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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

News

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

Students and lecturers of the NOZGEKA Master program in Malawi

News

An efficient global pandemic preparedness and response requires experts who are trained to perform epidemiological studies and infectious disease modelling. The Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) leads the consortium NOZGEKA with the aim of establishing a Master of Science in Public Health with a focus on infectious disease epidemiology in Malawi. The University of Münster and Medical Center - University of Freiburg, and University of Livingstonia (UNILIA) and Mzuzu University (MZUNI) in Malawi are collaborators in the consortium.

17.06.2025

HZI Campus

HZI in the media

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

21.08.2025

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

Medical Xpress

und damit einhergehenden Erkrankungen zu sein.“

Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung

Originalpublikation:

J. Botey-Bataller, N. van

21.08.2025

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

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

The Times of India

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

15.08.2025

Springer Medizin

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

In seine ...

15.08.2025

Neue Presse (Hannover)

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

13.08.2025

Brisant

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

12.08.2025

Deutsches Ärzteblatt

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