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An immunologist killed in the Tehran air crash has been mourned as a devastating loss to Canada’s scientific community.

Forough Khadem, 36, discovered treatment for the parasitic disease leishmaniasis, which kills between 26,000 and 65,000 people every year.

She worked for Mitacs, a non-profit research organisation.

Jude Uzonna, who worked with Ms Khadem when she did her PhD at the University of Manitoba, said: “I can’t believe that she’s gone.

"With her passing, humanity has really lost a gem.”

Ms Khadem had been visiting family in Iran.

She texted Mr Uzonna minutes before taking off, saying she was “a bit worried” because of tensions between Iran and the US.