After missile strike leveled her lab, Israeli scientist named in prestigious Nature’s 10

Prof. Yifat Merbl of Weizmann Institute of Science’s Department of Systems Immunology has been selected, together with nine other world-renowned researchers, for Nature’s 10, a prestigious list of scientists who had a role in some of 2025’s most significant moments in science. The magazine is one of the most respected scientific journals in the world.

Merbl’s lab was destroyed in the June Iranian ballistic missile attack on Weizmann. While nobody was killed, the attack destroyed two buildings and 45 labs.

Merbl, a systems biologist, has found a new facet of the human immune system by studying proteasomes that normally break down old or damaged cells. Merbl found that under some circumstances, proteasomes cut up proteins to create antimicrobial peptides that help to fight infections.