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Study authors Maureen Obara and Dr Matthias Bruhn
News
Monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 were considered a promising approach for the prevention and therapy of corona virus infections. However, the ongoing evolution of the virus regularly produces new variants that are no longer neutralized by the antibodies. Researchers from TWINCORE, together with partners from Hanover and Bern, have now been able to clarify the underlying mechanism in more detail. The TWINCORE is a joint institution of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and Hannover Medical School (MHH). Instead of using a single antibody, they propose the combination of several antibodies for treatment. They have published their findings in the scientific journal eBioMedicine.
26.05.2025
Group photo
News
Decisions have been made on future Clusters of Excellence in the second round of competition under the Excellence Strategy – the joint initiative of the federal and state governments to further strengthen top-level research at universities in Germany. The Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) is part of two of the funded Clusters of Excellence together with university partners: RESIST and NUCLEATE. RESIST at Hannover Medical School (MHH) will receive funding for another seven years. In this cluster, scientists are investigating how people who are susceptible to infection can be better protected. In the newly approved NUCLEATE cluster at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) with the Technical University of Munich and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, group leaders from the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), a site of the HZI in cooperation with the JMU, are conducting research into nucleic acid-based therapies. A total of 70 Clusters of Excellence were selected for funding.
26.05.2025
Close-up of bat
News
Bats are known as natural hosts for highly pathogenic viruses such as MERS- and SARS-related coronaviruses, as well as the Marburg and Nipah viruses. In contrast to the severe and often fatal disease outcomes these viruses cause in humans, bats generally do not show obvious signs of viral illness following infection. An international research team led by Dr. Max Kellner and Prof. Josef Penninger, Scientific Director of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), has developed an innovative organoid research platform that allowed them to closely investigate the cellular antiviral defense mechanisms of mucosal epithelial tissues of bats. The results have now been published in Nature Immunology and could pave the way for the development of new therapies against viral diseases.
21.05.2025
Group photo ENDURIVAC
News
Yesterday, the biomedical project forge of the state of Lower Saxony reviewed the most promising ideas from across the region and selected the winners: At the fourth portfolio conference of the Institute for Biomedical Translation (IBT) Lower Saxony, a high-caliber jury selected projects from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) and TWINCORE - Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, which will receive funding of almost 3 million euros. TWINCORE is a joint institution of the HZI and Hannover Medical School (MHH). A total of 25 million euros will be available to the IBT Lower Saxony until 2028 to accelerate the transfer of cutting-edge research in the life sciences in Lower Saxony and bring it to the world in the form of start-ups and entrepreneurial ideas.
14.05.2025
Analysis of natural products using liquid chromatography.
News
Natural products are among the most promising candidates for the development of new drugs. However, due to their structural complexity, they are often difficult to access. A team headed by Tobias Gulder from the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) has now developed new synthetic strategies for the class of polycyclic tetramate macrolactams (PoTeMs), a group of natural products with a broad spectrum of biological activities. In addition to chemical synthesis, enzymatic catalysis and genetic engineering approaches were used. The strategies established in this way not only allow PoTeMs to be produced in large quantities, but also to modify their carbon structure and thus their pharmaceutical properties. The researchers published their results in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, among others.
12.05.2025
EM image
News
Influenza viruses are among the most likely triggers of future pandemics. A research team from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and the Medical Center - University of Freiburg has developed a method that can be used to study the interaction of viruses with host cells in unprecedented detail. With the help of their new development, they have also analyzed how novel influenza viruses use alternative receptors to enter target cells. The results were recently published in two papers in the journal Nature Communications.
07.05.2025

HZI in the media

... group within the Microstar Program at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and a ...

31.03.2026
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Informations Dienst Wissenschaft

... an der Medizinischen Hochschule Hannover und am Helmholtz Institut für Infektionen in Braunschweig die Wirkung ...

28.03.2026
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Hamburger Abendblatt

led by wildlife veterinarian Fabian Leendertz, who heads the Helmholtz Institute for One Health, took hundreds of samples from meat and

27.03.2026
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Science.org

Gesellschaft. Apropos Standort Braunschweig: Auch das Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung HZI, in dessen Räumlichkeiten auf dem ...

27.03.2026
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transkript

Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research

 

After infection with SARS-CoV-2, up to 10 percent of people in Germany go on to develop Long COVID.

26.03.2026
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Mirage.News

... von verschiedenen Hörnchen, wie jüngste Erkenntnisse des Helmholtz Instituts für One Health in Greifswald kürzlich ...

26.03.2026
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Tagesschau

zur Bekämpfung der Tuberkulose und des Helmholtz-Zentrums für Infektionsforschung erstellt. Zahlreiche weitere Fachgesellschaften und

24.03.2026
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Deutsches Ärzteblatt

... fünf Teams durch, darunter PROTON vom Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung. Dieses entwickelt einen neuartigen Wirkstoff gegen ...

22.03.2026
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Ad Hoc News

Vor allem durch die Coronapandemie sind Forschende des Helmholtz-Zentrums für Infektionsforschung in den vergangenen Jahren bundesweit bekannt geworden. Auf welche Themen die Einrichtung für die Zukunft setzt.

20.03.2026
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Deutsches Ärzteblatt

... beschäftigt sich daneben unter dem Dach des Helmholtz Institutes für Pharmazeu­tische Forschung Saarland (HIPS) ...

18.03.2026
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Biermann Medizin

... Ausbau von Produktions- und Vermarktungskapazitäten.

 

Das Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung HZI begrüßt den Erhalt der GMP- ...

18.03.2026
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Bionity.COM

... der Universität zu Lübeck, des Helmholtz-Zentrums für Infektionsforschung (HZI) in Braunschweig, der Medizinischen Hochschule Hannover ...

17.03.2026
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Biermann Medizin

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