Rector, Prof. Cyrille Cohen

פרופ' סיריל כהן

The Office of the Rector oversees the University’s academic activities, including academic regulations and procedures, evaluation of academic faculty and their work, grants, awards and scholarships for academic staff, as well as scholarships for research students and postdoctoral fellows.

Prof. Cyrille Cohen is an immunologist and cancer researcher, a full professor at Bar-Ilan University’s Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, and head of the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy.

His research focuses on developing ways to harness and engineer the immune system to treat cancer and other serious diseases, combining basic research, the development of new technologies, and their clinical application in collaboration with medical centers.

Prof. Cohen was born in Marseille, France, and immigrated to Israel in 1992. He earned his bachelor’s degree with honors and a master’s degree in Biotechnology and Food Engineering from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, followed by a PhD in Biology. From 2003 to 2007, he conducted postdoctoral research at the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In 2007, he joined Bar-Ilan University, where he established the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy at the Faculty of Life Sciences.

His research centers on T-cell engineering, the development of TCR and CAR receptors, and the modification of cellular and metabolic pathways to enhance the immune system’s ability to recognize and destroy cancer cells. Receptors and technologies developed by his research group have contributed to treatments administered, in collaboration with medical centers, to hundreds of patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases.

Prof. Cohen has published more than 80 scientific papers and holds several patents in the field of cellular immunotherapy. He has also received approximately 30 research grants from organizations including the Israel Science Foundation (ISF), the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF), the Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF), the Israel Cancer Association, the Israel Innovation Authority, government ministries, and the European Union.

Alongside his research, Prof. Cohen has held a number of academic leadership positions. For seven years, he served as Vice Dean for Undergraduate Studies and Chair of the Teaching Committee at the Faculty of Life Sciences. From 2024 to 2026, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences. From 2023 to 2025, he headed the Life Sciences and Medicine divisions at the Israel Science Foundation.

Prof. Cohen is also active in Israel’s scientific and public spheres. From 2020 to 2024, he served as President of the Israel Society for Cancer Research. Since 2010, he has served on Ministry of Health committees responsible for approving clinical trials involving gene and cell therapies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was a member of the advisory committee on clinical trials of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and played an extensive role in making scientific and medical information accessible to the public in Israel and worldwide, giving hundreds of media interviews.

He also serves on the Committee for the Evaluation of Academic Excellence of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Most recently, he was appointed Chair of the Israel-France High Council for Scientific and Technological Research and Cooperation.

Prof. Cohen has received numerous awards and honors for his scientific and public contributions, including a Rothschild Postdoctoral Fellowship, an Alon Fellowship for Returning Scientists, recognition for innovation from the NCI’s Center for Cancer Research, an Outstanding Lecturer Award, and, in 2023, an award from Israel’s Minister of Aliyah and Integration for his contribution to Israeli society and the State of Israel in the field of science.

With the Office

Senate
Supreme Academic Council
Code of Ethics
Guidelines for Evaluating Academic Activity
Grants and Scholarships for Academic Faculty
Scholarships for Research Students and Postdoctoral Fellows
Deans and Department Chairs
Past Rectors