A standout moment was the keynote address by Johanna Hanefeld, Head of the Centre for International Health Protection (ZIG) at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). She shared RKI’s journey in strengthening its genomics and bioinformatics infrastructure to enhance pandemic preparedness. Reflecting on the past five years, Hanefeld described a revolution in how these tools have become integral to global public health practice. Drawing on experiences from the global North, she discussed both the challenges and opportunities in advancing these fields and emphasized the critical need for public health institutions like RKI to remain agile in responding to global health threats.

She also addressed ongoing challenges, including regulatory gaps, and posed an important question: how can academia, government, and other stakeholders collaborate more effectively to bolster pandemic preparedness?

Further contributions came from ZIG4 team members Essia Belarbi and Grit Schubert, who presented their research on using genomics to investigate pathogen dynamics—specifically respiratory viruses and the malaria parasite. Their work underscored how these technologies are reshaping our understanding of infectious disease transmission.