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New publication

New insights into a cytotoxin adapted to the intracellular lifestyle of typhoidal Salmonella have been published in the journal Nature Communications.

The research group led by Dr. Tobias Geiger has gained insights into the secretion and mode of action of a cytolysin expressed in infected host cells.

Typhoidal Salmonella, such as the serovar Paratyphi A, have strongly adapted to an intracellular lifestyle. After infecting the host cell, they form special compartments, known as Salmonella-containing vacuoles, where the bacteria replicate and produce proteins necessary for spreading within the human body. The latest work by the group led by Dr. Tobias Geiger shows that, in these very vacuoles, a cell-lytic toxin, known as Cytolysin A, is produced by the bacteria and is secreted from the infected host cells via a sophisticated secretion mechanism. Interestingly, this does not lead to the lysis of the Salmonella-infected, toxin-producing host cell. Only after the toxin has exited the cell does it specifically lyse macrophages and erythrocytes in the immediate vicinity.

The findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of the infection process of typhoidal Salmonella and shed light on the use of key pathogenic factors. Detailed and further information can be found in the original article at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-52745-0.

The Pettenkofer Foundation, which has legal capacity and is administered and represented by the Foundation Administration of the City of Munich, intends to award a research prize in the field of virology of 5.000 € in December 2024 for an outstanding original scientific paper published after January 1st, 2022 on the subject of

The role of the innate immune system in the defense against viral infections.

The original work should have contributed to an important insight into the virus-host interaction of important human pathogens with cellular factors of the innate immune system. Pioneering work in the field of basic research as well as translational studies will be considered.

The prize can be awarded to an individual or a group. The application must be accompanied by an assurance that all non-submitting co-authors agree to the application. An independent expert jury will decide on the awarding of the prize. Please send the original paper including curriculum vitae, scientific career and publication list by email to the Max von Pettenkofer Institute, Pettenkofer Prize 2024 Secretariat, at pettenkoferpreis@mvp.lmu.de by 31.08.2024.

The prize money is provided by Roche Diagnostics GmbH.

Click here for the call for applications.

Microbiologist Professor Sebastian E. Winter from the University of California, Davis, USA, has been awarded the Pettenkofer Prize 2023 for his groundbreaking work in the field of “The gut microbiome – from innovative functional analysis to interventions”. The award ceremony took place on 16.10.2023 in a ceremony at the City Hall. The renowned Pettenkofer Prize is awarded annually by the Pettenkofer Foundation. In his lecture, the prize winner described how pathogenic bacteria and the bacteria of the physiological intestinal microbiota (“normal intestinal flora”) interact with the host organism and also with each other, exchanging important metabolic products or competing for them. With his fundamental work, which elegantly combines methods of microbiology, genetics and biochemistry, Winter has elucidated essential contributions to the understanding of the processes within the intestinal microbiota. His research results in new approaches for the therapy and prevention of inflammatory bowel diseases.
The award ceremony and the prize money of 5,000 euros were sponsored by Roche Diagnostics Deutschland GmbH. The Pettenkofer Foundation serves to promote science and research in the field of scientific and practical hygiene and medical microbiology and virology.

The Pettenkofer Prize 2023 on the topic “The gut microbiome – from innovative functional analysis to interventions” goes to

Professor Dr Sebastian E. Winter, University of California at Davis.

With this email and the attached flyer, we would like to cordially invite you, also on behalf of Mr Stadtdirektor Stefan Eckhardt, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Pettenkofer Foundation, to the festive award ceremony on 16 October 2023 at 5:00 p.m. in the Großer Sitzungssaal of the New City Hall at Marienplatz in Munich (entrance in the middle of Marienplatz). Following the official part of the ceremony, there will be an opportunity for discussion at a reception with snacks.

Please let us know by October 9 if you would like to attend. Please send an e-mail to pettenkoferpreis@mvp.lmu.de or call +49 89 2180 72801,- 72805.

We are very much looking forward to seeing you again and would like to thank the Roche company for providing the prize money and supporting the award ceremony. We hope to receive many registrations from you.

With kind regards

Professor Sebastian Suerbaum and Professor Oliver T. Keppler 

Flyer Invitation

In a new publication in the renowned journal “Communications Biology”, a team of scientists from the Max von Pettenkofer Institute led by Prof. Dr. Sebastian Suerbaum and Dr. Florent Ailloud has investigated the evolution and diversity of the methylome of Helicobacter pylori. Of all pathogenic bacteria, H. pylori is the one with the largest number of DNA-methylating enzymes (methyltransferases). These MTases methylate the genome of the carcinogenic bacterium at many thousands of positions. Each H. pylori strain has a unique combination of MTases that allow the bacterium to vary its methylome individually.

Link to the publication (Open Access):

https://rdcu.be/djrcv

In a recent publication (first author Anna S. Weiss), a team led by Prof. Dr Bärbel Stecher from the Max von Pettenkofer Institute was able to show, using a synthetic bacterial community in the intestines of mice, that the ecology of the intestinal microbiome is influenced by both environmental factors (e.g. diet) and host determinants. The research results were published in the renowned journal “Nature Communications”.

Under the leadership of DZIF scientists Prof. Dr Bärbel Stecher (Max von Pettenkofer Institute) and Prof. Dr Alice McHardy (Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research), international research has shown that evolutionary mechanisms contribute to the resilience of the microbial community after repeated antibiotic administration. The research results were presented in the renowned scientific journal Cell Host & Microbe.

The Pettenkofer Foundation, which has legal capacity and is administered by the Foundation Administration of the City of Munich, awards a research prize of 5,000 euros for outstanding scientific work on the following topic

The intestinal microbiome – from innovative functional analysis to interventions

Up to three outstanding papers published in the years 2020-2023 can be considered.

The original papers should have contributed to important scientific knowledge and/or be of particular clinical relevance.

The prize can be awarded to an individual as well as to a group. When submitting an individual paper, an assurance must be included that all co-authors of the submitted paper agree with the application.

An independent, expert jury decides on the award of the prize.

Please send the papers including curriculum vitae, scientific career and list of publications by e-mail by 30.06.2023 to the Max von Pettenkofer Institute, Pettenkofer Award 2023 Secretary, Pettenkoferstr. 9a, D-80336 Munich (pettenkoferpreis@mvp.uni-muenchen.de).

The prize money is provided by Roche Diagnostics Deutschland GmbH.

Click here for the call for entries (in German).

New publication by research groups Prof. Dr. R. Haas and Dr. W. Fischer

The increasing spread of resistance against antibiotics represents one of the most urgent challenges in infection medicine. Together with other bacteria, the World Health Organization has thus ranked Helicobacter pylori, the causative agent of diseases such as peptic ulcers or gastric cancer, as a high-priority pathogen for development of novel antibiotics. The LMU microbiologists Prof. Dr. Rainer Haas and Dr. Wolfgang Fischer, together with several collaboration partners and with support by the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), have now been able to show that the cellular respiration of these bacteria is extremely sensitive towards inhibitors of the docking site of quinone co-factors within respiratory complex I. Since other bacteria, including typical representatives of the intestinal microbiota, are much less susceptible to such compounds, this molecular target may provide a high potential for development of new drugs with pathogen-specific activity, if an in vivo efficacy can be shown.

The results of this study have been published in the journal Cell Chemical Biology.

A novel protein secretion system is responsible for the secretion of chitinase A, an important virulence factor of Salmonella Typhimurium
The research group led by Dr. Tobias Geiger, in cooperation with the research group of Prof. Dr. Christine Josenhans, published new results that show the secretion of chitinase A, a newly described virulence factor of pathogenic Salmonella Typhimurium, by a novel protein secretion system. Once secreted, this chitinase mediates the adhesion of Salmonella to human host cells as well as the bacterial invasion into the cells. The results of the study have been published in the journal PLOS Pathogens (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1011306).

All information regarding the Ludwig-Maximilians-University please click here:

https://www.lmu.de/de/index.html

Prof. Suerbaum spoke in Berlin on 28.03.2023 at the farewell event in honour of the outgoing RKI President Lothar H. Wieler. As Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Robert Koch Institute, Prof. Suerbaum worked together with Prof. Wieler in a spirit of trust during his eight years in office. The further development of the RKI from an infection institute to a public health institute for Germany, which took place under the leadership of Prof. Wieler, was recently analysed by the advisory board in a statement and future fields of action were presented. During his time as RKI President, Prof. Wieler rendered great services to the fight against infectious diseases in Germany and worldwide.

Rare meeting of four presidents on the occasion of the farewell of Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Lothar H. Wieler as President of the Robert Koch Institute on 28.03.2023

Statement of the Scientific Advisory Board on the Role of the RKI for Public Health in Germany

The Collaborative Research Center SFB 900 (Chronic Infections) funded research on chronic infections from 2010 to the end of 2022. The research results of this collaborative project, coordinated by Prof. Thomas Schulz (MH Hannover), have now been summarized in a special issue of the journals Current Opinion in Immunology and Current Opinion in Virology. LMU scientists Prof. Dr. Christine Josenhans and Prof. Dr. Sebastian Suerbaum are founding members of SFB 900 and have played a major role in the success of the SFB as board member and deputy spokesperson, respectively, first at MHH and since 2016/2017 in Munich.

The two review articles provide a good overview of the development of the research and are available for free download for 50 days via these links:

Review Innate immune activation and modulatory factors of Helicobacter pylori towards phagocytic and nonphagocytic cells by L. Faass, M. Hauke, S. C. Stein and Christine Josenhans.

https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1glqI3OeyGHV%7E9

Review Genome and population dynamics during chronic infection with Helicobacter pylori

by F. Ailloud and Sebastian Suerbaum

https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1gncz3OeyGHV%7Ej

https://virology-meeting.de/

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2216309

https://www.med.uni-wuerzburg.de/aktuelles/meldungen/single/news/hochrisikogruppen-profitieren-von-corona-booster/