
Better fight against hepatitis E
Neutralising antibodies can prevent severe courses
TWINCORE was founded in 2008 by the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research and the Hannover Medical School. We combine the expertise of medical professionals and scientists from a wide range of disciplines to find answers to the pressing questions in infection research. Our focus: translational research – the bridge between basic science and clinical application.
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We conduct translational infection research to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases in humans. We focus on three areas that characterize our research work. Find out here how we proceed and what results we achieve.
Under the leadership of our best scientists, various labs are working on different projects within our research topics.
Bartsch Y, Webb N, Burgess E, Kang J, Lauffenburger D, Julg B
Haller R, Cai Y, DeBuhr N, Rieder J, Schlüter D, Baier C, Rohde H, von Köckritz-Blickwede M, Vital M, Winstel V
Chou Y, Cornberg M
The project investigates the immune response of the central nervous system in viral infections, in particular the role of type I IFN, microglia and monocytes in the development of encephalitis and their influence on seizures and hippocampal damage.
In this project, antibodies that help to ward off infections are being investigated in more detail. The aim is to find characteristics that have a protective effect against certain pathogens by comparing different antibody profiles in infections and vaccinations.
Studies in the cell culture model show that only a few disinfectants are effective against HEV, which provides important information on hygiene measures for HEV infections. We are also working together to test vaccines for pigs as HEV reservoirs.
Thanks to high-throughput sequencing, genome sequences of hundreds of bacterial strains can be analyzed efficiently, revealing differences of up to 60 % in gene content, as in E. coli. With the help of machine learning, we want to better predict the functions of accessory genes and decipher their contribution to survival in specialized niches.