The Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) is a publicly funded research institute based in

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

, Germany. HZI is a member of the

Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres The Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (german: Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren) is the largest scientific organisation in Germany. It is a union of 18 scientific-technical and biological-medical research centers. ...

, the largest non-university scientific organisation in Germany. BS HZI

The centre focuses on investigating infectious diseases caused by bacteria and viruses. Further research topics are the immune system and the development of novel anti-infective drugs. The HZI was founded on 18 July 2006 by renaming the Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Forschung mbh (GBF, German Research Centre for Biotechnology).

History

The HZI's main campus is located in Braunschweig (Brunswick) in the state of Niedersachsen, Germany. The centre dates back to the year 1965. That year, the forerunner of the HZI, the Institute of Molecular Biology, Biochemistry and Biophysics (IMB), was founded by chemist Hans Herloff Inhoffen (1906-1992), with support from other scientists, including the Nobel Laureate

Manfred Eigen Manfred Eigen (; 9 May 1927 – 6 February 2019) was a German biophysical chemist who won the 1967 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on measuring fast chemical reactions. Eigen's research helped solve major problems in physical chemistry and ...

. In 1968, the IMB was transformed into the Gesellschaft für Molekularbiologische Forschung mbH (GMBF, Society for Research in Molecular Biology) with support by the

Volkswagen Foundation The Volkswagen Foundation (German: ''VolkswagenStiftung'') is the largest German private nonprofit organization involved in the promotion and support of academic research. It is not affiliated to the present company, the Volkswagen Group. It wa ...

. In 1976, the centre was renamed the Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Forschung (GBF), and in 2006 it received its current name. The HZI is organised in the legal form of a GmbH (limited liability company). Shareholders are the Federal Republic of Germany (90%) and the federal states of Lower Saxony (8%),

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

(1%) and

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

(1%).

Research

The focus of the HZI's research is on the investigation of

pathogen In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ ...

s that are medically relevant or that can be utilised as models for studying infection mechanisms. The HZI employs approximately 800 staff and has an annual budget of about €58 million (institutional funding). The HZI collaborates closely with universities and other research institutions in Europe and worldwide and is part of the national genome research network. Together with the

Hannover Medical School The Hannover Medical SchoolAlthough the English spelling of the city name is "Hanover", this form of the name, using the German spelling of the city name, is used as the English-language name of the school, for example . (german: Medizinische Ho ...

(MHH), it trains young scientists to become qualified infection researchers. In November 2010, the HZI was selected by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as a partner for the German Centre for Infection, DZIF. In the course of the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

pandemic, the HZI has been participating, among other projects, in the development of simulation models for the possible spread of the

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...

virus, contributing to ideas for containing the outbreak.

Locations

In addition to its main campus in Braunschweig, the HZI operates several sites and branch institutes in different parts of Germany. Some of these branches are run jointly with university partners. * BRICS - Braunschweig Integrated Centre of Systems Biology, Braunschweig *Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine (CiiM), Hannover *Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB), Hamburg *Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Saarbrücken *Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), Würzburg *HZI Study Centre Hannover in the Clinical Research Centre (CRC) Hannover *TWINCORE - Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, Hanover *Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH), Greifswald

References

External links

Homepage hzi.deEnterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli - EHEC hzi.deAbout the HZI History 1965-2006 hzi.deSARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19 hzi.de
{{Authority control Genetics in Germany Medical research institutes in Germany