Jose Bengoechea

Jose Bengoechea is a Professor at Queen's University Belfast's School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, based at the Wellcome Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine. His research focuses on host-pathogen interactions, particularly multidrug-resistant pathogens like Klebsiella pneumoniae and Yersinia enterocolitica. He employs in vitro and in vivo models to study bacterial manipulation of innate immunity, aiming to develop novel therapeutics.

Research Interests: Host-pathogen cross-talk, bacterial virulence mechanisms, and immune evasion strategies. Key models include K. pneumoniae (pneumonia), Y. enterocolitica (gastroenteritis), and H. influenzae (COPD associations). His lab explores lipid A modifications, type VI secretion systems, and host cell signaling pathways.

Publications: Recent work includes reviews on K. pneumoniae's anti-immunology mechanisms (Trends in Microbiology, 2025) and in vivo single-cell analyses of pathogen interactions (PLoS Pathogens, 2024). His research bridges microbiology, immunology, and molecular biology to identify therapeutic targets.

• Awards: 2023 Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.
• Grants/Projects: Leads/co-leads projects on Klebsiella's T6SS nanoweaponry, host-pathogen rewiring, and NI AI-Bioscience partnerships (NILAB).
• Labs/Teams: Active in experimental medicine, collaborating on antimicrobial resistance and vaccine development initiatives.