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With numerous supporters, cooperation partners and companions, the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) Würzburg celebrated its groundbreaking ceremony today, July 6. The institute, a site of the Braunschweig Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) founded in 2017 in cooperation with the Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) in the city on the River Main, will have its own building on the Würzburg medical campus. The project is being realized with funds from the Free State of Bavaria, represented by the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy, and co-financed by the European Union.In his festive speech, Bavaria's Minister President Markus Söder emphasized the relevance of research funding for the Free State's strategy for the future.

From 1 July 2023, Professor Josef Penninger takes over the Scientific Management of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI). Penninger is internationally renowned for his outstanding contributions to genetic and molecular biology. Joining HZI from the University of British Columbia (Canada), where he had led the Life Sciences Institute, he starts his position as head of the interdisciplinary infection research center in Braunschweig. Penninger is taking over the role of Professor Dirk Heinz, who had led the research center since 2011.

At first glance, nature conservation and antibiotics have little in common. However, a new collaboration project between the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) and the Naturlandstiftung Saar (NLS) shows that there is a great deal of overlap. In particularly species-rich habitats, scientists are looking for soil bacteria that produce new starting materials for antibiotic development. What is special about this project is that the search for the bacteria takes place within the framework of a citizen science campaign, in which interested citizens are directly involved in the scientific process and at the same time receive valuable information about local biodiversity. HIPS is a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in cooperation with Saarland University.

Yesterday, the official go-ahead was given for Lower Saxony's new lighthouse project. At the first public event of the Institute for Biomedical Translation (IBT) Lower Saxony, a top-class jury selected the pilot project of the initiative, which will receive funding of 1.5 million euros: Researchers at the University Medical Center Göttingen will be supported in the fight against chronic kidney diseases. A total of 25 million euros will be available to the IBT Lower Saxony for the next five years to accelerate the transfer of cutting-edge research in the life sciences in Lower Saxony and to bring it to the world in the form of start-ups and entrepreneurial ideas. The founding institutions of the IBT are the Hannover Medical School (MHH), the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig.

Some bacterial pathogens form so-called biofilms during infection processes to protect themselves from drugs or cells of the human immune system. Every year, more than 500,000 people die from infections associated with biofilms. Researchers at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) have now developed a novel method to place such biofilms on lung cells in the laboratory. The model system produced by means of "bioprinting" should help to better understand infection processes and assist in the development of new active substances. The researchers have published their results in the journal Biofabrication.

Many active substances used in medicine are based on naturally occurring products. However, the producers of these substances often do not grow or grow poorly under laboratory conditions. This also applies to marine invertebrates such as sponges, which live in close association with bacteria. Aided by synthetic biology, complex natural substances can also be engineered in the laboratory independently from their natural producers. For the scientific work on natural products from marine sources, the Friends of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and the Technische Universität Braunschweig are awarding Prof Jörn Piel from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland, the Inhoffen Medal 2023. The award ceremony took place on 8 June 2023 at the HZI in Braunschweig.