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Camilla Ciolli Mattioli’s workday often begins in a place that many group leaders gradually trade for their desks over the course of their careers: the laboratory. “At the moment, I still carry out many experiments myself,” says the head of the research group “Systems Microbiology of Intracellular Pathogens,” which was launched in February at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in cooperation with the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU). Her lab is still being set up—with her right in the middle of it. “I work closely with my team and teach my lab members the necessary procedures,” she adds.

Professor Hortense Slevogt is an expert in the field of respiratory and lung infections and immunology. Both as a renowned researcher and a doctor. If you ask her for a catchy name for what she does, she doesn't hesitate: "I build bridges." Bridges between research and clinical practice. Slevogt has been a W3 professor at Hannover Medical School since 2022 and is a senior physician for clinical infectiology with the Department of Pneumology and Infectiology. She is also the head of the "Dynamics of respiratory infections" research group at the HZI in Braunschweig. In her role as a clinical scientist, she finds it extremely fulfilling to translate discoveries from the laboratory and clinical studies into direct benefits for patients.

Christian Sieben decided in favour of biology thanks to his older sister, also a biologist, who gave him an early glimpse behind the scenes of this field of study. But the 40-year old‘s career path was anything but classical. After completing his diploma in Darmstadt, he went to Berlin to do his doctorate - in the biophysics department of the Humboldt University. Although he had never been concerned with virology or microbiology during his studies, his research now focussed on influenza viruses and their initial cell contact using super-resolution microscopes for his doctoral thesis. A far-reaching decision: “It was at this time that the foundation for my research today was laid.”

“What exactly happens with infections in individual cells? How, where and when does the metabolism within infected cells change? If we manage to gain a better understanding of this, we’ll be able to find starting points for tailored and effective therapies,” says Antoine-Emmanuel Saliba. He has been head of the Single-cell Analysis group at the Würzburg-based Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), a branch of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) headquartered in Braunschweig, Germany, for more than three years.

Alice McHardy reveals how she came to bioinformatics and what fascinates her about her work with massive volumes of data.

For researchers like Chase Beisel, the cryptic term CRISPR-Cas is much more than the sophisticated system used by bacteria to defend themselves against virus attacks: It is home to countless genetic engineering possibilities that Beisel hopes to exploit. His goal is to understand the diversity of CRISPR-Cas systems in order to be able to use them against genetic diseases or multi-resistant pathogens, for example. The social dimension of his research plays a decisive role for him: “CRISPR is a wonderful example of basic research that has already led to something that has enormous effects on society,” he says. “However, we must never neglect social exchange about gene-editing technologies such as CRISPR, because in the end our work is useless if society is not prepared to accept it.”