Dedi Meiri – Short Biography

Associate Professor David (Dedi) Meiri heads the Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Cannabinoid Research at the Faculty of Biology, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, where he is also a member of the Technion Integrated Cancer Center (TICC).

Prof. Meiri comes from a highly diverse scientific background. He holds an M.Sc. in biochemistry and a Ph.D. in plant biotechnology from Tel Aviv University. He conducted his post-doctoral fellowship at the Ontario Cancer Institute focusing on G-protein coupled receptors and small GTPases. During the past seven years, Prof. Meiri’s lab has been focused on early drug discovery, investigating the vast therapeutic potential of naturally occurring secondary metabolites from different plants, algae and fungi.

He has won worldwide recognition in the field of cannabis research, developing methods to compressively characterize the compounds in different plants and demonstrating the complexity of cannabinoids as antitumor agents. The lab’s current research interest is focused on how different metabolites affect various types of cancer, inflammatory diseases and disorders of the nervous system. The lab consists of a highly trained team of skilled professionals and students, working in synergy to achieve the highest level of results, and realize the full therapeutic potential of natural components for human health.

Prof. Meiri collaborates with leading researchers and clinicians, his lab is currently involved in several clinical trials covering diverse aspects of anticancer treatment, colon disease, pain prevention and epilepsy. Prof. Meiri is also highly involved in governmental regulations and is a residing member in several Israeli Ministry of Health committees that seek to advance the fundamental understanding of optimal cannabis usage and curtailing adverse effects.