Who is Yaakov?

Yaakov was born on July 7, 1953, and grew up in Petah Tikva, Israel. From a young age, he was focused on animal science and biological research. As a child, he participated in scientific courses at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University and Bar-Ilan University. As a teenager, his research on avian embryology won a 1970 Excellence Award. In the 1973 war, Yaakov participated in the Yom Kippur war on the southern front as a combat soldier and fought in the 1982 Israel-Lebanon war "Shlom Hagalil".

Yaakov is a man of sharp contrasts that merge into a colorful and unusual personality. A man of laboratories and research institutes alongside a dreamy and wandering “nature boy”. On the one hand, experts in vast and convoluted scientific fields, while providing first aid at trance parties: academic and entrepreneur, institutionalist and anti-institutionalist, objective and scientific with a free and creative imagination.

Yaakov is meticulous, knowledgeable, and in-depth in every field, leaving no stone unturned in searching for answers. His fascination with the wonders of nature always turns to avenues of study and research—a classic Renaissance man with broad, deep, critical and humanistic thought. At the same time, he is a man of modern, atomistic and molecular science, familiar with all its rules and tools, and the laboratory is his home everywhere.

On his professional path

• Graduated in Natural Sciences B.Sc (summa cum laude) Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University of Israel July 1978 – July 1981, biological research and guidance of students in physiology and histology. Yaakov studied the effect of eggshell quality on bone formation in poultry embryos of different breeds

• Qualified in Natural Sciences M.Sc (summa cum laude) Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Rehovot, July 1991 – July 1995, Involvement of thyroid hormones in the embryonic development of poultry.

• Doctor of Natural Sciences Ph.D. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, July 1992 – July 1996 - Involvement of female sex hormones in developing arthritis. The thesis investigated - The involvement of female sex hormones in the development of type II collagen-induced arthritis in rats. 

Yaakov was a research student in the Genetics and Chemical Immunology Department at the Weizmann Institute of Science (1980-3) and the Department of Hormone Research (1985-7). Yaakov moved to Tel Aviv University – teaching and research associate in the Department of Histology and Cell Biology, The Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv (1987-9). Yaakov was a research and teaching associate in the Faculty of Agriculture (1991-5).

• First post-doctorate, Department of Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy, Hadassah, Ein-Kerem July 1994 – July 1999. Effect of cannabinoids on immune system cells of a mouse. Yaakov’s first post-doctoral research was conducted under the guidance of the late Prof. Raphael Meshulam and Prof. Ruth Galilli. This study demonstrates that cannabidiol [CBD] has a strong anti-inflammatory action on peritoneal macrophages and helps focus on CBD and the cultivation of CBD-rich medicinal cannabis plants (1997).

• Second Post Doctorate, Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Richmond, VA July 1996 – July 1999 - Expression of the “central” cannabinoid receptor CBR1 in non-activated microglia (immune system cells) from embryonic rodent brain.

• Dr Yaakov’s second post-doc research was done at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical College of Virginia, [VCU], Richmond, VA, USA – under the direction of Prof. Guy Cabral. The research identified functional CB1 receptors in cortical microglial cells in the inactivated (Germ Free) fetus.

In his personal life

Yaakov got married in 1991; His daughter, Merav, was born in 1993; She married Amir in 2015; Yaakov’s 1st granddaughter, Anael, was born in 2016. Yaakov’s 2nd grandson, Liel was born in July 2023.

In the 2000s, Dr Waksman left the academy as an entrepreneur in disease prevention with the help of optimal nutrition and especially self-produced organic sprouts and founded the “Har-Nevet” company for baking sprout bread. Yaakov quickly earned him the name of a world expert in this field, and those who tasted his sprouted bread will never forget this experience.
 

Yaakov is one of the leaders of the struggle for legalizing the cannabis plant in Israel, which began in the mid-1990s, with scientific activity, advocacy and leading to a growing awareness of the plant’s medicinal properties. He harnessed his scientific knowledge to the medical cannabis agency established in the Ministry of Health ("Yakar" IMCA) and was one of the five founders of the “Green Leaf” party. Thousands of patients and medical cannabis patients have received and continue to receive his advice and support over decades. 

Sometimes, when you think about the life story of Dr. Yaakov Waksman, when you hear another story and another story, you manage to see a pulsating and moving reflection of Israeli society, with its pains and hopes,
 

Today, at retirement age, Dr Yaakov Waksman is busier than ever.

About forty years of experience in biological research of cannabinoids in various fields: pharmacology, immunology, biochemistry, endocrinology, neurobiology and organic agriculture.

In the last five years, Yaakov was a scientific consultant of few companies for extracting and isolating cannabinoids, assembling formulations in Israel, the Netherlands and the USA. Yaakov served as a chief scientist at the company “Cannabics” in studying the effect of cannabinoids on cancer cells in culture. Scientific consultant in the field of CBD and concentrate on preventing drug interactions with prescription drugs and various herbs in MOYA-CBD company.
 

In his free time, he develops methods for disinfecting cannabis inflorescences using ultraviolet (UV-B) light radiation as a substitute for irradiation with ionizing gamma or beta radiation that harms the quality of the medicine, he is engaged in writing on a variety of topics related to the unique properties of the cannabis plant and lectures at faculties and conferences as a guest scientist, and recently he is also engaged in promoting awareness of the virtues of the peyote plant.