Newsroom

Portrait Anna Hirsch
News
The European Research Council (ERC) grants are among the most prestigious awards in the scientific community. Prof Anna Hirsch from the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) has now succeeded in acquiring a coveted ERC grant for the second time. Under the "Proof of Concept" funding program, she will receive €150,000 to bring her basic research findings closer to a potential application. Thematically, Hirsch's project focuses on medicinal chemistry approaches to develop novel antibiotics against resistant bacteria.
24.01.2023
Pseudomoas aeruginosa and Quorum Sensing Inhibitors
News
The pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the cause of a large number of serious infections and places a particular burden on immunocompromised patients. The increasing spread of antimicrobial resistance makes it even more difficult to combat the dreaded hospital pathogen. A research team led by Dr Martin Empting of the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) has now discovered a new class of active compounds that disrupt the bacterium's chemical communication pathways. This not only reduces the pathogen's disease-causing properties, but also simultaneously enhances the effectiveness of antibiotics. The researchers published their findings in the journal Advanced Science. HIPS is a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in collaboration with Saarland University.
23.01.2023
Host cells stained in blue with binding of LecA (green)
News
The hospital pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa requires the sugar-binding proteins LecA and LecB to form biofilms as well as to attach to and penetrate host cells. These so-called lectins are therefore suitable targets for active substances to combat Pseudomonas infections. Researchers from Saarbrücken and Freiburg have now produced potent inhibitors for LecA and LecB that are more stable and soluble than previous drug candidates. These optimized molecules have been tested in virulence assays and show promising properties for the development of new drugs.
16.01.2023
Symbolic image: Illustration of human cells
News
Würzburg, January 10, 2023 — Do we simply ingest a diagnostic probiotic based on programmed ribonucleic acids to analyze the intestinal health from individual cells in the future? Researchers at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) and the Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) in Würzburg have developed a new technology they call TIGER. It allows complex processes in individual cells to be deciphered in vivo by recording past RNA transcripts. The findings were published in the journal Nature Biotechnology on 5 January 2023.
10.01.2023
Portrait of Prof Gérard Krause
News
The 2022 Prize for Translational Infection Research of the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), endowed with 5,000 euros, goes to the DZIF scientist and epidemiologist Gérard Krause, head of the department "Epidemiology" at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig. Prof Krause researches the spread and clinical consequences of infectious diseases in the population and develops methods for their prevention, diagnosis and epidemic control. He has now been honoured with the DZIF Prize for his outstanding contributions in the field of translational infection epidemiology and in particular for the development of the epidemic management system SORMAS.
09.01.2023
Prof. Dr. Chase Beisel and Dr. Oleg Dmytrenko.
News
It is an unexpected discovery by scientists at the Helmholtz Institute Würzburg in cooperation with Benson Hill, Inc. (Missouri) and Utah State University in the U.S.: They have found a nuclease, which they dubbed Cas12a2, that represents an entirely new type of CRISPR immune defense. Unlike any other previously known nuclease of the CRISPR-Cas immune system, the source of "gene scissors", Cas12a2 destroys DNA to shut down an infected cell. The findings could lead to new CRISPR technologies for molecular biology diagnostics, among other applications, and were published today in the journal Nature.
04.01.2023

HZI in the media

Researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and its Saarland University partner site, the Helmholtz Institute for

27.10.2026
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Scienmag Science Magazine

experimental and modeling study led by scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig. The researchers found that

26.10.2026
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Bioengineer.org

... am Helmholtz Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI) und dessen Saarbrücker Standort, dem Helmholtz-Institut für Pharmazeutische ...

26.10.2026
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Verband Deutscher Biologen e.V.

Dr. Milan Gerovac, Nachwuchsgruppenleiter am Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI) in Braunschweig, erhält den begehrten ...

24.10.2026
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Homburg

heads the Research Group “Molecular Cell Biology” at the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI), has shed new light on the central

23.10.2026
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Health Medicine Network

... “

 

Das Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung: Wissenschaftler:innen am Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI) untersuchen ...

22.10.2026
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DeutschesGesundheitsPortal

... Lange, Leiterin der Abteilung Epidemiologie am Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung in Braunschweig und Mitglied der Ständigen ...

22.10.2026
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DIE WELT

... befallen. Am HZI in Braunschweig wird daran geforscht.

 

Am Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI) in Braunschweig ...

22.10.2026
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NDR Norddeutscher Rundfunk

are extremely complex.

 

Researchers at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) have now shown that artificial

21.10.2026
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Phys.org

Würzburg (JMU) und dem Helmholtz-Institut für RNA-basierte Infektionsforschung (HIRI), einem Standort des HZI in ...

20.10.2026
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Regional Heute

community. HIPS is a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) that operates in collaboration with Saarland University.

20.10.2026
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WDC Tv News

... Verabreichung eintritt. Expertin Berit Lange vom Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung betonte, dass jetzt der richtige Moment ...

16.10.2026
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upday

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