Perlin Lab
David S. Perlin, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President, CDI
Professor of Medical Sciences, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine
Deputy Director, Consortium Integration and Strategic Initiatives, Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Georgetown University
Dr. Perlin is a highly accomplished biomedical researcher and chief executive who is well recognized for his innovative and entrepreneurial leadership in the biomedical sciences. He is the inaugural Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President for the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI), which seeks to rapidly translate innovations in science to improve outcomes for patients with cancer, infectious diseases, autoimmune and other acute and chronic disorders.
Dr. Perlin has been engaged for more than 30 years in developing molecular insights and technologies to detect, combat and prevent deadly infections. He is an expert in drug discovery and drug resistance mechanisms, and he has helped develop novel therapeutics and diagnostics against high-threat bacteria, viruses, and fungi. He has published more than 320 papers and book chapters and has co-authored two books, and his laboratory is supported by multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Pharma and biopharma sectors, and the NIH has continuously funded him for 30+ years. He has served on numerous advisory boards for Pharma and Biotech to develop FDA approved drugs. Currently, he leads an NIH-designated national Center of Excellence in Translational Research (CETR) to discover novel anti-infectives against drug resistant bacterial infections. He also co-leads with Rockefeller University Nobel Laureate Dr. Charles Rice the Metropolitan Antiviral Drug Accelerator (MAVDA), one of nine national centers under the NIH AViDD program to develop novel small molecule antiviral drugs against SARS-CoV-2 and other pandemic viruses.
During COVID-19, his group established one of the first FDA EUA-approved COVID-19 molecular tests for a healthcare system; they jointly developed a highly successful high-titer convalescent plasma therapy program for hospitalized COVID-19 patients; they engaged in drug discovery against SARS-CoV-2 with Pharma and Biotech partners, and they developed high- throughput technology for the assessment of virus variants of concern.
Dr. Perlin has served on advisory boards for the NIH, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Global Action Fund for Fungal Infections, Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, and numerous Pharma, biotech and diagnostic companies Under Dr. Perlin’s leadership, the CDI was named by NJBIZ in 2020 as the top Business Incubator in the state and was further honored with a “Medical Technology Pioneer Health Care Heroes” award for their COVID-19 response. Dr. Perlin is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (2018) and the New York Academy of Sciences (2006). He was named by ROI-NJ a top 10 influencer in healthcare in New Jersey in 2019 and 2020; an Outstanding Scientist in New Jersey by the Edward J. Ill Excellence in Medicine Awards in 2020, 2021; and in 2021, a Top 25 National Innovator by Modern Healthcare. He was named in 2022 a top 25 Notable Health Care Leader by Crain’s New York Business and in 2023 was awarded the Dr Sol J. Barer Award for Vision, Innovation and Leadership.
Selected Publications
Bromley M, Chiller T, Edgar K 2022l The importance of antimicrobial resistance in medical mycology. Nat Commun. 2022 Sep 12;13(1):5352.
Wang Z, Koirala B, Hernandez Y, Zimmerman M, Park S, Perlin DS, Brady SF. 2022. A naturally inspired antibiotic to target multidrug-resistant pathogens. Nature. 601(7894):606-611.
Wang Z, Koirala B, Hernandez Y, Zimmerman M, Park S, Perlin DS, Brady SF. 2022. A naturally inspired antibiotic to target multidrug-resistant pathogens. Nature. 2022 Jan 5. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021- 04264-x
Arastehfar A, Daneshnia F, Cabrera N, Penalva-Lopez S, Sarathy J, Zimmerman M, Shor E, Perlin DS Macrophage internalization creates a multidrug-tolerant fungal persister reservoir and facilitates the emergence of drug resistance. Nat Commun. 2023 Mar 2;14(1):1183. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-36882-6.
Shurtleff VW, Layton ME, Parish CA, Perkins JJ, Schreier JD, Wang Y, Adam GC, Alvarez N, Bahmanjah S, Bahnck-Teets CM, Boyce CW, Burlein C, Cabalu TD, Campbell BT, Carroll SS, Chang W, de Lera Ruiz M, Dolgov E, Fay JF, Fox NG, Goh SL, Hartingh TJ, Hurzy DM, Kelly MJ 3rd, Klein DJ, Klingler FM, Krishnamurthy H, Kudalkar S, Mayhood TW, McKenna PM, Murray EM, Nahas D, Nawrat CC, Park S, Qian D, Roecker AJ, Sharma V, Shipe WD, Su J, Taggart RV, Truong Q, Wu Y, Zhou X, Zhuang N, Perlin DS, Olsen DB, Howe JA, McCauley JA. 2024.
Invention of MK-7845, a SARS-CoV-2 3CL Protease Inhibitor Employing a Novel Difluorinated Glutamine Mimic.
J Med Chem. 2024 Feb 16. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.3c02248.