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Three HZI research projects are being launched with funding from the “zukunft.niedersachsen” program
The Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig succeeded with three project proposals in the zukunft.niedersachsen funding program of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture (MWK) and the Volkswagen Foundation. In the “MacroAB-Delivery” project, a research team coordinated by Prof. Dagmar Wirth from the HZI aims to advance a new method for the local treatment of implant-associated infections. The “MoreHealth” project, coordinated at Hannover Medical School (MHH) with the participation of Prof. Jochen Hühn (HZI), is establishing an infrastructure with comprehensive health data that can be analyzed for various diseases with a focus on individual risk and severity. Prof. Alice McHardy and her team at the HZI are involved in the INDIVO research network, which is coordinated at the MHH and seeks new methods for more accurate diagnosis and targeted treatment of bacterial infections in liver cirrhosis patients. Five joint projects to expand personalized medicine are being funded as part of zukunft.niedersachsen with a total budget of nine million euros.
Project “MacroAB Delivery”
Despite the successful use of antibiotics, bacterial infections continue to pose a major challenge to human health, particularly due to the increasing spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Even when infections occur locally—such as on implant surfaces—antibiotics are usually administered systemically, which can cause serious side effects in various organs such as the liver, kidneys, or central nervous system. In addition, very high drug doses are required to treat implant-associated bacterial infections, as the bacteria evade the effects of antibiotics by forming biofilms. With the “MacroAB-Delivery” project, the researchers aim to solve these challenges: The patient's own immune cells—so-called macrophages—are to be loaded with particles carrying an antibacterial agent and injected into the bloodstream. The immune cells then migrate to the site of infection, where the drug is to be released through a gentle ultrasound treatment. “Our goal is a safe, personalized therapy with local antibiotic release that improves treatment outcomes while minimizing systemic side effects,” says Dagmar Wirth, who heads the research group “Model Systems for Infection and Immunity” at the HZI. The project “MacroAB-Delivery – Cell-mediated targeting and on-demand release of antibacterials for treatment of localized infections” is funded with a total of 1.8 million euros, of which around 550,000 euros will go to the HZI. The collaborative project with the MHH will start on October 1, 2025.
Project “MoReHealth”
Researchers from MHH, HZI, University Medical Center Göttingen, and Technische Universität Braunschweig want to standardize the generation, evaluation, and management of health data in a quality-assured manner in the joint project “MoReHealth” to enable more efficient and sustainable use of the data. The focus is on so-called multi-omics data, which includes, for example, the entirety of all genes and proteins in a human being. This information can help diagnose diseases, develop tailored therapies, and monitor treatment success. The project is based on an existing collection of health data from the RESIST Cluster of Excellence. It utilizes the prediction of the risk and severity of herpesvirus infection in older individuals as a practical example of using specific biomarkers. “We want to investigate age-related susceptibility to infection in more detail and, in the long term, be able to transfer the analysis of multi-omics data to other diseases,” says Jochen Hühn, head of the department “Experimental Immunology” at the HZI. The joint project “A Best Practice for Standardized Multi-omics Health Research in Personalized Medicine in Lower Saxony – MoReHealth Niedersachsen” (coordination: Prof. Thomas Illig, Dr. Sara Haag, MHH) will receive 3 million euros in funding, with around 400,000 euros going to the HZI. The project will start on September 1, 2025.
Project “INDIVO”
In liver cirrhosis, the liver tissue is destroyed and replaced by non-functional fibrous tissue. This causes scarring of the liver, which can no longer perform its function as the central metabolic and detoxification organ. Those affected also suffer from a complex immune system disorder (cirrhosis-associated immune dysfunction, CAID), which leads to an approximately sevenfold increase in the risk of bacterial infections. In the event of an infection, it is crucial to identify the causative bacterium in order to select a suitable antibiotic therapy. However, conventional methods are often not sensitive enough and are time-consuming, resulting in the loss of valuable time or the use of less effective broad-spectrum antibiotics. In the joint project “INDIVO,” researchers from MHH, HZI, and Technische Universität Braunschweig are using AI-based analysis methods to find new ways to achieve more accurate diagnoses and personalized treatment. “Our goal is to use improved diagnostics to develop a therapy plan more quickly that is tailored precisely to the individual risk of infection and the severity of the disease,” says Prof. Alice McHardy, who heads the HZI department “Computational Biology for Infection Research” at the Braunschweig Integrated Centre of Systems Biology (BRICS). The project “Individualized prevention and treatment of infections in patients with liver cirrhosis (INDIVO)”, coordinated at the MHH by Prof. Benjamin Maasoumy, will receive 3 million euros in funding and will start on October 1, 2025. The HZI's share of the funding amounts to around 718,000 euros.
This press release is also available on our website: https://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en/media-center/newsroom/news-detail/over-16-millio....
Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research:
Scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and its other sites in Germany are engaged in the study of bacterial and viral infections and the body’s defense mechanisms. They have a profound expertise in natural compound research and its exploitation as a valuable source for novel anti-infectives. As member of the Helmholtz Association and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) the HZI performs translational research laying the ground for the development of new treatments and vaccines against infectious diseases. http://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en
Contact:
Susanne Thiele, Spokesperson
susanne.thiele@helmholtz-hzi.de
Dr Andreas Fischer, Editor
andreas.fischer@helmholtz-hzi.de
Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research
Press and Communications
Inhoffenstr. 7
D-38124 Braunschweig
Germany
Phone: +49 531 6181-1400; -1405
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