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Since mid-May 2022, several countries where mpox/monkeypox is not endemic have reported an accumulation of infections with the monkeypox virus. Cases have also been diagnosed in Germany, as of May 2023 around 3700 infections were recorded. Researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) are contributing their expertise to assessing the current situation and informing the public.

The detection of bacterial pathogens in clinical samples is an important prerequisite for successful antimicrobial treatment. A team from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) and Tel Aviv University, Israel, has now developed molecular probes that can detect different bacterial species with high sensitivity. Bacterial cells activate the probes and make them glow. This signal enables pathogen detection directly in clinical samples. The results were published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

With numerous supporters and cooperation partners, the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) Würzburg celebrated its fifth anniversary today, May 10. The location of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig in cooperation with the Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg had invited about 200 guests from science, politics, ministries and authorities to the Würzburg Residence. Together, they celebrated achievements to date and looked ahead to the institute's upcoming projects. Among the guests congratulating the institute was Ilse Aigner, President of the Bavarian State Parliament.

HZI researchers traveled to Yaoundé, Cameroon, for a workshop on the collection, culture and identification of fungal strains. A new research hub will strengthen natural product research in fungi in the country.

The Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH) was ceremoniously founded on 26 April 2022 in Greifswald. The HIOH is a new institute of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, which is being established together with the University of Greifswald, the Greifswald University Medicine and the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health (FLI) as local founding partners. The founding director is the veterinarian and microbiologist Prof Fabian Leendertz. Research at the new institute will focus on the threats posed by the emergence of pathogens, as well as the epidemiology and ecology of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to common medicines and vaccines.

The Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research has set itself the goal of finding new diagnostic methods, new active substances and new therapies against infectious diseases. Here you can find out why we cannot forgo animal experiments in our research.