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Scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) rely on working with laboratory animals to research infectious diseases in more detail and to understand the complex interactions between pathogens and their hosts. To this end, the HZI operates a central animal facility for breeding and keeping mice and hamsters.

Leukemia is the most common cancer in children. Cancer treatment severely weakens the children's immune system and they can easily develop opportunistic infections. One of the most common causes of such complications is the cytomegalovirus (CMV) from the herpes virus family. The department “Viral Immunology” headed by Prof. Luka Cicin-Sain at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig is now investigating immunotherapy options against CMV. The project is enabled by a donation from the Günter Hansmeier Krebsstiftung in Braunschweig, which is funding the position of a doctoral researcher for three years.

Fabian Leendertz, Director of the Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH) in Greifswald, and his team have been working for more than a decade in the south of the Central African Republic, in the Dzanga Sangha Conservation Areas. As part of a close collaboration with the WWF of the Central African Republic, the HIOH supports the monitoring of the health status of wildlife in these protected areas, with a focus on lowland gorillas. Over the years, activities have been expanded to better characterize the interface between humans, animals and the environment in this extraordinary ecosystem.

One would expect a high school graduate to have little time for extracurricular activities shortly before the final written exams. Nevertheless, Alexander Becker can regularly be found in the laboratories of the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), even at this time of year. HIPS is a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in collaboration with Saarland University. There, the 18-year-old student from the Gymnasium am Stefansberg in Merzig is trying to isolate myxobacteria from unusual soil samples. His work is part of a project with which he successfully took part in the Jugend forscht competition for young scientists. Together with ten other students from Saarland, he qualified for the 59th national Jugend forscht competition, which will take place in Heilbronn from May 30 to June 2, 2024.

Due to the progressive spread of antimicrobial resistance, clinically important antibiotics are increasingly losing their effectiveness. New active substances are urgently needed to counteract this development. In order to circumvent existing resistance, new drugs must address previously unused target structures within the pathogens. HIPS scientist Prof. Anna Hirsch has been able to identify one such target and successfully acquired a “Proof of Concept” grant of the European Research Council (ERC) to support the development of novel active substances.

The Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever virus (CCHFV), first described in 1944, is also spreading rapidly in Europe due to global warming and is included in the WHO list of infectious agents with epidemic or pandemic potential as a top priority. There are currently no therapeutic or preventative measures available against the disease, which is mainly transmitted by ticks and is fatal in 40 per cent of cases.