New Collaborative Research Centre for JMU

A new collaborative research centre is being launched in Würzburg. It investigates critical decision processes that determine the outcome of human infection.

Resistance to antimicrobial agents such as antibiotics is an increasing problem. Although new active substances are identified and developed, it seems that humanity may soon lose the arms race against pathogens.

"The strategy of only attacking pathogens directly will not be sufficient in the long run," says Professor Thomas Rudel, Chair of Microbiology at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) in Bavaria, Germany.

What needs to be changed: The interactions between pathogens and the human tissue and immune system must be better analysed, says Rudel. ...