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Bacterial pathogens like Salmonella, Shigella, Listeria and many others exploit the protein skeleton of the cells they infect in order to spread throughout the host. However, how is this so-called cytoskeleton of host cells assembled and remodelled? Answers to this question can provide new approaches for combatting the causative agents of infectious diseases. An international team of researchers including HZI-members have now unravelled precise molecular mechanisms of activation of a key signalling unit in cytoskeletal remodelling. These recent results have just appeared in Science Advances.

The Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterium is a widespread and dangerous hospital germ. It infects the respiratory tract and lungs and possesses natural resistance to numerous antibiotics. There is a search for so-called pathoblockers ongoing to be able to combat the bacterium better in the future. The focus here is not on killing the pathogen, as would be the case with antibiotic treatment, but rather on specifically eliminating or ameliorating its pathogenic effect. In an infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the blue-green metabolic product pyocyanin, amongst other factors, contributes to the emergence of inflammatory processes and has a tissue-damaging effect. The infection would be less severe if the production of this substance could be prevented by means of a pathoblocker. In order to do this though, the exact molecular mechanisms responsible for the production of pyocyanin within the bacterial cell must first be understood. The research team led by Prof Wulf Blankenfeldt, who is the head of the "Structure and Function of Proteins" department at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, recently discovered more details of the interplay of proteins that is required for production of pyocyanin applying modern protein biochemical analysis methods. In the course of this work, he has been able to clarify the central function of a protein called PqsE as a "moonlighter” in this process. The study is published in the current issue of Nature Communications.

Clarivate Analytics, a company specialising in bibliometric data, publishes an annual list of researchers who have had a significant impact on their field by publishing several highly-cited papers over the last ten years. In 2022, three department leaders of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) made it onto the list of “Highly-cited researchers”: Bioinformatician Prof Alice McHardy, biotechnologist Prof Marc Stadler and biochemist Prof Jörg Vogel were recognised for their influence on their respective fields.

A dedicated building is being constructed in Hannover for the Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine (CiiM), a joint initiative of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and the Hannover Medical School (MHH). The groundbreaking ceremony for the new building with 2100 square metres of effective space was held today in the presence of numerous guests from politics and science. CiiM, which was initially founded in 2015 as a virtual centre, is addressing urgent challenges in infectious medicine with the aim of individual prognosis and diagnosis of infectious diseases and derived optimised and customised prevention and personalised therapy for the benefit of the individual patient. The construction costs are covered by the federal government, the state of Lower Saxony, the Helmholtz Association and the HZI.

The Faculty of Medicine has awarded Professor Dirk Heinz an honorary doctorate – for his outstanding achievements in the fields of structural biology and infection research as well as for his shaping the German research landscape for the better.

With the help of the eHealth system SORMAS (short for “Surveillance Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System”), epidemics can be detected and contained at an early stage. For its contribution to global health, the system developed under the leadership of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig has now been rewarded with a place among the three finalists for the Zayed Sustainability Award 2023. The winner of the $600,000 prize will be selected in January 2023 from the three selected projects, which competed against more than 900 other projects in the health category.