Born and raised in New York, Jeffrey Gerst has been a Professor of Biology for over three decades — first in the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in NY from 1991-1995, and ever since in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, where he is the incumbent of the Besen-Brender Chair of Microbiology and Parasitology.

Prof. Gerst investigates key questions regarding how proteins localize within cells and, more specifically, how trafficking of the blueprints for a given protein, namely messenger RNA (or mRNA) trafficking, ultimately controls protein localization — and why that’s so important for normal cellular function and the prevention of disease pathologies.

Among his many discoveries, his recent work shows that mammalian cells can actually transfer mRNAs from one cell to another. This novel means of intercellular communication allows cells to genetically sample their neighbors and exchange critical information. Importantly, his lab is now leveraging this phenomenon as a new means of gene therapy to treat rare monogenic (single-gene) disorders in humans to help cure diseases like Zellweger’s, Gaucher’s, Batten disease, Tay-Sachs, Cystic Fibrosis, and others. His lab aims to engineer the patient immune system to act as highly specific RNA delivery vehicles to distribute mRNAs to cells within the body that lack them, thus correcting the disease state.

He is also engaged in advocacy for sourcing psychedelic medicines using genetic engineering, instead of harvesting from the wild or by chemical synthesis, in order to produce them in an eco-friendly, sustainable, scalable, and ethical manner. He has published this work in a book entitled “Bioengineering Enlightenment: The Revolutionary Science Behind Sustainable Psychedelic Medicine,” on Amazon, and lectured on it at the Psychedelic Science 2025 conference in Denver, Colorado.