Perls directs the New England Centenarian Study (NECS) at Boston Medical Center, the largest genetic study of centenarians in the world. By conducting interviews and analyzing genetic material from subjects, the researchers are seeking clues as to why such people age slowly and are able to avoid diseases normally associated with aging, such as heart attacks, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, and stroke.

Recently Perls led a survey of 444 centenarians and their families, which concluded that brothers of centenarians were 17 times more likely to achieve age 100 and sisters were 8 times more likely to reach this age than their counterparts in the general population. At the microscopic level, Perls is examining the genomes of such families, narrowing the search for what he calls a "longevity-enabling gene" that the siblings might share. The discovery of such a gene and the exploration of its biochemical pathways, he says, might one day enable the development of a drug that mimics the effects of the gene. The drug could be used to help older people stave off illness — or compress the duration of illness — toward the end of their lives.

Perls has a particular interest in Alzheimer’s disease, and has support from the National Institutes of Health and the Alzheimer’s Association’s T.L.L. Temple Foundation Discovery Award for Alzheimer’s Disease Research. He is collaborating closely with the Department of Genetics and Genomics, as well as with specialists from across the disciplines at the BU School of Medicine.