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Rare diseases affecting fewer than five in 10,000 people are often particularly difficult to diagnose and treat. As part of their joint funding program “zukunft.niedersachsen”, the state of Lower Saxony and the Volkswagen Foundation have now selected nine promising research projects for funding that aim to develop new diagnoses and treatments for rare diseases. Among them are two projects from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI). The PREDICT-CTP consortium of TWINCORE, the HZI, and Hannover Medical School (MHH) is developing a new diagnostic method for rheumatic diseases. In the StopPSC project, researchers from the HZI and MHH are developing new agents to treat primary sclerosing cholangitis, a chronically progressive inflammation of the bile ducts.

22.12.2025

TWINCORE

HZI Campus

News

Experts are increasingly turning to machine learning to predict antibiotic resistance in pathogens. With its help, resistance mechanisms can be identified based on a pathogen’s genetics. However, the results should be viewed with caution: Researchers at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) in Würzburg have shown that the models are often less reliable than assumed. Their findings were published in the journal PLOS Biology. They contribute to the development of more reliable tools for predicting and combating antibiotic resistance.

17.12.2025

HIRI

Teaser for the podcast with Andreas Keller

News

At first glance, biology and computer science seem like opposites. But wherever enormous amounts of data are generated from research, progress is hardly possible without digital methods. Bioinformatician Prof. Andreas Keller therefore relies on artificial intelligence. He heads the department “Clinical Bioinformatics” at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS). In this episode of InFact, he talks about how AI can help us understand how beneficial and harmful bacteria communicate with each other in our bodies, how to predict when infections will cause long-term effects, and how this can be used to develop new drugs against dangerous pathogens.

16.12.2025

HIPS

News

Biphenomycins, natural products derived from bacteria, show excellent antimicrobial activity, but have long remained out of reach for drug development. The main obstacle was the limited understanding of how these compounds are produced by their microbial hosts. A research team led by Tobias Gulder, department head at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), has now deciphered the biosynthetic pathway of the biphenomycins, establishing the foundation for their pharmaceutical advancement. The team published its findings in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

11.12.2025

HIPS

Maximilian Order awarded to HIRI Director Jörg Vogel by Marcus Söder

News

On December 3, Jörg Vogel, Director of the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research, was honored with the Maximilian Order for Science and Art at a ceremony held in the Antiquarium of the Munich Residence. He received the distinction from Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder, who referred to the Free State’s highest honor as the ‘Bavarian Nobel Prize’. HIRI is site of the Braunschweig Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in cooperation with the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU).

04.12.2025

HIRI

Group photo with 11 people behind a 3D lettering “HZI 60”

News

On November 27, 2025, the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) celebrated its 60th anniversary with a ceremony attended by cooperation partners, alumni, and guests from the worlds of science, politics, and industry. The research institution has been located on the Science Campus Braunschweig-Süd since 1965 and underwent several reorientations and renaming in the following decades. Among those offering their congratulations at the ceremony were Lower Saxony's Minister President Olaf Lies, the new President of the Helmholtz Association Prof. Martin Keller, and his predecessor and long-time companion of the HZI, Prof. Otmar D. Wiestler.

27.11.2025

HZI Campus

HZI in the media

Dr. Rolf Müller, Managing Director of Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), were both named laureates of the

22.12.2025

Research Information

... ein Interview mit Josef Penninger geführt . Er ist wissenschaftlicher Geschäftsführer des Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung in ...

21.12.2025

T3N

Institut für RNA-basierte Infektionsforschung (HIRI), einem Standort des Braunschweiger Helmholtz-Zentrums für Infektionsforschung (HZI) in ...

19.12.2025

healthcare-in-europe.com

Biosyntheseweg aufzuklären. Das HIPS ist ein Standort des Helmholtz-Zentrums für Infektionsforschung (HZI) in Zusammenarbeit mit ...

18.12.2025

Bionity.COM

Finanzierungsmöglichkeiten fehlen.

Josef Penninger, wissenschaftlicher Geschäftsführer des Helmholtz-Zentrums für Infektionsforschung (HZI)

16.12.2025

MedMedia

Korte from the Technical University of Braunschweig and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI).

The research was carried out as

12.12.2025

The Hindu

... des Leibniz Lungenzentrums Borstel, des Helmholtz-Instituts für Pharmazeutische Forschung Saarland sowie weiterer wissenschaftlicher ...

12.12.2025

Bionity.COM

Einrichtungen des regionalen Forschungsökosystems – darunter das Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI), das Deutsche Zentrum für

12.12.2025

EUROPE SAYS

Korte of the Technical University of Braunschweig and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI). The findings emerged from the

12.12.2025

The New Indian Express

Universität Würzburg. Seit 2018: Postdoc am Helmholtz-Institut für RNA-basierte Infektionsforschung (HIRI), Entwicklung Bayes’scher ...

12.12.2025

BIOspektrum

Center Borstel - Leibniz Lung Center, the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland and other scientific institutions in

11.12.2025

Technology Networks

von Humboldt professor, head of department at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig and full professor at the Hannover

10.12.2025

European Research Council

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