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Illustration of coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV-2
News
Viruses are masters at disguise. When they are pushed too far by our immune system, they send new virus variants into play that are no longer recognized by immune cells. They escape our immune system by mutating the virus structures that are recognized by antibodies. In order to adapt vaccines to new circulating virus variants as promptly as possible, it is first necessary to find out which among the numerous mutations are actually responsible for the immune escape of a new virus variant. Researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), in collaboration with the Hannover Medical School (MHH), have developed a method called reverse mutational scanning that can be used to detect such mutations quickly and reliably. The study has been published in the journal Nature Communications.
30.01.2025
Prof Yang Li
News
The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the results of the latest round of its “Proof of Concept Grant” 2024 competition. Among the researchers selected for funding is Prof. Yang Li, co-director of the Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine (CiiM) and head of the research department “Bioinformatics for Individualised Medicine”, who has thus been awarded one of the coveted ERC grants for the second time. In total, the ERC selected 134 projects for funding of 150,000 euros each. The CiiM is a branch of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), which is operated jointly with the Hannover Medical School (MHH).
29.01.2025
Portrait
News
The long-standing President of the Thünen Institute, Prof. Dr Folkhard Isermeyer, passed away on 14 January 2025 at the age of 67. With his passing, the Thünen Institute has not only lost its ‘architect’, an excellent scientist and clever strategist, but also a personality who led with trust, an open ear and human warmth.
23.01.2025
Group picture with about 20 people from the consortium
News
With viral disease emergence expected to accelerate, preparing for possible future pandemics is paramount. Beyond saving lives during outbreaks, robust pandemic preparedness safeguards economies, sustains societal functioning, and reinforces the resilience of global systems. The new EU project COMBINE (“Comparative Signature of Marburg Virus Cell Activation as a Blueprint for the Identification of Antiviral Targets against Newly Emerging Viruses”) acknowledges that understanding how viruses infiltrate host cells is crucial to combating emerging infectious diseases. The project sets out to advance our understanding of how viruses enter cells, using the Marburg Virus (MARV) as a model, and to create a blueprint for identifying new targets for antiviral strategies – a critical cornerstone of pandemic preparedness. Coordinated by the German Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), COMBINE brings together seven partners from five European countries and will receive a total funding of 7.2 million euros over the next five years through the European Union’s “Horizon Europe” Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.
21.01.2025
Podcast
News
A hospital is a place where you generally don't like to go, but are glad that it's there when you need it. It's called ‘clinically clean’. But it is precisely here that we also encounter the term “hospital germ” – an ominous reminder that a place of healing can also pose a health risk. These pathogenic germs are often so resilient that only a few drugs are effective against them. Prof. Susanne Häußler, head of the department “Molecular Bacteriology” at the HZI and TWINCORE in Hannover, studies how these multi-resistant bacteria develop. In the HZI podcast InFact, she explains how faster diagnostics can also improve treatment.
16.01.2025
Symbolic image of HI viruses
News
A team of scientists at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) in Würzburg and the University of Regensburg has unveiled insights into how HIV-1, the virus responsible for AIDS, skillfully hijacks cellular machinery for its own survival. By dissecting the molecular interplay between the virus and its host, the researchers identified novel strategies that HIV-1 employs to ensure its replication while suppressing the host’s cellular defenses. The study was published in the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology.
16.01.2025

HZI in the media

... er Klinischer Direktor des Helmholz Zentrums für Infektionsforschung (HZI) und Gründungsdirektor des Zentrums für Individualisierte ...

21.08.2025
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Deutsche Gesellschaft für Innere Medizin e.V.

Nature Medicine

 

. The CiiM is a joint institution of the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) and Hannover Medical School (MHH).

21.08.2025
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Medical Xpress

und damit einhergehenden Erkrankungen zu sein.“

 

Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung

 

Originalpublikation:

 

J. Botey-Bataller, N. van

21.08.2025
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Verband Deutscher Biologen e.V.

Now, a team of researchers, led by scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Germany, has reported that a gene in the

21.08.2025
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The Hindu

Cicin-Sain, a viral immunologist at Germany's Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, is leading the development of a respiratory syncytial

16.08.2025
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The Times of India

Instituts für Pharmazeutische Forschung Saarland (HIPS), einem gemeinsamen Standort des Helmholtz-Zentrums für Infektionsforschung (HZI) ...

15.08.2025
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Springer Medizin

... Einrichtung betreiben die MHH und das Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI) in Braunschweig gemeinsam.

 

In seine ...

15.08.2025
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Neue Presse (Hannover)

Medicine Bundesamt für Verbraucherschutz und Lebensmittelsicherheit Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung ARD alpha Universität Würzburg

13.08.2025
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Brisant

... Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Dunja Bruder, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung, Braunschweig und Institut für Med. Mikrobiologie ...

12.08.2025
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Deutsches Ärzteblatt

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