Dr. ldo Irani

Ido Irani’s PhD at the Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics at Weizmann Institute of Science dealt with extragalactic high-energy transient phenomena and their host galaxies. A major front in the field, transient astronomy is the study of sources that appear and disappear from the night sky, such as distant supernovae. By imaging the night sky regularly, researchers can observe new and mysterious phenomena as they emerge. For his PhD at Weizmann Institute of Science’s Department of Particle Physics, Dr. Irani did just that: much of his research was based on data gathered by an international team of astronomers he led, from Caltech, Stockholm University, Liverpool University, and the Weizmann Institute. Within hours of detecting a new supernova, his team was on alert, observing it between time zones, and acquiring critical data before the supernova exploded. Using this data, Dr. Irani reconstructed a picture of stars, just before they explode as a supernova.

During his PhD, Dr. Irani led the development of the powerful and affordable DeepSpec spectrograph. DeepSpec is a highly flexible instrument, designed to switch between observing a single faint target or many bright targets simultaneously. It will be the workhorse of the new Weizmann Multi Aperture Spectroscopic Telescope (MAST) at the Weizmann Astronomical Observatory in the Israeli Negev desert.

For his postdoc at Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton University, Dr. Irani is building on his experience in optics, imaging, statistical analysis, and modeling as he transitions to a new field, biological physics.

He plans to combine modeling with instrumentation to develop a Raman spectroscopy and imaging system for basic microbiology science. Existing instruments are useful only for large cells and tissues due to the large light dosage, which can overheat the cells. Dr. Irani hopes to develop imaging for small-molecule antibiotic development, which could be crucial for identifying new antibiotics to treat resistant bacterial strains.

Dr. Irani has taught a wide range of students at Weizmann, from advanced astrophysicists to young students, Ethiopian immigrants, and visitors to the Institute’s Clore Garden of Science.