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So-called high-dose flu vaccines are available for older people. The reason: their immune system does not always respond sufficiently well to the standard flu vaccines. Why this is the case and the molecular processes behind it are not yet understood. However, in their current research work, scientists from the Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine (CiiM), a joint initiative of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and Hannover Medical School (MHH), using a cohort study with around 230 participants over the age of 65, have now been able to identify key molecules. The researchers hope that their findings will help to further increase the immune response to the flu vaccine in older people in the future. The study has been published in the journal “Science Advances”.

On Saturday, September 21, 2024, the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig is holding an Open Day. All interested people will have the opportunity to visit HZI laboratories and meet scientists on the Science Campus Braunschweig-Süd in the Stöckheim district from 11 am to 4 pm. There will also be many activities especially for children. For example, they can compete in pipetting, make microbes or listen to a scientific lecture for children.

Annual flu vaccines protect against severe infection, but they vary in efficacy and may not match the most virulent strains of the season. The reality of a universal flu vaccine, which would protect people from all strains, and ideally longer than a single season, remains elusive. This major roadblock is addressed by the INCENTIVE consortium, which is funded by the European Commission and coordinated at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) by Prof. Carlos A. Guzman. Findings published in the Journal of Virology suggest that universal flu vaccines are coming closer.

A key focus at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and its sites like the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) is translating research findings into medical and pharmaceutical applications. Beyond scientific collaboration, the goal is to facilitate the transfer of technology and knowledge into practical and potentially commercial uses. Recently, the company MyxoTech has been founded as a HIPS spin-off. MyxoTech CEO Peter Sullivan explains what the new company is about and what it wants to achieve.

Yesterday, the lighthouse project of the state of Lower Saxony reached its latest milestone: At the second portfolio conference of the Institute for Biomedical Translation (IBT) Lower Saxony, a high-caliber jury selected projects from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research and the Hannover Medical School that will receive funding of over 1.6 million euros. A total of 25 million euros are available to the IBT Lower Saxony until 2028 to accelerate the transfer of cutting-edge research in the life sciences in Lower Saxony and to bring it out into the world in the form of startups and entrepreneurial ideas.

Certain changes in the genetic material of pathogens can alter their ability to infect human cells or protect them better from defense by the immune system. Researchers were able to observe this effect particularly impressive in the SARS-CoV-2 virus. During the coronavirus pandemic, an interdisciplinary team at TWINCORE, Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research in Hanover, investigated the interaction between pairs of mutations that might have triggered several of these changes in infectivity and immune escape. They have now published their findings in the journal Genome Biology. The TWINCORE is a joint institution of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and Hannover Medical School (MHH).