TAU’s Vice President for Research and Development has been awarded the Founders Award in recognition of his groundbreaking contributions to drug delivery science.

The international Controlled Release Society (CRS) announced that Prof. Dan Peer, Vice President for Research and Development at Tel Aviv University, has been awarded the Society’s Founders Award. The Founders Award of the Controlled Release is the highest honor and recognition given to a scientist whose research made a groundbreaking, lasting impact on the field of drug delivery science.

A Pioneer in RNA Therapeutics

Prof. Dan Peer, Vice President for Research and Development, is one of the pioneers of mRNA drug development worldwide and Head of the Laboratory of Precision Nano-Medicine at the Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research at TAU’s  Wise Faculty of Life Sciences. Prof. Peer is a trailblazer and among the pioneers in the use of RNA molecules as molecular therapeutics. His research focuses on the development of RNA-based molecular medicines for a wide range of diseases, including inflammatory bowel diseases, blood cancers, brain cancer, ovarian cancer, and rare genetic diseases. In addition, Prof. Peer studies the use of RNA molecules as vaccines for viral diseases, bacterial diseases, and cancer, and develops nanometric drug carriers with the ability to selectively target specific cells.

Breakthrough Achievements in Drug Delivery

Among his groundbreaking achievements, Prof. Peer and his laboratory were the first in the world to demonstrate that mRNA molecules can be delivered to produce therapeutic proteins in animals, to use short RNA molecules for gene silencing in immune system cells, and to perform gene editing using nanoparticles that home to their target cells when injected into the bloodstream. In addition, Prof. Peer and his team were the first in the world to develop an mRNA-based vaccine against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

In recognition of his achievements, Prof. Peer was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, the U.S. National Academy of Inventors, and the Israeli Young Academy. He has also received numerous awards, including the Rappaport Prize, the Landau Prize, and the Litwin Prize for Breakthrough Research. The inventions to which he has contributed (more than 160 patent applications) have been commercialized by several companies. In addition, Prof. Peer has founded several startup companies in Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States, some of which are already in clinical trials.

Prof. Dan Peer: “The Founders Award of the Controlled Release Society is the highest recognition in the field of drug delivery and controlled release research, and I am excited by the recognition and honor given to the contribution of my laboratory and the team that works with me to the field.”