Newsroom

At first glance, nature conservation and antibiotics have little in common. However, a new collaboration project between the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) and the Naturlandstiftung Saar (NLS) shows that there is a great deal of overlap. In particularly species-rich habitats, scientists are looking for soil bacteria that produce new starting materials for antibiotic development. What is special about this project is that the search for the bacteria takes place within the framework of a citizen science campaign, in which interested citizens are directly involved in the scientific process and at the same time receive valuable information about local biodiversity. HIPS is a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in cooperation with Saarland University.

Yesterday, the official go-ahead was given for Lower Saxony's new lighthouse project. At the first public event of the Institute for Biomedical Translation (IBT) Lower Saxony, a top-class jury selected the pilot project of the initiative, which will receive funding of 1.5 million euros: Researchers at the University Medical Center Göttingen will be supported in the fight against chronic kidney diseases. A total of 25 million euros will be available to the IBT Lower Saxony for the next five years to accelerate the transfer of cutting-edge research in the life sciences in Lower Saxony and to bring it to the world in the form of start-ups and entrepreneurial ideas. The founding institutions of the IBT are the Hannover Medical School (MHH), the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig.

Some bacterial pathogens form so-called biofilms during infection processes to protect themselves from drugs or cells of the human immune system. Every year, more than 500,000 people die from infections associated with biofilms. Researchers at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) have now developed a novel method to place such biofilms on lung cells in the laboratory. The model system produced by means of "bioprinting" should help to better understand infection processes and assist in the development of new active substances. The researchers have published their results in the journal Biofabrication.

Many active substances used in medicine are based on naturally occurring products. However, the producers of these substances often do not grow or grow poorly under laboratory conditions. This also applies to marine invertebrates such as sponges, which live in close association with bacteria. Aided by synthetic biology, complex natural substances can also be engineered in the laboratory independently from their natural producers. For the scientific work on natural products from marine sources, the Friends of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and the Technische Universität Braunschweig are awarding Prof Jörn Piel from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland, the Inhoffen Medal 2023. The award ceremony took place on 8 June 2023 at the HZI in Braunschweig.

Antibiotics affect the composition and dynamics of the gut microbiome. Treatment with antibiotics not only leads to a loss of biodiversity of microorganisms, but also often favours the selection of resistant strains of bacteria. It has been unclear how the microbiome responds to repeated antibiotic therapy. In a preclinical study, an international research team led by two scientists from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig used metagenome and cultivation analyses to identify evolutionary mechanisms that contribute to the resilience of the microbial community after repeated antibiotic administration. The corresponding authors Prof Bärbel Stecher (LMU) and Prof Alice McHardy (HZI) both also conduct research at the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF). The study has now been published in the renowned scientific journal Cell Host & Microbe.

It was previously believed that herpesviruses use certain body cells to replicate and other body cells to remain dormant, that is to remain inactive for a longer period of time. This dogma is now being questioned using the example of cytomegalovirus (CMV), a herpesvirus from the beta-herpesvirus subfamily, which can be fatal in immunocompromised transplant recipients. In a new study, scientists from the “Viral Immunology” department at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig have discovered that certain connective tissue cells (fibroblasts) are not only used by CMV for replication, as previously assumed. Apparently, CMV can also remain latent in the fibroblasts. The prevailing picture of an either/or - either the CMV uses a certain type of body cell for proliferation, or it remains in an inactive state there - is therefore no longer tenable. A second paradigm shift suggested by the study is the regulation of the CMV latency in cells: Apparently, the virus controls the use of fibroblasts as sites of latent or active infection not only via factors present in the cell, but also via an interaction with the immune system. The results were published in the renowned journal Nature Communications.