Portrait Irah King
© Katja Gollas, edited by HIRI
Irah King conducts research as a guest scientist at HIRI with support of the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award
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Humboldt fellow investigates intestinal infections at the Helmholtz Institute Würzburg

Guest scientist Irah King receives Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award

From October 2026 to July 2027, Prof. Irah King, from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, will conduct research at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) in Würzburg, a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in cooperation with Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU). His stay is supported by the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The award is endowed with 60,000 euros.

King is a professor of microbiology and immunology at McGill University and director of the university’s Center for Microbiome Research. His research focuses on a complex ecosystem: the human gut. Specifically, he studies infectious diseases and the immune system of mucous membranes, which serve as an entry point for pathogens.

At HIRI, King will collaborate with Prof. Emmanuel Saliba, head of the group “Single-Cell Analysis”, among others.

The Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award 

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation presents approximately 20 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Awards annually to internationally renowned academics from abroad in recognition of their outstanding accomplishments in research. The award is named for German astronomer and mathematician Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784–1846) and funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. 

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