The National Academy of Engineering (NAE), one of the three National Academies in the USA (Sciences, Medicine, and Engineering), has announced the appointment of Prof. Dan Peer from Tel Aviv University, currently TAU's VP R&D and Head of the Nanomedicine Lab at the Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research, the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and from the department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, as a Member of the Academy, in recognition of his groundbreaking research developing unique strategies for delivering RNA molecules.
Prof. Peer is a trailblazing scientist and pioneer in developing RNA-based molecular drugs for a wide range of diseases, including inflammatory bowel diseases; blood, brain and ovarian cancers; and rare genetic diseases. Prof. Peer also investigates the use of RNA molecules as vaccines for viral diseases and develops nano-scale drug carriers that can target specific cells selectively. Among his landmark achievements: Prof. Peer and his lab were the first in the world to demonstrate a process for the production of medicinal proteins by RNA molecules in animals, as well as the use of short RNA to silence genes in immune cells, and gene editing by means of nanoparticles that target specific cells when injected into the bloodstream.
In addition to his innovative research, Prof. Peer serves in several leading positions: TAU's VP R&D, Chair of Ramot – the technology transfer company of Tel Aviv University, and Chair of TAU Ventures. Prof. Peer is also a member of the American Society for Cell Biology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Over the years, he has contributed to a large number of inventions (over 130 patents filed), commercialized through several companies, and established startups in Israel, the UK, and the USA.