Martin Hölzer
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martinhoelzer.bsky.social
Martin Hölzer
@martinhoelzer.bsky.social
Bioinformatics and translational research. Team lead at the Genome Competence Center at RKI, Berlin, Germany.
https://hoelzer.github.io
Reposted by Martin Hölzer
I am hiring! - looking for a Staff Scientist to co-run my research group with me. Staff Scientist is a senior professional scientist role at EMBL. Please forward to people you might know who could be interested! embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...
Staff Scientist
About EMBL-EBI EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute is a data powerhouse, utilised on a global scale to advance scientific discovery through bioinformatics and solutions to some of the world’s mos...
embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com
October 10, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Reposted by Martin Hölzer
Update zum EHEC-/HUS-Ausbruch mit Schwerpunkt in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Bis 16.9. wurden 107 dem Ausbruch zugeordnete Fälle gemeldet, viele bei Kindern.
Die Untersuchungen der zuständigen Landes- und Bundesbehörden zur Infektionsquelle laufen weiter.

Mehr im #EpidBull
👉 www.rki.de/DE/Aktuelles...
September 18, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Reposted by Martin Hölzer
Reposted by Martin Hölzer
🦟🕷️ Helft mit, Mücken & Zecken in Deutschland zu überwachen!

Beim Citizen-Science-Projekt #ZEMEKI zählt jede Beobachtung. Foto hochladen via App oder Website – in nur wenigen Sekunden.

👉 de.observation.org/species/ZEME...

#ZKIPH #RKI #CitizenScience #Zecken #Mücken #Klimawandel #ObsIdentify
September 10, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Reposted by Martin Hölzer
Seit Ende August 2025 wird über einen EHEC-/HUS-Ausbruch in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern berichtet. Das Nationale Referenzzentrum (NRZ) für Salmonellen und andere bakterielle Enteritis­erreger am RKI hat den Ausbruchsstamm nun identifiziert.
Erregersteckbrief und Informationen zu #EHEC:
🔗 www.rki.de/ehec
September 5, 2025 at 2:06 PM
🧬 Just released: a new update of our ONT methylation Nextflow pipeline!

Developed by Valentina, PhD student at RKI’s Genome Competence Center.

🛠️ Changes:

- Modkit envs updated
- Thresholds now optional (auto 10th percentile)
- Cleaner README

🔗 github.com/rki-mf1/ont-...

#Nextflow #Nanopore
GitHub - rki-mf1/ont-methylation
Contribute to rki-mf1/ont-methylation development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
September 4, 2025 at 5:21 AM
Just published! 🧬

My student Valentina & I contributed to an FLI-led study on assembling ONT from pathogenic bacteria. 6.5% of ONT errors were methylation-related and could be reduced with the use of the right models.

Thanks for the great collaboration, Jena folk!

🔗 doi.org/10.1186/s128...
Accurately assembling nanopore sequencing data of highly pathogenic bacteria - BMC Genomics
Background Bacterial genome exploration and outbreak analysis rely heavily on robust whole-genome sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. Widely-used genomic methods, such as genotyping and detection…
doi.org
September 1, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Reposted by Martin Hölzer
Virologische Surveillance akuter Atemwegserkrankungen (ARE)

Das RKI analysiert die ARE-Saison 2024/25. Die Publikationen im #EpidBull bündeln Ergebnisse zu Influenzaviren, RSV, Rhinoviren und SARS-CoV-2.

🔗 www.rki.de/DE/Aktuelles...
August 28, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Reposted by Martin Hölzer
Dank RSV-Prophylaxe sind die Fälle bei Säuglingen stark zurückgegangen:
👶 Im Winter 2024/25 lag die Inzidenz 54 % niedriger als im Vorjahr
🏥 Hospitalisierungen sanken um 55 %

Mehr dazu in der Publikation im Ärzteblatt:
👉 www.aerzteblatt.de/search/resul...
August 22, 2025 at 8:10 AM
🌍🧬 We’re hiring a Scientist (Bioinformatics) to work at the intersection of PH & genomics. The role bridges our Center for International Health Protection & Genome Competence Center in the “Health Security Partnership for Africa” project.

🔗 Apply 31 Aug www.interamt.de/koop/app/ste...
August 14, 2025 at 5:21 AM
Reposted by Martin Hölzer
CoVerage detects and characterizes SARS CoV 2 variants of interest by real-time lineage tracking and antigenic alteration scoring. 
#GenomicSurveillance #COVID19 #VariantPrediction
👤EVBC: Martin Hölzer, Alice McHardy
🔗
In silico genomic surveillance by CoVerage predicts and characterizes SARS-CoV-2 variants of interest - Nature Communications
In this study, the authors report the CoVerage tool ( www.sarscoverage.org ) for viral genomic surveillance and show that it predicted SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern, of Interest and under Monitoring together with their antigenic and evolutionary alterations almost three months prior to their WHO designation.
doi.org
August 13, 2025 at 1:13 PM
📢 New paper: Targeted decontamination of sequencing data with CLEAN

We introduce CLEAN, a reproducible pipeline for removing spike-ins, host DNA, and rRNA from short & long sequences.

💡 Fast, reproducible, scalable.

Read the paper: doi.org/10.1093/narg...
Code & docs: github.com/rki-mf1/clean
August 4, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Happy that the LaTeX template I created for DFG proposals is being used! 🎉

Just heard from someone in data engineering who got funded using it (🎯 content matters most, but hey, layout helps too 😄)

See: github.com/hoelzer/dfg

Also loving the community input via PRs & issues! 💙
GitHub - hoelzer/dfg: A LaTeX template for a basic DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, German Research Foundation) grant proposal.
A LaTeX template for a basic DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, German Research Foundation) grant proposal. - hoelzer/dfg
github.com
July 31, 2025 at 5:26 AM
Proud to share our latest paper on next-gen sequencing in Greek PAD patients. This project began when Achilleas joined my lab through Erasmus — now I'm honored to serve on his PhD committee!

Continued Greek-German collaboration at its best 🇬🇷🇩🇪

www.mdpi.com/2673-5601/5/...

#Genetics #Immunology
www.mdpi.com
July 28, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Reposted by Martin Hölzer
📢New job posting!📢
Are you excited by the idea of building global infrastructure to make pathogen sequencing more accessible, interpretable, and equitable? 🧑🏻‍💻🧬

My group at @swisstph.ch has an opening working with ARTIC2, @pathoplexus.org, & Loculus - read on!

1/5
July 25, 2025 at 10:44 AM
🚨 New in Nature Communications!

CoVerage (sarscoverage.org) enables early in silico detection of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Led by Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, driving innovation in genomic surveillance.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#GenomicSurveillance
CoVerage: SARS-CoV-2 lineage, S-protein mutation, antigenic variation dynamics
Impressum (DE) / Imprint (EN) Datenschutz (DE) / Data protection (EN)
sarscoverage.org
July 24, 2025 at 5:21 AM
Reposted by Martin Hölzer
Recently I learnt that EMBL-EBI has a free online course about AlphaFold — how it works, strengths and limitations, how to use it — and it's very good!

There are also little quizzes and interactives.
www.ebi.ac.uk/training/onl...
AlphaFold - A practical guide
AlphaFold - A practical guide
www.ebi.ac.uk
July 21, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Reposted by Martin Hölzer
Some great new features and updates from the awesome Pathoplexus project. This is a new open pathogen genome database that can provide access to your sequences under a use-restricted license but also feed directly in to INSDC (EBI, Genbank etc) when you are ready. pathoplexus.org/news/2025-07...
Pathoplexus | Pathoplexus July Update
Pathoplexus is a new, open-source database dedicated to the efficient sharing of human viral pathogen genomic data, fostering global collaboration and public health response.
pathoplexus.org
July 15, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by Martin Hölzer
In den vergangenen Wochen wurden in Abwasserproben erneut #Polioviren nachgewiesen, die vom Schluckimpfstoff abgeleitet sind.

☑️ Wo Viren nachgewiesen wurden
☑️ Wer erkranken kann
☑️ Warum #Impfschutz wichtig ist
☑️ Was Ärztinnen, Ärzte und Eltern wissen sollten

Details im #EpidBull
🔗 rki.de/epidbull
July 3, 2025 at 12:15 PM
🚀 We've updated RNAflow – our pipeline for differential gene expression analysis – to include the latest SortMeRNA for improved rRNA removal!

This also resolves recent bugs reported by users.

🔬 Looking for a reproducible & comprehensive transcriptome analysis pipeline?
👉 github.com/hoelzer-lab/...
July 3, 2025 at 5:21 AM
🚨 Preprint!

We've adapted SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surv to track the 2022 #mpox outbreak in Germany using a novel NGS panel 🧪

✅ Up to 90% MPXV genome coverage
🧬 Lineage B.1 + APOBEC-type mutations
📍 Wastewater = stigma-free surveillance

Led by ‪@tuda.bsky.social‬ - check it out:
🔗 shorturl.at/aMv97
Going beyond SARS-CoV-2: genomic surveillance of monkeypox in German wastewater
Fear of stigma poses a challenge in tracking the 2022-outbreak of monkeypox virus (MPXV) infection. Patients shed MPXV via skin lesions, gastrointestinal route, and seminal fluids into the…
www.researchsquare.com
June 30, 2025 at 7:02 AM
🚨 New Perspective in Nature Water 🚰💻

"Augmenting wastewater epidemiology with machine learning" 🧠🌍

A huge interdisciplinary collab w/ amazing colleagues @rki.de & beyond! 🙌

Special thx to lead author PhD student Eva & shared last Christopher for this effort!

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Augmentation of wastewater-based epidemiology with machine learning to support global health surveillance - Nature Water
Wastewater-based epidemiology has already proven to be a powerful tool to monitor the spread of a number of diseases. This Perspective discusses the integration with machine learning, highlighting its...
www.nature.com
June 24, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Reposted by Martin Hölzer
NIH funding supporting the HMMER and Infernal software projects has been terminated. NIH states that our work, as well as all other federally funded research at Harvard, is of no benefit to the US.
May 22, 2025 at 12:42 PM
🚀 Excited to share our NatComm paper on varVAMP – a open-source tool for degenerate primer design in viral genome seq & qPCR!

🔬 Supports diverse viruses SC2, HEV, Polio ...
🤝 Built in collaboration with amazing virus experts

🔗 github.com/jonas-fuchs/varVAMP
🧬 nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60175-9
GitHub - jonas-fuchs/varVAMP: Design degenerated primers on highly variable alignments for full genome sequencing or qPCR. Specifically developed for viruses.
Design degenerated primers on highly variable alignments for full genome sequencing or qPCR. Specifically developed for viruses. - jonas-fuchs/varVAMP
github.com
June 9, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Oh come on GISAID. And that's why we need data portals that are free and open - especially when it comes to monitoring pathogens with genomic data. Such as Pathoplexus (Awesome initiative! www.nature.com/articles/d41...).
You might be wondering why we haven't updated outbreak.info for months.

Well, the reason is that GISAID cut our access in January - as they did others. Without telling us.

After a ♾️ back and forth, that is now permanent.

More on that soon - and why GISAID should not be trusted with critical data.
May 30, 2025 at 10:08 AM