Prof. Dan Peer

Molecular Cell Biology and Bio
office of the president

ביולוגיה מולקולרית של התא ולב סגל אקדמי בכיר

Email: peer@post.tau.ac.il

Phone: 03-6407925

Fax: 03-6405926

Office: Britannia-Porter, 226

CV

Dan Peer is the Vice President for Research and Development at Tel Aviv University since October 2020.

Prof. Peer is a full Professor and the Director of the Laboratory of Precision NanoMedicine at Tel Aviv University (TAU). He is the founder and managing director of the Center for Translational Medicine and the SPARK TLV program at TAU

Prof. Peer’s work was among the first to demonstrate systemic delivery of RNA molecules using targeted nanocarriers to the immune system and he pioneered the use of RNA interference (RNAi) for in vivo validation of new drug targets within the immune system that has enormous implications in Cancer and inflammation. In addition, his lab was the first to show systemic, cell specific delivery of mRNA molecules.

Prof. Peer and his team have done innovative and groundbreaking work in cancer, mostly in brain tumors (Glioblastoma), Ovarian Cancer, and a set of blood cancers (Mantle Cell Lymphoma, Multiple Myeloma and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia) and in inflammaotry bowel diseases.

His work is published in premier scientific journals and he is the editor and author of several books in the field of nanomedicine. In addition, he is an associate editor of Journal of Controlled Release, and a member of the editorial boards of numerous journals including Cancer Letters and ACS Bioconjugate Chemistry. He has received more than 30 awards; among them, he was recognized by the Kenneth Rainin Foundation by their Innovator (2010) and Breakthrough (2011 – 2013) Awards for his pioneering work in inflammatory bowel diseases and by the AAAS and the Untold news breakthrough Award for his development of the Gagomers platform for cancer targeted drug delivery. In 2017, he received the 2017 Nanos Award for major contribution to the field of clinical nanomedicine in CLINAM 10^th, Basal, Switzerland.

Prof. Peer has more than 130 pending and granted patents. Some of them have been licensed to several pharmaceutical companies and one is currently under registration (as a new drug in inflammatory bowel disease). In addition, based on his work, five spin-off companies were generated aiming to bring personalized medicine into clinical practice.

Prof. Peer is a past President of the Israeli Chapter of the Controlled Release Society, and a Member of the Israel Young Academy of Sciences.

Research Interests

The Peer’s lab work at the interface of materials science, chemistry, molecular biology, and immunology, to discover and validate novel therapeutic targets at the molecular level, and to develop specific molecular medicines for therapeutics and disease management.

The lab is highly dynamic, multidisciplinary, and focuses on developing targeted vehicles for cell-specific delivery of novel molecular medicines (e.g. RNAi , mRNA, saRNA, DNA and novel genome editing strategies). The lab goal is to translate academic discoveries into innovative therapeutic modalities. With that in mind, Prof. Peer also founded SPARK Tel Aviv to accelerate cures via academic discoveries. Prof. Peer strives to develop the career of young students and encourage them to fulfill their ambitions and dreams.

Recent Publications

Full list can be found on the personal website

MANUSCRIPTS

1. Kon E, Hazan-Halevy I, Rosenblum D, Cohen N, Chatterjee S, Veiga N, Raanani P, Bairey O, Benjamini O, Nagler A, Peer D. Resveratrol Enhances mRNA and siRNA Lipid Nanoparticles Primary CLL Cell Transfection. Pharmaceutics. 2020;12(6):E520.

2. Van de Vyver T, Bogaert B, De Backer L, Joris F, Guagliardo R, Van Hoeck J, Merckx P, Van Calenbergh S, Ramishetti S, Peer D, Remaut K, De Smedt SC, and Raemdonck K (2020) Cationic Amphiphilic Drugs Boost the Lysosomal Escape of Small Nucleic Acid Therapeutics in a Nanocarrier-Dependent Manner. ACS Nano. 14(4):4774-4791.

3. Ramishetti S, Hazan-Halevy I, Palakuri R, Chatterjee S, Naidu Gonna S, Dammes N, Freilich I, Kolik Shmuel L, Danino D, and Peer D (2020) A Combinatorial Library of Lipid Nanoparticles for RNA Delivery to Leukocytes. Adv Mater. 30:e1906128. (Cover)

4. Singh MS, Goldsmith M, Thakur K, Chatterjee S, Landesman-Milo D, Levy T, Kunz-Schughart LA, Barenholz Y, and Peer D (2020) An Ovarian Spheroid Based Tumor Model that Represents Vascularized Tumors and Enables the Investigation of Nanomedicine Therapeutics. Nanoscale 23;12(3):1894-1903.

5. Veiga N, Goldsmith M, Diesendruck Y, Ramishetti S, Rosenblum D, Elinav E, Behlke MA, Benhar I, and Peer D. (2019) Leukocyte-Specific siRNA Delivery Revealing IRF8 as a Potential Anti-Inflammatory Target. J Control Release. 313:33-41. (Cover)

6. Gao M, Deng J, Liu F, Fan A, Wang Y, Wu H, Ding D, Kong D, Wang Z, Peer D, and Zhao Y (2019) Triggered Ferroptotic Polymer Micelles for Reversing Multidrug Resistance to Chemotherapy. Biomaterials. 223:119486.

7. Hazan-Halevy I, Rosenblum D, Ramishetti S, and Peer D (2019) Systemic Modulation of Lymphocyte Subsets Using siRNAs Delivered via Targeted Lipid Nanoparticles. Methods Mol Biol. 1974:151-159.

8. Lusi V, Moore TL, Laurino F, Coclite A, Perreira R, Ferreira M1, Rizzuti I, Palomba R, Zunino P, Duocastella M4, Mizrahy S, Peer D, Decuzzi P (2019) A Tissue Chamber Chip for Assessing Nanoparticle Mobility in the Extravascular Space. Biomed Microdevices. 21(2):41.

9. Edri R, Gal I, Noor N, Harel T, Fleischer S, Adadi N, Green O, Shabat D, Heller L, Shapira A, Gat-Viks I, Peer D, and Dvir T (2019) Personalized Hydrogels for Engineering Diverse Fully Autologous Tissue Implants. Adv Mater. 31(1):e1803895. (Cover)

10. Liu G, Deng J, Liu F, Wang Z, Peer D and Zhao Y (2018) Hierarchical Theranostic Nanomedicine: MRI Contrast Agents as a Physical Vehicle Anchor for High Drug Loading and Triggered on-demand Delivery. J. Mat. Chem. B 6:1995–2003.

11. Veiga N, Goldsmith M, Granot Y, Rosenblum D, Dammes N, Kedmi R, Ramishetti S, and Peer D (2018) Cell-Specific Delivery of Modified mRNA Expressing Therapeutic Proteins to Leukocytes. Nature Commun. 9(1):4493-449.

12. Goldsmith M, Abramovitz L, Braunstein H, Horowitz M, and Peer D (2018) Quantitative Analysis of Recombinant Glucocerebrosidase Brain Delivery via Lipid Nanoparticles. Nano Futures 2(4).

13. Kedmi R*, Veiga N*, Ramishetti S, Goldsmith M, Rosenblum D, Dammes N, Hazan-Halevy I, Nahary L, Leviatan-Ben-Arye S, Harlev M, Behlke M, Benhar I, Lieberman J, and Peer D (2018) A Modular Platform for Targeted RNAi Therapeutics. Nature Nanotechnology 13(3):214-219. *denotes equal contribution

14. Karp J. M. and Peer D. (2018) Editorial: Focus on RNA interference: from nanoformulations to in vivo delivery. Nanotechnology 29(1):010201.

15. Zyuzin MV, Díez P, Goldsmith M, Carregal-Romero S, Teodosio C, Rejman J, FeliuN, Escudero A, Almendral MJ, Linne U, Peer D, Fuentes M, and Parak WJ (2017). Comprehensive and Systematic Analysis of the Immunocompatibility of Polyelectrolyte Capsules. Bioconjug Chem.

16. Soffer-Tsur N., Peer D., and Dvir T (2016) ECM-based Macroporous Sponges Release Essential Factors to Support the Growth of Hematopoietic Cells. Journal of Controlled Release 257:84-90.

17. Kedmi R, and Peer D. (2016) Zooming in on Selectins in Cancer. Science. Transl. Med. 8(345):1-2. (Cover)

18. Weinstein S, Toker, IA, Emmanuel R, Ramishetti R, Hazan-Halevy I, Rosenblum D, Goldsmith M, Abrahamc A, Benjamini B, Bairey O, Raanani R, Nagler A, Liebermane J and Peer D (2016) Harnessing RNAi Based-Nanomedicines for Therapeutic Gene Silencing in B cell Malignancies. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 113(1) E16-E22.

19. Dearling, J, Daka, A, Veiga, N, Peer, D, and Packard A (2016) ImmunoPET of Colitis: Defining Target Cell Populations and Optimizing Pharmacokinetics. Inflammatory Bowel Diseases 22(3):529-538.

20. Ben-Arye T., Park S., Shemesh J., Peer D., Levenberg S. and Yossifon G (2015) Dielectrophoretic Characterization of Cells in a Stationary Nanoliter Droplet Array with Generated Chemical gradients. Biomed Microdevices 17: 91.

21. Ramishetti S*, Kedmi R*, Goldsmith M, Leonard F, Speague AG, Godin B, Gozin M, Cullis P, Dykxhoorn DM, and Peer D (2015) Systemic Gene Silencing in Primary T lymphocytes using Targeted Lipid Nanoparticles. ACS Nano 9(7):6706-6716 *denotes equal contribution.

REVIEWS

1. Rosenblum D, Gutkin A, Dammes N, Peer D (2020) Progress and challenges towards CRISPR/Cas clinicaltranslation. Adv Drug Deliv Rev.

2. Veiga N, Diesendruck Y, and Peer D (2020) Targeted lipid nanoparticles for RNA therapeutics and immunomodulation in leukocytes. Adv Drug Deliv Rev.

3.Dammes N, and Peer D (2020) Monoclonal Antibody-Based Molecular Imaging Strategies and Theranostic Opportunities. Theranostics. 10(2):938-955.

4. Moghimi SM, and Peer D (2019) Reprogramming the Lymphocyte Axis for Immunotherapy. Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews 141 1–2. (Cover)

5. Dhyani M, Joshi N, Bemelman WA, Gee MS, Yajnik V, D’Hoore A, Traverso G, Donowitz M, Mostoslavsky G, Lu TK, Lineberry N, Niessen HG, Peer D, Braun J, Delaney CP, Dubinsky MC, Guillory AN, Pereira M, Shtraizent N, Honig G, Polk DB, Hurtado-Lorenzo A, Karp JM, and Michelassi F (2019) Challenges in IBD Research: Novel Technologies. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 25:S24-S30.

6. Granot-Matok Y, Kon E, Dammes N, Mechtinger G, and Peer D (2019) Therapeutic mRNA Delivery to Leukocytes. Journal of Controlled Release 305, 165-175.

7. Mizrahy S, Gutkin A, Decuzzi P, and Peer D (2019) Targeting central nervous system pathologies with nanomedicines. J. Drug Target. 27(5-6):542-554.

8. Ramishetti S, and Peer D (2018) Engineering lymphocytes with RNAi. Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 141:55-66.

9. Gutkin A, and Peer D (2018) Gene Silencing in the Right Place at the Right Time. Mol Ther. 5;26(12):2875.

10. Rosenblum D, Joshi N, Tao W, Karp J.M, and Peer D (2018) Progress and Challenges Towards Targeted Delivery of Cancer Therapeutics. Nature Communications 9, 1-12.

COMMENTARIES

1. MacLachlan I (2008) siRNAs with Guts. Nature Biotechnology 26, 403 – 405.

2. Mullard A (2008) Escorting siRNA. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9, 189.

3. Szoka F (2008) The Art of Assembly. Science 319 (5863), 578-579.

4. Weintraub K (2013) The New Gold Standard. Nature 495, S14-S16.

5. Sarmento B, Das Neves J, Santos HA, Santos L, MitragotriS, Little S, Peer D, Amiji MM, and Alonso MJ (2019) On the issue of transparency and reproducibility in nanomedicine. Nature Nanotechnology 14, 629–635.