Amit Bar-or

Biography

Dr. Bar-Or, a neurologist and neuroimmunologist, is Professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (the Neuro), McGill University. His clinical focus is Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and related disorders, and he currently serves as President of the Canadian Consortium of MS Clinics (CNSMS). He directs a cellular and molecular Neuroimmunology lab that studies basic principles of immune regulation and immune-neural interaction, in the context of inflammation, injury and repair of the human central nervous system (CNS). He also serves as the Scientific Director of the Clinical Research unit and founder and Director of the Experimental Therapeutics Program at the Neuro. Following undergraduate work in biopsychology at McMaster University, Dr. Bar-Or received his medical degree cum laude from McGill University, then pursued Neurology residency and Fellowship training in Neuroimmunology at Harvard University where he also completed the Harvard/MIT Clinical Investigator Training Program (CITP). 

Research Interest

Immune Regulation; Immune:Neural Interaction; Immune Monitoring, Autoimmune disease; Multiple Sclerosis Dr. Bar-Or’s Neuroimmunology lab research is directed at understanding principles of immune regulation and immune neural interactions. Immune system studies include elucidation of effector and regulatory properties of distinct immune cell (principally T cell, B cell, and myeloid cell) subsets; their interactions; and how these may contribute to inflammatory neurological diseases, primarily multiple sclerosis. A strong interface with neuroscience laboratories at the Neuro provides opportunities to investigate the role of immune-neural interactions to CNS injury, repair and regeneration. Ongoing research in MS considers both pediatric- and adult-onset disease, and reconstitution biology. An overarching theme is translation of basic lab discoveries towards understanding and development of novel experimental therapies. This includes human in vivo biological proof-of-principle studies of therapeutic mode-of-action, development and application of biological assays to monitor disease activity and evaluate response to treatments, and the development of clinically meaningful biomarkers for patients with autoimmune and neurological disease.