Press Releases
30.11.09
It takes two to infect
Structural biologists shed light on mechanism of invasion protein.
Bacteria are quite creative when infecting the human organism. They invade cells, migrate through the body, avoid an immune response and misuse processes of the host cell for their own purposes. To this end every bacterium employs its own strategy. In collaboration with a British research group, structural biologists from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, Germany...
19.05.06
Shampoo consuming Bacteria
Why Pseudomonas is able to withstand attacks of hygiene
The pernicious bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa is able to persist in the human respiratory tract for long periods of time and also frequently causes acute infections in open wounds especially following open surgery. It is able to resist common house-hold detergents making it difficult to eradicate by normal hygiene routines.Scientists from the German Research Centre of Biotechnology (GBF) and...
22.09.05
Life-sustaining stuff
ALAS, scientists at the GBF reveal the structure of a life-sustaining enzyme
Heme is the pigment responsible for the red colour of blood. All humans and animals need heme because it alone transports life-sustaining oxygen from the lungs to the tissues of the body. Scientists of the GBF and the Technical University in Braunschweig have resolved the 3-dimensional structure of the enzyme that catalyses the first step in the synthesis of heme. “This project completes a page...
08.03.05
Malicious at the turn of a button
"Molecular Switch“ turns food bacteria into dangerous germ
How do harmless bacteria turn into dangerous pathogens? This is a question researchers at the German Research Centre for Biotechnology (GBF) in Braunschweig are currently investigating. Using the common food germ, Listeria monocytogenes, the scientists have identified a mechanism – a protein molecule called PrfA – that under certain conditions can switch on the genes that make the bacteria...
