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How can we apply the knowledge we have gained so far to better overcome the current crisis and prevent another pandemic in future? Helmholtz aims to find answers to these questions with two new, interdisciplinary collaborative projects. In addition to the holistic approach, the focus is also on quickly implementing the results into practice.

Am I infected with SARS-CoV-2? Is it one of the dangerous variants? Being able to answer these and more questions with a single efficient diagnostic test can be decisive for gauging the spread of disease and selecting the right therapy. In a study published today in the journal "Science", researchers from Würzburg at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in cooperation with the Julius Maximilians University (JMU), tackle this challenge with a new CRISPR discovery they translated into a diagnostic platform called LEOPARD.

On the occasion of World Tuberculosis Day, Jennifer Herrmann, scientist in the department Microbial Natural Products at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), talks about the epidemiology of the disease and her current research into new active substances against the causative agent of tuberculosis.

After exposure to a virus through infection or vaccination, the body activates a number of cells and mechanisms that can provide targeted defense against the pathogen. For the global containment of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the question of how long this protection lasts is an important factor. Prof Carlos Guzmán, vaccine researcher at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, Germany, summarizes what is known about long-term immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and what difference it makes whether immunity is acquired through vaccination or infection.

In May 2020, the international consortium iCAIR® started a research project aimed at developing therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2. The Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), which joined forces with the consortium's core team last year, is also closely involved in this project. The HZI researchers under the leadership of Prof. Ulrich Kalinke have expanded the iCAIR® outstanding talent pool: they boast a successful track record in antiviral drug research, in particular against human pathogenic RNA viruses, and have compound libraries as well as test models and primary virus isolates. In addition, a team from Fraunhofer ITMP led by Prof. Carsten Claussen and Dr. Ole Pless is on board as a temporary project partner. The iCAIR® research team already can report promising results, which were presented by iCAIR® coordinator Prof. Armin Braun and others at Fraunhofer ITEM's virtual workshop "Models of Lung Disease" in January.

Newly emerging viruses, which have previously only spread in the animal kingdom, have been able to cross the species barrier and adapt to humans as new hosts. Since the end of 2019, the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2) has shown that nowadays such a virus can take over the whole world in a very short time.