From missile damage to global recognition for Weizmann scientist

It has been a year of both devastation and distinction for Yifat Merbl, a professor in the Department of Systems Immunology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot.

Merbl was recently named one of Nature magazine's "Ten people who shaped science in 2025," a prestigious honor recognizing her groundbreaking work on the human immune system.

"It's an amazing recognition in what we do and provides an amazing boost, also to my incredible team, to keep pushing the boundaries of science," Merbl told JNS in a recent phone interview.

The accolade came just six months after her laboratory in the...