Press releases
07.09.11
Intimate Binding to Intestinal Cells
Researchers from the HZI investigate the attachment of EHEC bacteria in detail.
Every year infections with "entero-hemorrhagic Escherichia coli" bacteria (EHEC) keep researchers in industrialised countries busy. During an infection the bacteria colonize the intestinal mucosa and produce a toxin that causes bloody diarrhoea, leading to severe complications. Scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung, HZI)...
25.08.11
The Lung in a Cell-Culture Model
New research project aims to help in replacing animal experiments
Following infections of lung cells through various pathogens in the culture dish: this is the goal of a new joint project of two Helmholtz research groups. The scientists are attempting to reconstruct lung cells from mice in a stable in vitro model, in order to conduct research on the intrusion of pathogens such as viruses and bacteria and to test new active pharmaceutical ingredients. The...
22.08.11
Dirk Heinz new Scientific Director of HZI
Successor of Jürgen Wehland now officially confirmed.
The Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung, HZI) in Braunschweig, Germany, has a new Scientific Director. The German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) has appointed the structural biologist Prof. Dirk Heinz with effect from August 1 as successor of Prof. Jürgen Wehland who passed away a year ago. Heinz has been acting Scientific Director...
17.08.11
Molecular Tricks of the Motile Malaria Pathogen
How Plasmodium falciparum is able to quickly alter its cytoskeleton
It infects men and mosquitoes, changes its form multiple times, and moves very elegantly and rapidly through the body of its host: Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of malaria, shows an astonishing versatility and motility. Researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung, HZI) have now investigated the molecular basis behind this...
15.08.11
Hide and Seek in the Tumour
Researchers examine how bacteria form biofilms in cancerous tissue to hide from the immune system.
Salmonella bacteria cause several diseases – however, they have features that make them very interesting for cancer medicine: The germs migrate into tumours and lead to the death of aberrant cells. Scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung) in Braunschweig, Germany, now discovered that Salmonella form communities within the tumour....
