Newsroom

Arm with a band-aid - symbolic image after vaccination

News

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently published a new position paper on COVID-19 vaccines. Dr. Henning Jacobsen, a researcher in the department “Viral Immunology” at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), supported the WHO as an external advisor and contributed to the paper. The updated recommendations focus on people at increased risk of severe COVID-19. With the upcoming cold and flu season in mind, the paper provides a good reason to get your vaccination status checked.

13.10.2026

HZI Campus

Macrophages under an electron microscope

News

Pulmonary fibrosis is currently incurable and leads to increasing shortness of breath. An international research consortium involving the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and coordinated by Hannover Medical School (MHH) is now developing an innovative therapeutic approach as part of the BREATH-EC project: Genetically modified immune cells (macrophages) are designed to recognize pathological scarring processes and specifically inhibit them. The aim is to halt the progression of the disease and possibly even reverse it. The European Union (EU) is funding the project with around ten million euros.

12.10.2026

HZI Campus

News

Treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics often leads to side effects, as it affects not only the pathogens but also the “good” bacteria in the gut. A research team from Hannover Medical School (MHH), Saarland University Hospital (UKS), and the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) has now demonstrated that the natural compound argyrin B is highly effective against the pathogen Clostridioides difficile while largely sparing the beneficial gut microbiome. The researchers published their findings in the journal npj Antimicrobials and Resistance.

08.10.2026

HIPS

News

Why do the gut microbiomes of people from industrialized and non-industrialized regions differ? A study by the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in collaboration with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the University of Trento (Italy), and the University of Tübingen shows that diet alone does not explain these differences. In artificially assembled gut communities, the team examined numerous dietary components and demonstrated that plant-based dietary fiber shifted the balance in favor of the bacterium Segatella copri, which is particularly common in non-industrialized regions. However, the effect also depended on which other bacteria were present. The results were published in the journal Nature Microbiology.

06.10.2026

HZI Campus

News

Asgard archaea, our closest known microbial relatives, play a key role in current models of the origin of more complex organisms, known as eukaryotes (all animals, plants, protists and fungi). However, their biology has so far been poorly understood. Microbiologists led by the University of Vienna in cooperation with the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and the Institute of Science and Technology Austria demonstrate in a new study published in the journal Nature that these cells move through their environment in a surprisingly dynamic manner. These new findings enable the empirical testing of models for the origin of complex life for the first time.

02.10.2026

HZI Campus

AI generated visualization of a DNA double helix

News

In acute, life-threatening infections, rapidly characterizing the microorganisms in a patient sample can help guide diagnosis and treatment. This is possible by using computational methods known as taxonomic profilers, which can analyze metagenome sequencing data generated from the genomic information of these microorganisms, and compare it with reference genomes of individual microorganisms. However, taxonomic profilers are a technology still under development and not yet in common use. Current methods can produce false-positive results or inaccurate abundance estimates. Researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) have now developed a new taxonomic profiler called Metax. By using information about how sequencing reads are distributed across microbial reference genomes, Metax can distinguish true microbial signals from artifacts more reliably and improve both taxonomic identification and abundance estimation. The study has been published in the journal Cell.

28.09.2026

BRICS

HZI in the media

... nur in England vor. Laut Angaben des Helmholtz Zentrum für Infektionsforschung ist es dem Erreger ...

12.10.2026

Frankfurter Rundschau online

... und Belgien. Aus Deutschland sind das Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI), das Fraunhofer-Institut für Toxikologie und ...

12.10.2026

MTA Dialog

... weitere Versuche herstellen.

Auch das Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI) in Braunschweig ist beteiligt. Die ...

11.10.2026

t-online.de

... unterschiedlichen Regionen unterscheidet. Der Forscher vom Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung konnte in seiner Studie zeigen, ...

10.10.2026

rbb radioeins

Tawk, Youssef El Mouali and colleagues at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, together with collaborators at the University of

09.10.2026

Bioengineer.org

Medical School (MHH), Saarland University Hospital (UKS) and the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) has now

08.10.2026

Medical Xpress

... Leiterin der Abteilung für Epidemiologie am Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung in Braunschweig, Berit Lange, dem Deutschen ...

08.10.2026

Deutsches Ärzteblatt

... auch die Technische Universität und das Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung ( HZI ) in Braunschweig beteiligen. „Dieses ...

08.10.2026

Deutsches Ärzteblatt

Berlin, Una Europa), Prof. Dr. Fabian Leendertz (Helmholtz – Institut One Health, Greifswald) und P. Cornelius ...

08.10.2026

Freie Universität Berlin

die Bundibugyo-Virusvariante entsteht. Forschende des Helmholtz-Zentrums für Infektionsforschung hatten unlängst Hinweise gefunden , dass

07.10.2026

Medscape

... Lange, Leiterin der Abteilung Epidemiologie am Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung in Braunschweig und Mitglied der Ständigen ...

07.10.2026

ZDFheute

... Lange, Leiterin der Abteilung Epidemiologie am Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung in Braunschweig und Mitglied der Ständigen ...

07.10.2026

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