BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Jason Plemel PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Medicine
Division of Neurology
Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology
and Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute
University of Alberta
Edmonton (AB), Canada

Dr. Jason Plemel is a Canada Research Chair in Glial Neuroimmunology and Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. His laboratory investigates microglia – our brain and spinal cord’s primary immune cells – and the role they play during regeneration and injury to white matter in multiple sclerosis (MS), a disorder where our immune system attacks our central nervous system. Microglia are part of a larger family of cells called glia, which we now know are vitally important to the health and wellness of the brain and spinal cord. His lab is making strides to understand how these microglia are both critical for white matter regeneration, but also contributing to white matter injury. They are working to understand the mechanisms of cell death and white matter degeneration, as well as the complex immune response following white matter injury.