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Displaying results 671 to 679 of 679.
Infection Immunology
An infection can be seen as a fight between a microbe and our body’s defence mechanisms. The microbe is trying to multiply and disseminate, while the different components of our immune system will work together trying to stop this process. This is not an easy mission for our body because microbes have learned how to hide, evade or even destroy some of the components of the immune system as well as how to resist antibiotic treatment. The focus of our research is to understand the battle between microbes and our immune defences. If we know the different tricks and mechanisms employed by the microbes to breach our defences we will be able to design new strategies to counteract and disarm the attacking microorganisms.
Innovative Organoid Research
Organoids are miniature models of human organs cultivated from stem cells in laboratory settings. These delicate tissue structures mimic the three-dimensional architecture and function of real organs, offering researchers a unique opportunity to enhance their understanding of biological processes. Our aim is to advance the development of highly complex organoids incorporating immune cells and vessels. By doing so, we establish a platform, especially for investigating infections, conducting vaccine tests, and innovating therapeutic approaches.
Clinical Bioinformatics
The Department “Clinical Bioinformatics” is concerned with analyzing molecular information using computer-based methods such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, or other algorithms. Its focus lies on spatially and temporally resolved processes to help understand how bacteria, as producers of natural products, interact with humans and can trigger or even protect against disease. This department is located at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) .
Biosafety Level 3 Laboratory
Biological agents of risk group 3 (RG3) pose a constant global as well as national challenge because they cause severe illnesses in humans against which there are usually no effective preventive or treatment measures. Since these pathogens can only be handled in special biosafety level 3 (BSL3) laboratories, the modern BSL3 laboratories at the HZI provide a technology platform that is indispensable in today's infection research - only in this way can our scientists develop new therapies, prevention measures or diagnostic procedures against these pathogens.
LncRNA and Infection Biology
RNA is a truly remarkable molecule with functions and activities far beyond that of an intermediate information carrier. The abundant class of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) contains highly specialized RNA with structural or regulatory functions that range from assembling large protein complexes to localizing, sequestering, or allosterically modifying proteins and other interaction partners. Our genome contains thousands of lncRNAs, many of which are specifically regulated during bacterial or viral infections. However, their contribution to launching and sustaining an effective host response remains elusive. Our group combines a cutting-edge suite of technologies from the fields of biochemistry, genomics, molecular biology, and computational biology to decode how lncRNA work mechanistically and how they contribute to host defense mechanisms. This group is located at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI).
Cellular Metabolism in Infection
With a focus on applying mass spectrometry and tracing approaches, the research group “Cellular Metabolism in Infection” (CMII) headed by Prof Thekla Cordes tracks metabolic pathways, leading to discoveries about the role of small molecules influencing immune cell metabolism and function.
Actinobacteria Metabolic Engineering
The growing resistance towards established antibiotics presents a serious problem especially with infectious diseases. The development of new drugs is mainly based on known molecules and mechanisms, which allows bacteria to assimilate rapidly. Hence, scientists are looking for novel drugs. At the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) , a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) at Braunschweig, the researchers develop new pathways, by which they force actinomycetes to produce hitherto unknown compounds.
Mouse Pathology
Histology is the science of tissues and pathology. In a sense, it is also the science of diseases and their pathogenesis. The major concern of histologists working in our service unit is helping other HZI researchers make this connection and work out the details of the relationship between histological changes at the tissue level and the infectious diseases they are studying.
Microbial Immune Regulation
The microbiota encompasses a diverse population of microorganisms that colonize many body sites such as skin and intestine of multicellular hosts. The composition of the microbiota in humans is highly variable and is influenced by nutrition, immune competence, illness and use of medication (especially antibiotics). We are interested to enhance our understanding on how these microbial communities affect human infectious diseases and how they can be manipulated to treat diseases.
