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For its cross-regional collaboration, the DEEP-DV research consortium (“Disrupt – Evade – Exploit: Gene expression and manipulation of the host response in DNA virus infections”) has been awarded the 2026 North German Science Prize. The consortium, jointly headed by Prof. Nicole Fischer (University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE)) and Prof. Melanie Brinkmann (Technische Universität Braunschweig and Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI)), is investigating how DNA viruses evade the immune system and remain in the body permanently. Since 2012, the federal states of Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein have used this prize to recognize cooperation projects across a range of disciplines; this year’s award focuses on the life sciences. Three projects were honored, each receiving prize money of 83,333 euros.

04.09.2026

HZI Campus

News

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacterium capable of infecting various parts of the body, including the lungs, skin, and bloodstream. It accounts for approximately 7 per cent of hospital-acquired infections worldwide and is linked to around 559,000 deaths annually. Researchers from the group of Prof. Michael Kolbe at the Centre for Structural System Biology (CSSB), along with collaborators from Research Center Jülich, EMBL Hamburg, DESY and BIOTECH Thailand have uncovered novel virulence mechanisms of phospholipase C from P. aeruginosa. Their findings are published in Protein & Cell and shed new light on how this pathogen evades host defenses and causes severe disease. The CSSB is a common initiative by nine northern German research institutions, including the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig.

03.09.2026

CSSB

Scientist working with an analytical instrument in the laboratory.

News

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest challenges facing modern medicine. A new class of programmable antibiotics known as asobiotics can be used to treat bacterial infections when classical antibiotics fail. A team of researchers from TWINCORE, Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, the RESIST Cluster of Excellence and from the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) in Würzburg has now studied, how bacteria adapt to asobiotics. They recently published their finding in Nature Communications. TWINCORE and HIRI are sites of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in cooperation with Hannover Medical School and Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, respectively.

31.08.2026

TWINCORE

HIRI

Nine people at a topping-out ceremony on a construction site symbolically strike a wooden beam with hammers.

News

On 28 August 2026, the Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH) celebrated the completion of the structural shell of its new research building at the Berthold-Beitz-Platz campus together with guests from science, politics – including Bettina Martin, Minister for Science of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania – and partner institutions. The €38 million project is jointly funded by the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which is contributing €26.5 million, and the federal government.

28.08.2026

HIOH

Group photo of 10 people in front of two HZI banners

News

Dennis Rohde, a member of the German Bundestag and Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF), visited the Braunschweig campus of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) today. He was accompanied by Braunschweig’s Mayor, Dr. Thorsten Kornblum. The visit focused on discussions with the HZI management and researchers as well as insights into key research and infrastructure areas at the HZI.

26.08.2026

HZI Campus

News

Ebola viruses are among the most dangerous known human pathogens. Three species of Ebola virus have repeatedly caused major outbreaks on the African continent. Most outbreaks have been caused by the Zaire Ebola virus. Medicines and vaccines are available for this virus species. However, there are as yet no treatments or vaccines against the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, which is causing the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This makes it considerably more difficult to combat the outbreak, which is already the largest Bundibugyo Ebola virus outbreak ever documented. A team of researchers at the German Primate Centre – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research (DPZ), at TWINCORE Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research in Hannover, as well as at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf and the Charité – University Medicine Berlin has now investigated how the Bundibugyo Ebola virus enters cells and whether there is cross-protection from an already approved Zaire Ebola virus vaccine. The study was published in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

25.08.2026

TWINCORE

HZI in the media

Medical School (MHH), Saarland University Hospital (UKS) and the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) has now

08.10.2026

Medical Xpress

... Leiterin der Abteilung für Epidemiologie am Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung in Braunschweig, Berit Lange, dem Deutschen ...

08.10.2026

Deutsches Ärzteblatt

... auch die Technische Universität und das Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung ( HZI ) in Braunschweig beteiligen. „Dieses ...

08.10.2026

Deutsches Ärzteblatt

Berlin, Una Europa), Prof. Dr. Fabian Leendertz (Helmholtz – Institut One Health, Greifswald) und P. Cornelius ...

08.10.2026

Freie Universität Berlin

die Bundibugyo-Virusvariante entsteht. Forschende des Helmholtz-Zentrums für Infektionsforschung hatten unlängst Hinweise gefunden , dass

07.10.2026

Medscape

... Lange, Leiterin der Abteilung Epidemiologie am Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung in Braunschweig und Mitglied der Ständigen ...

07.10.2026

ZDFheute

... Lange, Leiterin der Abteilung Epidemiologie am Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung in Braunschweig und Mitglied der Ständigen ...

07.10.2026

Der Tagesspiegel

in predictable ways. A new study from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig now shows that this picture is far

07.10.2026

Scienmag Science Magazine

... nicht isoliert wirken. Wie Forschende des Helmholtz-Zentrums für Infektionsforschung (HZI) gemeinsam mit Teams der Universität ...

06.10.2026

Ad Hoc News

Recent research conducted by the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) in collaboration with the European Molecular Biology

06.10.2026

Life Technology™

Technische Universität Braunschweig, das HZI – Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung in Braunschweig sowie die Medizinische Hochschule ...

04.10.2026

schleswig-holstein.de

the Institute of Science and Technology Austria and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig, Germany. Their combined

04.10.2026

Scienmag Science Magazine

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