Newsroom

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
Portrait
News
The lawyer Christian Scherf will start as Administrative Director at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig on 1 January 2023. The former Chancellor of the Berufliche Hochschule Hamburg succeeds Silke Tannapfel, who left the HZI at the end of 2021 to join the Hessian Ministry of Science and the Arts. The position of Administrative Director was temporarily taken over by Elisabeth Gerndt, authorised signatory and head of the Finance and Controlling Department, until 31 December 2022.
23.12.2022

HZI in the media

... (UMG), TU Braunschweig (TU BS) und Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI) koordinieren Prof. Dr. Thomas Illig ...

16.07.2025
|
MTA Dialog

new antiviral medicines, says virologist Christian Sieben of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Germany.

 

Earlier in 2025, for

16.07.2025
|
Knowable Magazine

they self-arranged into structures resembling alveoli. Josef Penninger, an expert at the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (Germany),

12.07.2025
|
Vietnam.vn

... Brinkmann (Archivbild): Die Virologin forscht am Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung in Braunschweig. (Quelle: teutopress/ ...

11.07.2025
|
t-online.de

... des HZI, der Technischen Universität Braunschweig und des Fördervereins des HZI.

 

Promotionspreise des HZI

 

Der ...

11.07.2025
|
Regional Heute

... lassen. Ein weiterer Partner ist das Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI) in Braunschweig. Finanziert wird das ...

07.07.2025
|
MDR

... Pneumologie an der UMMD sowie dem Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI) in Braunschweig. Gefährliche Folgeinfektion mit ...

06.07.2025
|
Magdeburger News

... von der Abteilung Mikrobielle Immunregulation am Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI) in einer Pressemitteilung des ...

04.07.2025
|
Pharmazeutische Zeitung

In a groundbreaking new study, researchers from the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) and Hannover Medical School (MHH) have

04.07.2025
|
Maldankon

Register now for the HZI-Newsletter

and stay up to date!

CAPTCHA image for SPAM prevention If you can't read the word, click here.