Animal model | German Center for Infection Research

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An animal model is a non-human animal species used in biomedical research because it can mimic aspects of a biological process or disease that occur in humans.

Portrait fotos of Philipp Schommers and Alexander Simonis

Walter Siegenthaler Medals in Silver 2024 awarded to two DZIF junior scientists

Two DZIF junior scientists—PD Dr Philipp Schommers and Dr Alexander Simonis—have been honoured with silver medals by the Walter Siegenthaler Society for their fundamental medical research in the field

Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria in 3D

An innovative class of antibiotics to combat drug-resistant bacteria

Antibacterial drugs are important for treating infections. However, increasing bacterial resistance to current drugs—making them ineffective or only partially effective—means that new drugs are

May 2024

Sci Transl Med

Comparative analysis of SARS-CoV-2 neutralization titers reveals consistency between human and animal model serum and across assays

Autoren

Mühlemann B et al.

Close up view of the injection of a vaccine through a syringe into the arm of a person wearing a mask.

New vector vaccine against COVID-19 provides long-term protection

The protective effect of established COVID-19 vaccines is initially very robust, but wanes relatively quickly. This limitation imposes a need for periodic booster shots, which drives vaccine

Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Study on promising new antibiotic Darobactin reinforces its potential

Darobactin is a promising candidate for the development of new, resistance-breaking antibiotics, as it has an exceptional mechanism of action and a broad spectrum of activity. In a recent study, DZIF

Ehrendoktorwürde Prof. Urban

Outstanding hepatitis research: DZIF Professor receives honorary doctorate

The Faculty of Medicine at the University of Basel has awarded an honorary doctorate to DZIF Professor Dr Stephan Urban from the Medical Faculty at the Heidelberg University. The award acknowledges

Cryo-electron microscopic reconstruction of molecular structures: On the left, the vertical representation of the binding of a yellow-coloured antibody to the blue-coloured tip of the secretion system shown in grey. On the right, a top view of the binding structure, showing how the yellow antibody binds laterally to the blue tip of the secretion system, which is round in top view.

Neutralising antibodies that target resistant bacteria

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria pose a major challenge to healthcare systems worldwide. Due to numerous resistance mechanisms, infections with the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa are particularly feared

Schematic representation of a liver (in brown-orange) surrounded by round virus particles and blood cells (in white-gray).

A promising investigational therapeutic monoclonal antibody to treat chronic hepatitis B and D infections

Affecting hundreds of millions of people, chronic hepatitis B is a widespread global health problem for which there is as yet no cure. In a preclinical study involving the German Center for Infection

Masernimpfvirus als Vektor

Measles-based vector vaccine protects mice against influenza A (H7N9) virus

Researchers of the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) at the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI) and Philipps-Universität Marburg used the "recombinant measles virus" vaccine platform to test vaccine

Illustration of a mouse surrounded by: Bacteria-containing capsules; red and green agar plates with bacterial colonies smeared out and test strips and platelets; DNA sequence comparison behind; and the words "Antibiotics", "Microbiome", and "Evolution".

How the gut microbiome responds to antibiotics

Antibiotics affect the composition and dynamics of the gut microbiome. Treatment with antibiotics not only leads to a loss of biodiversity of microorganisms, but also often favours the selection of