Man Of Science, Man Of Faith

Shorr, both a rabbi and a research scientist, brings God to his laboratory as he fights against cancer.

by Sharon Udasin

Staff Writer

When it comes to curing cancer, one scientist gives God all the credit as he moves one step closer to slaying the resilient killer.

Rabbi Dr. Robert Shorr, 55, the CEO of Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals, is overseeing the Phase I/II clinical trials of his newly developed cancer combatant drug, CPI-613, produced in conjunction with researchers and technology at Stony Brook University’s Long Island High Technology Incubator. Aiming to target pancreatic cancer and a wide array of other diseases, doctors are testing CPI-613 both alone and in conjunction with gemcitabine, an already standard chemotherapy treatment for pancreatic cancer — the disease that recently killed actor Patrick Swayze after a 20-month battle.

Meanwhile, as Shorr dives headlong into cancer research, the Orthodox biochemist remains a practicing rabbi, teaching students for free through the Partners in Torah over-the-phone learning service.

“I try to infuse in my professional life not [just] learning the Torah, but living it, and that’s a sanctification of Hashem’s name,” said Shorr, who finds no conflicts between matters of God and science.

For Shorr, the biggest obstacle in developing cancer drugs is the fact that no two cancer cells are the same. “Even within a single patient not all the cancer cells are going to be the same,” he said.

But Shorr’s new drug works to destroy a resource that every cancer cell needs for survival — adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy-transferring molecule that cells produce through glucose conversion.

“Without ATP, cells can’t do anything and they eventually die,” Shorr said. “What our drug does is turn off the ability of cancer cells to make ATP — a catastrophic shut-down of ATP synthesis.”   Continue reading…