Newsroom

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.

Every year, about 10 million people become infected with tuberculosis and 1.4 million die from it. This makes tuberculosis not only one of the most widespread infectious diseases, but also the deadliest. Similar to malaria or HIV, the prevalence of tuberculosis is strongly dependent on social factors; it is considered a classic disease of the poor. In addition to a lack of medical care, other problems hinder the containment of tuberculosis, such as antibiotic resistance and undesirable drug-drug interactions.

The bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa is among the most common causes of pneumonia and poses a major challenge to hospitals worldwide. The treatment of infections with Pseudomonas aeruginosa is usually challenging because the bacterium forms so-called biofilms, which protect it from drugs. Dr Martin Empting and his team, in collaboration with several groups at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), have now developed an innovative method to disrupt the formation of these biofilms and thus facilitate the treatment of infections with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The researchers have published their findings in the journal Advanced Science.