Prof. Hortense Slevogt, research group leader at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and lead senior physician at Hannover Medical School (MHH), has been appointed to the Commission on Anti-Infectives, Resistance and Therapy (ART) at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). The ART Commission is an independent expert panel at the RKI that develops recommendations on the rational use of anti-infectives based on current scientific evidence. Its goal is to ensure the effective use of anti-infectives while limiting the emergence and spread of resistant pathogens.

Premature babies in the intensive care unit are particularly at risk of becoming infected with potentially pathogenic bacteria. A team of doctors in Hanover has now investigated which external factors play a role in this. They concluded that climatic conditions have an influence. The study was led and designed by Dr Leonard Knegendorf, a clinician-scientist at TWINCORE, the Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research. The findings were published in the scientific journal "Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control". TWINCORE is a joint institution of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and Hannover Medical School (MHH).

New broad-spectrum antiviral agents are considered an important contribution to pandemic preparedness. A project led by Alexander Titz, Professor of Organic and Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Saarland University (UdS), and Prof. Christian Sieben, research group leader at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), aims to develop such active compounds to fill a gap in pandemic prevention. To achieve this, the two researchers intend to block a step that occurs at the very beginning of viral infection: the binding of viruses to sugar molecules on the cell surface. The Volkswagen Foundation is now funding the development of such inhibitors with almost one million euros.