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If an intestinal inhabitant such as the bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli) becomes resistant to many antibiotics, it can cause serious health problems if it enters the bloodstream. How can such potentially dangerous multi-resistant bacteria be effectively removed from the gut? Researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), in collaboration with researchers from Hannover Medical School (MHH), explored this question in their latest study.

03.07.2025

HZI Campus

Pseudocolored cells of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

News

An international research team led by the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) has discovered a new strategy used by the human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa to adapt to its host. In the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the researchers demonstrate that epigenetic processes can lead to the emergence of distinct sub-populations within genetically identical bacterial populations. This heterogeneity may be a key for bacteria to establish successful infections.

02.07.2025

HZI Campus

TWINCORE

BRICS

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Habitat loss, climate change, and globalization create new transmission routes for pathogens. Therefore, the One Health approach considers humans, animals and nature together. Prof. Fabian Leendertz is founding director of the Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH) in Greifswald, which links health research, ecology, and prevention to better prepare for future pandemics. In this episode of the HZI podcast “InFact”, Leendertz explains how zoonoses, or diseases that jump from animals to humans, develop, and why protecting the environment is central to this process.

02.07.2025

HIOH

News

A research project at the Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH), a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), has been awarded the Undine Award 2025 in the “Habitat” category. The prize was presented in Stuttgart. In the award-winning project, a research team led by Prof. Katharina Schaufler is investigating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the surface water of the Greifswald Bodden. Targeted science communication is also an important part of the project in order to raise public awareness of the issue. Schaufler heads the department “Epidemiology and Ecology of Antimicrobial Resistance” at the HIOH and receives prize money of 20,000 euros and an image film with the Undine Award.

19.06.2025

HIOH

News

Researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) have contributed to a study by the Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) that has uncovered a new mechanism of neuron damage in the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis (MS). Until now, it was unclear how inflammation in MS reduces protein degradation and leads to their harmful accumulation in neurons. A combination of new molecular biological, biochemical, and genetic methods enabled the international research team to identify a previously unknown mechanism of impaired protein degradation in inflamed neurons and its key regulator, the immunoproteasome.

18.06.2025

HZI Campus

Electron microscope image of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, illustrating the differences in the size of the bacterial cells.

News

Despite being genetically identical, bacteria can vary considerably in shape and size. Whether these variations affect bacterial function has remained an open question. Researchers at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) and the Chair of Microbiology of the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) have now characterized the functional differences between various forms of the gut bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. They demonstrated a link between cell type and metabolic function. These findings offer deeper insights into microbial gut diversity and pave the way for new possibilities in microbiome-based therapies. The study was recently published in the journal Cell Reports.

17.06.2025

HZI Campus

HIRI

HZI in the media

... Brinkmann (Archivbild): Die Virologin forscht am Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung in Braunschweig. (Quelle: teutopress/ ...

11.07.2025

t-online.de

... des HZI, der Technischen Universität Braunschweig und des Fördervereins des HZI.

Promotionspreise des HZI

Der ...

11.07.2025

Regional Heute

... lassen. Ein weiterer Partner ist das Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI) in Braunschweig. Finanziert wird das ...

07.07.2025

MDR

... Pneumologie an der UMMD sowie dem Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI) in Braunschweig. Gefährliche Folgeinfektion mit ...

06.07.2025

Magdeburger News

... von der Abteilung Mikrobielle Immunregulation am Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI) in einer Pressemitteilung des ...

04.07.2025

Pharmazeutische Zeitung

In a groundbreaking new study, researchers from the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) and Hannover Medical School (MHH) have

04.07.2025

Maldankon

removed from the gut?

Researchers from the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI), in collaboration with researchers from Hannover

03.07.2025

Phys.org

Würzburg – Eine Arbeitsgruppe des Würzburger Helmholtz-Instituts für RNA-basierte Infektionsforschung (HIRI) sowie aus Schweden und ...

03.07.2025

Deutsches Ärzteblatt

An international research team led by the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) has discovered a new strategy used by the human

02.07.2025

MSN.com

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