The Weizmann Institute
The Weizmann InstituteFlash 90

Education Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Wednesday that Professor Adi Kimchi of the Weizmann Institute of Science has won the 2019 Israel Prize for research in life sciences.

Kimchi, a molecular genetics expert, leads studies which focus on programmed-cell death and has isolated new genes which play a role in suppressing the development of cancer with pioneering technology she developed herself.

Professor Kimchi is all that an Israel Prize laureate should be — innovative, brilliant, groundbreaking and convention-breaking,” Bennett wrote on Twitter.

“For years, Professor Kimchi has worked to advance women in science and to strengthen the status of Israeli academia in the world,” Bennett added.

The committee that selected Professor Kimchi was headed by Professor Haim Cedar who noted, "Kimchi is one of the pioneers in deciphering the cellular death mechanism programmed in mammals."

"She has developed pioneering approaches to deciphering the complex pathway in human cells that directly affects the process of normal development and cancer, and has revealed innovative molecular mechanisms for understanding the process of death at the level of protein production and decomposition."

Dr. Shani Bialik Brown, Kimchi's Anglo scientific advisor, commented on the announcement, "Having worked closely with Prof. Adi Kimchi for the past 20 years in her laboratory, I can say that Adi is truly deserving of this prestigious prize, for her achievements in the scientific fields to which she has greatly contributed, for her dedication to her students and lab members, and to her determination to help everyone, student, post-doc and colleague alike, be their best."