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Every two years, the Rudolf Schülke Foundation awards the Hygiene Prize to researchers who have achieved special solutions to problems in the fields of hygiene, infection prevention or public health. This year, the award was split: One half went to PD Dr Tilman E. Klassert and Dr Cristina Zubiria-Barrera from the "Dynamics of Respiratory Infections" research group at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI). The group is headed by Prof. Hortense Slevogt, who is also a senior physician for clinical infectiology at the Clinic for Pneumology and Infectiology at Hannover Medical School (MHH).

The intricacies of how intestinal bacteria adapt to their environment have yet to be fully explored. Researchers from the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) in Würzburg and the University of California, Berkeley, USA, have now successfully closed a gap in this knowledge: They have identified a small ribonucleic acid (sRNA) that affects the susceptibility of the gut pathogen Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron to specific antibiotics.

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz today welcomed the members of the new Expert Council on Health and Resilience to the inaugural meeting at the Federal Chancellery. Among the members is Dr. Berit Lange, Acting Head of the Department of Epidemiology and Head of Clinical Epidemiology at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig.

On March 14, 2024, representatives of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and the Helmholtz Association met with around 30 members of the Bundestag in Berlin. Prof. Josef Penninger, Scientific Director of the HZI, and Dr. Berit Lange, Acting Head of the HZI Department of Epidemiology, presented the current state of research on pandemic resilience at a parliamentary breakfast entitled "Mastering pandemics: Focus on resilience, innovation and cutting-edge international research". The patron of the event was Dr. Christos Pantazis, Member of the German Bundestag.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important opportunistic pathogen responsible for life-threatening infections that are associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Researchers from TWINCORE, the Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research in Hannover, and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig have now been able to show that an enzyme controls virulence through modification of tRNAs.

On March 10, 2024, Prof. Tobias Welte, Director of the Clinic for Pneumology and Infectiology at Hannover Medical School (MHH), passed away unexpectedly at the age of 64. Welte was a long-standing close cooperation partner in joint research projects between the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and the MHH, which resulted in numerous publications in renowned research journals.