The Center for Discovery and Innovation: Harnessing the Cutting Edge of Medical Science

The Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI), is a member of Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH). The CDI translates current innovations in science to improve clinical outcomes for patients. The center has more than 34 laboratories, and over 200 researchers and physician-scientists. They are dedicated to advancing scientific research in a variety of areas including infectious diseases, autoimmune disorders, and other acute and chronic diseases.

The CDI harnesses cutting-edge advances in genetics, molecular biology, imaging, and behavioral sciences to better diagnose, treat and prevent disease through personalized medicine approaches.

CDI has partnerships across HMH’s 18 hospitals, its on-site state-of-the-art R&D facilities, and close ties with the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. It also has international partners.

At the center's helm is David Perlin, PhD, chief scientific officer and executive vice president. He balances his time between the labs and the administrative responsibilities of his position. He is involved in meetings throughout much of the day and making sure the labs have everything they need to be successful.

One area within infectious disease the CDI has focused on is the development of COVID-19 antivirals. Although the development of the COVID-19 vaccine has been successful, Perlin points out there are populations who do not respond well to vaccination.

“While the vaccine has been enormously helpful in curbing the pandemic and allowing us to live a normal life, the reality is that there are individuals who are immunocompromised who don't respond well to vaccination, and we still need antivirals,” Perlin said. “Our antiviral program has really developed in a way to be able to address those individuals who are at high risk for developing disease.”

Perlin was the senior author on a paper published last year which looked at an investigational antiviral compound that demonstrated potent in vitro activity against SARS-CoV-2, as well as other related coronaviruses. The CDI and pharmaceutical company, Merck, collaborated on the research.¹

This novel protease inhibitor known as MK-7845 showed preliminary efficacy against a wide variety of human coronaviruses using in vitro and in vivo models, according to the study in the journal Viruses. The work was done through the unique drug accelerator known as the Metropolitan AntiViral Drug Accelerator (MAVDA), funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). ¹

The models showed that MK-7845 inhibited the main protease (enzyme) known as 3CLPro, which is crucial for viral replication in SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses. ¹

“The program that we set out to accomplish was not just to address SARS-CoV-2, but to really create antivirals that could address the next coronavirus outbreak,” Perlin said. “We have 7 known human coronaviruses. We realized that this is an ongoing process, that the evolution will continue. At any moment we might have the next coronavirus, so we set out with our academic and commercial partners as part of our antiviral program to develop antivirals…which means that we are developing antivirals that are pancoronavirus active against all known human coronaviruses.”

In the next episode, Perlin discusses the challenges of developing antifungals.

Reference
1.CDI, Merck Scientists Publish on Preclinical Investigational Antiviral Candidate Broadly Active Against Human Coronaviruses. CDI. September 4, 2024. Accessed October 7, 2025.
https://www.hmh-cdi.org/en/news-events/all-cdi-news/2024/09/05/cdi-merck-scientists-publish-on-preclinical-investigational-antiviral-candidate