Our researchers are fighting the coronavirus pandemic with innovative approaches. With your donation you can support them in developing drugs and vaccines against the virus or in deciphering the mechanisms of disease development and progression. Here you can find out all about donation opportunities.
Learn more about how the HZI, with its translational focus, will help to facilitate a faster and more targeted approach when it comes to fighting and preventing existing, emerging or recurring infectious diseases.
Here you can find out more about the scientific results of the HZI in the research topics ”Bacterial and Viral Pathogens”, “Immune Response and Interventions” and “Anti-Infectives”.
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The coronaviruses are a family of viruses that includes a series of very different pathogens. These viruses usually infect mammals, rodents, and birds, but only few coronaviruses adapted to humans. They did this with great success: About one third of all typical "common colds" and some cases of diarrhoea as well are caused by these RNA Viruses, which are the largest of their kind. We have compiled more information about the coronaviruses for you.
With the pathogen SARS-CoV-2, a novel virus that can cause respiratory diseases and pneumonia has been spreading worldwide since the end of 2019. Here we will keep you informed about current developments in research and provide answers to the most important questions.
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2023-05-30
As part of the new study, Dr Katarzyna Sitnik, then working in the “Viral Immunology” department at the HZI, headed by Prof Luka Cicin-Sain, and her colleagues naturally infected mice with murine CMV (mCMV). This variant of the virus is used because human CMV (HCMV) is adapted to humans and cannot infect mice, while mCMV is the naturally occurring CMV infection in mice, causing a…
2023-04-27
Human Immunodeficiency Viruses (HIV) are responsible for millions of infections worldwide. By causing the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), these pathogens have led to nearly 40 million deaths since the outbreak of the HIV pandemic in the 1980s. For decades, scientists have been researching possible antiviral therapeutics, and effective drugs are now available for those…
How and why do our organs age? To help answer this question, a group of researchers from Saarbrücken and Stanford have been studying some of the molecular mechanisms that underlie ageing. A team led by Andreas Keller, Professor of Clinical Bioinformatics at Saarbrücken University, examined the organs of mice across the mouse lifespan and found that the amount of small non-coding…
2023-04-25
“Infection with the bacterial pathogen Clostridioides difficile can lead to severe diarrhoeal diseases in humans and animals. Especially so, if the natural microbiome of the intestine is disturbed, for example by previous treatment with a broad-spectrum antibiotic,” says Prof Till Strowig, who leads the Department of “Microbial Immune Regulation” at the HZI. “This provides C.…
2023-04-01
"I will initially focus on the respiratory syncytial virus RSV, which can cause severe respiratory infections, especially in young children," says Bartsch. "How do antibody responses influence the course of the disease? Can such immune responses be therapeutically influenced to mitigate the course?" The immunologist wants to address such questions in Hannover. "I am very grateful…
