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Strukturmodel des Spike-Proteins von SARS-CoV-2.

News

The rapid expansion of the Omicron variant has taken the international medical and scientific community by surprise. After infection or vaccination against the coronavirus, our bodies produce antibodies that play a key role in protecting us against COVID-19. While early reports indicate that numerous mutations on the virus surface of the Omicron variant may allow the virus to escape this immune recognition, it is unclear if the mutations improve binding to cell surface receptors and thus facilitate the infection.

13.12.2021

HZI Campus

Eingefärbtes Rasterelektronenmikroskopbild einer Zelle

News

Scientists at the Würzburg-based Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig demonstrate for the first time how ZAP, a protein of the human immune defence system, inhibits the replication mechanism of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and can reduce the viral load by 20-fold. The findings were published today in the journal Nature Communications. They may help develop antiviral agents in the fight against the pandemic.

10.12.2021

HZI Campus

HIRI

News

Since 2017, interested citizen scientists can collect soil samples as part of the "Sample’ das Saarland" campaign and send them to the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS). The HIPS is a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in collaboration with Saarland University. Scientists at HIPS search for new types of myxobacteria in the samples, and grow and examine them in the laboratory. These globally distributed, predatory soil bacteria are capable of producing an enormous variety of chemical substances, so-called microbial natural products, which often represent excellent starting points for the development of drugs. At HIPS, the main focus is on molecules that are able to kill other bacteria. The idea behind this is that if myxobacteria can use these substances in the soil to hunt down other bacteria, scientists may be able to develop new drugs from the same substances to fight bacterial infections in humans. The focus is particularly on resistant pathogens for which the antibiotics available up to now can no longer be used with the usual success.

09.12.2021

HIPS

News

Between July 2020 and August 2021, the Epidemiology Department of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig examined the blood of approximately 26,000 individuals for antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus as part of the nationwide “MuSPAD” study. For samples collected between July and October 2020, it became evident that one to three per cent of the people had experienced a SARS-CoV-2 infection after the first wave. By the end of the third wave, the seroprevalence had increased but remained at less than 15 per cent at most study sites. Therefore, while there were two to five actual infections for every reported infection during the first wave, this ratio - and thus the number of undetected cases - decreased in the second and third waves. These results were recently published in the international issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt. In addition, a preprint publication of another study investigating the immune response after vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 based on samples from the MuSPAD study is under review.

08.12.2021

HZI Campus

Interview

A conversation about the direction of research at the HZI with Prof Thomas Pietschmann, who is the head of the "Experimental Virology" department at the HZI and director of the Experimental Virology Institute at the TWINCORE - Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research

06.12.2021

TWINCORE

Interview

The cold season has arrived along with the question of whether a vaccination against influenza makes sense in times of the ongoing pandemic. And when is the right time for the third vaccination, i.e. the booster vaccination against Covid-19?

03.12.2021

HZI Campus

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HZI in the media

... können wir Pandemien früh erkennen? Forschende des Helmholtz‑Instituts für One Health zeigen, warum Mensch, ...

13.01.2026

Deutsche Welle

... gewinnbringend eingesetzt werden. Das HIPS ist ein Standort des Helmholtz-Zentrums für Infektionsforschung (HZI) in Zusammenarbeit ...

13.01.2026

juraforum.de

... nach SARS-CoV-2, sagt Fabian Leendertz. Er ist Direktor des Helmholtz-Instituts für One Health (HIOH) in ...

13.01.2026

Deutsche Welle

from the University Hospital Würzburg (UKW), the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), and University of Münster. The

12.01.2026

MSN.com

... des Universitätsklinikums Würzburg (UKW), des Helmholtz-Instituts für RNA-basierte Infektionsforschung (HIRI) und der Universität ...

12.01.2026

Biermann Medizin

... potential pandemics early on? Researchers at the Helmholtz Institute for One Health are showing why ...

12.01.2026

Deutsche Welle

Entdeckung

Forschende am Helmholtz-Institut für RNA-basierte Infektionsforschung (HIRI), einem Standort des Braunschweiger Helmholtz- ...

09.01.2026

Bionity.COM

tools.” – Dr. Anya Sharma, Virologist at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research.

Looking Ahead: The Long-Term Implications of

08.01.2026

ARCHYDE

Beisel at Germany's Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research in Würzburg and Dirk Heinz at the Helmholtz Center for Infection

07.01.2026

News Medical

consisting of Hannover Medical School (MHH), the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, and the Leibniz Institute in

07.01.2026

Trading View

... haben nun die Studienautoren vom HIRI ‒ einem Standort des Braunschweiger Helmholtz-Zentrums für Infektionsforschung (HZI) in ...

02.01.2026

Biermann Medizin

... bis zur Medikamentenentwicklung", sagt Josef Penninger, wissenschaftlicher Geschäftsführer des HZI und Leiter der Abteilung Innovative ...

30.12.2025

Tagesschau

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