Bats are known as natural hosts for highly pathogenic viruses such as MERS- and SARS-related coronaviruses, as well as the Marburg and Nipah viruses. In contrast to the severe and often fatal disease outcomes these viruses cause in humans, bats generally do not show obvious signs of viral illness following infection. An international research team led by Dr. Max Kellner and Prof. Josef Penninger, Scientific Director of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), has developed an innovative organoid research platform that allowed them to closely investigate the cellular antiviral defense mechanisms of mucosal epithelial tissues of bats. The results have now been published in Nature Immunology and could pave the way for the development of new therapies against viral diseases.

Yesterday, the biomedical project forge of the state of Lower Saxony reviewed the most promising ideas from across the region and selected the winners: At the fourth portfolio conference of the Institute for Biomedical Translation (IBT) Lower Saxony, a high-caliber jury selected projects from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) and TWINCORE - Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, which will receive funding of almost 3 million euros. TWINCORE is a joint institution of the HZI and Hannover Medical School (MHH). A total of 25 million euros will be available to the IBT Lower Saxony until 2028 to accelerate the transfer of cutting-edge research in the life sciences in Lower Saxony and bring it to the world in the form of start-ups and entrepreneurial ideas.

Natural products are among the most promising candidates for the development of new drugs. However, due to their structural complexity, they are often difficult to access. A team headed by Tobias Gulder from the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) has now developed new synthetic strategies for the class of polycyclic tetramate macrolactams (PoTeMs), a group of natural products with a broad spectrum of biological activities. In addition to chemical synthesis, enzymatic catalysis and genetic engineering approaches were used. The strategies established in this way not only allow PoTeMs to be produced in large quantities, but also to modify their carbon structure and thus their pharmaceutical properties. The researchers published their results in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, among others.