Institute for Environmental Sustainability

Promoting a cleaner, greener tomorrow

The Institute for Environmental Sustainability supports innovative research on food security, climate change, marine science, renewable energy, green materials, the impact of pollution on climate and health, and biodiversity.

Some of the Weizmann scientists leading the way include Dr. Dvir Gur, in the Department of Molecular Genetics, who is investigating the effects of ocean acidification on crystal formation in marine organisms, as well as the subsequent impact on marine organism ecology.

Dr. Shira Raveh-Rubin from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Dr. David Zeevi from the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences are pooling their combined expertise to quantify the impact of human interference (such as pollution and climate change) on microbes that live in the open ocean.

In the Department of Molecular Chemistry and Materials Science, Prof. Boris Rybtchinski utilizes the properties of organic molecules to cause them to self-assemble into “molecular plastics”—recyclable, biodegradable nanomaterials that present a potential alternative to conventional polymer-based plastics.