Newsroom

Theresa Graalmann und Katharina Borst
News
Natürliche Killerzellen produzieren Botenstoff zur Virusabwehr
Die erste Abwehrreaktion des Immunsystems auf eine Infektion mit einem Virus ist die Ausschüttung von Interferonen. Diese Botenstoffe, die zu den Zytokinen gehören, lösen einerseits antiviral wirksame Mechanismen in noch nicht infizierten Zellen aus und stimulieren anderseits weitere Immunreaktionen. Wissenschaftler vom TWINCORE - Zentrum für Experimentelle und Klinische Infektionsforschung in Hannover konnten jetzt aufklären, welche Bedeutung das von Zellen der angeborenen Immunität gebildete Interferon-gamma für die Kontrolle einer Infektion mit dem Vakziniavirus hat. Ihre Ergebnisse veröffentlichen sie in der Fachzeitschrift PLOS Pathogens.
11.02.2020
HZI Campus
TWINCORE
3D-Darstellung von Coronavirus-Partikeln
News
New coronavirus module in SORMAS
At the end of December 2019, the first cases of pneumonia caused by a novel coronavirus were reported from the Chinese city of Wuhan. Since then, infections with the pathogen appeared on several continents. Strict measures to control the epidemic have been put in place to stop its further spread. The SORMAS (Surveillance, Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System) app developed at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig is now contributing to this effort. The scientists expanded the mobile information system for disease monitoring to include a module for combating the coronavirus epidemic. The new coronavirus module is available in Nigeria and Ghana, where SORMAS is already in use. It can be implemented in any other country that wants to use SORMAS in the future.
04.02.2020
HZI Campus
Elektronenmikroskopische Aufnahme von Staphylococcus aureus
News
Expanding the therapeutic use of the antibiotic mupirocin
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria are one of the greatest threats to global health. In order to alleviate this problem, researchers explore new applications for already existing antibiotics in addition to the search for new active substances. Until now, the antibiotic mupirocin could only be applied locally to treat skin infections. Encapsulating the drug into nanoparticles would enable to broaden its range of applications. Researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, together with colleagues at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, have shown that nanotechnology enables a systemic application of mupirocin. The study was published in the Journal of Controlled Release.
03.01.2020
HZI Campus
Rasterelektronenmikroskopische Aufnahme von intakten MRSA
News
From cancer medication to antibiotic
The bacterium Staphylococcus aureus can be part of the normal bacterial population inhabiting our body, but can also cause serious infections. This bacterium has often developed resistance to standard antibiotics or even multi-resistance to several antibiotics such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Particularly in hospitals, MRSA is often the cause of severe and difficult-to-treat infections. Therefore, there is an urgent need for new drugs that can effectively treat MRSA infections. In order to shorten the lengthy and expensive development process, scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have used an innovative approach to antibiotic development. The researchers used chemical synthesis to significantly improve the antimicrobial properties of an approved cancer medicament that also has a moderate killing activity on MRSA. The resulting molecule, named PK150, is highly effective against MRSA infections without the development of resistance. The results are published in the journal Nature Chemistry.
16.12.2019
Schematische Darstellung eines Ribosoms
News
Predicting slippery spots for the ribosome
In the genetic blueprint for proteins, the information for each amino acid is encoded by codons. A codon consists of three consecutive building blocks of messenger RNA (mRNA), a base triplet that encodes exactly one amino acid. During protein synthesis, adaptor molecules - called tRNAs - specifically base-pair with the codon and bring the correct amino acid into the catalytic center of the ribosome, where it is attached to the growing peptide chain. Although this process has been thought to be highly accurate, on specific mRNAs ribosomes can be programmed to move by one base and thus change the meaning of all following codons. This phenomenon is called programmed ribosomal frameshifting (PRF) and is used in all domains of life, especially by pathogens such as viruses. As all downstream codons are affected, PRF can strongly alter the structure and function of the resulting protein. Junior Professor Neva Caliskan from the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) in Würzburg, a joint institution of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig and the Julius Maximilian University Würzburg, collaborated with researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (MPI-BPC) to develop a model to calculate the frameshift efficiency from the free energy of base pairing. Using this approach, the researchers can now predict sites in the genome where PRF is likely to occur, giving rise to altered proteomes. The study was recently published in the journal Nature Communications.
12.12.2019
HIRI
Electron microscopic image of the bacterium Prosthecomicrobium hirschii in blue, green and red
Story
Paths into the unknown
Electron microscopy (EM) is not some monotonous assembly-line job, because each assignment poses new challenges. A diverse range of things is magnified and examined, such as immune cells, algae or phages – the work is always different and always interesting. However, biological EM is only practiced by four specialists in Germany. One of these highly qualified experts is Manfred Rohde at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI).
09.12.2019

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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