Institute for Infection Prevention and Control

Lecture series on “Planetary Health” starts on Monday, November 11

Extreme weather events, migration, new zoonoses: human health is inextricably linked to the state of our ecosystems and societies. A precise understanding of the complex regional and global interrelationships and of the current methods for analyzing them is an absolute prerequisite for developing strategies to prevent the depletion of our planet. In line with this notion internationally renowned scientists will shed light on current problems, model projects and overarching concepts in the “Planetary Health” lecture series organized by the Center for Planetary Health at the University of Freiburg and the Institute for Infection Prevention and Control at the Freiburg University Medical Center.

The lectures start on November 11, 2024 and comprises six events.
Click here for information.

The venue is the large seminar room (first floor on the right) in the Center for Translational Cell Research, Breisacher Straße 115 in Freiburg.

Each lecture starts at 6:15 p.m. on Monday

Lecture language: English.

Admission is free, registration is not necessary.

Anne Löslein won the posterprize in Vienna 2024 for her research on tuberculosis.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the causative agent of tuberculosis, one of the deadliest infectious diseases worldwide. In the tissue, mycobacteria induce the formation of complex immune-cell structures known as graulomas. In this project, we investigate the role of stromal cells for granuloma formation and control of mycobacteria, as well as the interaction of macrophages and non-immune cells in mycobacterial infections. 

ARCANE Project Kick Off 

We’re excited to announce the successful kick-off of our project in Paris, where we gathered with partners to plan the future of hospital network modeling in France and Germany. This initiative aims to enhance healthcare delivery across borders through advanced data-driven models.

More Info on ARCANE Kick Off Meeting – Arcane project 
Organised by members of the QUPI Team from Freiburg.

New Beginning: Master Global Urban Health

The ninth cohort has officially started today. [23.09.2024]

With students from 13 different countries and representing 13 disciplines, they have come together in the green city of Freiburg to tackle some of the world's most pressing health challenges particularly in urban areas.

Our Master implementers: Prof. Axel Kroeger (scientific advisor); Dr. Sonia Diaz-Monsalve (Teaching Coordinator); Monika Gaalova (Financial Officer) and Molly Catherine (Technical support) along with ZMG Director: Prof. Philipp Henneke, one of our ZMG Directors welcomed the international students to Freiburg.

We wish our students an intense, inspiring, and successful year ahead in their postgraduate studies.

Invitation to 
International Symposium on Perinatal and Early Life Immunity
9-12 April 2025

Einladung zum
Freiburg Internal Extracellular Vesicles Meeting – Get Together EV Researchers and EV-Interested 
Freitag, 25. Oktober 2024.

Nature Communications: International and regional spread of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in Europe

Resistance towards antibiotics poses challenges in hospitals, since treatment options become limited. This is especially true for carbapenems, which are broad-spectrum antibiotics often used as a last resort for treating serious bacterial infections, such as those caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae.

An international consortium – COMBACTE-CARE EURECA – led by Dr. Sandra Reuter has now investigated the carbapenem-resistant variants of Klebsiella pneumoniae circulating in Southern European countries. In comparison with previous studies, changes over time were visible such as a particular variant in Türkiye that is now more prominent as a carbapenem-resistant lineage with various resistance mechanisms. Other regional differences include a variant in Serbia that is now more resistant than in previous years.

The investigation also focussed on which resistance mechanisms are found in which countries and which variants of concern. Particularly worrisome is an up-and-coming, easily adapting lineage that variably picks up mechanisms depending on the country it is found in.

Budia Silva, M., Kostyanev, T., Ayala Montaño, S., Bravo-Ferrer Acosta, J., Garcia-Castillo, M., Cantón, R., Goossens, H., Rodriguez-Baño, J., Grundmann, H., and Reuter, S. (2024). International and regional spread of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumonia in Europe. Nat Comm 15(1): 5092. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49349-z

PNAS Publication - New method to measure how fast a virus variant spreads

A research group led by Dr. Sandra Reuter and Dr. Tjibbe Donker from the Institute for Infection Prevention has developed new methods to measure how quickly a new virus variant spreads. 
The new method can be used to:

•  Read genetic traces of new virus variants
•  Determine when a new virus variant appeared
•  Measure how quickly the new virus variant spreads

Using this method, we were able to recognise all important SARS-CoV-2 variants in data from all the countries we studied. Methods like this are possible due to the large amount of genetic data collected during the pandemic through so-called genomic surveillance. They represent a completely new way of analysing this data and provide new information needed for pandemic response.

Donker, T., Papathanassopoulos, A., Ghosh, H., Kociurzynski, R., Felder, M., Grundmann, H., & Reuter, S. (2024). Estimation of SARS-CoV-2 fitness gains from genomic surveillance data without prior lineage classification. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Vol. 121, Issue 25). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2314262121