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A team led by bioinformatics experts Andreas Keller and Fabian Kern from Saarland University together with researchers at Stanford University have gained new insights into manifestations of ageing at the molecular level. They found that the process of reading genetic information does not run as smoothly in older individuals as it does in those who are younger. These changes in the transcription process are due to particular RNA molecules that influence the activity of individual genes and thus determine which proteins the body produces – something which can have a huge impact on the body's metabolism. Their research has now been published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) folds into complex structures which allow it to interact specifically with other molecules in the cell. In HIV-1, minute differences in RNA folding can be crucial in determining whether viral RNA is “packaged” and thus leads to viral replication. This has now been discovered by researchers at the Helmholtz Institute Würzburg by enhancing a method used to study RNA structure with a novel sequencing technology. Their findings could help to design new antivirals and were published today in the journal Nature Methods.

Infections with Clostridioides difficile (for short: C. difficile) are often recurrent, because dormant stages of the bacterium persist in the intestine. Thus far, there was no drug that can effectively combat the dormant stages as well. A current One Health study led by the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute (FLI) now shows that a natural product called chlorotonil A can do just that. The study was conducted in close cooperation with the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), a site of the HZI in collaboration with Saarland University, Greifswald University and the Leibniz Institute DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH. The research team hopes that chlorotonil A will be a candidate drug that might significantly reduce the risk of reinfection with C. difficile in the future. The study was published in the scientific journal Cell Host & Microbe.

Dr Yannic Bartsch's TWINCORE junior research group "Antiviral Antibody Omics" is being funded as a Helmholtz Young Investigator Group (HYIG). Over the next five years, the immunologist will receive a total of 1.5 million euros, half of which will be funded by the Helmholtz Association and half by the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig. Bartsch already began his work at TWINCORE in January. He is researching the role of antibody responses in infections.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically demonstrated that the development of effective agents against viral pathogens is of great importance for global health. Although effective vaccines are available for many viral diseases, there is an urgent need for new and effective therapeutic treatments. At the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), the team led by Prof Rolf Müller is researching novel active substances for the treatment of infections. In their latest studies, the researchers were able to identify two new natural product families with promising activity against viruses. Their results have now been published in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

Infection with SARS-CoV-2 leads to severe disease in some people, whereas others do not get ill or only experience mild disease. What causes these differences is not fully understood. It is already known that an overactive innate immune system is causing severe COVID-19 disease, but it is unclear how this is regulated. A team led by Prof Yang Li, Director at the Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine (CiiM) and head of department “Computational Biology for Individualised Medicine” at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), has come a step closer to answering this question. The researchers addressed the question to what extent the course of disease is genetically or epigenetically regulated. The CiiM is a joint initiative by the HZI and Hannover Medical School (MHH). In addition to Li, the team included other scientists from the HZI and the RESIST cluster of excellence.