News

The Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine (CiiM), a joint institution of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and Hannover Medical School (MHH), mourns the loss of its founding director, Prof. Dr. med. Michael P. Manns. The renowned physician and scientist passed away on August 15, 2025, at the age of 73 after a serious illness. As an internationally recognized gastroenterologist, long-time director of the MHH Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, and president of the MHH, Michael Manns combined clinical excellence with strategic foresight. With great personal commitment, he drove forward the establishment of the CiiM and shaped its scientific orientation from the very beginning. Until the end, he supported the work of the center with his experience and ideas.

A recent study led by the Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine (CiiM) and the Radboud University Medical Center published in Genome Biology shows that BCG vaccination does more than fend off tuberculosis - it leaves enduring chemical marks on immune cells that boost responses to various pathogens. Researchers also uncover hormone‑immune crosstalk and sex‑specific effects that could guide next‑generation, individualised vaccine design.

The CiiM Founders' Award was given to Prof. Dr. Michael Manns at the fifth meeting of the CiiM Directorate. The award, made from a concrete core and larch wood from the future CiiM building, honors his outstanding commitment to the founding and establishment of CiiM.

On Monday, April 28, Minister President Stephan Weil presented the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Lower Saxony to Professor Dr. med. Michael Manns from Hannover. The gastroenterologist and former president of Hannover Medical School is being honored in particular for his achievements and services in medical research and for Lower Saxony as a center of science.

Not only does our body change with age, but so does our immune system. A recent study led by the Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine (CiiM) shows exactly how immune cells age and how infections and vaccinations can influence this process. The CiiM is a joint initiative of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and Hannover Medical School (MHH). Using a big data approach, the researchers have developed a computer model called the “Single-Cell Immune Aging Clock”, which can be used to determine aging processes within individual immune cells. The scientists are making the innovative aging clock freely available for further research. They hope that it will serve as a useful tool to better understand the aging processes of the immune system, particularly with the context of infectious diseases and immune disorders. The study has been published in the journal Nature Aging.

At the beginning of the year, Professor Michael Manns (founding director of the CiiM and associated with the CiiM in a senior professorship since January 2025) handed over the presidency of the MHH to Professor Denise Hilfiker-Kleiner. With the handover of the chain of office on 5 March, the change at the top of the university was now also symbolically completed. Several hundred guests attended the ceremony, including many prominent figures from medicine, politics, business and society. Together, they paid tribute to former President Professor Manns and wished his successor all the best for her responsible new role.