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Influenza is much more than just a nasty cold – it is one of the most dangerous infectious diseases worldwide, claiming around half a million lives every year. What makes it particularly insidious is that flu viruses are contagious even before the first symptoms appear. Despite this threat, the diagnostic options available to date are far from ideal. They are often expensive, complicated to use and simply unavailable in many poorer regions of the world. A research team led by Professor Lorenz Meinel from the University of Würzburg in cooperation with researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research has developed the technology behind a new self-test for influenza, recently published in ACS Central Science.

02.10.2025

HZI Campus

News

Five young scientists were honored in Innsbruck on Wednesday for their internationally outstanding work: The Life Sciences Research Awards Austria 2025 of the Austrian Society for Molecular Biosciences and Biotechnology (ÖGMBT) went to Victoria Deneke (IMP Vienna), Rémi Hocq (TU Vienna) and Eugenia Pankevich (CeMM). The Life Sciences PhD Awards Austria 2025 went to Yannick Weyer (Medical University of Innsbruck) and Max Kellner (formerly IMBA, since 2025 Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI)).

25.09.2025

HZI Campus

News

Some of today’s most pressing health challenges include emerging pathogens, rising antibiotic resistance, and chronic infections. To address these issues, a new Helmholtz research building is being constructed in Würzburg to advance the development of novel RNA therapies and combat infectious diseases. The project is funded by the Free State of Bavaria with co-financing from the European Union. Today, in the presence of Bavaria's Deputy Minister-President Hubert Aiwanger and more than 200 guests, the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research celebrated the roofing ceremony.

24.09.2025

HIRI

News

A research team led by scientists from the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) has introduced a new way to fine-tune genetic material. Their study, published in Nature Biotechnology, describes an innovative technique in which chemical tags are attached directly to DNA, opening the door to new approaches in medicine, agriculture, and biotechnology.

18.09.2025

HIRI

Interview

Antimicrobial resistance is still an underestimated problem. Resistant bacteria are by no means only found in hospitals, they also occur in the natural environment. Prof. Katharina Schaufler and her team from the Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH) in Greifswald – a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) – have detected antibiotic-resistant bacteria in surface water at various locations in the Greifswalder Bodden. The sampling sites also included a bathing area, and in some cases, the detected bacteria were even multidrug-resistant. However, these findings do not indicate an acute danger to residents and tourists. Nevertheless, according to Schaufler, the situation should be taken seriously and action should not be delayed until the situation worsens.

17.09.2025

HIOH

News

Itaconate is a small molecule produced in our bodies to fight bacteria and modulate immune responses. However, how itaconate travels through the body is not well understood. To close this gap, an international team of scientists led by Thekla Cordes, Professor of Cell Metabolism at Technische Universität Braunschweig at the Braunschweig Centre for Systems Biology (BRICS) and Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), together with Prof Christian Metallo at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego (USA) and researchers from the University of California, San Diego (USA), uncovered how itaconate moves through space and time within the body to shape our immune responses. These findings open new avenues for potential treatments of inflammatory diseases. The study, published in Nature Metabolism, adds to the growing interest in itaconate and provides a novel perspective on its role in regulating metabolism.

16.09.2025

BRICS

HZI in the media

could be reintroduced at any time. Epidemiologists at the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) have now shown that many people do

23.10.2025

MSN.com

... eingeschleppt werden könnte. Epidemiolog:innen des Helmholtz-Zentrums für Infektionsforschung (HZI) haben nun gezeigt, dass ...

23.10.2025

innovations report

this development, a research team at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), in collaboration with the Swiss

22.10.2025

Phys.org

Malaria-Medikamentes ermöglichen könnte. Das HIPS ist ein Standort des Helmholtz-Zentrums für Infektionsforschung in Zusammenarbeit mit ...

22.10.2025

Verband Deutscher Biologen e.V.

(Bild: DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c08354 / Hips / CC BY 4.0) Wissenschaftler am Hips entwickelten eine Plattform zur Produktion von Furanoliden, die effektiv gegen Bakterien und Krebszellen wirken können und vielversprechende Wirkstoffe darstellen.

21.10.2025

PROCESS

at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), in partnership with the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI

20.10.2025

Bioengineer.org

their biological activity. HIPS is a site of the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) in collaboration with Saarland University.

20.10.2025

Phys.org

... die Abteilung „Experimentelle Immunologie“ am Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI) in Braunschweig, lehrt als Professor an ...

17.10.2025

Deutsches Ärzteblatt

Einrichtungen als nationale assoziierte Partner: das Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung Braunschweig, die Universität Bayreuth, das

17.10.2025

AlphaGalileo

... diesem Ergebnis kommt ein Forschungsteam des Helmholtz-Zentrums für Infektionsforschung (HZI) in Zusammenarbeit mit der ...

14.10.2025

Deutsches Ärzteblatt

Individualisierte Infektionsmedizin, einer gemeinsamen Einrichtung des Helmholtz-Zentrums für Infektionsforschung und der MHH. Bis zuletzt

13.10.2025

Springer

Ein Grippe-Test könnte in Zukunft womöglich sehr schnell gehen: einfach ein Kaugummi kauen. Ein deutsches ...

09.10.2025

Apotheken Umschau

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