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Displaying results 1 to 148 of 148.
Clara Lanfermann
Lara Lütke
Celine Beyer
Kaarem Haal
Erich Freyer
Julia Alpers
Dr Christian Niehaus
Immunology of Viral Hepatitis and Infections in Liver Cirrhosis
Hepatitis viruses A-E pose a major health challenge worldwide. Acute infections with hepatitis B (HBV), C (HCV), D (HDV) or E (HEV) can progress to chronic hepatitis and lead to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Chronic viral hepatitis affects more than 350 million people worldwide. While direct-acting antiviral drugs provide a cure for chronic hepatitis C, the long-term effects on the immune system after the infection is cured are not fully understood. While direct-acting antiviral nucleos(t)ide analogues can treat chronic hepatitis B, complete cure is rare. Innovative approaches, particularly modulation of the immune response to HBV, hold promise for a cure. Chronic hepatitis D is always a co-infection with HBV and thus concepts to cure HBV will also target HDV. In chronic hepatitis E, which is unique in immunocompromised patients such as organ transplant patients, enhancing the immune response against HEV may be a novel strategy. In people with cirrhosis of the liver, regardless of the cause, the immune system is compromised and susceptibility to infection is increased. In particular, bacterial infections of the peritoneal cavity due to ascites contribute significantly to disease progression. Our research group focuses on understanding immune responses to hepatitis viruses and developing biomarkers to better stratify patients for new therapeutic strategies to modulate the host immune system in the effort to combat chronic viral hepatitis. In addition, we are exploring the mechanisms underlying immunodeficiency in liver cirrhosis and investigating immunomodulation strategies to improve survival in these vulnerable patients.
Prof Dr Yang Li
Personalised Immunotherapy
Our motivation is to address fundamental questions of human immunology and translate them into personalized therapies and diagnostics. Specifically, our laboratory discovers new applications of antibodies and B cells to treat and prevent human infectious diseases. Effective vaccines against some viruses that escape antibody responses remain elusive. To tackle this challenge, we develop methods to better understand B cell responses, the cells that produce antibodies. We design tailored vaccines and provide novel solutions for infection diagnostics.
Beate Junk
Prof Dr Cheng-Jian Xu
Liang Zhou
Nienke van Unen
Javier Fransisco Botey-Bataller
Ahmed Alaswad
Dr Xun Jiang
Dr Saumya Dileep Kumar
Malou-Sophie Dietrich
Paulina Schröter
Yin-Han Chou
Dr Sebastian Klein
Prof Dr Anke Kraft
Prof Dr Markus Cornberg
Carlos Oltmanns
Moana Witte
Severin Wulf
Prof Dr Markus Cornberg and Prof Dr Anke Kraft
Roni Souleiman
Hannes Kolde
Ayesha Lietzau
Alina Diecke
Privacy policy
Data protection Thank you for your interest in our website. The Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) takes the protection of personal data very seriously. It is possible to use our website without providing any personal data. This privacy policy…
Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine
Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine The CiiM, based in Hannover, is a joint research institute of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research and the Hannover Medical School. More about the CiiM Symposium 2026 The 2nd International Conference on…
Material on CiiM
Material on CiiM How is hepatitis D diagnosed? What happens if HDV infection is not treated? How is hepatitis D treated? Prof. Dr. Yang Li as part of the Cluster of Excellence RESIST Prof. Dr. Markus Cornberg as part of the Cluster of Excellence RESIST CiiM…
Computational Biology for Individualised Medicine
Infections are among the biggest threats to health and the most significant causes of death worldwide. Our aim is to reveal the host genetic risk factors and their downstream molecular pathways, which are crucial to make progress in understanding and treating infectious diseases in an individualised manner as well as to improve the identification of patients at risk. The department of the HZI is part of the developing CiiM and currently housed at the TWINCORE in Hannover. Students and postdocs – We are always looking for bright and enthusiastic students and postdocs (funded by e.g. the ERC starting grant). For more about our projects, please contact us by email.
Prof Dr Till Strowig
Prof Dr Alice McHardy
Prof Dr Dr Luka Cicin-Sain
Imprint
Imprint according to the following German regulations: § 6 TDG, § 10 MDStV Publisher Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH (Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research) Inhoffenstraße 7 38124 Braunschweig Telefon: 0531 6181-0 Telefax: 0531 6181-2655…
Jobs
Jobs © AdobeStock_294726409 Initiativbewerbungen Become part of the team We are always interested in receiving applications from motivated candidates. More Contact Dr Jennifer Debarry +49 511 532 7226 E-Mail Further information
Our program
Our program Realising innovation Infections and their sequelae continue to account for one in five deaths worldwide. In this context, emerging and recurrent pathogens, chronic infections, as well as increasing resistance to approved drugs, continue to pose…
Prof Dr Markus Cornberg
Prof Dr Markus Cornberg CiiM Director +49 511 532 6821 E-Mail Markus Cornberg is W3-Professor Infectious Diseases with a focus on Hepatology and Deputy Director of the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Infectious Diseases and Endocrinology at…
Individualised Medicine for Viral Infections
Opportunistic infections remain a serious threat to immunocompromised individuals, such as transplant recipients. We study opportunistic herpes viruses, such as the cytomegalovirus (CMV) by developing unique technologies for real-time measurement of virus growth, allowing us rapid identification of antiviral activity of primary samples and virtually any immune cell subset. This allows us to identify at-risk populations and develop targeted antiviral therapies for treatment and prevention of opportunistic viral infections. In the course of the COVID pandemic, our expertise in virus genetics was used to clone pseudoviruses expressing variants of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein for the assessment of the neutralization capacity of sera or monoclonal antibodies, and this technology is pursued in the identification of correlates of immune protection in vaccinated or convalescent populations. We team with local and international teams of physicians and epidemiologists, providing technical support and scientific advice on complex laboratory serological diagnostics. In March 2019, Prof Dr. Dr. Luka Cicin-Sain was jointly appointed by the MHH (Hannover Medical School) and HZI (Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research) as CIIM Professor for "Individualised Medicine of Viral Infections", and as of 2021 he leads the CiiM-associated Department of “Viral Immunology” (VIRI) at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig.
Infection Biology
Microbial communities consisting of bacteria, fungi and viruses colonize all surfaces of the human body. They are referred to in their entirety as the microbiome. The composition of the microbiome varies between individuals and also within an individual in the course of life. Important influencing factors at the beginning of life are the mode of birth and diet, later the intake of antibiotics and medication as well as long-term diets, the state of health, but also sport and stress play a role. In recent years, a large number of studies have begun to investigate the extent to which the microbiome and its changes actively contribute to our health and the development of diseases. For various diseases, it has been shown in animal models and clinical studies that certain changes in the microbiome influence either the development or the course of e.g. chronic inflammatory bowel diseases or susceptibility to infections. This has led to the development of novel microbiome-based therapies that are currently being investigated in animal models and clinical studies. Prof. Strowig's department uses interdisciplinary approaches from microbiological, immunological and bioinformatic methods to gain a molecular understanding of the complex interactions between the intestinal microbiome and the host. The knowledge that can be gained from this forms an important cornerstone for the development of new individual prevention and therapy approaches. The close cooperation between the MHH and HZI at the CiiM will enable research results from basic research to be transferred more directly into practice in the future. One example is the successful establishment of a microbiome analysis platform, which is essential for researching the influence of the host's microbiome on its susceptibility to infections and has already been used for various patient cohorts (RESIST-SeniorIndividuals, LöwenKIDS). Another example is the identification of specific microbiome components that can be used in preclinical models to prevent colonization with disease-promoting bacteria.
Computational Biology for Infection Research
The group studies microbial communities, including bacteria, viruses and eukaryotic community members, in the context of human health and disease. Direct metagenome, -transcriptome or -proteome sequencing of microbial community samples enables the study of microorganisms that cannot be obtained in pure culture, corresponding to most of the microbial world.
CAIMed Group 1b: AI and Bioinformatics
The identification of genetic risk factors and their molecular signaling pathways as well as the development of predictive models for disease progression and severity are crucial for progress in the understanding and individualized treatment of diseases. At the MHH, existing and planned patient cohorts with state-of-the-art (single-cell) multi-omics data are available. The bioinformatics junior research group will focus on the pre-processing of molecular data in order to create standardized data sets for the analyses of the other CAIMed junior research groups. The aim is to integrate this data on an unprecedented scale using innovative AI methods. These include the identification of factors that correlate with disease severity and progression using causal inference methods. Furthermore, the investigation of cell type-specific genetic effects on molecular characteristics will be carried out using the "deconvolution" method. Finally, mathematical models such as support vector machines will be developed to predict individual reactions to diseases/treatments and thus create a molecular basis for the stratification of patient groups. The aim is to promote the implementation of these mathematical models in medical treatment or diagnostic procedures as a crucial first step towards individualized prevention. Close cooperation with the Integrative Multi-Omics Data group is planned.
Dr Jennifer Debarry
Dr Jennifer Debarry +49 511 532 7226 E-Mail Jennifer Debarry has served as Science Manager since 2008 and, since 2015, has led the joint activities of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and Hannover Medical School (MHH) in individualised…
Prof Dr Yang Li
Prof Dr Yang Li CiiM Director +49 511 532 7200 E-Mail Yang Li has headed the Department of Computational Biology for Individualised Medicine at the CiiM and the HZI since 2019 and was also appointed Director of the CiiM. The focus of her research is on…
Prof Dr Markus Cornberg
Prof Dr med. Michael Peter Manns Head of Department +49 511 532 6048 E-Mail Michael Manns holds a senior professorship of the State of Lower Saxony with a focus on “Infection and Autoimmunity” at Hannover Medical School. In addition to his position at CiiM,…
Karen Susan Blume
Events
Events Scientific 19 March 2026 10.00 am Symposium 2nd International Conference on Individualized Infection Medicine Show more events Show all events
Publications
New research findings from CiiM Below you will find publications involving CiiM (as of March 2020): 2020 Author count: 8 Kastenmuller W., Gasteiger G., Subramanian N., Sparwasser Tim*, Busch D.H., Belkaid Y., ... , Drexler I., Germain R.N. (2011) Regulatory…
What is Individualised Medicine?
What is Individualised Medicine? Topics What is Individualised Medicine? In medicine, the development and application of therapies with maximum efficacy and minimum side effects remains a fundamental challenge. In fact, approved therapies and medicines…
Herrenhausen Symposium
Event Archive Herrenhausen Symposium Individualised Infection Medicine: The Future is Now Infektionen sind nach wie vor eine der Haupttodesursachen weltweit. Individuell zugeschnittene Vorsorge und Therapien versprechen neue Heilungsmöglichkeiten. Wie aber…
CiiM Lecture Series
Event Archive CiiM Lecture Series Internationally renowned scientists from the field of Personalised Medicine are invited to the CiiM Lecture Series. It aims to bring together all scientists and doctors interested in personalised medicine from the various…
COVID-19 Patient Cohort
COVID-19 Patient Cohort Understanding individual risk and predictability of severe COVID-19 CiiM is involved in the establishment of a COVID-19 patient cohort. The project, led by Prof. Dr. Thomas Illig from the Hannover Unified Biobank (MHH), is funded by…
Media Centre
Media Centre Material on CiiM On the occasion of the Open Day at the MHH, we have compiled an insight into the research at CiiM and the construction progress of the future CiiM building. About the material Here you can download CiiM information material. We…
Event Archive
Event Archive CiiM Lecture Series Herrenhausen Symposium "Individualised Infection Medicine: The Future is Now" 25. Impfsymposium
Project D-Solve
D-SOLVE EU-Project Logo D-SOLVE The path to personalised hepatitis D treatment Hepatitis D is by far the most severe form of chronic viral hepatitis frequently leading to liver failure, hepatocellular carcinoma and death. However, there is very limited…
Location & Building
Location & Building A Designated Building for Individualized Infection Medicine The Location Hannover - Braunschweig is one of the most important German research regions in the field of infectiology. The close partnership between the HZI in Braunschweig and…
NUM
NUM Local Coordination Units (LCU) of the Network of University Medicine (NUM) Providing patients with optimal care, preventing infections and expanding healthcare is the mission statement of the Network of University Medicine (NUM), which was founded in…
Field of research
Field of research Individualized medicine Medicine has always strived to understand the specifics of each patient in order to provide the best possible individualized treatment. In this context, it has become increasingly clear in recent years that the…
Research Groups
The groups at CiiM Four research groups of the HZI and the MHH are currently directly assigned to CiiM and are housed in TWINCORE until the new building is commissioned. In addition, other professorships at MHH (some as joint appointments with HZI) are…
SARS-CoV-2 Research
SARS-CoV-2 Research Forschung SARS-CoV-2 Research The research groups at CiiM are collaborating to address various current issues in SARS-CoV-2 research. The very diverse clinical histories suggest that a mixture of epidemiological, genetic, and…
Ciim | Partner
Partner A strong network for the requirements of Individualized Infection Medicine The embedding of CiiM in the region's existing research network ensures access to patients, interdisciplinary expertise and state-of-the-art technology. Through the linkage,…
Team
Team Since its foundation in 2015, the CiiM has grown continuously and coordinative and administrative teams have been created alongside the research groups . Management Prof Dr Yang Li CiiM Director Computational Biology for Individualised Medicine +49 511…
Selected projects
Selected projects On the way to individualized infection medicine In various projects, the research groups of CiiM, but also groups of HZI, MHH and TWINCORE are dedicated to different questions in the field of infection medicine and lay important…
Topics
Topics What is Individualised Medicine? Facets and added value of Individualised Medicin Characteristics of Individualised Infection Medicine
Organisation
Organisation The Structure of the CiiM The CiiM is a joint scientific institution (§ 36 NHG) formed by the founding partners HZI and MHH and was established in 2015 with the signing of a Letter of Intent. The basic principles of the collaboration at CiiM…
Facets and added value of Individualised Medicine
Facets and added value of Individualised Medicine The page is under construction.
Clinical Bioinformatics
Personalized medicine offers a significant opportunity to enhance public health by accounting for individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle. The "Clinical Bioinformatics" research group follows this direction, aiming to unravel the intricate molecular mechanisms underlying infection and aging. Through this pursuit, we strive to develop precise, individualized treatment strategies. Our research aims to develop and apply "bioinformatics approaches" to pinpoint the genetic and epigenetic factors influencing infection-induced immune responses by integrating multi-omics data from patients and constructing computational models that predict an individual’s risk of infectious diseases. We interact with experimental collaborators and clinical experts to verify our findings and promote their translation into medical treatments or diagnostic procedures. Our ultimate goal is to contribute to the main research focus of CiiM/MHH: the tailored and improved prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious diseases and cancer for individual patients or patient groups. Within this framework, the team led by Prof. Dr. Cheng-Jian Xu is primarily dedicated to the domains of diagnosis, risk assessment, early detection, and patient stratification.
Melanie Rodenberg
Patrick Kaufhold
Dr Tetyana Yevsa
Dr Nasim Safaei
Cornelia Senske
Agata Anna Bielecka
Diego Enrique Ortiz Quiroga
Katrin Anja Winter
Dr Lisa Osbelt-Block
Dr Yvonne Neumann
Dr Youssef el Mouali Benomar
Dr Till Robin Lesker
Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine
The CiiM Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine The CiiM ( Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine ) is a joint initiative of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and the Hannover Medical School (MHH). The research…
Maeva Katzmarzyk
Karina Watzke
Ronja Friedhoff
Ayse Barut
Henrike Maaß
Tatjana Lüddecke
Dr Najat Bdeir
Dr Upasana Kulkarni
Dr Henning Jacobsen
Dr Natascha Gödecke
Claudia Munzel
Jobs at CiiM
Jobs at CiiM Applications Join the team CiiM is growing and the CiiM groups are always happy to receive applications from motivated and qualified candidates. Open job advertisements can be found on the group pages. In addition, speculative applications are…
Characteristics of Individualised Infection Medicine
Characteristics of Individualised Infection Medicine The page is under construction.
