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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
Samples in a scientific instrument
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
Group photo of eight persons behind a foundation stone
News
On 11 September 2025, the Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH) in Greifswald laid the foundation stone for its new research building. The festive ceremony brought together numerous guests from science, politics and partner institutions. The new facility will, for the first time, unite all employees under one roof. Founded in 2021 as a new location of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, the HIOH works in close cooperation with the University of Greifswald, the University Medicine Greifswald and the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI) Greifswald-Riems. The construction is jointly financed by the federal government and predominantly by the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
11.09.2025
Illustration of a bacterium with numerous bacteriophages on the surface
News
Bacteriophages, or phages for short, are viruses that infect bacteria. Using phages therapeutically could be very useful in fighting antibiotic-resistant pathogens, but the molecular interactions between phages and host bacteria are not yet sufficiently understood. Jörg Vogel's research group at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) and the Institute of Molecular Infection Biology (IMIB) in Würzburg has now succeeded in specifically interfering with phage reproduction using a molecular tool called antisense oligomers (ASOs). According to the researchers, this innovative RNA technology offers new insights into the molecular world of phages and is expected to advance the development of future therapeutic applications. The study has been published in the journal Nature.
10.09.2025
Three women preparing samples in a lab
News
Mpox continues to pose a growing health threat in various African countries, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where frequent zoonotic spillovers occur across the country and occasionally lead to major outbreaks associated with the emergence of viral lineages whose spread is supported by human-to-human transmission. From August 2024 to September 2025, the World Health Organization had declared mpox a public health emergency, highlighting the urgent need to understand its spread across the region. The drivers behind recent mpox outbreaks in the Central African Republic, where the disease is endemic, had previously been unclear—until now.
10.09.2025
Portrait
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In the fight against multi-resistant bacteria, bacteriophages—the natural enemies of bacteria—are attracting increasing research interest. However, the targeted therapeutic application of these “bacterial killers” requires a precise understanding of their molecular basis. This is at the heart of the research in the team of Jens Hör from the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) in Würzburg. Starting in February 2026, the European Research Council (ERC) will fund his research project “RIBO-PHAGE” with a 1.5 million euro ERC Starting Grant for a period of five years.
04.09.2025

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