Michael Firer

Michael Firer received his PhD from Melbourne University, Victoria, Australia studying the immune response in food allergy. After postdoctoral work at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel working on immune regulation of allergic responses, he spent time as an R&D Manager in the biotech industry, returning to academia in 1992, joining a small, vibrant academic college which has since grown to what is now Ariel University. what is now. He is a Full Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (previously Head of the department), Deputy-Dean of the University's Adelson School of Medicine and Director of the Ariel Center for Applied Cancer Research.

Michael's research focuses on development of targeted therapies for cancer and autoimmune disease. This research is divided into two main streams - immunotherapy and peptide-based, targeted drug delivery systems.

Regarding drug delivery, a major problem with cell-killing drugs is that they do not act specifically on just the disease related cells, so their use in the free form results both toxic side effects to healthy cells. Targeted drug delivery systems are particularly interesting because they hold the promise of overcome these two important problems in chemotherapy. Michael's research team is applying peptide-based drug delivery systems for the treatment of several types of cancer as well as autoimmune diseases, such as APS.

January 2022