Dr. Amnon Bar-Shir

Dr. Amnon Bar-Shir was born in Israel and served as a paratrooper in the Israel Defense Forces. He earned a BSc in Chemistry in 2002 and an MSc in Chemistry in 2004, both awarded magna cum laude from Tel Aviv University. He completed his PhD in Chemistry there in 2009. Dr. Bar-Shir worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, from 2009 until joining the Department of Organic Chemistry at the Weizmann Institute in August 2014.
Dr. Bar-Shir seeks to create new kinds of biosensors that allow scientists to tag molecules and track their pathways through live cells and intact subjects. He has already demonstrated transforming a gene from a common herpes simplex virus into an effective “reporter gene” for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies. He has also shown how to monitor changes in metal ion levels by using novel probes and implementing new nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging techniques. He hopes to help create a new paradigm for the design, synthesis, and use of novel sensors for monitoring biological processes with MRI.
His academic and professional honors include: The International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) 2014 Junior Fellowship, three Summa Cum Laude Merit Awards of the ISMRM in 2014, 2013, and 2012 and the Magna Cum Laude Merit Award in 2013, two first place poster awards and a travel award for the 2013 World Molecular Imaging Conference, a Maryland Stem Cells Research Fund fellowship in 2012, the Joshua Jortner Prize of the Israeli Chemical Society for outstanding PhD students in 2009, and a number of student travel fellowships and awards. He is a member of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and the World Molecular Imaging Society.
Dr. Bar-Shir is married and has two children.