HZI
The
Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research - HZI (the former GBF) is a centre for infection
research with approximately 600 employees. The institute is a member of the Helmholtz
Association of German Research Centres, Germany's largest non-university scientific
organization.
The focus of our research is on pathogens which are medically relevant or can be
used as models for researching infection mechanisms. Among the scientific questions
we explore are: What turns bacteria into a pathogen? Why are some people highly
sensitive and others resistant to infections? How can we intervene in the infection
process? Understanding these mechanisms will contribute to combating infectious
diseases with new drugs and vaccines.
The human immune system can respond with amazing speed and agility to new pathogens
and yet collapse occasionally under the onslaught of bacteria or viruses. How our
natural pathogen defenses work and how these strategies can be used, or even improved,
is the focus of HZI research on the immune system.
Rudi Balling
Carlos Guzman
www.helmholtz-hzi.de/
