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HZI Podcast: Our immune system competing against diseases

Liver transplantation: Pattern of chronic rejection decoded

Two types of rejection “Chronic and acute rejection differ in terms of cause, progression and treatment,” says first author Dr Bastian Engel, MHH-Clinical Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Infectious Diseases and Endocrinology (GHIE). “In chronic rejection,…

The CiiM mourns the loss of its founding director Prof. Michael Manns

"With Michael Manns, we have lost the initiator and architect of the CiiM. He pursued the vision of individualized infectious disease medicine with determination and created structures that form the basis of our work today. For me personally, he was a mentor, advisor,…

Comorbidities in HIV: Big data study reveals molecular links

“People with HIV often suffer from non-AIDS-related comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease, liver disease, or cancer. They are more prone to chronic inflammation in the body, which causes them to age faster and have a lower life expectancy than other people,” says…

Groundbreaking for the Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine (CiiM)

"The COVID-19 pandemic has just shown us how important infection research and personalised medicine are - and that research findings need to to be transferred more quickly from bench to bedside," said Lower Saxony's Science Minister Falko Mohrs. “The life sciences are…

CiiM Founders' Award given to Michael Manns

Prof. Dr. Michael Manns took on the role of founding director in 2015, thereby formally launching CiiM. Under his leadership and in close cooperation with the then managing director of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Prof. Dr. Dirk Heinz, crucial funding…

BCG Vaccine ‘Trains’ Immunity Through Lasting Epigenetic Rewiring

The Bacillus Calmette‑Guérin (BCG) vaccine, in use for nearly a century to protect against tuberculosis, has long intrigued scientists for its ability to confer non‑specific protection against other infections. A new study led by the Centre for Individualised Infection…

Lower Saxony honors the life's work of Professor Michael Manns

‘It is a particular pleasure for me to honour Professor Michael Manns with the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Lower Saxony. This is in recognition of an impressive life's work and a sign of our appreciation for an outstanding and highly renowned scientist in our…

Why the flu vaccine is less effective in older people

Every year at the beginning of October, the flu epidemic rolls around. “Because older people in particular have an increased risk of a severe course of the disease, effective vaccines are especially important for them,” says Prof. Yang Li, Scientific Director of the…

Lyme disease: Probability of developing the disease is genetically predisposed

If a tick is infected with the pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi s. l. (sensu lato = in the broader sense), these bacteria can be transmitted to humans through a tick bite and cause illness. Various organ systems can be affected: the skin, the nervous system or the joints.…

‘The star is the team!’

Full support from the state of Lower Saxony After the welcoming remarks by Dean of Research Professor Frank Bengel, Professor Hilfiker-Kleiner and Professor Manns were greeted with thunderous applause. Lower Saxony's Minister of Science Falko Mohrs emphasised that it…

New Research Center for Artificial Intelligence and causal methods in Medicine

The digitalization of the life sciences opens up completely new potential for tackling common diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. The Center therefore focuses on linking research data, clinical…

MHH Professor Tobias Welte passed away

Welte was a highly valued partner and colleague to many researchers at the HZI. Particularly close collaborations with Tobias Welte existed, for example, with the HZI "Epidemiology" department under the direction of Prof. Gérard Krause (now WHO) and currently Dr. Berit…

“Aging Clock” reveals aging processes in immune cells

As we age, our immune system also ages. We become more susceptible to infections, vaccinations work less well and the risk of developing immune-related disorders such as autoimmune diseases increases. “In order to better understand how and where exactly the immune…

ERC Proof of Concept Grant for Yang Li

“Prof. Dr. Yang Li impressively combines insights from the life sciences and data science in her research. In doing so, she is laying the foundation for new possibilities for individually adapted diagnoses and therapies in medicine. As head of the Centre for…

What leads to severe COVID-19?

The team was able to identify underlying regulators of the malfunction of the innate immune system in COVID-19 patients and confirm that certain already known genetic risk loci play a role in the development of COVID-19. The results have been published in the journal…

A virus lurking in the connective tissue

As part of the new study, Dr Katarzyna Sitnik, then working in the “Viral Immunology” department at the HZI, headed by Prof Luka Cicin-Sain, and her colleagues naturally infected mice with murine CMV (mCMV). This variant of the virus is used because human CMV (HCMV) is…

Five HZI scientists are “Highly-cited Researchers”

Bioinformatician Prof Alice McHardy uses computational techniques to research the human microbiome as well as viral and bacterial pathogens. She heads the department “Computational Biology for Infection Research” at BRICS (Braunschweig Integrated Center of Systems…

Do women and men react differently to infections?

Hijacking in the immune system

Up to 90% of the world's population carries HCMV. In people with a normal immune system, the infection is usually subclinical, i.e. it does not cause any pronounced symptoms. However, in immunocompromised patients, such as organ transplant recipients, the infection can…

COVID-19 Patientenkohorte hilft bei Aufklärung des Patientenrisikos

Aus der MHH stammen Bioproben und Daten der „ COVID-19-Kohorte “, die seit März 2020 von unterschiedlich stark am Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 erkrankten Patientinnen und Patienten sowie Kontrollproben von Menschen mit anderen Atemwegserkrankungen aus verschiedenen…

Joint symposium of HZI and McGill University on personalised infection medicine

Personalised infection medicine aims to take into account individual differences in the diagnosis and therapy of infectious diseases. The HZI and McGill University have been building a strategic cooperation on this topic for several years. Clinicians and scientists from…

Who benefits from immunotherapy against hepatitis B?

It is estimated that more than 250 million people worldwide are chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus. Cytotoxic T cells and T helper cells play an important role in fighting viral infections. The constant activation of these immune cells in chronically…

The path to personalised hepatitis D treatment

Hepatitis D is caused by coinfection of hepatitis B patients with the hepatitis D virus (HDV). Up to 20 Million individuals are infected with HDV worldwide including about 250.000 patients in the European Union. There is very limited knowledge on disease pathophysiology…

When the skin aches

It was already known that in both psoriasis and neurodermatitis, T-cells of the immune system migrate from the blood into the skin and drive the inflammation there. Detailed examination of T-cells in blood and skin now led to evidence that in atopic dermatitis they…

How does Long COVID develop? New piece of the puzzle found

After infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, up to ten percent of those affected in Germany develop Long COVID. The symptoms associated with it, such as fatigue, concentration problems, respiratory issues, or neurological problems, can last for months or years.…