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"We are not defenceless against the novel coronavirus"
27.03.2020
HZI Campus
Blutproben
News
Population study investigates immunity to Covid-19
After an infection with the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, patients have antibodies against the pathogen in their blood. These are retained over a long period of time and are an indication for a past infection. It is assumed that patients who have recovered from the Covid-19 disease cannot be re-infected with SARS-CoV-2. To date, no data are available on whether there is an unrecognized Covid-19 immunity in the population beyond the SARS-CoV-2 infections recorded. The Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig is now coordinating a study to investigate this question. Anonymous sera from more than 100,000 donors will be analyzed in the population study. The blood will be regularly tested for antibodies against the Covid-19 pathogen. The study will provide a more accurate picture of immunity and pandemic development.
27.03.2020
HZI Campus
Virusoberfläche
News
Attractive target for drug against coronavirus
The new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has been identified as the pathogen behind the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus contains a main protease termed Mpro (or also termed 3CLpro), which is involved in the development of the virus’ replication complex. It consequently forms a part of the virus’ replication process and is an attractive drug target. A research group led by Prof. Rolf Hilgenfeld at Lübeck University and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) has now determined the protease’s crystal structure.
20.03.2020
HZI Campus
Prof. Gérard Krause, Leiter der Abteilung für Epidemiologie am Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung.
News
Coronavirus: HZI-Experte zur aktuellen Lage
Weltweit infizieren sich immer mehr Menschen mit dem neuartigen Coronavirus, betroffen sind mehr als 140 Länder (Stand 15.03.2020). Deshalb hat die Weltgesundheitsorganisation WHO inzwischen die Situation zur Pandemie erklärt. Wissenschaftlich gesehen bedeutet der Begriff Pandemie lediglich, dass sich ein neuer Erreger global verbreitet. Dies sagt noch nichts darüber aus, wie schwer die Erkrankung COVID-19 für die Mehrzahl der Infizierten verläuft.
16.03.2020
HZI Campus
Spritze
News
Modified tuberculosis vaccine as a therapy for cancer of the bladder
The human immune system can recognize and eliminate not only germs but also cancer cells. This is why treatments with weakened germs can help the immune system in its fight against cancer. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin have genetically modified the tuberculosis vaccine BCG in a way that it stimulates the immune system more specifically. Consequently, the new vaccine VPM1002 offers much greater protection against tuberculosis. A spin-off company of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig has transferred the results from basic research to clinical application. A clinical study with patients suffering from cancer of the bladder has now shown that a therapy with VPM1002 could successfully prevent the recurrence of tumours in almost half of the patients who had not responded previously to the BCG therapy. The results could lead to the early approval of the drug for the treatment of cancer of the bladder so that as many patients as possible can profit from this quickly.
21.02.2020
HZI Campus
Illustration eines Hepatitis-Virus.
News
Hope for hepatitis B patients
More than three percent of the world's population (about 260 million humans) are chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Worldwide 880,000 humans die each year from the sequelae: liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Currently, there is no cure. The therapeutic vaccine TherVacB aims to cure patients with chronic hepatitis B. A consortium of leading virologists, immunologists and specialized physicians will use a newly designed vaccine as an immunotherapy in a two-year clinical trial starting in 2021. Researchers from the HZI will contribute an adjuvant that increases the vaccine response, and they will bring in their expertise in preparing the clinical trial. The project is supported by the European Union with 10,426,000 Euros over a period of five years and is coordinated by Prof Ulrike Protzer from Helmholtz Zentrum München.
20.02.2020
HZI Campus

HZI in the media

Wild Monkeys Fall Sick With Mpox After Eating Squirrels: Is This How The Virus Jumped To Humans?

Livia V. Patrono, one of the senior authors at the Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH) in Germany, said in a statement .

 

The research

25.02.2026
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IFL Science
An African monkey ate a rope squirrel and came down with mpox

says Livia Patrono, a veterinarian and disease ecologist at Helmholtz Institute for One Health in Greifswald, Germany. In 2012, an infected

24.02.2026
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Science News
Biosicherheit: Wenn Künstliche Intelligenz neuartige Viren liefert

... Dr. rer. nat. Jakob Wirbel vom Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (Braunschweig). Das Experiment aus Stanford sei ...

20.02.2026
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Deutsches Ärzteblatt
Wie Bakterien ihre Zucker-Tarnkappe stricken: Neuer Ansatz gegen Resistenzen?

... unseres Immunsystems zu entziehen. Strukturbiologen des Helmholtz-Zentrums für Infektionsforschung (HZI) konnten nun mittels ...

18.02.2026
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Bionity.COM
Molecular 'knitting machine' for bacterial capsules mapped in 3D

of our immune system. Structural biologists at the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) have now used cryo-electron microscopy to

16.02.2026
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Phys.org
Wohl von Feuerfußhörnchen übertragen: Was man über Ansteckung mit Mpox wissen muss

Was es mit Mpox – früher Affenpocken genannt – auf sich hat, welche Symptome erkrankte Personen haben und wie man sich anstecken kann.

13.02.2026
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Apotheken Umschau
Mpox transmission model sheds light on a medical mystery

Julia Port, research group leader at Germany's Helmholtz Center for Infection Research.

 

"Ongoing outbreaks—particularly those driven by

12.02.2026
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Medical Xpress
Möglicher Ursprung des Affenpockenvirus entdeckt

... Livia Patrono, laut einer Mitteilung des beteiligten Helmholtz-Instituts für One Health (HIOH): Denn dadurch ...

12.02.2026
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n-tv
Neue Strahlenklinik soll Anfang 2027 fertig sein

... für den Neubau der Klinik für Strahlentherapie Würzburg sowie für das Helmholtz-Institut für RNA-basierte ...

12.02.2026
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Main-Post - Karlstadt
Fire-footed rope squirrels identified as a natural reservoir for monkeypox virus

Project

 

Researchers at the Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH), a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), together

11.02.2026
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NewsBreak
Viromed Medical AG reports promising study results for PulmoPlas® in intensive care unit ventilator-associated pneumonia patients

by Prof. Hortense Slevogt, Hannover Medical School, and Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, shows that the treatment with PulmoPlas®

10.02.2026
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Biotech Investments
Immunkrankheiten im Blut aufspüren

... der Medizinischen Hochschule Hannover und des Helmholtz-Zentrums für Infektionsforschung. „Unsere Methode erfordert nur einen ...

10.02.2026
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Health Capital

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