets - and more on how people learn to cook and apply nutrition in daily life.

Supported by the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF), this randomized controlled trial was recently recognized as an Editors’ Choice article in Obesity, the flagship journal of The Obesity Society.

The researchers focused on a practical question: can people achieve sustained weight loss by learning to apply nutrition principles in their own kitchens? Comparing a remote culinary medicine program with standard dietary counseling, the one-year results showed:

✔︎ Sustained success: Participants in the culinary group achieved an average of 4.3% weight loss, significantly outperforming the 0.4% seen in the traditional counseling group.

✔︎ Scalable delivery: A remote format that translates clinical guidance into everyday habits from any kitchen, anywhere.

✔︎ Skills over prescriptions: By focusing on "how" to cook rather than just "what" to eat, the study highlights a practical, partnership-driven model for long-term health management.

Bringing together clinical expertise from both the U.S. and Israel, Dr. P***k and his team have built a scalable framework for lasting health. BSF is proud to have supported this collaborative effort.

🔗 Read the full study in Obesity: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.70193

📸 Photo credit: Dr. Rani P***k

22/04/2026

To our friends and colleagues in Israel - wishing you a meaningful Independence Day.

Over the years, these U.S.-Israel collaborations have become more than shared research. They’re built on relationships, trust, and a genuine sense of partnership.

It’s something we’re proud to be part of at the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation - and something that continues to move science forward in real and lasting ways.

With hope for a peaceful year ahead, and for continued shared work and discovery.

01/04/2026

From all of us at BSF, wishing you a Happy Passover and Easter holiday.

May this be a season of renewal and the warmth of family and friends, bringing new opportunities and meaningful discoveries - and hope for quieter, more peaceful days ahead.

Happy Easter | חג פסח שמח

31/03/2026

Congratulations to the second cohort of BSF Climate Solutions Grants awardees in memory of Prof. Anton Post - a biennial program honoring a pioneering scientist, former Executive Director of the BSF, and a driving force behind U.S.-Israel scientific collaboration.

This year’s awards bring together outstanding researchers from the U.S. and Israel, working jointly to advance practical solutions to complex climate challenges:

🔹 Rethinking carbon capture at the molecular level
Led jointly by Prof. Avinoam Rabinovich (Tel Aviv University), Prof. Shaina Kelly and Prof. Peter Kelemen (Columbia University), this project is developing a new approach to direct air CO₂ capture through multiphase flow-controlled oxide weathering.

🔹 Advancing low-carbon water desalination solutions
Led by Prof. Orit Sivan (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) and Prof. Menachem Elimelech (Rice University), this project integrates novel saline groundwater desalination to address aquifer salt intrusion while reducing overall carbon footprint.

Each project will receive $600,000 over four years to advance high-impact, collaborative research with real-world implications for climate mitigation and resource sustainability.

The BSF Climate Solutions Grants program reflects a shared commitment to advancing science that crosses borders - building on the legacy of Prof. Anton Post and supporting the next generation of solutions at the intersection of climate, water, and energy.

🔗 Learn more about the program: https://www.bsf.org.il/funding-opportunities/new-program/about/

24/03/2026

A step toward mapping the “missing manual” of plant evolution.

An international team backed by NSF-BSF funding has uncovered millions of ancient DNA “switches” that regulate plant genes - some dating back 300 million years - opening new possibilities for precise crop improvement.

While scientists have long identified many of the genes that shape how plants grow, the "switches" that control when and how those genes are activated have remained much harder to find.

A new study published this month in the journal Science brings that layer into focus.

Analyzing 284 plant species, the researchers identified more than 2 million regulatory DNA elements that are conserved across deep evolutionary time - providing what is, in effect, a “missing manual” for understanding how plant genomes function despite extensive reshuffling and duplication.

Beyond its evolutionary insights, the work points to a more precise approach to agriculture. Rather than relying on broad gene edits, researchers can begin to target the regulatory regions that fine-tune traits such as yield and resilience. As climate pressures grow, that level of precision becomes increasingly important.

This work builds on an NSF–BSF collaboration between Dr. Idan Efroni (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Prof. Zachary Lippman and Prof. David Jackson (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), and Dr. Madelaine Bartlett (University of Cambridge; formerly University of Massachusetts) - highlighting how U.S.–Israel collaboration brings together complementary strengths to advance complex scientific questions.

🔗 Read more: https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/scientists-uncover-two-million-ancient-dna-switches-controlling-plant-genes

📖 See study: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adt8983

📷 Photo credits:
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (Lippman & Jackson) · Yoram Aschheim (Efroni) · University of Cambridge (Bartlett)