Drug Resistance Expected to be Greatest Cause of Death Worldwide by 2050

Hackensack Meridian Health Center for Discovery and Innovation Sets Target on Resisting Infection in Immunocompromised Patients

A world expert in drug resistance, David Perlin, Ph.D., is chief scientific officer and senior vice president of the Hackensack Meridian Health Center for Discovery and Innovation. His research is focused on developing new ways to detect and identify early infection at the molecular level, identify early resistance and if needed to custom design new antibiotics.

As part of research at CDI, Dr. Perlin’s team and particularly Rena Feinman, PhD, also are studying the microbiome, referred to as “second genome” since it is so important in human health and its applications. It is now well established that the microbiome shapes our immune system and way beyond also our overall health. The microbiome is affected by our lifestyle, food intake as well as drugs particularly antibiotics. Our studies are looking at how we could modulate the microbiome to improve our patients’ outcome after chemotherapy, transplantation or immunotherapy, where studies have shown a dramatic impact on response to several types of therapies in particular checkpoint inhibitors. Autoimmunity, checkpoint inhibitor therapy and immune-related adverse events: A review. Khan S, Gerber DE. Semin Cancer Biol. 2019.

“We have established together with Memorial Sloan Kettering and GT a research effort to foster research across institutions, but also identify factors to help predict and overcome resistance to immunotherapy,” says Dr. Perlin. More than a dozen research concepts have been submitted and are currently under review.