Newsroom

Josef Penninger
News
Science is currently facing major challenges in the United States – and with noticeable impacts on Europe. Research budgets have been and continue to be cut and jobs lost, even in key areas such as health and infectious diseases. A viewpoint from Josef Penninger, Scientific Director of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research.
01.04.2025
Electron microscope image
News
An international research group led by the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) has discovered a promising new drug candidate against severe lung infections caused by the hospital germ Staphylococcus aureus. The study, which has just been published in Cell Host & Microbe, describes for the first time how small molecules from the quinoxalinedione class specifically block the bacterial toxin α-hemolysin – a key trigger of tissue damage and inflammation.
01.04.2025
Florian Hubrich and Mariia Nesterkina
News
Acquiring external funding is an integral part of any young scientist’s path towards an independent research career. Such additional funds not only make their own scientific success visible, but also give them freedom to implement new and possibly riskier project ideas. One funding instrument that focuses on supporting early stage researchers is the Klaus-Tschira-Boost-Fund. In the current round of applications, 15 out of more than 300 applicants were selected to receive funding of up to 120,000 Euros each – amongst them the junior researchers Mariia Nesterkina and Florian Hubrich from the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS). The HIPS is a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in collaboration with Saarland University. As so-called “Boost Fellows”, Mariia Nesterkina and Florian Hubrich benefit not only from the funding itself, but also from a series of workshops on career development and gain access to extensive career counseling and coaching services. The funded projects are set to start between April and October 2025 and will run for 24 months.
01.04.2025
Teaser for the podcast episode with Martin Korte
News
How do viruses and bacteria affect our cognitive abilities? What role do they play in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia? And how can we protect our brain in the long term? In this episode of the HZI podcast InFact, Prof. Martin Korte, head of the research group “Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration” at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), discusses the links between infections, the immune system, and the brain.
26.03.2025
Illustration of a large monocyte surrounded by smaller red blood cells
News
Not only does our body change with age, but so does our immune system. A recent study led by the Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine (CiiM) shows exactly how immune cells age and how infections and vaccinations can influence this process. The CiiM is a joint initiative of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and Hannover Medical School (MHH). Using a big data approach, the researchers have developed a computer model called the “Single-Cell Immune Aging Clock”, which can be used to determine aging processes within individual immune cells. The scientists are making the innovative aging clock freely available for further research. They hope that it will serve as a useful tool to better understand the aging processes of the immune system, particularly with the context of infectious diseases and immune disorders. The study has been published in the journal Nature Aging.
19.03.2025
Wild snake stew
Interview
Bushmeat, the meat of wild animals hunted for food, is consumed across cultures and considered a delicacy in most parts of the world. Especially in sub-Saharan Africa, it still represents a major fraction of the proteins consumed. However, the close contact between humans and diverse tropical wildlife species — potentially harboring a wide variety of pathogens — poses a significant risk for the transmission of zoonotic diseases. The project "BehaviorChange: Co-creating and evaluating behavioral change interventions for reducing the zoonotic risk associated with wildlife consumption" aims to characterize the zoonotic risks associated with bushmeat consumption in Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia, and to understand its socio-economical drivers.
14.03.2025

HZI in the media

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

 

The research was carried out as

12.12.2025
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The Hindu

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

12.12.2025
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Bionity.COM

angewiesen.“

 

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

12.12.2025
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Brandaktuell

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

12.12.2025
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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
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The New Indian Express

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

12.12.2025
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BIOspektrum

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

11.12.2025
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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
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European Research Council

... so Prof. Dr. Berit Lange, Leiterin der Abteilung für Epidemiologie am Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung sowie ...

10.12.2025
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Apotheken Umschau

Quelle:

 

Pressemitteilung Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung HZI ...

10.12.2025
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LaborPraxis

... Wissenschaftsschaufenster gewährt das Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI) einen Einblick in die ...

08.12.2025
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juraforum.de

... entwickelt wurde, die für einige Jahre in Braunschweig am Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI) gearbeitet und ...

08.12.2025
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Braunschweiger Zeitung

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