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Researching new vaccines quickly and powerfully for the benefit of mankind — the COVID-19 pandemic rendered clear the need for effective and rapid vaccine development processes. Scientists from the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig investigated an innovative method that has the potential to increase significantly the effectiveness of future vaccine development. This approach uses heavy ion beams to inactivate viruses and thus represents a promising alternative to conventional inactivation methods, which often impair the effectiveness of vaccines. The results were recently published in the scientific journal “Pharmaceutics”.

The Friends of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and Technische Universität Braunschweig have awarded the 2024 Inhoffen Medal to Prof. Stephan A. Sieber from Technische Universität München for his research into new drugs against multi-resistant bacteria. The award ceremony took place on 13 June 2024 at the House of Science in Braunschweig.

The microbiome, the microorganisms that populate our intestines and aid in digestion, weighs around one and a half kilograms. It primarily consists of bacteria and provides protective effects against pathogens entering our digestive system through food, for example. An international team led by Dr Lisa Osbelt-Block and Prof. Till Strowig, both from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, investigated the mechanisms by which the microbiome counters a salmonella infection.

Depending on where you are travelling, different viruses are on the move, some of which can cause life-threatening illnesses. Either through contaminated water or food or through insects that can transmit them when bitten. They can spread all over the world due to climate change, travelling and global transport chains. We have all experienced what this can mean in recent years. What can help: Vaccines and other medicines that help our immune system to fight off these pathogens. Finding them is not so easy. For Professor Thomas Pietschmann, head of the Institute of Experimental Virology at TWINCORE and spokesperson for the "Infection Research" research programme at the HZI, this means: challenge accepted!

Most antibiotics used in human medicine originate from natural products derived from bacteria and other microbes. Novel microorganisms are therefore a promising source of new active compounds - also for the treatment of diseases such as cancer or viral infections. A team from the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) has now been able to isolate a completely new family of bacteria that has particularly high potential for the production of active substances. The researchers published their findings in the journal Chem.

A team led by Prof. Achim Hoerauf, University Hospital Bonn (UKB), in cooperation with the University of Bonn and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), is developing the antibiotic corallopyronin A (CorA) as a treatment for the neglected tropical diseases river blindness and lymphatic filariasis. They have now succeeded to enter into a partnership with the Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai and to raise a large amount of funding. The team's aim is to develop a safe and sustainably effective drug against these worm diseases, which are transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. The people affected mainly live in Africa and tropical regions and urgently need active ingredients that kill the long-lived adult worms. The project is now being funded with around €5.6 million by the Japanese Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund.