Congratulations to Dao Thi lab @daothilab.bsky.social
and collaborators! Beautiful work! @ciid-heidelberg.bsky.social

Meet our new Alliance Fellow Jack Whitehead! Q: Could you tell us a bit about the work you do? Which field do you work in and who are your PIs? A: I am a structural biologist, and my work looks at… |... Meet our new Alliance Fellow Jack Whitehead! Q: Could you tell us a bit about the work you do? Which field do you work in and who are your PIs? A: I am a structural biologist, and my work looks at th...

Meet our new #AllianceFellow Jack Whitehead!
The short interview about his work in the @chlandalab.bsky.social and Mahamid lab at @embl.org can be found on our LinkedIn account.
@jackwh18.bsky.social

Diatom gliding motility is so amazing 🚀 Happy to be together with @lettermann.bsky.social part of this great collaboration 😀 Check out the website of this open access publication to learn how their movement can be fast and flexible at the same time. And to watch many more beautiful movies 😉

Inside human erythrocytes, Plasmodium nuclei divide asynchronously despite sharing a common cytoplasm

🌍#WorldHealthDay2026: Together for health.
🦟Markus Ganter at Heidelberg University studies the extraordinary life of the Malaria parasite. Malaria remains to be a global health challenge.
You can watch a short German lecture by Markus Ganter here:
https://youtu.be/tr_C75LqGlk?si=VKDLw26idgqr8vJV

Scientists recreate Van Gogh's Starry Night with fluorescent DNA

Using a canvas the width of a dime, scientists in 2016 recreated the famous painting Starry Night using "DNA origami."

Learn more on #VanGogh's birthday. ⬇️ https://scim.ag/4s67eTf

It was so great to meet that many fellow Bartenschlager alumni at the #gfv2026 🤗 Some of us are still around in Heidelberg, but others head their own labs far away in Italy or even Canada!

Hope to see all of you (and all the others) soon again, so many memories...

This yearˋs Löffler-Frosch-Medal for his lifetime achievements and contributions to virology goes to our former president Prof. Ralf Bartenschlager @ciid-heidelberg.bsky.social @uniheidelberg.bsky.social! So greatly deserved, congratulations, Ralf!

#gfv2026

It begins 🤩

Ralf Bartenschlager @ciid-heidelberg.bsky.social @uniheidelberg.bsky.social formally welcoming the #gfv2026 attendees!

Universität Heidelberg verteidigt Status als Exzellenzuniversität – Rektorin Frauke Melchior: „Großartige Gemeinschaftsleistung hat zum Erfolg geführt“ www.uni-heidelberg.de/de/newsroom/...
#universität #heidelberg #uniheidelberg #Exzellenzstrategie #ExStra

In the spirit of our #DZIFPEG2026 Joint Meeting, we would like to honor the commitment of Prof. Maura Dandri and Prof. Hans-Georg Kräusslich as outgoing members of the DZIF Executive Board👏

We are grateful for their contributions and look forward to continuing our work within the DZIF network.

📢Paper alert📢

Now out in @bmc.springernature.com with open access: our very cool collaboration with @chlandalab.bsky.social on FIB-milling designs for cryoET

rdcu.be/e2nXE

Here you can see different designs for the stress relief cuts for dual-axis tomography. Read the paper for more details😀

📢Job alert📢

@uniheidelberg.bsky.social has an opening for a full W3-position on “Modeling of Biological Processes” 😀👍 Here is the call

tinyurl.com/3w9e9dtf

and application deadline is March 15. The group would be located at the beautiful #BioQuant center right in the middle of Neuenheimer Feld.

Together with colleague and friend Carl Herrmann @uniheidelberg.bsky.social, we are looking for a motivated postdoc with experience in organoid culture and data analysis (#bioinformatics), for a project in the @hlsalliance.bsky.social Joint Postdoc call.

www.health-life-sciences.de/opportunitie...

Measles virus and rinderpest virus divergence dated to the sixth century BCE Measles virus diverged from rinderpest virus in the sixth century BCE, indicating an early origin for human measles.

Measles likely came from cows (via rinderpest) around the 6th century BCE.

For 2,500 years, we didn’t evolve superhuman resistance—children just died. Real protection only came in the 1960s, with vaccines.

Our superpower isn’t evolving into superhumans. It’s outthinking pathogens.

Chirality of malaria parasites determines their motion patterns - Nature Physics Malaria parasites move on helical trajectories when infecting their hosts. Now it is shown that they use right-handed chirality to control their motion patterns, and that this chirality is linked to t...

(1/2) Our work with @freddyfrischknecht.bsky.social on the chirality of malaria parasites has found its home in the January issue of @natphys.nature.com:

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Moreover, we are very happy that it comes with a news and views article 👍❤️😀

The Alliance is looking for outstanding, international early career scientists/ clinician scientists, for bridging projects between two or more Alliance partner institutions.

👉Deadline on 3/31/26 5pm CEST

Info on our webpage at:
www.health-life-sciences.de/opportunitie...
#postdoc

Infotafel mit Logo der Prospects DFG Research Career Series und den Terminen: 10.02.2026, 14:30 - 16:00 Uhr – The Emmy Noether Programme (in English) 11.03.2026, 10:30 - 12:00 Uhr – DFG-Förderangebote für Postdocs 14.04.2026, 14:30 - 16:00 Uhr – Das Walter Benjamin-Programm 20.05.2026, 14:00 - 15:30 Uhr – DFG funding Opportunities for Postdocs (in English) 25.06.2026, 14:00 - 15:30 Uhr – The Emmy Noether Programme (in English)

#ECR save the dates! 🗓️ In der Reihe #PROSPECTS informiert unser Team #Karriereförderung auch 2026 regelmäßig über die Fördermöglichkeiten bei der DFG. Hier haben wir die Infotalks für die erste Jahreshälfte. Teilnahme ohne vorherige Registrierung möglich, Link erscheint hier.
👉 sohub.io/bvv0

📣 Great news! We’re giving you more time to submit your abstract for the Annual Meeting of the Society for Virology.

Don’t miss the chance to present your research in Heidelberg from 17–20 March 2026!

🎯 New deadline: Jan 11, 2026

☝️ Submit now:
🔗 virology-meeting.de

#virology #conference

Study: Two-thirds of pig slurry samples from Northwestern Germany contain hepatitis E viruses | German Center for Infection Research Scientists at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) have examined pig slurry from the northwestern region of Germany and detected

Scientists at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf have examined pig slurry from the northwestern region of Germany and detected hepatitis E viruses in two-thirds of the samples, some with very high viral loads.

The 35th Annual Meeting of the German Society for Virology will take place in Heidelberg from March 17 to March 20, 2026. We have an exciting programme and look forward to welcome you here!

Registration and Abstract submission are now open. Please see details here:

virology-meeting.de

Great new collaboration with @thmllr.bsky.social and Hans-Georg Kräusslich from @ciid-heidelberg.bsky.social came out on December 1st #HIV day - nuclear speckles & HIV capsid & antivirals gallore!!!

Join us (again) for another fantastic BioMalPar meeting @embl.org and also a great pre-meeting @ciid-heidelberg.bsky.social

Wow, researchers from our #SFB1129 are implicated in the Science 2024 Breakthrough of the Year, because they showed that HIV-capsids are flexible and go through nuclear pores. The latest paper on Lenacapavir-induced capsid damage just came out in @embojournal.org

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Science’s 2024 Breakthrough of the Year was lenacapavir, an injectable drug that demonstrated remarkable success at preventing HIV infection with one shot every 6 months. The drug attaches to the lattice-like capsid proteins that shield the virus’s genetic material—a mechanism that could inspire other antivirals. Lenacapavir could help end the HIV/AIDS epidemic, but that will hinge on access for those who need it most.

Science’s 2024 Breakthrough of the Year was lenacapavir, an injectable drug that demonstrated remarkable success at preventing HIV infection with one shot every 6 months.

Learn more about last year's #BOTY on #WorldAIDSDay: https://scim.ag/48pk7zZ

#WorldAIDSDay2025 AIDS, which is caused by HIV infection, ranks among the top ten causes of death worldwide. Despite medical advances, a cure for HIV remains elusive. To overcome disruption, we must innovate, collaborate, and accelerate research.
Learn more about our HIV research: www.dzif.de/en/hiv

Lab life and Christmas cookies can match when the students get creative

📢 Paper alert 📢

Chirality is known to be important for the movement of microorganisms and active matter. In our new paper out today in @natphys.nature.com, we show that chirality is used by malaria parasites to control their motion patterns:

doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Here comes a 🧵 ... (1/9)

Malaria Parasites Move on Right-Handed Helices: Motion patterns help the transition between tissue compartments – explanation for asymmetry in the body plan of the pathogen
www.uni-heidelberg.de/en/newsroom/...

Have you ever wondered: What is the Viral Glycan Shield – and why does it matter? 👀 Watch our short explainer video to find out! 🎥

#SHIELDproject #Virology #ScienceExplained #ScienceVideo

For more info on the viral glycan SHIELD and our project, visit our website: shield-consortium.eu

Next Tech Program Open till 2/27/2026
Technician + engineering support for junior research group leaders at Alliance institutions.
👉strengthens junior research group leaders’ technical capacity by funding
👉one full-time technical position.
www.health-life-sciences.de/opportunities/nexttech