World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week 2024: Educate. Advocate. Act now.

Three researchers, three approaches: HZI scientists explain their work in the fight against antimicrobial resistance

The annual World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week (WAAW) is a global campaign to draw attention to the dangers of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). It also informs people about behaviors that can reduce the occurrence and spread of drug-resistant infections. The WAAW is celebrated every year from November 18 to 24. The motto in 2024 is “Educate. Advocate. Act now.”. In an interview, three researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and its sites in Saarbrücken and Greifswald report on how they are implementing aspects of this motto in their work:

Dr. Daniel Krug, a scientist in the department “Microbial Natural Products” at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), a site of the HZI in collaboration with Saarland University, is working with citizen scientists on the MICROBELIX project to find new antibiotic substances and to educate participants about AMR.

Esteban Charria Girón, a doctoral researcher in the HZI department “Microbial Drugs”, is studying active substances from fungi that grow in the Colombian rainforest and advocates for the preservation of biodiversity.

Prof. Katharina Schaufler, head of the department “Epidemiology and Ecology of Antimicrobial Resistance” at the Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH), and her team are researching how resistant pathogens can spread. In the interview, she also gives advice which actions everyone can take to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance. The HIOH is a site of the HZI in collaboration with the University of Greifswald, the University Medicine Greifswald and the Friedrich Loeffler Institute.

The interviews are available via this link: https://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en/media-center/newsroom/news-detail/world-antimicrobial-resistance-awareness-week-2024-educate-advocate-act-now/

Further information on antimicrobial resistance and new antibiotic substances:
HZI Info Center Antibiotics: https://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en/info-center/topics/antibiotics/
HZI Podcast Infact “New antibiotics” with Prof. Mark Brönstrup: https://infacthzi.podigee.io/4-new-antibiotics-ingredients-the-fight-against-resistance
Virtual Tour of the HZI laboratories with video interviews: https://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/fileadmin/360%C2%B0/hzi_en/index.htm
Citizen Science Project MICROBELIX: https://hips.saarland/sample/?lang=en

Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research:
Scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and its other sites in Germany are engaged in the study of bacterial and viral infections and the body’s defence mechanisms. They have a profound expertise in natural compound research and its exploitation as a valuable source for novel anti-infectives. As member of the Helmholtz Association and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) the HZI performs translational research laying the ground for the development of new treatments and vaccines against infectious diseases. www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en

Contact:
Susanne Thiele, Spokesperson
susanne.thiele@helmholtz-hzi.de
Dr Andreas Fischer, Editor
andreas.fischer@helmholtz-hzi.de

Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research
Press and Communications
Inhoffenstr. 7
D-38124 Braunschweig
Germany
Phone: +49 531 6181-1400; -1405